I'll Be Dammed

Chris Johnson is a mastermind character in this story - the guy behind the scenes building relationships and making connections to get meaningful and lasting stream restoration projects accomplished here in the Methow Valley and beyond. Founder of the Methow Salmon Recovery Foundation (MSRF), Chris is a community builder, planner, advocate and leader. Listen in as we discuss his leadership role over the years, how MSRF started, the relationship between MSRF and the Methow Beaver Project, management strategies, conflict management lessons, and some of the current projects underway right now.

https://www.methowsalmon.org/

https://www.facebook.com/methowsalmon/

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Methow Beaver Project: https://methowbeaverproject.org/

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Bill brings decades of experience ranching in the Methow Valley to the table as he discusses how he has watched beavers shape landscapes over time. If you hear some background noise on this one (and maybe a dog) it’s because I hopped in a truck with Bill and his dog for this interview. (In fact, if you have time, the YouTube video for this episode will be more fun than the audio podcast.) We ended up in a field of alfalfa trying to fix the motor on a wheel line irrigation system. Our conversation ranges from his frustrations with beavers, how beaver dams collect sediment and create meadows, the cycle of beavers on the landscape, what beavers do for fish, and the potential challenges of having beavers on your property if you’re a rancher. The Methow Beaver Project does not necessarily agree with everything Bill said, but we appreciate his perspective from a life lived in Eastern Washington’s working landscapes.

Let’s hop in the truck and go for a drive, shall we?

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Methow Beaver Project: https://methowbeaverproject.org/

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What’s it like to work for the Methow Beaver Project? What do our days and weeks look like? This episode includes a personal interview conversation with each member of the MBP team. We discuss their past professional experience, the story of how they joined the MBP, what their work looks like, and why they are motivated to do beaver restoration work. After chatting with Alexa Whipple, our Director, last week, this episode includes the remaining four MBP employees:

Josiah Shaver - Summer Intern 2021

Willy Dugauy - Outreach & Restoration Field Assistant

Joe Weirich - Restoration Coordinator

Julie Nelson - Education and Outreach Coordinator

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Methow Beaver Project: https://methowbeaverproject.org/

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Alexa is the current Director here at the Methow Beaver Project. Listen in as we get down to the heart of our work and why it matters. We discuss the history of beaver trapping in North America, the radical changes to the land and ecology that resulted, how beavers are part of climate change resilience, why this work matters to Alexa personally, and why, in the face of so much environmental doom, beaver restoration offers realistic and much needed hope. Get the inside scoop on our mission, how we are funded as a nonprofit, and what Alexa does on a day-to-day level.

As an ecologist and a farmer, Alexa works for sustainability in all practices and effective solutions to challenging conditions. She has called the Methow Valley home for the last 20 years but has worked across the western US studying songbirds, carnivores, plant communities, agricultural impacts on habitat and wildlife and wildfire impacts on riparian ecosystems. Her family has also commercially raised and sold annual vegetables and perennial fruits as well as provided well water services to the Methow Valley. Alexa completed her MS in Restoration Ecology at Eastern Washington University where she focused on beaver ecology and beaver mediated restoration of wildfire impacts in the Methow River watershed.

We want your feedback!

509-289-2770

[email protected]

Methow Beaver Project: https://methowbeaverproject.org/

Please consider writing us a review.

It’s been said that beavers are the only engineers that come in under budget and ahead of schedule.

With all of the work that beavers do on streams, how does this influence wildfires?

That’s exactly the question that we explore in this episode.

Dr. Fairfax has a PhD in Geological and Earth Sciences from the University of Colorado in Boulder. She is an Assistant Professor at California State University Channel Islands.

Dr. Fairfax’s stop motion animation video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAM94B73bzE

Dr. Fairfax’s article:

Fairfax, E., and A. Whittle. 2020. Smokey the Beaver: beaver-dammed riparian corridors stay green during wildfire throughout the western USA. Ecological Applications 30(8):e02225. 10.1002/eap. 2225. https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/eap.2225

We want your feedback!

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Methow Beaver Project: https://methowbeaverproject.org/

Please consider writing us a review.

Welcome to I’ll Be Dammed, a podcast by the Methow Beaver Project! To kick things off, we decided to interview one of the titans of beaver management and coexistence (“coex”) in the United States. Founder of Beaver Solutions LLC and the Beaver Institute Inc. in Massachusetts, Mike has been working with beavers and landowners for over twenty years and has worked on over 2000 beaver conflict scenarios. Listen in as we discuss beaver history in North America, trapping, common misconceptions about beavers, odd things found in beaver dams, and Mike’s personal story about getting involved with these rodents.

Beaver Institute Inc.: https://www.beaverinstitute.org/

Beaver Solutions LLC: https://www.beaversolutions.com/

Beaver Management Forum Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/339105817425

Methow Beaver Project: https://methowbeaverproject.org/

We want your feedback!

509-289-2770

[email protected]

Please consider writing us a review.