You may have seen a beaver sometime in your life, but more likely, you haven’t. They’re shy creatures, who tend to do most of their work at night. But even if we don’t have much contact with these animals in our day-to-day life, human existence has been entwined with the beaver for centuries. Early American settlers trapped the animals near to extinction. But in recent decades, we human beings have had to reckon with our own misunderstanding about what these animals do, and how important they are to life on this continent. Klara Goldman explores the evolution of our relationship with the beaver in this story. If you have connections to beavers and are interested in telling more of the beaver story in episode two, reach out to Four Corners Water Center or Klara Goldman to share your story and contribute to this project!

Klara Goldman is a student of Geology and Studio Art and will be graduating this December! She is from Reston, Virginia, which is a unique place because of their intentional focus on leaving wooded areas intact as much as possible. Klara grew up playing in the woods and has always been curious about the relationship that humans have with our complex environment, which led her to want to investigate beavers in her media project. Early American settlers trapped the animals near to extinction. But in recent decades, we human beings have had to reckon with our own misunderstanding about what these animals do, and how important they are to life on this continent. Klara explores the evolution of our relationship with the beaver in this next story.