Creativity can be seen in all sorts of endeavors. Like changing perceptions of beavers and the
critical role they play in the ecosystem, emphasizing the value of beaver as a watershed management tool.
In the 1940’s Idaho’s Department of Fish and Game embarked
on an effort both large in scale
and kooky in method.
Finding
long, dusty overland trips too hard on the beavers, the department instead
packed pairs of the animals into crates, loaded them onto airplanes bound for
drought-stricken corners of the state, and dropped them by parachute. (The crates were rigged to open on
impact.)
The endeavor was apparently a success: a 1950 report notes that of the
76 beavers airdropped in the fall of 1948, only one fell to its death; the
others began building dams and homes and founding colonies, which can grow as
large as a dozen or so beavers.
Idaho’s strategy has since been validated by dozens of
scientific studies illustrating the vital role beavers play in ecosystems. Their dams create ponds and wetlands
that retain rainwater and snowmelt, and while beaver ponds themselves are
shallow little affairs, research has shown that they help preserve groundwater,
allowing vegetation and trees to flourish and increasing biodiversity.
According to one study, the amount of
fresh water a single colony adds to a local ecosystem each day is the equivalent
of at least a once-in-200-years flood event.
Read more about one program at adopt-a-beaver-campaign
No comments:
Post a Comment