Date/Time
Date(s) - Saturday, May 17, 2025
11:00 am - 12:30 pm
Categories
Northfield Beaver Fest – Saturday, May 17, Lyman Lakes at Carleton College. Crafts, beaver walks, educational booths for the whole family.
Beavers, just like humans, build homes and dams to change ecosystems around them. Sometimes beavers shape the landscape in ways humans don’t like–such as taking down trees, flooding farmland, or chewing on platform decks. Over the past few years, trappers like Mike Smith in Northfield have seen an increase in the number of calls they get to deal with “nuisance beavers” (beavers causing problems for humans). Even Carleton College has resorted to trapping in the past. While sad, the killing of beavers in our backyard is the perfect opportunity for the community to come together to appreciate the services beavers provide when alive (wildfire protection, climate change mitigation, etc.) and when killed (sustainable fur, meat, and castor harvesting).
With rebounding beaver populations and falling fur prices, human-beaver conflicts are only going to increase in the coming years. Northfield Beaver Fest hopes to serve as a vehicle to engage the local community in important conversations about how to live alongside another animal wishing to shape the landscape.
