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A review by mchester24
Beaverland: How One Weird Rodent Made America by Leila Philip
4.0
I really enjoyed this deep dive into the way overlooked quirky rodent that’s always been in America’s backyard. The writing style that weaves together the author’s experiences, days spent with experts and stakeholders across the spectrum, history and mythology, current research, and future opportunities really worked well for me.
I picked up this book because I’ve been on a kick of nature and wildlife books and learning more about how to really support natural ecosystems— and I admit I did have some early concerns (especially since I avoid any animal products) when the first good chunk of the book was all about beaver trappers and fur traders— not just historical but modern players as well. Obviously the history of fur trade is critical to early European colonization history in America so I understood its significance, but the time spent covering trappers today gave me initial unease. What I realized, though, was the author approached them with the same unease herself and still sought to learn their perspective, history, and self-proclaimed reverence for beavers and other wildlife. In the end, my conclusions that these people were at least somewhat earnest in their work being intended to help the environments but perhaps misguided in the end seemed to echo those of the authors, even if she took care not to denigrate them.
Eventually, though, Philips did turn to the environmental wonders that beavers evolved to do naturally and how they created what our u set standing of early wilderness in America was. Then that laid the groundwork for how we can and should think of beavers not just as metaphorical engineers, but assets that are doing actual engineering for for effectively and affordable than many environmental engineering outfits! The future of our uncertain environment real can be shaped by fostering more beavers around us to build up necessary water infrastructure, reserves, and more than are more needed than ever given current climate trends.
In the end, my first act upon completion of this book was to try and research the closest place for me to find some beavers to see up close. That’s a resounding positive review alone, if you ask me!
I picked up this book because I’ve been on a kick of nature and wildlife books and learning more about how to really support natural ecosystems— and I admit I did have some early concerns (especially since I avoid any animal products) when the first good chunk of the book was all about beaver trappers and fur traders— not just historical but modern players as well. Obviously the history of fur trade is critical to early European colonization history in America so I understood its significance, but the time spent covering trappers today gave me initial unease. What I realized, though, was the author approached them with the same unease herself and still sought to learn their perspective, history, and self-proclaimed reverence for beavers and other wildlife. In the end, my conclusions that these people were at least somewhat earnest in their work being intended to help the environments but perhaps misguided in the end seemed to echo those of the authors, even if she took care not to denigrate them.
Eventually, though, Philips did turn to the environmental wonders that beavers evolved to do naturally and how they created what our u set standing of early wilderness in America was. Then that laid the groundwork for how we can and should think of beavers not just as metaphorical engineers, but assets that are doing actual engineering for for effectively and affordable than many environmental engineering outfits! The future of our uncertain environment real can be shaped by fostering more beavers around us to build up necessary water infrastructure, reserves, and more than are more needed than ever given current climate trends.
In the end, my first act upon completion of this book was to try and research the closest place for me to find some beavers to see up close. That’s a resounding positive review alone, if you ask me!