When ever I review a new film by Wyoming Untrapped my first reaction is always protective distress to see them use photos of “Our” beavers. Did they get those off the website? I start to orotest until I remember that Suzi Eszterhas took that photo and she allows WT to use her images free of charge.

Plus it’s a good movie about why we need beavers. And there are never enough of those.

Untrapped Tuesday presents Eco-hero #1: the American Beaver

Did you know that American Beavers are often referred to as ecosystem engineers? Long before humans thought to build the Hoover Dam, American Beavers built and altered landscapes across Wyoming. Beavers are phenomenal engineers, enriching the health of Wyoming’s ecosystems by creating and maintaining wetland habitats.

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Beaver dams control water flow and quality, creating healthy ecosystems that benefit all life, including humans. The wetlands that beavers maintain increase the groundwater table, suppress wildfires, mitigate drought, and regulate flooding. Beavers create and preserve critically important wetland habitats on which countless other species rely!

Unfortunately, beavers are commonly trapped when they build their homes near humans, mainly because humans are unaware of their benefits. Help us educate our community on the advantages of beavers.

Reach out to us for non-lethal beaver management options to keep this eco-hero on the landscape. Beavers need our protection. After all, they are protecting us. We are all interconnected. Please join us to ensure their future, our future, and the future of Wyoming through coexistence.

That attractive beaver photo is of our 2015 yearling ‘Junior’ may he rest in peace. Carrying branches Jon cut from him from Alhambra Creek. I’m sure he’d be happy to have his photo forever remembered as saving beavers by teaching why they matter and shouldn’t be trapped.