
Beaver Fever: Hope Runs Wild at BeaverCON 2024
The global beaver-believer community is growing! The Rewilding Institute (TRI) was proud to sponsor the third biennial BeaverCON this October. Rob Harding (TRI board member) and I joined the eager gathering, and it’s clear that the appreciation for rewilding superstar Castor Canadensis is on the rise.

BeaverCON 2024 TRI Sponsor Table
I’ve never experienced a conference quite like BeaverCON. It sold out fast — 500 attendees strong! And what a diverse crowd it was. Scientists, activists, educators, agency officials — you name it, they were there, united by their passion for beavers. Seeing people from all walks of life come together to celebrate this incredible ecosystem engineer was genuinely inspiring.
The University of Colorado Boulder provided a stunning backdrop for BeaverCON, but the event’s true beauty lay in its shared purpose. For many attendees, being surrounded by fellow advocates was a powerful experience. “It’s so amazing to be among people who get it,” one participant shared. Rewilding fieldwork can be isolating, filled with bureaucratic hurdles and public misconceptions. BeaverCON offered a much-needed antidote — a space for connection, inspiration, and collective rejuvenation.
My key takeaway was this: Hope can be found in increasing quantities the closer you get to getting mud on your boots. The national political arena for rewilding progress is awash with despair and uncertainty. BeaverCON, on the other hand, proved that great things are possible when we focus efforts in and around where we live.
Attendees were reluctant to leave, even as I read a note of urgency to return to their projects to check on their beavers or BDA’s (Beaver analog dams). All were committed to returning in 2 years with progress reports and to contribute to our ever-expanding beaver knowledge base. 500 people traveled back to their corners of the world with a fresh sense of possibilities, of belonging, and a collective pride in their work.
What is BeaverCON all about?
“The 3rd biennial global gathering for knowledge-sharing, restoration, and reunion with beaver (castor canadensis / castor fiber), featuring presentations, discussion, panels, storytelling, science & art, field trips, and workshops over five days. The conference is an opportunity for multiple paths, organizations, disciplines, and experiences to converge and collectively learn from, relate to, and realize a future of ecological balance with beavers.” Read more on the BeaverCON page by the Beaver Institute.
The Beaver Institute Mission and Vision
“The Beaver Institute‘s vision is to restore ecological balance with beavers.
Our mission is to be a catalyst for advancing beaver management and watershed restoration, training mitigation professionals, supporting scientific research, and increasing the public’s appreciation of the beaver’s critical role in creating climate resilient ecosystems.
Our goal is to resolve all beaver-human conflicts in a science-based manner in order to maximize the many benefits that beavers contribute to the environment.
As the only national beaver non-profit, we work locally across North America through our varied programs, empowering individuals and organizations to succeed in beaver management, coexistence, communication, education, and scientific research.”
Director of Digital Outreach (D.O.D.O.) for The Rewilding Institute
Host and Producer of the Rewilding Earth Podcast
Jack started Rewilding work as Executive Director of Sky Island Alliance in the mid-1990’s, organizing the Sky Island Wildlands Network design, ripping up illegal roads on forest service lands, installing wolf acclimatization pens on Ted Turner’s Ladder Ranch & conducting howling surveys to help make way for the final stage of the Lobo reintroduction program in the Southwest.
Through the years, Jack has worked with Dave Foreman and the Rewilding Gang to further Rewilding initiatives and education.