Gini Davis
With a little prompting from her cousin Jenna (right), little Emily kisses the ”head” of a beaver pelt during Creswell Library’s Bountiful Beavers Summer Reading Program event on July 31 at Creswell Community Center. Annie Carter, of the Willamette Resources and Educational Network (WREN), talked about the important role of beavers as ”ecosystem engineers” whose dams create wetlands that provide habitat for birds, fish, amphibians and more, and as a ”keystone species” without whose presence that fragile ecosystem collapses. Kids learned about evolutionary adaptations that allow beavers to live in cold water, holding their breath for up to 15 minutes. In addition to the beaver pelt pictured, beaver, nutria and muskrat skulls, teeth, a cast of a footprint and more were on display.
