Once They Were Hats

Once They Were Hats: A Brief History of a Radical Rodent

Thursday, November 19, 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Online using Zoom Video Conferencing Technology

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Frances Backhouse, Award-Winning Journalist and Author

There is a lot of history behind our present-day dealings with Castor canadensis. The beaver conflicts that we are working to manage today are in many ways a legacy of the colonial fur trade. And the beaver benefits that we are still learning about are rooted in millennia of beaver presence on this continent. This brief history of beavers will begin with their debut 37 million years ago, fast forward through the rise and fall of the dozens of early species, and then zero in on what’s happened to North American beavers since Europeans showed up 500 years ago. As our relationship with beavers continues to evolve, a historical perspective can help inform the future. Frances Backhouse is an award-winning journalist and author whose two latest books are both about beavers. Once They Were Hats: In Search of the Mighty Beaver examines our 15,000-year relationship with this keystone species and the beaver’s even longer relationship with North American landscapes and ecosystems. Beavers: Radical Rodents and Ecosystem Engineers, written for middle-graders, will be published next spring. Visit www.backhouse.ca to learn more about Frances and her work.

Free for Friends of Fish Creek Members, $10 for non-members, free for youth 16 years of age and younger with a registered adult.

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Photo courtesy of Phil Smith