BeaverCON: A Biennial International Conference
BeaverCON 2024 will occur at the University of Colorado (CU) – Boulder from October 19-24, 2024.
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 to converge and collectively learn from, relate to, and imagineer a future of ecological balance with beavers.
The main conference is Monday, October 21, Tuesday, October 22 & Wednesday, October 23 with wraparound activities on October 19 & 24. We will release the full schedule, speakers and agenda the end of July // early August. Please be sure to sign up for our newsletter for early announcements on speakers and information surrounding our workshops, field trips, etc.
We’re now accepting conference sponsors at all levels. For more info please email beavercon2024@gmail.com.
Our Request for Proposals is live and open through May 6 at 5pm MST. All proposals will be considered for BeaverCON, as well as Beaver Institute’s expanding public programming, from webinars to knowledge-sharing sessions to the National Beaver Working Group.
Room blocks are reserved at Embassy Suites and Hilton Garden Inn. Please book before September 27 to receive our group’s preferred rate. Parking is $16 per night.
Get to Know BeaverCON
In recent years an increasing body of knowledge has demonstrated the many benefits of beavers, as well as innovative, cost-effective methods to manage them. North America’s most valuable Keystone species, the beaver, can naturally restore healthy streams and watersheds, improve water quality and storage, combat climate change, increase biodiversity and even recover endangered species, including salmon.
The vision for BeaverCON is to bring professionals, practitioners, and others dealing with beaver issues and wetland restoration together on to share the latest research and best management practices for “Nature’s Engineer”, the North American beaver.
BeaverCON 2020
Our inaugural conference, BeaverCON 2020, was held March 3 – 5, 2020 near Baltimore, MD. It was a huge success with over 160 attendees from North America and Europe. At the conference it was clear,”…across more than 30 presentations at BeaverCon, one theme consistently emerged: We humans need a major re-education on the place of beavers in our landscape (with the exception of many Indigenous peoples who have maintained traditional ecological knowledge). Western society needs more beaver believers, which is to say, we need to rethink the path towards healthy watersheds.” Read more coverage of BeaverCON 2020 from Jennifer Sherry’s post (NRDC).
For conference photos, additional speaker information and a list of our sponors please visit the BeaverCON archives.
BeaverCON 2022
Our second conference, BeaverCON 2022, was held June 13-16, 2022 near Baltimore, MD. We had 200 attendees with 48 presenters from the United States, Canada, Wales, the Netherlands, and England. A wrap-up video details the highlights of the conference.
BeaverCON 2022 highlighted the important connection between beavers and climate resilience. Beaver-created wetlands boost climate resilience by increasing biodiversity, storing water that recharges groundwater while creating natural wildfire breaks, reducing storm flood events, and more!
Many presentations are available to watch from both 2020 and 2022 on our Beaver Institute YouTube Channel.
“BeaverCON brings together the newest ideas in beaver ecology and management, and the people who make things happen.”