Humanity has been referred to as a "desert-making species," but by partnering with the beaver we could reverse that trend, according to Ben Goldfarb, author of Eager, The Surprising, Secret Lives of Beavers and Why They Matter, and Steven Murschel, an educator with the Beaver Ambassadors of West Linn, Oregon. Before Europeans arrived in the Americas, the beaver had been a Keystone species helping to create a mosaic of woods. wetlands, and meadows that teemed, from coast to coast, with birds, fish and wildlife. However these ingenious and hardworking creatures were trapped almost to extinction, their fur prized by hat-makers; and then settlers moved in with their live-stock. Especially in the West, the lands became parched. To this day, beavers are often described as "pests. However there are ways to mitigate human/beaver conflicts, and Ben and Steven are part of a movement called the Beaver Believers, which is documenting how the re-introduction of beavers can lead to a new greening of the land, including such diverse benefits as preventing floods, sustaining birds and salmon, sequestering carbon, raising water tables, filtering pollution, and more. Plus, they're so darn cute!!!!
Listened to show, much of it. Very interesting, useful. You were really good at keeping the flow going and graciously. Incidentally the KBOO person you spoke to before the show expressing concern for his fruit trees is really a bad steward of the land and hardly tends to the trees, except for making his Apple/Plum Goodness which is really just apple sauce with a plumy color and hybrid taste, and he picks the fruit off the ground. What is the world coming to?