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The Secret Life Of Beavers

KUER 90.1 | By Benjamin Bombard
Published August 21, 2018 at 9:00 AM MDT
Larry Smith via CC/Flickr
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Tuesday, we're talking about beavers. Nature writer Ben Goldfarb says beavers were crucial in shaping America's landscape and its human history. Then we killed them by the score. He joins us to explain why we should learn to love beavers.

RadioWest divider.

If you’ve ever seen a beaver in the wild, swimming across a pond, you only saw part of the story. That’s because beavers are like icebergs: most of them is usually hidden below the surface. The same goes for the story of beavers in America. As Ben Goldfarb writes in a new book, beavers are responsible for everything from the health of Yellowstone to the War of 1812. He joins us Tuesday to explore the surprising life of beavers and their profound impact on the country’s landscape and human history.

Ben Goldfarb's writing has appeared in Science, High Country News, Orion, and Mother Jones. His new book is called Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter [Indie books|Amazon|Audible].
Health & Science
Benjamin Bombard
A Salt Lake native, Benjamin Bombard served numerous internships in the KUER newsroom before becoming a producer of RadioWest. He aspired to the position for years, and in his sometimes wayward pursuit of it he has worked as a print and radio journalist in Utah, Wyoming, and California, a horse wrangler, golf course “bag rat,” dishwasher, janitor, bookseller, children’s museum guide, barista, linecook, and a male nanny or “manny.” He has dished up gelato to Mafiosos in Rhode Island, and worked as a volunteer for a health NGO in Mali, West Africa, where he politely declined an offer to act as a blood-diamond mule. He values holistic personal fitness and good, honest food. Most of his free time is spent writing, reading, preparing for hunting season, hunting when it's hunting season, and otherwise pursuing an overabundance of diverse interests and passions.
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