New Mexico Beaver Project 🦫

Beavers & Beer – Wednesday May 29, 2024, 6-8 PM at Tumbleroot Brewery, Santa Fe, NM
2024-05-29 18:00 - 20:00 (America/Denver) | Tumbleroot Brewing, 2791 Agua Fria St, Santa Fe, NM, 87505, United States
Please join us at @tumblerootsf next week to talk about Beavers in New Mexico! Dr. Michelle Lute (Wildlife For All), Reid Whittlesey (Rio Grande Return), and Ralph Vigil (NM Wild) will be leading the conversation. A bunch of very smart “beaver people” from around the country are going to chat about how awesome beavers are and why New Mexico needs a lot more of them. (First beer’s on us.) Thank you to our partners!
Tumbleroot Brewing, 2791 Agua Fria Street, Santa Fe, NM

Beavers as Wetland Protectors and Climate Heroes – Thursday June 20, 2024
2024-06-20 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York)
On Thursday, June 20 at 6pm ET, join us to learn how one furry critter can help us restore wetlands, protect biodiversity and mitigate both floods and fires.
Brock Dolman and Kate Lundquist will share their insights on beavers’ beneficial role as ecosystem engineers, and lessons from their successful support of a recent state-led Beaver Restoration Program in California. Learn more on the GBH Forum Network page. Register for free to join the event live.
As WATER Institute Co-Directors from the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center (OAEC), Dolman and Lundquist have been working to provide education and advocacy for healthy watersheds and the pivotal role beavers can play for many years. After successfully championing beaver reintroduction, they are seeing beavers released in the wild in CA for the first time in nearly 75 years, in collaboration with tribal partners from the Maidu Summit Consortium.

Beaver Tales from the Land of Enchantment - Hosted by the Santa Fe Botanical Garden
2024-06-22 11:00 - 14:00 (America/Denver) | Santa Fe Botanical Garden
Advance registration required: https://50919.blackbaudhosting.com/50919/Beaver-Tales-from-the-Land-of-Enchantment
Date: Saturday, June 22nd
Time: 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Location: Pavilion in Botanical Garden, 715 Camino Lejo, Santa Fe.
Cost: Non-member $15/ Member $12/ Youth 4-17 $7/ Age 0-3 Free
Guest Speaker Rose Masters, Santa Fe County Interpretive Ranger, will present on New Mexico Beavers and Santa Fe County Open Space Ecosystems. Discover the important role that beavers play in the health of our Northern New Mexico waterways and riparian ecosystems and learn how you can help!
No live beavers will be present.

Beavers + Beer Taos Edition – Wednesday, September 25th, 5:30 - 7:00 PM
2024-09-25 17:30 - 19:00 (America/Denver) | Taos Land Trust & Fred Baca Park 301 Cam Del Medio, Taos, NM, 301 Cam Del Medio, Taos, NM, 87571, United States
We are having our third installment of Beavers + Beer in Taos next week, September 25th (invite attached) and we’d love if you could join us! You’ll park your car at Fred Baca Park and take a very quick stroll to the Taos Land Trust (there will be someone there to show you the way) where we’ll have some great speakers talking about how beavers can make New Mexico a more lush, resilient, hospitable, and productive place for people and wildlife. We’ll be then taking a walk to see the Beaver Dam Analogs at the park. And, of course, there will be some beverages to enjoy…
Speakers include Steven Fry (Amigos Bravos), Will Jaremko-Wright (Taos County), Chris Smith (New Mexico Beaver Project), Erik Schlenker-Goodrich (Western Environmental Law Center), and more.

Beavers + Beer Abiquiú Edition – Thursday, January 16th, 5:00 PM
2025-01-16 17:00 - 19:00 (America/Denver) | Café Sierra Negra, 20968 US-84, Abiquiu, 87510, United States
New Mexico Beaver Project is coming to Abiquiú! Chris Smith, Wildlife Program Director of WildEarth Guardians, and Reid Whittlesey, Restoration Director at Rio Grande Return, will be discussing how beavers can make New Mexico a more lush, resilient, hospitable, and productive place for people and wildlife.
We hope to see you there!

Come Celebrate International Beaver Day (and National Beer Day!) with New Mexico Beaver Project on Tuesday, April 7th, 2026
2026-04-07 17:30 - 19:30 (America/Denver) | Keeping Together Brewery, 2908 Rufina St, Santa Fe, 87507, United States
Hello to you beaver-believing and beaver-curious New Mexicans,
The New Mexico Beaver Project is kicking off our springtime activities as the weather warms (alarmingly!) and what little snow we have begins its downhill journey as water.
On April 7th, we are hosting a free, public event at Keeping Together Brewery in Santa Fe, at 5:30pm. Not only is it International Beaver Day, but it is also National Beer Day. We’re hosting an incredible panel of local experts to discuss how these ecosystem engineers are making New Mexico more lush, resilient, and hospitable for us all. Stick around after the talks for a community hang-bring your best beaver stories, burning questions, and a thirst for fantastic local beer!
Speakers include:

Leia Barnett – Life-long resident of the Sangre de Cristo mountains and New Mexico Conservation Lead for WildEarth Guardians.
Laura Paskus – Longtime writer and producer based in Albuquerque. She’s the author of At the Precipice: New Mexico’s Changing Climate and editor of Water Bodies: Love Letters to the Most Abundant Substance on Earth.
Lina Alegre – Local willow basket maker and beaver-enthusiast from El Rito.
Jess Gantos – Fishing guide, hunter, and builder. Becoming a beaver believer created a sturdy foundation for the intersection of her passions with conservation. She’s particularly thrilled that beavers are basically nannies for fingerling trout.

We are also starting our work to help New Mexicans coexist with beavers as we share landscapes and waterways. We are a small crew, but will be drawing on volunteers to help install coexistence devices to keep beavers and people happily coexisting and avoiding conflict.
So…

If you have a beaver issue that you want help dealing with, please reach out. We cannot remove beavers, but we can do a site assessment to see if some clever devices would help resolve any threats to infrastructure, crops, trees, roads, etc. We can’t respond to every situation, but we will try our best.
If you want to help with these coexistence projects, let us know. You may already have expressed an interest, but it helps us to know where you are, and what you can offer in terms of time, tools, physical abilities, and experience.

Thanks,
Chris Smith
New Mexico Beaver Project
