A valley shaped by beavers
A valley shaped by beavers
Two special author events focus on the mammal’s sometimes-reckless return after nearing extinction as the region’s main export
You either really love them, you really hate them, or you don’t really think about them at all. But you should: The beaver is New York State’s official mammal, the largest rodent in North America, and, here in the Hudson Valley, they were the region’s main export for over 100 years.
Before the Europeans settled in the area, there were between 60- and 400-million beavers in North America. Henry Hudson’s landing in the Hudson Valley is believed to be the beginning of the end for the beavers, as crew members aboard the Half-moon wrote of beaver populations along the river, sparking interest back home in Holland.
But the ensuing fur trade “led to a rapid decline, with beavers vanishing almost entirely from the Hudson Valley.” And by 1650, there was “little to no sign of beavers from the Hudson River west to the Genesee.”
Beavers were considered more valuable than other animals in the fur trade for their double-walled pelts, but their eradication also led to the disruption of the ecosystems that relied on the dams they created. Dams raise the water level in ponds and rivers, encouraging plant growth.
Today, beavers are making a comeback with populations reintroduced to the Adirondacks and Hudson Valley from Canada and Yellowstone National Park.
But that doesn’t mean their return is always welcomed. Known as “nature’s finest wetland engineer,” a single beaver can chew down hundreds of trees per year, creating issues with deforestation, crop damages, and widespread flooding of roads, railways, forests and agricultural areas.
Learn more this week with Beaverland: How One Weird Rodent Made America, two free book launch events featuring award-winning author Leila Phillip on Wednesday, December 7 at 6:30pm at the Morton Memorial Library in Rhinecliff and on Friday, December 9 at Hudson Hall at 6pm. In Beaverland, Phillip traces the influence of this “wonderfully weird rodent” and talks with people whose lives are devoted to the beaver: a Harvard scientist from the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana who uses drones to create 3-dimensional images of beaver dams; and an environmental restoration consultant in the Chesapeake whose nickname is the “beaver whisperer.”
Register for the event in Rhinecliff: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/book-launch-leila-philip-beaverland-how-one-weird-rodent-made-america-tickets-444649678157
Register for the event in Hudson: https://hudsonhall.org/event/beaverland/
