The Colorado Beaver Summit is just three days away. Have you registered? The line up is looking fantastic. especially the presentations by Jay Wilde and Mark Beardsley. I thought I’d share a little of the schedule and give a last effort to persuade you to participate. The whole thing is the brain child of Jerry Mallet and Jackie Cordray who moved heaven earth to make this happen.
Starting the day off at the sunrise hour of 8:40 mountain time is a review of western state beaver policy. I’m representing California but check out the list Jackie has put together.
| Washington beaver Policy |
Elyssa Kerr, Beavers NW |
| Oregon beaver Policy |
Katie Ryan, Wetlands Conservancy |
| California Beaver Policy |
Heidi Perryman, Worth A Dam |
| Montana beaver Policy |
Sarah Bates, NWF |
| Wyoming beaver Policy |
Jerry Altermatt, WGF Aquatic Habitat |
| Idaho beaver Policy |
Jamie Utz, IFG SW Diversity Biologist |
| New Mexico beaver Policy |
Chris Smith, Wild Earth Guardians |
| Utah Beaver Policy |
Joe Wheaton, USU |
That’s pretty special overview of what’s happening in the west isn’t it? Something to inspire and something to fear so that Coloradans are left feeling, we’ll at least we’re not as bad as California. Or whatever.
Then we leap right into an Emily presentation which you know will be amazing.
10:30 a.m. How Beaver Complexes Improve Resilience to Wildfire and Drought – Dr. Emily Fairfax
Beaver dams, ponds, and canals store and spread water throughout the riparian zone, where it is accessible to vegetation even during droughts. These green, well-watered plants are difficult to burn, so beaver complexes can act as refugia during wildfire. This session will cover my most recent research on beavers, droughts, fires, and megafires.
That sounds awesome doesn’t it? Who’s up next?
11:15 – Statewide and Local Perspectives on Beaver Restoration – Tom Cardamone, Executive Director of Watershed Biodiversity Initiative, and Sarah Marshall, Colorado Natural Heritage Program
Sarah will begin with providing a statewide perspective of the benefits of restoring beaver to our watersheds. Where are we today with beaver populations? What is the potential for recovery of beaver in watersheds to restore headwater health? Tom will wade into the challenges and opportunities of beaver restoration in the context of an ongoing biodiversity and wetland study of the 928,000-acre Roaring Fork Watershed.
1:30 p.m. – Partnering with Beaver to Restore Colorado Headwater Riverscapes, Mark Beardsley, EcoMetrics
As nature’s wetland ecosystem engineers, beavers played a keystone role in the formation of Colorado’s headwaters riverscapes. Working with beavers as partners in riverscape restoration – enabling them to resume the work they’ve been doing for thousands of years to maintain streams and wetlands – is a natural, logical, and sustainable path to restoring ecological health and watershed resilience.
2:15 p.m. – The Nexus Between Science and Implementation Of Beaver Restoration in the Arid West – Delia Malone – Ecologist with the Colorado Natural Heritage Program and volunteer Wildlife Chair for Colorado Sierra Club
Wetlands provide functions essential to human society including groundwater recharge, nutrient cycling, primary production, carbon sequestration and export, sediment transport, and channel stabilization. One of the most important functions that wetlands provide is clean water. Wetland vegetation filters pollutants from water and sediment and buffers floods.
Then it’s time for my favorite, I truly can’t wait for this.
3:15 p.m. – Case Study One: How I Welcomed Beaver to Remain on my Ranch – The Unsung Heroes And Heroines Of Short Grass Prairie Ecosystems,
Dallas May, Rancher near Lamar, CO who together with his family has managed a 20,000-acre cattle ranch east of Lamar for over 40 years, will tell us about his observations of all the wonderful benefits of having numerous beaver complexes along the 7 miles of Sand Creek that run through his ranch. All too often beavers who inhabit the arid eastern plains are unappreciated and not given credit for the unbelievable role they play in creating an oasis of diversity in prairie stream systems. Without their miraculous engineering against extreme conditions many species on the plains could not exist. Thanks to beaver, not only do numerous species (insects, plants, all forms of wildlife) exist, but actually thrive, all the while providing the enormous benefit of cleansing our rivers.
Case Study Two: How I Welcomed Beaver Back to my Ranch – Jay Wilde, Rancher in southeast Idaho
Jay ranches on the ranch that he grew up on. He left the ranch when he graduated from high school to go to college, raise a family, and pursue a career for 30 years. He returned to the ranch after his folks had passed away. Upon his return, he found things quite different from what they were during his childhood. Birch Creek, the once perennial stream that flowed through the ranch, was now flowing intermittently and was dry by mid-summer. He realized that maybe the absence of beavers in the watershed was contributing to the demise of the stream. He started researching the role that beavers play in a watershed, and the more he learned, the more it made sense that for a watershed to function properly there needs to be beavers. His story tells of all his efforts to bring beaver back to Birch Creek and the effects that they’ve had.
Then sweeping it all together with a roundtable discussion.
4:15-5:00 – Colorado Beaver Working Group
The 3 Co-Chairs of the CBWG, Aaron Hall, Sr Aquatic Biologist for Defenders of Wildlife, Steve Monroe, a stream restoration practitioner formerly a hydrologist for the National Park Service, and Jackie Corday, formerly head of CPW’s statewide Water Resources Section, will explain the purpose and goals of this new statewide group.
And that’s just the FIRST day, wait until you see what happens on friday. You still have time to register here
