Dam It: Partnering With Beavers and Saving the Planet

For this in-person event, Ben Goldfarb, author of Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter, will join us via Zoom to share information on these fascinating animals and discuss ways in which we can partner with beavers to heal the planet.

Ben argues that our modern conception of a natural landscape is wrong, distorted by the trapping of millions of beavers from North America’s lakes and rivers. The consequences of losing beavers have been profound: streams eroded, wetlands dried up, and species from salmon to swans lost vital habitat. Today, a growing coalition of “Beaver Believers” — including scientists, ranchers, and passionate citizens — recognizes that ecosystems with beavers are far healthier than those without them. Learn how beavers, a keystone species, can help us fight drought, flooding, wildfire, extinction, and climate change — and how we can learn to coexist with our fellow travelers on this planet.

About the presenter:

Goldfarb is an environmental journalist whose work has appeared in National Geographic, the Atlantic, Smithsonian Magazine, the New Yorker, and many other publications, and has several times been anthologized in the Best American Science & Nature Writing. His most recent book, Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet, was named one of the best books of 2023 by the New York Times and received the Rachel Carson Award for Excellence in Environmental Writing and the Banff Book Competition’s Grand Prize. His previous book, Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter, won the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award. He lives in Colorado with his wife, his daughter, and his dog, Kit — which is, of course, what you call a baby beaver.

This program is sponsored by the Granby Land Trust, with support from the Granby Public Library and the McLean Game Refuge.

For more information about Granby Land Trust, visit https://granbylandtrust.org/

For more information about McLean Game Refuge, visit https://mcleancare.org/game-refuge/