Bringing Back the Beaver

September 1, 2020
Beavers are well known as industrious and ingenious builders. True enough, but beavers are also "keystone species." Where there are beavers, there are wetlands: home to flora and fauna that flourish solely because of the beaver. Importantly, a whole ecosystem can change due to beavers' activity slowing flows, filtering silts and building soils. Despite many attempts to reintroduce this species to Britain, beavers have largely been absent there since the Middle Ages, but that does not deter Gow, who is feisty, funny, and committed to restoring an ecosystem. On beavers' behalf, he wheedles, he smuggles, he wins some battles, and he loses others. His rapier wit and high dudgeon turn their high beams to self-important types, administrators, or anyone who values profit over nature. Lest he be accused of stodgy singlemindedness, Gow includes a hilarious foray into "sexing" a beaver (no easy task). His vast knowledge may send animal lovers Googling species like the Devil's bit scabious, Corncrakes, Coypus, and Thylacines. The author's whimsical hand drawings, along with his voluminous vocabulary, make this book a treasure.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)