All About Beavers!
Do you want to learn more about beavers and how communities can live alongside them? Join the Jeudevine and the Town of Hardwick for a lively presentation on the lives of beavers and the strategies people are using to coexist with them.
Beavers are built for the water and cannot live without it. That is why they are so dedicated to building dams to hold water in place. As beavers move upstream and downstream, creating new ponds, the areas they leave behind gradually become meadows and shrublands. These changing landscapes provide important habitat for many plants and animals, from moose to mink. Because of this, beavers are considered a "keystone" species—one that plays a critical role in supporting many other species.
This presentation will explore beaver ecology, the benefits beavers bring to watersheds, and the tools communities use to reduce conflicts while allowing beavers to continue creating valuable wetland habitat.
Patti Smith is a naturalist with the Bonnyvale Environmental Education Center in Brattleboro.
Skip Lisle is a biologist, founder of Beaver Deceivers International, and a leading expert on beaver management and beaver-related ecosystems.
