The first beavers – and their descendants

Veasy Collier well recalls the day the first two beavers arrived on Meldrum Creek:

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Andrew Anaka, Conservation Officer with the Ministry of Environment, based in Williams Lake, estimates there are now ‘many thousands’ of beaver in the Chilcotin and Cariboo districts. He describes them as a ‘keystone’ species.

Image: © Photawa | Dreamstime.com

Rancher Neil Macdonald knew Eric Collier and admires his conservation work – but he has mixed feelings about beavers now that they are back in force.

Monte Hummel, President of WWF Canada, writes:
‘It’s ironic: this industrious creature was honoured as our national emblem because it helped “build the country” by literally sacrificing the skin off its back; exploited almost to extinction, it became the subject of reintroductions, which were so successful that it is now regarded as little more than a local nuisance.’
(From Wintergreen, Key Porter Books, 1999.)