Oregon may be the "Beaver State," but it has far fewer beavers than it had historically... maybe 90% fewer. And a collection of scientists propose a significant boost to the populations of beavers and wolves and other creatures that can be hard to find on the landscape today.
The vision for "Rewilding the American West" is laid out in a recent position paper by that title in an academic publication. William Ripple and Christopher Wolf at Oregon State University are co-lead authors.
Wetlands ecologist J. Boone Kauffman, a courtesy appointment at OSU, is our guest, explaining the benefits of creating a network of wild lands across federal forest properties in Oregon and elsewhere.