Midwest Beaver Summit 2023 Schedule

​Co-hosted by the Superior Bio-Conservancy, the Illinois Beaver Alliance, American Rivers, Heartland Rewilding, Friends of the Chicago River, Native Range Ecological, LLC, The Beaver Institute, and Midwest Beaver Management
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Sponsored by Openlands, Society for Ecological Restoration Midwest Chapter, and The Land Conservancy of McHenry County.

Day One: Wednesday, September 13

Session 1 - The Adaptable Beaver and Ecological Amnesia
​Ben Goldfarb, author of Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter; and Leila Philip, author of Beaverland. A moderated discussion with two authors who have a high-level view of beaver advocacy in the context of social and natural history.

Session 2 - Beavers’ Ecosystem Services
​​Emily Fairfax, Assistant Professor of Physical Geography at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, presents on the ecosystem services beavers provide within the context of climate change.

Session 3 - Floodplain Reconnection and Examples of American Rivers’ Process-Based River Restoration Projects
Olivia Dorothy, Director of River Restoration at American Rivers, presents on why floodplain reconnection is important, provides a few examples of process-based river restoration done by the American Rivers, and shows how beavers play a role in river restoration.

Day Two: Wednesday, September 20

Session 4 - Beavers and the Creation of Habitat and Biodiversity, 
Steve Windels, Wildlife Biologist at Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota, discusses beaver basics and how they create biodiversity through their eco-engineering skills as a keystone species. He uses examples from his research at Voyageurs National Park to explain the species richness experienced on beaver complexes.

Session 5 - Working with Beaver to Restore Trout and Salmon Habitat in the Context of a Changing Climate
Michael Pollock, Research Fish Biologist at Northwest Fisheries Science Center for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, presents on how beavers repair streams and provide a healthy habitat for trout and salmon amidst our changing climate.

Session 6 - Managing Beaver Conflicts Nonlethally, 
Mike Callahan, Founder/President of The Beaver Institute, and Loren Taylor, BeaverCorps Program Director at The Beaver Institute, present on nonlethal methods for reducing human/beaver conflict, loss of infrastructure, and flooding. Mike provides examples of engineering devices that can be utilized to promote coexistence and Loren presents information on B-Corp, a program provided by The Beaver Institute to train land managers on how to install and maintain nonlethal devices.

Follow-up QA from each session can be accessed here.

Contact: [email protected] for more information.