The Fur-Bearers are proud to release a French translation of our popular booklet, Beavers: Coexistence Strategies for Municipalities and Landowners. The 24-page booklet is an overview of the important role beavers play in ecosystems, how municipalities and landowners can utilize in-field solutions to protect infrastructure and an extensive list of scientific references provided by UBC Janice Wong.
“In an era of climate crisis we need to give the environment every advantage we can. One advantage is keeping beavers on the landscape,” explains Lesley Fox, Executive Director of The Fur-Bearers. “But beavers’ natural ecological engineering can be at odds with how humans want to use landscapes – and that conflict has traditionally resulted in beavers being trapped and killed. Fortunately, there are solutions that can keep beaver families together and providing their incredible benefits to nature while protecting infrastructure from damage.”
Tree wrapping and multiple types of flow devices – pipe and cage systems that manage water levels through dams or prevent damming activities – are outlined in the booklet, as well as examples of successes.
“It was important for us to include a robust reference list as traditional management – lethal control – does not take into effect the entirety of ecosystems and the proven, positive impacts beavers have,” says Fox. “The digital edition of our beaver book will be updated routinely with new resources as they become available.”
A limited print run of the book was made possible and presented at the Union of BC Municipalities conference in September in part due to a grant from A Seed Of Change. Graphic design by Michelle Lee of Broadview Design. The French translation was provided by Nathalie Bussieres. Thanks, Nathalie!