 Our May Membership meeting will take place on May 24th!
Location: CPW Classroom, 4255 Sinton Rd, Colorado Springs, CO 80907 Social Time: 6:30pm Meeting: 7:00pm Pizza and Soft Drinks will be available! Tonight will be the drawing for our Raffle Prize! Partnering with Beaver to Restore Wetland The importance of partnering with beavers, the quintessential aquatic ecosystem engineers, has crystalized in recent years. In the past, restoration approaches have focused on stabilizing channels using engineered repairs. In many Rocky Mountain head water systems, it is possible to work with a native species to enable natural processes to improve the health of streams and wetlands. This talk explores the history of beavers in Colorado headwaters and why it makes sense to work with the ecosystem engineers as partners in restoration, rather than as products or tools for restoration. We will discuss practical approaches to beaver-related restoration including beaver relocation/reintroduction, conflict resolution, mimicry, and treatments aimed at promoting beaver activity. Partnering with beaver is an obvious, if not always easy, solution to restoring sustainable, resilient, naturally functioning headwaters streams and wetlands. Jessica Doran, Our Guest Speaker Jessica lives in Breckenridge, Colorado where her work as an ecologist is focused on headwater systems of the Southern Rocky Mountains. Years of monitoring streams led to the observation that the healthiest riverscapes were usually home to beavers. Since then, research and time in the field revealed the ecological importance of beavers, as well as their dramatically reduced presence across the region. Motivated to help in the effort to reclaim these lost systems, Jessica, and her colleagues at EcoMetrics, study beaver systems to better understand how to enable and restore beaver influenced riverscapes. An ecologist by training, her interest in the biological aspects of fluvial systems sent Jessica back to school to study wildlife biology conservation at CSU. Rooted in the belief that ecologically healthy systems benefit all life, Jessica hopes to contribute to our evolving fields of restoration and stewardship through practical experience and applied science. Comments are closed.
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