Beaver spotted near airport April 18. Stephanie Hall Photos

Multiple people reported late afternoon beaver sightings on the West End in April. The first was April 18 near the airport, and the second was April 19 at the Gatehouse. This is a good thing! Beavers are critical to the healthy ecology of streams and wetlands.

The American beaver is the largest rodent in the United States and is sometimes thought of as a nuisance in populated areas, because it fells trees (for food) and floods areas with dams (as protection from predators).

But beavers provide multiple ecological benefits: They create a diversity of wetland habitats and replace forested areas with grassy “beaver meadows” and aquatic vegetation. Beavers are also a “keystone” species, which means that they have a disproportionate positive impact on an ecosystem when compared to their numbers.

A growing coalition of “Beaver Believers”, including scientists and ranchers, are trying to restore beavers to diverse areas, from the Nevada deserts to the Scottish Highlands.

A 2018 book, Eager: The Surprising Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter, by Ben Goldfarb, shows how our landscapes have changed over the centuries, and how beavers can help fight drought, flooding, wildfire, extinction, and the ravages of climate change. The book is the winner of the 2019 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award.

For further information, read Beavers in Connecticut: Their Natural History and Management.