Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter
https://wetlandsconservancy.org/event/eager-the-surprising-secret-life-of-beavers-and-why-they-matter/Join us at Hopworks for a community presentation and discussion with Ben Goldfarb, author of Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter.
In Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter, environmental author Ben Goldfarb reveals that our modern idea of what a healthy landscape looks like and how it functions is wrong, distorted by the fur trade that once trapped out millions of beavers from North America’s lakes and rivers. The consequences of losing beavers were 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, for humans and non-humans alike, than those without them. In his presentation, Goldfarb will describe beaver biology, ecology, and history; detail the many environmental benefits provided by beavers, including habitat creation, water storage, and pollution filtration; and detail how landowners and municipalities around the country are learning to coexist with these sometimes challenging rodents.
Ben Goldfarb is an award-winning environmental journalist and the author of Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2018), which the Washington Post called “a masterpiece of a treatise on the natural world.” His work has been featured in Science, Mother Jones, The Guardian, High Country News, Orion Magazine, and many other publications.