Beavers Wanted ~ WSJ on Nature's Engineers!-)

Joel Millman writes in the WSJ that With Trouble on the Range, Ranchers Wish They Could Leave It to Beaver: Critters, Once Reviled, Gain Popularity With Believers; Good Rodent, Hard to Find...

"Woolery's ranch on Beaver Creek outside Kinnear, Wyo., has been beaver-free for decades, but he could sure use their help now. A small beaver colony, he says, would engineer dams that raise the water table under his pastures, opening up drinking holes for his cattle. [...] It's a bit of a turnabout in these parts, where beavers have long been considered something of a nuisance -- blamed for everything from damming irrigation canals and gnawing fruit orchards to just generally wreaking havoc with agriculture. [...] But their slick skill set is what many landscapes now need, says a cadre of pro-beaver ranchers and environmentalists [...] Trapping, not killing, "nuisance" beavers, they say, can add value to wilderness reserves and farmland by increasing their water content."

Nice to hear people like Nature's engineer!