Three Drop Thursday
(It’s beavers rock week!)
Friends of Confluence West –
Welcome to Three Drop Thursday, a snapshot of what
we’ve been paying attention to this week.
For the West,
Kimery
This week: It’s all about beavers - because, as we know, beavers rock!
Many of you may have been enjoying the last few days of a screen-free August, and therefore missed this seminal report by our very own Felicia Marcus - State Climate Policy And Nature-Based Solutions: A Match That Provides Multiple Benefits For Climate, Water, And More.
Sounds like another boring report? Nope. Some of my favorite take-aways:
Many states already have climate policies, most of which also have complementary clean energy and/or energy efficiency policies. Fewer have complementary NBS policies linked to climate, or to climate and water together.
The most promising and timely areas of focus under the NBS umbrella are forest management practices designed to capture multiple benefits.
Beavers are nature’s engineers and present a mega-charismatic, nature-based solution.
(Do you know why beavers have orange teeth?)
More beavers!
Dr. Emily Fairfax took this video of a creek in the middle of a burn area in Northern California.
Beavers hit the big time - Front page of the NYT
It Was War. Then, a Rancher’s Truce With Some Pesky Beavers Paid Off.
The ‘highly skilled environmental engineers’ can help to store precious water and rejuvenate land ravaged by climate change. Just don’t dynamite their homes. But beavers also store lots of water for free, which is increasingly crucial in the parched West. And they don’t just help with drought. Their engineering subdues torrential floods from heavy rains or snowmelt by slowing water. It reduces erosion and recharges groundwater. And the wetlands beavers create may have the extra benefit of stashing carbon out of the atmosphere.
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