1. shiftingbaselines
  2. Beavers & South America

Beavers & South America

By josh donlan on June 22, 2008.

In some conservation circles, there has been a lot of talk lately about the newly planned damns in southern Chile. In some ways, its a classic debate: finding a balance between energy needs and preserving wild places. But a different kind of damn is a much larger threat to southern South America: beaver damns. North American beavers were introduced to Tierra del Fuego island back in the mid 1950s; today they have spread throughout the island and onto the mainland - covering more than 14 million hectares, and causing widespread ecosystem damage. Over the past year, I have been part for a feasibility team commissioned by the governments of Chile and Argentina to gauge whether eradication is possible.

i-fcafbcf176af90d050189c3f64194b6a-beavers.jpg

The bad news is that in all my travels to countless islands that have been completely devastated by invasive mammals, I have never seen the kind of damage I've have seen in southern South America due to beavers. The good news is the eradication is possible, given the proper resources and leadership. But, it won't be cheap and will require the support of the international conservation community. Let's hope they are up for it, because beavers are making their way to Patagonia. The next few years will be the make or break point for one of the world's last wild places.

See an article in last week's Nature Magazine for more info.

Tags
Rewilding

More like this

Why We Need Ecological History In Schools
Here is recent article about beavers in the UK newspaper - The Guardian. This is a classic example of how a lack of appreciation for ecological history leads to ignorance. The journalist tries to compare the ecological consequences of North American beaver that have been introduced to southern…
Birds in the News 54 (v2n5)
Dark-eyed junco, Junco hyemalis. Click image for a larger view in its own window. Photo by Dawn Bailey and appears here by permission. Birds in Science A Duke University evolutionary ecologist reported evidence that aggressive male western bluebirds, Sialia mexicana, out-compete less aggressive…
Dying Dams and Plundering Pigs
With the creation of national parks and wildlife preserves, we hope to cling to the nature of yesteryear. Perhaps if we section off this area, we say, we can save it from ecological change. Pffft. I think it is going to change, no matter what... and lines drawn on a map won't block all the effects…
Attack of the killer mice - introduced rodents eat seabird chicks alive
As Charles Darwin learned several centuries ago, islands are havens for evolution. Newcomers to these isolated worlds find themselves unshackled from the predators that dogged them on the mainland. They celebrate their freedom by diversifying into a great variety of species. But predators still…

Josh, I recommend quietly editing the post and disavowing all knowledge of what Elissa is talking about.