The Methow Beaver Project, in conjunction with the Methow Salmon Recovery Foundation, will host its first Beaver Celebration on Saturday and Sunday (Sept. 14-15).
The event will be a celebration of beavers and their benefits to us and our watershed, and also of the beaver project’s founders, history and accomplishments.
The free activities begin with a social in Mack Lloyd Park in Winthrop at 5 p.m. on Saturday, with food and drinks available for purchase. At 6:30 p.m., the celebration will move into the Winthrop Barn for presentations by Ben Goldfarb, author of “Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter,” and Sarah Koenigsberg, who will screen her short film, “The Beaver Believers.”
Beaver restoration site tours will be offered on Sunday morning — sign up at Saturday’s event. For information, visit methowsalmon.org/beaverproject.html, email methow.beaver@gmail.com or call (509) 289-2770.
Established in 2008, the Methow Beaver Project working to increase understanding and appreciation of beavers, their benefits, relocation and management through community engagement and partnerships to improve wetland, riparian, stream and watershed health.
The brainchild of John Rohrer, Kent Woodruff, Kim Romain-Bondi and Steve Bondi, the Methow Beaver Project has trapped and relocated more than 400 “nuisance” beavers from private lands to 60 sites in the upper watershed.
Goldfarb is an environmental journalist and editor. Published last year, “Eager” is the story of how beavers affect both places and people, and the role the animals can play in managing challenges like drought, wildfire, and climate change. The book won a 2019 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award and features the work of the Methow Beaver Project.
Koenigsberg is a filmmaker, photographer, and educator whose work focuses on stories of art, environment and community in the American West. “The Beaver Believers” won a Green Spark Award from the American Conservation Film Festival and has screened in film festivals worldwide.
