Beavers: Return of the Engineer – Heidi Perryman

On Saturday, February 3rd at 7 pm, the Friends of San Pedro Valley Park welcomed Heidi Perryman, Ph.D., a child psychologist who became an accidental beaver advocate when she started filming the beavers that showed up in her hometown in 2006. She presented a lecture via Zoom entitled “Return of the Engineer.” Europeans decimated the beaver population in North America by the end of the 1800s. They hunted the animal for its water-resistant fur, used felted beaver fur for hats, and used castoreum in making perfumes. Heidi Perryman discussed the return of beavers (Castor canadensis) to our landscape, what it means to our creeks and infrastructure, biodiversity, and resilience to climate change. Even if it is possible, is it beneficial to coexist with an animal that can chew down the landscaping we use tax dollars to plant? Is there any value to sharing our streams with a creature that can block culverts and flood roads? Watch the video and find out.