Are beavers the key to restoring the watersheds of much of the United States? 

In her compelling, highly readable book Beaver Land: How One Weird Rodent Made America, Leila Philip makes a convincing case that beavers, at the very least, should be considered role models and potential partners in efforts to restore more natural hydrologic conditions in the highly modified landscapes that comprise so much of the United States today.

In Beaver Land, Philip —a professor of English at the College of the Holy Cross—weaves together a fascinating blend of history, ethnography, and environmental science to illustrate the significant extent to which beavers shaped both the physical landscape as well as the economic development of the United States. 

Not only did this “one weird rodent” create the varied habitats that myriad other species came to rely on, but the massive trade in beaver pelts that began well before America’s founding as a nation helped to drive the country’s westward expansion, as Philip ably illustrates. Along with pointing out the harm that the beaver trade often had on indigenous communities, Philip also notes the deep respect for beavers held by many Native American tribes, a respect that is reflected in their traditional stories.

Of perhaps greatest interest to One Water practitioners is Philip’s examination of recent and ongoing efforts to incorporate beavers in ecosystem restoration projects. Second only to humans in their ability to alter and shape the landscape around them, beavers are experts at stream restoration, flood reduction, wetlands creation, groundwater recharge, and fire suppression, to name just a few of the many ecosystem services that they provide essentially for free.

“Beavers had certainly shaped and maintained the river system of North America’s past, but could they play a significant role in helping save our troubled rivers now?” Philip asks.

In Chapter 13, “Thinking Like a Watershed,” Philip describes a few projects conducted in Maryland by the environmental restoration company Ecotone, Inc. In one case in which beavers were allowed to construct dams on farmland outside of Baltimore, the animal engineers converted a highly degraded stream into wetlands that provided critical wildlife habitat and helped to cleanse water that ultimately was destined for the Chesapeake Bay, itself a troubled water body.

“The natural world’s ability to regenerate (in this case, because of the work of the beavers) was a kind of magic,” Philip writes about the wetlands.

In another case, Philip shows another stream restoration project in which Ecotone installs “beaver dam analogs,” or human-made structures similar to beaver dams, and plants willows and other plant species favored by beavers in the hopes of enticing them to move in and work their magic.

To her credit, Philip does not ignore the conflicts that can arise when beavers and humans seek to use the same spaces. Flooded roads and train tracks can and do result from beaver activity, as Philip documents. Fortunately, significant progress has been made in the design and use of pond levelers and culvert fencing systems that reduce the deleterious effects that beavers can have on human property, as Philip also shows. 

Ultimately, Beaver Land should be read by anyone interested in understanding just how much beavers have shaped the United States and how much they potentially could help to restore the health of our degraded waterways and landscapes.