In Nevada's Susie Creek, land management and beaver reintroduction combined to form a perennial stream previously in July and August it had been still.
This is particularly important in arid areas such as California. An incredible array of species has evolved to take advantage of beaver engineering. Woodpeckers will use dead trees killed by rising water levels. Waterfowl forage in beaver ponds and even nest on beaver lodges. Goldfarb notes that in the American West, wetlands cover 2% of the land area but support 80% of the biodiversity.įrogs and salamanders breed in beaver ponds juvenile trout and salmon use ponds as rearing habitat. They inadvertently create huge amounts of habitat for other creatures as well. The classic beaver behaviour is that they build dams to create ponds and wetlands that provide shelter and food.
He also writes about becoming part of a growing coalition - AKA the Beaver Believers, subject of an eponymously named feature-length documentary - that works to restore their populations and make the scientific case for doing so.īut what's so special about beavers anyway? And that these “ecosystem engineers” can help humans fight drought, improve water quality and even address climate change. In Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter, Goldfarb makes the case that the near eradication of these once ubiquitous rodents had a profound impact on the North American continent’s landscapes and ecosystems - and by extension the environments of Europe and Asia. "Most of us can’t comprehend what North America looked like before fur traders arrived, trapping millions of beavers from the continent’s rivers and lakes."
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