Saving the Dammed

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. VrainCreek 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 inecosystem 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.Saving the Dammed takes readers through twelve months at a beaver meadow in Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park, exploring how beavers change river valleys and how the decline in beaver populations has altered river ecosystems. As Wohl analyzes and discusses the role beavers play in the ecosystem of a river, readers get to follow her through tight, seemingly impenetrable, crawl spaces as she uncovers the benefit of dams.

This book shows how profoundly beavers contribute to ecosystem functioning and thus human well-being. Chapters of the book are perfect starting points for group discussions on the complex workings of nature., This book has a potentially broad appeal, because it straddles both observational nature writing and more formal scientific-type writing, and I can see academics, practitioners, and naturephiles all encountering snippets of information that will fascinate them—and scratching their chins in contemplation . . . Saving the Dammed provides a plethora of clear, concise evidence as to why we need beaver-modified ecosystems., Ellen brings together the manifold benefits that wetlands bring, for nutrient cycling, carbon and nitrogen storage, by flow moderating and improving groundwater levels and in restoring biodiverse habitats. A highly readable education on just how much more we can gain by reconnecting our rivers and flood plains, and harnessing nature to mitigate centuries of our impacts. It is as relevant in Europe as it is to North America, whether we are blessed with beavers or have to imitate their green engineering.

Ellen Wohl is a native of Ohio. She received a Bachelor of Science in geology from Arizona State University and a PhD in geosciences from the University of Arizona. She has been on the faculty at Colorado State University since 1989. Wohl has conducted fieldwork worldwide, and her research focuses on rivers, including the effects of beavers on river process and form. She is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the Geological Society ofAmerica.