Friday JohnKu – AKA -TGIF – Fri-Yay/Good News

~ John W. Howell

 

This week’s good news story comes from Yahoo News ‘The Cool Down. Many thanks to Noelle Granger for sending this story to me.

Creature hunted nearly to extinction makes stunning comeback: ‘It’s thriving’

Hannah Slusher

In a remarkable win for both people and the planet, the Eurasian beaver — once hunted to near extinction in France — is making a triumphant comeback.

A single beaver family that arrived in the tiny hamlet of Montlahuc in 2020 has transformed a dry, sun-scorched pasture into a thriving wetland, showing how one small species can help fight the negative impacts of a warming world and revive local communities.

Montlahuc, a village of just 40 residents in the Drôme region, had suffered years of worsening drought that left meadows parched and local farmers struggling. But within three years of the beavers’ arrival, a once-barren field now holds more than 2,000 square meters of standing water.

Birds, insects, and lush green vegetation have returned, inspiring residents to rethink how they manage their land.

“We used to graze this land only once a year,” local farmer Marc-Antoine Forconi told Futura. “Now, it’s thriving.”

Beavers are often called “nature’s engineers” for good reason. Using their powerful teeth and instinctive building skills, they construct dams and channels that slow water flow and store moisture in the soil. This natural water management supports healthier ecosystems, creates habitats for other wildlife, and provides a low-cost, low-maintenance way to help landscapes withstand drought.

Inspired by their furry neighbors, Montlahuc farmers have even built their own small dams to retain water — though, as Forconi joked, “The beavers outperformed us.”

Once reduced to only about 100 individuals in the early 20th century, Eurasian beavers are now protected and number between 20,000 and 25,000 in France, according to Futura. The species’ return highlights how protecting wildlife can lead to unexpected climate solutions, echoing other success stories, such as the resurgence of gray wolves in Yellowstone or the rewilding of bison in Europe.

This quiet resurgence is more than a feel-good story. It’s a reminder that working with nature, rather than against it, can create healthier landscapes and a more resilient future for communities everywhere.

The good news in this story is that nature has once again demonstrated that good practices and effective land management can help reverse environmental damage. Today’s JohnKu talks about taking that lesson to heart. I hope you have a delightful weekend.

Lesson by John W. Howell © 2025

Nature keeps saying,

Take care of the land and it . . .

Will take care of you.

79 thoughts on “Friday JohnKu – AKA -TGIF – Fri-Yay/Good News”

  1. A heart-warming piece by you, John, and most welcome. I’ve aways ‘had a thing’ about beavers. Endearing, hardworking and creative, they were/are a great benefit to man-kind. Thank you! Cheers. Joy

    Liked by 3 people

  3. Dear John
    We are happy to have beavers here again. Hanne-Dina just visited a place where beavers are active, not far from here.
    We wish you a happy weekend
    The Fab Four of Cley
    🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

  7. What a wonderfully uplifting story and a perfect reminder of the quiet, powerful wisdom nature holds. It’s truly inspiring to see how a single beaver family can act as such a potent catalyst for change, not just ecologically but within the hearts and minds of a community. This isn’t just about the return of a species; it’s about the return of hope, balance, and a practical model for resilience.

    The farmers’ humility in admitting that “the beavers outperformed us” is perhaps the most profound lesson of all. It shows a beautiful shift from trying to control the land to learning from it—a partnership that promises a lusher, greener future for everyone.

    Thank you for sharing this dose of hope and the perfect, thoughtful JohnKu to go with it. It’s a delightful way to head into the weekend, reminded that sometimes the best solutions are the gentlest ones. Wishing you a restful and delightful weekend as well

    Liked by 2 people

  18. This is the coolest thing I’ve read today. While covid lockdown was problematic in a lot of ways one of the wonderful things was the way nature responded to us not being in its space quite so much. Thanks for the post!

    Liked by 2 people

  22. You hit the nail on the head when you said it’s about working with nature rather than against it. There is SO much more profit for everyone involved when we allow nature to teach us what’s best instead of trying to reinvent something that doesn’t need to be reinvented.

    Liked by 1 person

  24. That is certainly interesting for me since there were lots of Eurasian Beavers where I grew up in northern Sweden, and I did not know about this. So I looked it up. They were indeed nearly exctinct. However, they made a strong comeback and there were 100,000 Eurasian Beavers in Sweden by 1995. The recovery has been going on for a while and there are a lot of them in the north. Now there are 1.5 million Eurasian Beavers.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. That must have been wonderful. Because they’re protected here, we loose so many trees and woodland areas; it looks like a post forest fire. Finding a balance in nature is not an easy thing. Best to you, John.

        Liked by 1 person

  29. The JohnKu says it all.

    OMG, I adore beavers. And skunks, very cute and so many animals … well all of them really!

    Thanks John! Live this good news.

    🦫X 🦫X 🦫X

    Liked by 1 person

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