West Seattle Beavers: Living Their Best Life While Boosting Salmon & Bird Habitat
Pamela Adams
Thursday March 12, 2026 at 6pm via Zoom
Did you know there are over five beaver families, and 30 plus beaver dams reconnecting historic floodplains in our urban watershed?
Explore Longfellow Creek through the lens of Pamela Adams, Seattle’s “freelance beaver detective” — a trained Beaver Corps practitioner working for human-beaver coexistence. For the past four years, she’s documented expanding beaver families in West Seattle using noninvasive cameras, uncovering how these “eco-engineers” survive pollution, habitat disruption, and limited food. Learn how their newly added dams help filter stormwater, boost coho salmon spawning, and bird populations, restoring ecological health like a furry probiotic — offering a hopeful model for how allowing a native keystone species to not only exist but thrive can improve our urban watersheds for many other species that depend on fresh water.
Words, Writers, Southwest Stories is a free monthly speaker series that highlights local authors, historians, and voices to foster a deeper understanding of our community and its people.
This program, like other free programming, is supported by Sustaining Support and Public Free Access funds from 4Culture. Additional support from the City of Seattle Office of Arts and Culture, our sponsors, and from contributions from program participants. Thank you for your donations which support Local History!
