One of the best full-length books about nature and ecology that I've read recently, this book by writer and "Beaver Believer" Goldfarb explains how the beaver, that funny-looking rodent with the big tail that chops down trees to make ponds, is actually one of the most important mammalian species for restoring natural environments and landscapes.
In the course of the book, we learn about how beavers, who Goldfarb describes as “nature’s engineers”, shaped the earlier natural environment of America before the European settlers arrived, with its endless marshes, swamps and wetlands full of life, but how that rich and boggy terrain was transformed and damaged by the wholesale slaughter of beavers during the fur-trading era of North American exploration and European settlement.
We also find out about the modern naturalists who have figured out how brilliantly these little nuisances can design and build dams and ponds, to great effect in restoring and reclaiming damaged landscapes, and how the more annoying results of their work (as they affect farmers and cattle ranchers) can be successfully managed and mitigated.
A wonderful story of wild animals, their complex roles and inter-dependencies in the natural world and our ongoing human attempts to understand and interact with them. Highly recommended.
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