Mud Season Speaker Series - Pumpkin & Pye: How Beavers Keep us Cool
February 9 @ 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Presented by Patti Smith
In partnership and taking place at the Brooks Memorial Library
Free Event
BEEC and the Brooks Memorial Library invite you to a series of programs based on the Vermont Reads 2025-26 selection, The Light Pirate. The themes of the book and our program series are climate resilience through community and the unstoppable power of the natural world.
Pumpkin was born in a stone culvert under Upper Dummerston Road and orphaned when his mother was hit by a car. Pye was attacked and badly injured by a dog as a yearling. BEEC naturalist Patti Smith will tell how these young beavers came together and into her care. Photos and videos will illustrate the many adventures that ensued. Patti will discuss their crucial role in holding water on a warming planet and mitigating floods. Learn how communities are solving beaver conflicts in ways that allow beavers to keep us cool.
Patti Smith has been studying a beaver colony since 2008 and has been rehabilitating injured and orphaned mammals almost as long. Her observations of wildlife inspire her columns in the Brattleboro Reformer and her book, The Beavers of Popples Pond.
