Partner with beavers to address climate change

In a moment of global crisis — the racism crisis, the police violence crisis, the pandemic crisis — we must not forget that climate change looms behind all of our struggles for justice and better lives. As our existential tipping point approaches, the humble beaver could be a valuable ally in mitigating the impacts of global warming on the forests, waters, farms and cities of Oregon and the Northwest. The beaver is a keystone species that creates habitat for many other plants and animal. Beavers can sequester water at high elevations in natural structures that feed streams, rivers and reservoirs during dry seasons. Beaver wetlands slow and divert wildfires. Vegetation submerged in beaver ponds captures and stores carbon that would otherwise add to the greenhouse gas burden in our atmosphere. Before the arrival of Hudson's Bay Company trappers three centuries ago, tens of millions of beavers controlled the hydrology of North America. If beavers are allowed to repopulate our public wild lands, they will help protect our domestic and agricultural water supplies for centuries to come. All we need to do is cease our extermination campaign. Beavers will rebound and do the work for which they evolved ... at no charge to our public or private bank accounts.