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WELCOME!
This is our inaugural international conference on the East Coast, embracing Nature’s Chief Engineer, the mighty beaver. |
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In recent years an increasing body of knowledge has demonstrated the many benefits of beavers, as well as innovative, cost-effective methods to manage them. North America's most valuable Keystone species, the beaver, can naturally restore healthy streams and watersheds, improve water quality and storage, combat climate change, increase biodiversity and even recover endangered species, including salmon.
The Vision for creating the BeaverCON 2020 Conference is to bring professionals, practitioners, and others dealing with beaver issues and wetland restoration together on the East Coast for the first time to share the latest research and best management practices for "Nature's Engineer", the North American beaver. An international field of scientists, researchers, practitioners and authors will gather near Baltimore, MD on March 3 - 5, 2020 to share landscape scale restoration methods using beaver, the latest scientific research, and how to cost-effectively resolve beaver problems. We hope to see you at this landmark event! The State of the Beaver, a biennial conference held in Oregon, was the inspiration for this conference. We hope to add to the momentum and assistance the State of the Beaver has provided to the restoration community, land managers and others by hosting an east coast conference on alternating years with the west coast conference. Many recent publications, most notably Eager, The Surprising Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter, by Ben Goldfarb, and Once They Were Hats; In Search of the Mighty Beaver, by Frances Backhouse, have brought much needed attention to the historically maligned beaver and have enlightened us to their incredible ability to reshape and heal landscapes, and provide many beneficial ecosystem services. Inspired by, and building on others' endeavors, it's our hope for BeaverCON 2020 to bring to light much of the cutting edge research showing how beaver provide much needed ecological recovery, assist with restoring threatened and endangered species, improve water quality, and provide important adaptations to climate change. Proven techniques to cost-effectively coexist with beaver will also be featured. And, we hope that you will join us! Mike Callahan and Scott McGill |
Our sincere thanks to the Beaver Advocacy Committee (SURCP), in Canyonville, Oregon for inspiring this beaver community around thoughtful research, action and collaboration.
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