It's official, I got tenure! Big shout out to nature's engineers for keeping me inspired, curious, and excited about research even during the tougher times along the way. Does helping me get tenure count as an ecosystem service...? What's next? MORE BEAVER RESEARCH! (no one is surprised)

An old friend says hello to @emilyfairfax.bsky.social today. Beaver dams still going strong and lots of fish!

Congratulations to CLA's Scholars of the College, Cindy García (Theatre Arts & Dance) and Emily Fairfax (Geography, Environment & Society)! 🔗 https://ow.ly/8prL50YFc9b

Loved seeing beaverfest signs around town. Thanks @emilyfairfax.bsky.social! This event has special student driven momentum. sites.google.com/carleton.edu...

Heute ist #InterntionalBeaverDay und #Biber Expertin @emilyfairfax.bsky.social weiß: "Biber wären das schlechteste Klassenhaustier überhaupt! Wenn man aus der Pause zurückkäme, wären alle Schreibtische zerkaut und zu einem Damm zusammengeschoben." www.scientificamerican.com/article/what... 1/2

🦫 Happy #NationalBeaverDay! Beavers aren’t just busy, they’re also saving the planet. @emilyfairfax.bsky.social and Cherie Westbrook discuss how beaver ecosystem engineering is an ally against climate change. Fun fact: Emily was a beaver sci consultant for Disney-Pixar’s Hoppers! 🎬 bit.ly/4mjZJqE

I could probably talk about wetlands and beavers for hours, so I naturally had such a fun time talking to @emilyfairfax.bsky.social and @jesseandrews.bsky.social about Pixar’s newest film, Hoppers. Big thanks and kudos to both of them! www.sierraclub.org/sierra/how-p...

I was pretty pissed when I read that Pixar had toned down the "environmental message" in "Hoppers." Folks...I went to see it and it has an amazing environmental message! Not sure what got cut, but this is a climate parable for our time. Wrote about why: www.climatecoloredgoggles.com/p/pixar-hopp...

I’m not crying…you’re crying. This dedication at the end of the Hoppers credits has made just about every beaver person, ecologist, environmental scientist, and nature lover I know tear up a bit (or for many of us, full on lose it in tears again). Pond Rule #3: we’re all in this together.

@emilyfairfax.bsky.social my family and I enjoyed the movie immensely this evening. Laughed & laughed, gasped, maybe tears. Watched your name scroll in the credits and the dedication to beavers, monarchs and all living things near the end. 👍👍👍👍 🦫🪵🦫🪵🥥🏥🥔🥔❤️❤️ iykyk

Had to see Hoppers on opening night! Spoiler alert: Freeway expansion didn’t stand a chance with beavers on the case. Nice work @emilyfairfax.bsky.social @bengoldfarb.bsky.social!

After about 5 years (!) of keeping secrets, I am so excited that Disney Pixar's Hoppers is finally coming out on March 6th! Back in 2021, Pixar emailed me asking if I could give a talk about my research to their employees. Then another talk. And another. 📸 Disney/Jesse Grant/Getty Images

"A beaver's salary...is sticks." @emilyfairfax.bsky.social incredible mic drop moment toward the end of your presentation at River Restoration Northwest. Great message and great delivery, thank you! #hydrology 🦫🦊

Geographers, in case you missed this detail, Alex Pretti graduated from the Minnesota Geography department in 2011.

“Multiple sources with knowledge of the situation say federal agents shot a man multiple times in south Minneapolis this morning…” www.startribune.com/ice-raids-mi... (there is a video at their live blog and rolling updates…)

Beavers? Robotics? A Messy Chalkboard? A Bunch of Animals? Chaos? All my favorite things! In one movie! Check out the new trailer for Pixar's Hoppers, coming out this spring! youtu.be/PypDSyIRRSs?...

Beavers can boost water storage, wildlife habitat, and carbon capture. A new mapping tool helps identify sites where beaver reintroduction programs could deliver ecological benefits. Learn more: stanford.io/4prrRsf #biodiversity #naturalclimatesolutions

!!Absolutely fabulous!! A slightly surreal moment hearing Dame Joanna Lumley narrate my PhD research. Thankyou to Nina Constable and @emccandlessphoto.bsky.social for letting me play a small part in this film. A brilliant film on beavers and migratory fish!🦫🐟 Link: m.youtube.com/watch?v=uZE5...

A great example of compromising with beavers! Beavs are stubborn little engineers and don’t particularly care to pull permits or share their design plans with us. Luckily, humans are clever engineers too and can share (not take!) control of the water with a bit of fencing and some pipes!

We are working with partners on data management and visualization for effectiveness monitoring of #processbasedrestoration . Check out the #storymap linked in our bio on the Colorado Headwaters PBR #science project. storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/4c8b...

Do you like learning about beavers but don't have brain space for reading another technical study right now? Do you enjoy storytelling? Are you or is someone you know a kid? If you answered yes to any of the above, then check out this episode of Terrestrials! www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/rad...

🦫+🪵=💧💧💧 eos.org/articles/wha...

In Minnesota, beavers have long been considered a nuisance, thanks to their ability to gnaw trees and construct dams that sometimes clog culverts, raise lake levels or flood roads. But among scientists, there’s a growing recognition that these engineers bring a host of environmental benefits.

Beavers are admittedly chaotic and work their ecosystem magic in sometimes mysterious ways. But we’re trying our best to understand them & work together to fight wildfires! Check out this article covering Luwen’s recent paper and some of my previous fire + beavs work! www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

🦫 Bringing back #beavers – and the nature-based solutions they offer for #freshwater, #biodiversity, and #ClimateResilience New study uses #RemoteSensing to map beaver dams + ponds with an eye toward prioritizing areas for restoration and reintroducing beavers. 🔗 bit.ly/bringing-back-beavers

Many people want to bring back #beavers for water storage. Big ponds = big benefits for flood, drought, wildfire & more! But what drives big ponds? Is it *just* dam length? What drives dam length? Get your answers in this new paper by Luwen Wan, Kate Maher, & myself! www.nature.com/articles/s43...

New job alert! Interested in applied research increasing our understanding of water resilience, nature based solutions and rewilding? @exeter.ac.uk we are looking for a Technical Specialist, working with me and others in Geography and @uoe-creww.bsky.social jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr...

Can you predict where a beaver will build a dam? Or how many dams they will build? There are many models for beaver habitat availability & dam building potential. One thing they all have in common? They need to be calibrated with local knowledge of place-based beaver behavioral adaptations!

Check out our new paper "Ecohydrological drivers of Boreal Shield peatland fire refugia" in Ecohydrology. Authors: Alex Tekatch, Chantel Markle, Sophie Wilkinson, Paul Moore, @mercury-ecohydro.bsky.social, @peatofmind.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Beaver champion @emilyfairfax.bsky.social telling PBS News about how important beavers are in flood management. She does an amazing job of quickly and memorably explaining what beavers do and why. Also: Did you know beavers make "snuggle piles"? www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpLu...

I had the very cool opportunity to be interviewed on @pbsnews.org for "Tipping Point: the Mighty Mississippi". Check it out to hear all about how #beavers were part of the Mississippi River Basin's past, and need to be part of its future as climate changes! www.youtube.com/live/C9NyCr4...

Me, standing on a dam and talking to a film crew: sorry we will almost certainly not see any actual beavers today. They’re usually sleeping in the middle of the day, especially when it’s super hot out like today. This beav at 12pm sharp: sup

Thanks @emilyfairfax.bsky.social for the great tour of Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory! Excited to hear about your projects underway & to see the coolness of this science & the Mighty Mississippi up close! @carleton.edu loves beavers too! Can’t wait to see you flood an experimental channel.

Things I’d like to learn from #beavers: how to be famously productive while also being unhurried, unstressed, and peaceful as I go about my work.

If you've heard me talk about Western U.S. wildfire, you've probably heard me mention that while *baseline* fire risk is lower in the (moister) East, the *conditional* risk can still be extremely high when conditions align (including, as here, in and downwind of pine barrens in New Jersey today).

Happy International #Beaver Day! Do you have a question about beavers, their wetlands, or how they relate to climate change? Ask it here! I’ll be sharing bits of beaver knowledge throughout the day, and if there is a question I *don’t* know the answer to, I will know who to ask to get it!

@emilyfairfax.bsky.social Glad you came over from Twitter. I thought you'd like a couple Massachusetts beaver photos that almost look like artwork. These they are carving in a solid white oak, March of 2025 on the Stillwater River. We seem to have hardy beavers here.

Need some easy Friday listening? Interested in #beavers? Check out the latest episode of the Western Governor's Association podcast! Me, Alex Funk, Chris Jordan, Marshall Wolf, and Jerry Altermatt talk beavers, BDAs, science + policy & connect it to disaster mitigation. westgov.org/news/article...

My lastest #sciart project, inspired by work I've been doing in river restoration, highlights riverscape complexity caused by #beaver and large wood. Complexity makes a great patchwork of habitat allowing a variety of organisms to thrive. We love a messy river! 🧪

A wildfire swept through Wyoming’s Medicine Bow Forest in 2020, yet one green oasis remained: a beaver-engineered wetland. 🔥 Scientist @emilyfairfax.bsky.social is proving what nature has long known: beavers are the solution. 📺 Full story: youtu.be/F-HWKkIyfl0?... #BeaverPower #ClimateResilience

The 3rd and final #beaver site surveyed in the River Otter catchment this week. Upstream of the village of East Budleigh, our monitoring has shown this wetland to significantly reduce downstream peak flows. @exeter.ac.uk

A happy bit of news! Feat. a quote from me describing beavers as big chicken nuggets for predators while explaining why beavers build dams. 😎🦫🍗

Me, two of my PhD students, and one of my postdocs were featured on @pbs.org NewsHour this evening for our work on #beavers and #wildfire in Colorado and Wyoming! Check it out! youtu.be/F-HWKkIyfl0?...

A lot of folks think when #beavers cut trees down or clip off branches then the tree just dies. But actually, many of the trees beavers like to cut have evolved to re-sprout from the stump and grow back even stronger. Trying to channel my inner beaver-chewed-tree, today.

Beavers dig channels between their dams which @emilyfairfax.bsky.social describes as “little water highways” which makes “it easier for them to get around, move building material, but critically, it's also spreading water out.”

I asked the class to write a note to future ecology students. I received this masterpiece from the fifth row.

BEAVERS! BEAVERS! BEAVERS! Come hear *three* awesome talks in a row about beavers at #AGU24! Where: 144A-C When: 10:20am on Thursday Why: beavs are great and we have cool science on them

“Compared with areas with no wetlands, wetland areas can reduce surface runoff by 15 to 30% and enhance soil retention by 30 to 50%, thereby decreasing flood peak levels by 10 to 25% and lowering the risk of mountain floods and debris flows.” www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Beautiful.

One of my favorite things about being a prof is taking students on overnight trips to university field / research stations. This drone photo was taken by my Environmental Data Analysis class at the Cloquet Forestry Center earlier this fall. It's home to quite a few beavers and beaver dams!