How the beaver is teaching Indigenous communities about ecological balance and reciprocity

From as far as he can remember, Alvin First Rider says there’s been frequent droughts on Blackfoot territory in Alberta, which makes water a precious resource.

“Our tributaries don't get the water that they historically would have had,” said First Rider who is an environmental scientist and environmental manager for Blood Tribe Land Management. Tributaries are small rivers or streams that flow into larger bodies of water.

First Rider is looking to the beaver to help retain water on the land by building beaver dam analogs — a man-made dam built using natural materials like mud, stones and willow branches — to better manage the community’s water supply, especially when facing periods of drought. 

“It's basically mimicking what a beaver would do,” he told Unreserved host Rosanna Deerchild.

The structures slow down water, which helps to restore the natural ecosystem and decrease the risk of environmental issues like flooding or wildfires. 

Beavers are found across North America and are spiritually significant to many Indigenous cultures. They are tenacious builders, an important keystone species for the environment and carry teachings of reciprocity and family connection. 

Indigenous land management techniques bring together Indigenous knowledge with modern science to help solve issues facing the environment, says First River.  

“We try to think from a holistic perspective and how we treat the landscape and how we interact with it,” he said.

Over the last two years, First Rider has helped build four beaver dam analogs on the Blood Reserve, which he says has already seen a positive impact from their presence. This year, one area that was previously bone dry was holding water for a few months. The water is important for livestock and farming. 

“It also enhances our traditional plants, such as willows and sweet grass,” said First Rider. “And we've been able to see those types of direct impacts that help our Blackfoot way of life.”  

Beavers also play a significant role in Anishinaabe culture because of their relationship to manoomin, the Anishinaabemowin name for wild rice. 

Mickki Garrity is studying that connection for her PhD at the Fairfax Beaver Lab at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minn.

“The prevailing belief is that beavers change the water level in wild rice beds and that can be detrimental to the rice,” she said. Her research is trying to determine if beavers are damaging wild rice habitats or if they can help create the right habitat.

She says even though the relationship between the Anishinaabe and manoomin has changed since colonization, it still remains essential to understandings about themselves and their relationships to homelands.