Saving the Dammed Why We Need Beaver-Modified Ecosystems

About this book

The ability of beavers to create an abundant habitat for a diverse array of plants and animals has been analyzed time and again. The disappearance of beavers across the northern hemisphere, and what this effects, has yet to be comprehensively studied. Saving the Dammed analyzes the beneficial role of beavers and their dams in the ecosystem of a river, focusing on one beaver meadow in Colorado. In her latest book, Ellen Wohl contextualizes North St. Vrain Creek by discussing the implications of the loss of beavers across much larger areas. Saving the Dammed raises awareness of rivers as ecosystems and the role beavers play in sustaining the ecosystem surrounding rivers by exploring the macrocosm of global river alteration, wetland loss, and the reduction in ecosystem services. The resulting reduction in ecosystem services span things such as flood control, habitat abundance and biodiversity, and nitrate reduction. Allowing readers to follow her as she crawls through seemingly impenetrable spaces with slow and arduous movements, Wohl provides a detailed narrative of beaver meadows.

Contents

Introduction:
- The Beaver Meadow on North St. Vrain Creek
- The Great Drying
- A Watery Microcosm
January:
- Of Rocks and Ice
- The Setting
- The Rocks
- The Ice
- After the Glaciers
February:
- About Beavers
- The Meadow in February
- Worth a Dam
- About Beavers
- The Family Tree of Beavers
- The Southern Colonists
- Where Beavers Belong
March:
- Water Superheroes
- The Meadow in March
- Fire, Flood, and Drought
- Water Superheroes
April:
- Six Degrees of Connectivity
- A Rolling Sand Grain Makes No Soil
- To Make a Meadow It Takes a Beaver and One Dam
- Beavers Versus Glaciers
- Only Connect... or Disconnect
May:
- Plugging the Nutrient Leaks
- Biogeochemical Engineers
- Carbon Stored Versus Carbon Lost
June:
- The Thin Green Line
- The Beavers and the Forest
- The Thin Green Line
- Green Engineering
July:
- Of Fish and Frogs and Flying Things
- A Fish in Every Pond
- Cutthroat Competition
August:
- Legacy Effects
- Creating a Fur Desert
- Colorado Mountain Men
- A Legacy of Absence
September:
- Alternate Realities
- Beaver Meadows and Elk Grasslands
- Nature Green in Tooth and Paw
October:
- Of Beavers and Humans
- Lessons Not Yet Learned
- Beaver Leas
- Appreciating Beavers
November:
- Beavers to the Rescue
- Leave it to Beavers
- Beavers to the Rescue
December:
- Saving the Dammed
- Taking the Pulse of the North St. Vrain Beaver Meadow
- Ecosystem Services
- Betting on Beavers

Bibliography
Index

Customer Reviews