Scale a beaver dam with me and Dr. Emily Fairfax, beaver researcher, ecohydrologist, assistant professor at CSU Channel Islands, and science communicator extraordinaire who has been featured on NPR's Science Friday and All Things Considered. In this episode, you'll hear us discuss ecosystem engineers, what beavers eat, the best time of year to look for beaver dams, the North American Fur Trade, how beavers can permanently change landscapes, rodents of unusual size, what it means to be a keystone species, dam building, the fish that live in beaver ponds, what beavers do with those flat tails, natural infinity pools, the difference between a dam and a lodge, and why beavers are drought and wildfire superheroes. 
Here are some helpful resources:
Emily's amazing stop-motion video on beavers and wildfire
Bay Nature article on human-beaver interactions in California
USDA Factsheet on invasive nutria
WorldAtlas on how beavers build dams
Leave it to Beaver
Emily's talk for California Naturalist's CONES speaker series
You can find me on Instagram or TikTok @goldenstatenaturalist
You can support me on Patreon at www.patreon.com/michellefullner
My website is www.goldenstatenaturalist.com
The theme song is called "i dunno" by grapes, and you can find it and the Creative Commons license here. 

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