Wild at Heart Wild at Heart (No. 11) : Page 4
SUPER BEAVER! Why Are YOU a Guardian? Bryan Bird C “My main reason is for the wolves, I think they are grossly misunderstood and so hunted and cruelly trapped. W ild E arth G uardians has the power and energy to make something happen for the wolves, with advocacy and legal strategies.” — m ary E llEn c ollins Santa Fe, New Mexico, Marketing Consultant Why are you a G uardian ? Visit our website and let us know. 4 residents across the West will be limate got you hot and at risk, the plight of dozens bothered? Fear not, of endangered species— Super Beaver to the rescue! including the Rio Grande W ild E arth G uardians cutthroat trout, Northern is working side by side leopard frog, Southwestern with our beaver heroes willow flycatcher and New to mitigate the effects Mexico meadow jumping of climate change. mouse—will worsen Beaver restoration and and recreational protection of national opportunities will forests and other diminish. Enhancing public lands in the the health and resilience American West is of our headwaters at this a means to enhance critical juncture, while the resilience of adaptation is still possible, rivers and streams. necessitates more creative, Restored beaver systemic solutions. populations, with Once abundant their dams and ponds on streams throughout and the associated the American West, wetland and aquatic beaver populations are ecosystems, will serve significantly depressed not only to greatly from their historic highs enhance the persistence and of the late 1800’s due resilience of many imperiled to historic and current native animals and plants, Super Beaver, our climate change hero. Look trapping and stream but also to increase for him in a stream near you! habitat degradation. water storage of streams Today, state and federal undergoing dramatic beaver and land management policies— changes in runoff patterns that endanger including trapping and public lands cattle downstream municipal water supplies. grazing—continue to actively and passively Climate change threatens headwaters in an undermine beaver recovery. Habitat restoration unprecedented and nearly ubiquitous manner, and beaver reintroduction is key to the recovery especially in the American Southwest. Longer, and resilience of the streams. Thousands of miles of suitable streams and rivers across the West do not have, and have Thousands of miles of not had, ecologically functioning populations of beavers in more than a century. suitable streams and rivers We are working with federal and state agencies including the Santa Fe National across the West Forest and Valles Caldera National Preserve in New Mexico as well as state agencies such as do not have, and have not had, the New Mexico Environment Department to restore the habitat and food source of the ecologically functioning beaver. We will eventually partner to reestablish beaver populations where they will do the populations of beavers most benefit and encounter the least resistance. For beaver populations to be viable and have in more than a century. a significant effect countering climate change, state and federal agencies across the American West will have to join in welcoming back more intense drought, earlier snowmelts and Super Beaver. warmer temperatures will diminish or even Visit our website: Top Priorities>Climate dry up headwater streams and rivers. As a Laboratory>Beavers: Climate Heroes result, public water supplies of millions of CH RI S D IE STLE R
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