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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Down To Earth

Lands Council gets shout-out in The Atlantic magazine

I'm a little late to this party but if you pick up the June issue of The Atlantic - which I will always call the Atlantic Monthly - check out "Leave It To Beavers," an article about the environmental benfits of beavers which mentions our own local group, The Lands Council.

Here's an excerpt: Eastern Washington, where Amanda Parrish and her team are implementing their “Beaver Solution,” is today home to about 50,000 beavers, compared with a onetime high of perhaps 5 million. Because of rising temperatures, the snowpack is melting earlier and earlier in springtime, causing trillions of gallons of fresh water to gush down from the mountains, overwhelming streams and sluicing over the ground too fast to nourish the ecosystem.

Repopulating such a large region with beavers is exceptionally complex. The dense forests that beavers once inhabited no longer cover the range, so reintroduced families have limited options for homes. And beavers, being wild animals, don’t always stay put. But each new family integrated into the ecosystem makes the job easier, stemming the loss of fresh water and creating habitat suitable for more beavers. So far, Parrish and her team have moved 45 beavers into the area. Their thinking is simple, and especially compelling as the Earth warms and droughts become more prevalent: where there are beavers, there is water.
 

Amanda Parrish and Joe Cannon from the Lands Council. Image courtesy of Martinez Beavers

Of course, I would be remiss if I didn't mention DTE's Paul Haeder for pouncing early on the story with articles that appeared in Spokane Coeur D'Alene Live and our site. I assume a check is on its way. But this recognition for the program seriously rocks.



Down To Earth

The DTE blog is committed to reporting and sharing environmental news and sustainability information from across the Inland Northwest.