Humans and beavers share the ability to radically reshape landscapes in a short amount of time. Things get interesting when these two visions for the land conflict or align. I’m traveling around the world for the next year to explore this tension.
Damming questions: Beavers, humans, and environmental ethics
During my Watson year, I plan to visit Norway, Canada, Argentina, Britain, and other countries that have unique social, historical, economic, and ecological landscapes that shape how beavers are managed and what role they play in conservation. I will work alongside people as they research, conserve, restore, hunt, or manage these crafty critters. Along the way, I will continue to refine my own environmental ethic, probing my role and responsibilities in environmental stewardship.
My hope is to use beavers as a vehicle to wrestle with an impossible-to-answer question at the heart of conservation biology: How can we balance our responsibilities to the human and non-human natural world?
At some point, I’ll have reflections, photos, reading lists, and updates on this site. In the meantime, sign up for the newsletter or check out my proposal if you are curious what I have in store.
Calling All Beaver People
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Calling All Beaver People *
Examples of the types of folks I’m looking to chat/work with:
Radical rewilders
Beaver hunters
People in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Kosovo, Croatia, Mexico, France, or Greece
Beaver hunters in Argentina
Anyone else you think has a unique beaver story!
This project relies upon the willingness for folks to let me lend a hand with however they interact with beavers (relocation, hunting, management, etc.). I’ve been able to make lots of connections ahead of time, but I am always looking for new unique opportunities. So if you know of anyone who does something having to do with beavers, click the button on the below.
I am currently in Birnam, Scotland
I’m working with the Beaver Trust to trap, manage, and care for beavers. Subscribe to newsletter for Beaver Pics
Next I am headed to: Porto, Portugal (maybe)
Fellowship
This project is funding through a Thomas J Watson Fellowship from the Watson Foundation. So far, its been just wonderful and amazing. I’ve included my proposal because I enjoying putting it together and reading through other proposals helped me figure things out as I was applying last year. My project will evolve as I travel and is likely to diverge from the itinerary I proposed.