Join Friends of the Mad River for the next installment of our Climate & Ecology Expert Series as we welcome author and environmental journalist Ben Goldfarb for his presentation “Dam It: Partnering with Beavers to Heal the Planet”. Register for this virtual event at https://tinyurl.com/fmrbeaver.

In his book “Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter”, Ben Goldfarb reveals that our modern conception of a healthy ecosystem is wrong, distorted by the fur trade that once eliminated millions of beavers from North America’s waterways. The consequences of losing beavers were profound: ponds drained, wetlands dried up, and species from salmon to swans lost vital habitat. Today, a growing coalition of “Beaver Believers”—including scientists, farmers, and passionate citizens—recognizes that ecosystems with beavers are far healthier than those without them. From the Nevada deserts to the Scottish highlands, Believers are hard at work restoring these industrious rodents to their former haunts. In his talk, Ben will discuss the history and biology of this world-changing species; how beavers can help us fight drought, flooding, wildfire, and climate change; and how we can coexist with this challenging but vital rodent.

About the speaker: Ben Goldfarb is an environmental journalist whose work has appeared in National Geographic, the Atlantic, Smithsonian Magazine, and many other publications, and has twice 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, Elise, and his dog, Kit — which is, of course, what you call a baby beaver.