SAN JOSE, CA – JANUARY 31: Niklas Hjalmarsson #4 of the Chicago Blackhawks looks on during the game against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center on January 31, 2017 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Rocky W. Widner/NHL/Getty Images)
The Chicago Blackhawks had many great players contribute to winning three Stanley Cups in a span of six years. Some were there for just one, others for two, and a select few were there for all three. One of those players is Niklas Hjalmarsson. He might be the most unsung hero of the bunch as well. He has announced his retirement from the National Hockey League and deserves all of the praise for his work on and off the ice.
Hjalmarsson’s name joins Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Patrick Sharp, and Marian Hossa as the only players who won all three Cups with Chicago from 2010-2015. It is an era that will never be forgotten by sports fans in this city and for good reason.
Hjalmarsson’s career ends after 821 games played. He had 25 goals and 147 assists for 172 points in those games. He wasn’t an offensive defenseman by any means but his defensive ability was second to none. He was the best defensive defenseman on the team for a long time. He was, and rightfully so, in the shadows of Keith and Seabrook but that didn’t make him any less important. When someone like him is your third-best defenseman, you are a great team.
One thing that he was famous for was his ability to block shots. You used to hear people say that having Hjalmarsson on the ice was like having an extra goalie out there. It is fair to assume that guys like Corey Crawford, Scott Darling, and Antti Niemi amongst others appreciated it. Hjalmarsson blocked 1,606 shots in his NHL career which is about two shot blocks per game.
Seems like now’s a good time to dust off the video that played in area during Niklas Hjalmarsson’s return to Chicago. #HammerTime ? pic.twitter.com/xWZV9A6iA7
Having Niklas Hjalmarsson on the Chicago Blackhawks was a treat for a long time.
This player was as unselfish as any player in the history of the franchise. He was so good and rarely ever got the spotlight. Some people used to get on him for not shooting enough and they had a case but he was just so concentrated on making the right play each and every time. Championship teams have guys like that on their roster.
Hjalmarsson got to finish out his career with the Arizona Coyotes after the Hawks traded him there in 2017. Those are the only two teams that he ever played for over his 14 year NHL career. Hopefully, the Hawks do something to recognize him in the future because he deserves it.
The United Center should be packed at the start of the season so they shouldn’t wait too long. He was an extremely important piece to a team that had so much sustained success for such a long time. Congrats to Hjalmarsson on retirement from an outstanding career.
This week’s City of Chicago edition of Public Affairs airs throughout the City:
Tonight at 8:30 pm and midnight, Cable Ch 21 (CAN TV)
Tmw night at 9:12 pm, Cable Ch 21 (as the first segment of the Illinois Channel 2 hour package).
The show also airs in:
In Aurora at 6 pm, Cable Ch 10 this Wed. & Saturday and next Monday
In Rockford at 8:30 pm, Cable Ch. 17 this Thursday
You can also watch the Public Affairs show 24/7 by clicking here.
Can IL cut property taxes 40% & boost student performance at the same time?
Illinois’ Governor, JB Pritzker (D-Chicago), announced last week he is seeking re-election in November 2022 and Terry Martin and Jeff Berkowitz kick off their assessment of the many issues that are likely to be raised by his four announced Republican opponents and several new candidates who may join the race in the next 60 days.
One of the major issues facing the Governor is Illinois’ 2nd highest property tax in the country, largely attributable to IL’s extraordinary K-12 education spending levels, almost 70% more than Florida and almost 60% more than Indiana (See charts and analysis by Wirepoints).
As Jeff and Terry explain, if IL can cut its spending per pupil per year by about $6600 to match that of Florida, IL could cut property taxes for the average IL taxpayer by about 40 %.
But Gov. Pritzker brags about how much his Administration has boosted education spending, even though as Wirepoints has shown, both Florida and Indiana, spending much less, generally outperform IL in standardized test scores. Berkowitz and Martin predict this Education spending- Property tax issue will be intensely discussed during the 2022 IL gubernatorial campaign.
Further, people continue to complain about the public schools being mostly shut down or in a remote mode during the last year, and that lock down was needless and didn’t make IL safer than “More open” states such as Florida.
Currently, the hot issue across the state is whether kids should have to wear masks when they return to school in the fall. Berkowitz outlines some of the science and data supporting a no mask policy for students.
Berkowitz and Martin discuss the continued concern by parents across the state with Pritzker’s IL State Board of Education (ISBE) and school administrators often promoting and mandating a critical race theory curriculum, notwithstanding their denial of same.
Can Pritzker dodge the issue with his ISBE saying: We only promote “Cultural Responsive Teaching & Leading Standards, not Critical Race Theory.” To many, they appear to be one and the same, with critical race theory often disguised as culturally responsive teaching standards.
Homicides were up by 50 % in Chicago in 2020, and are continuing at that high rate this year, said Berkowitz. If Pritzker’s criminal justice reform is working so well, why is violent crime still going up rapidly as the spending for his programs increases?
Berkowitz and Martin discuss the economy and job growth challenges to the Pritzker administration. During Covid, did Pritzker order and enforce needless IL economy lock-downs instead of focusing on protecting the vulnerable, especially those in Nursing and Vet homes?
In sum, Berkowitz argues that there are at least twenty issue contrasts that actual and potential GOP GOV candidates are chomping at the bit to run on in the 2022 gubernatorial election. If Ken Griffin and other Republican donors step up and match Gov. Pritzker’s expected self- financing of his own campaign and that of legislative candidates to the tune of $150 million and the GOP chosen candidate runs on the key issues, Berkowitz predicts a GOP GOV candidate could beat Gov Pritzker.
Berkowitz predicts one or more new, additional credible candidates will join the GOP GOV race during the next month or two. Pritzker is vulnerable and with the list of four current GOP GOV primary candidates likely to grow to as many six to eight candidates, and with significant funding from Griffin, the GOP chosen candidate could retire Gov. Pritzker.
Casino operators, accustomed to having an edge, are having trouble finding one in Chicago’s request for proposals to build a first-class gambling complex that would prop up its police and fire pension funds.
Four large gambling companies expressed an interest in Chicago’s plans late last year. But two have since folded their hands. A third interested party, Chicago’s Rush Street Gaming, owner of the Rivers Casino in Des Plaines, said through a spokesman it is still deciding how to respond to the “unique opportunity.”
Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration could hear from other bidders, including real estate developers. But industry experts say Chicago’s ambitious call for perhaps a $1 billion investment–including a 500-room 5-star hotel and an entertainment venue–is drawing skeptical analyses. Some contend there’s little potential here to expand traditional gaming and that the risk is too great to meet the city’s aspirations for something close to a resort.
“The casinos in the state have been in nothing but a downward spiral for a decade, except for Rivers,” said Alan Woinski, president of Gaming USA, a consulting firm and newsletter publisher. “There’s no reason to believe that if you add a casino downtown that you’ll do anything but cannibalize the others, including Rivers. It’s kind of a zero-sum game and everybody loses.”
City officials did not answer requests for comment Monday.
Critics also see obstacles such as a tax rate many view as prohibitive. A recent proposal to bring sports betting to Chicago stadiums also could amount to competition that scares off a mega-casino.
Woinski said sportsbooks aren’t big moneymakers for casinos, but they draw crowds. If the action happens elsewhere, “that’s one less reason for people to physically go to the casino,” he said.
Other cities, Woinski said, have had mixed results with casinos, especially if there are other entertainment options.
City Hall has set an Aug. 23 deadline for responses to its casino call. The responses are supposed to include proposed sites. Lightfoot has declined to express a site preference, but the parameters the city set out would point to something downtown, convenient to locals and visitors. The city wants a site that maximizes tax revenue, which it has earmarked for pensions.
Another “core goal” respondents must meet is offering a development “of superb quality and architecturally significant design,” according to the city’s request for proposals published in April.
It’s all too much for Bill Hornbuckle, CEO of MGM Resorts International. After the city issued its full request, Hornbuckle told stock analysts that “Chicago is just complicated. The history there in Chicago, the tax and the notion of integrated resort at scale don’t necessarily marry up. And while I think they’ve had some improvement, we’re not overly keen or focused at this point in time there.”
MGM voiced interest in a Chicago site last year when it responded to a city survey about casino issues. A spokeswoman for Wynn Resorts, another firm initially interested in Chicago, said it has “decided not to participate in the request for proposals.”
The remaining gaming giant that expressed interest a year ago, Hard Rock International, could not be reached.
Some analysts believe Rush Street will propose a casino for the development site downtown known as The 78. It covers 62 vacant acres southwest of Roosevelt Road and Clark Street. Rush Street has formed a partnership with Related Midwest, the developer of The 78.
The property provides ample room for a casino and ancillary uses the city wants, and development could occur in phases. But any casino site could provoke opposition over traffic and other zoning concerns.
A downtown casino would face a 40% tax rate, said a report Union Gaming Analytics prepared for state officials. The state legislature cut that amount from 72% in a prior casino law after Union Gaming found the tax load too onerous.
City officials contend there is room here to “grow the pie,” or increase the size of the gaming market. In 2019, Union Gaming found that per-capita spending on gaming in the Chicago area was half that of other metropolitan regions.
The political divide in this country grows ever more menacing, even as the crises facing us — exemplified by the fires raging in the West and the resurgence of the COVID variant across the country — grow more destructive.
With the Congress and the voters divided, the mainstream media keeps urging bipartisan cooperation to move forward. But that assumes that both parties have a good faith stake in making progress. The plain reality is that Donald Trump and his Republican followers are stoking rebellion, not cooperation.
Trump continues to deny that he lost the 2020 election. Across the country, Republicans are reinforcing his big lie with utterly brazen efforts to spread rumors about fraud, even though Republican state election officials, Republican judges, Trump’s own attorney general have all exposed the claims of fraud as bogus.
Now, in states with Republican legislatures, Trump partisans are passing bills to strip the election officials of their authority, and to sponsor partisan “audits” of votes — but, as in Texas, only in counties that Trump lost, arguing there is no need to look at counties that he won. They are pushing a package of restrictive voting laws designed to make it harder to vote — and often targeted specifically on African Americans, Latinos and the young who voted against Trump by large margins.
The result is to feed extremist anger against American democracy. When masses of people believe the lie that the election was stolen, they will question the result of any election where their candidate loses. If they think the democracy is rigged, the likelihood that they will turn to rebellion and to violence increases as we witnessed on Jan. 6 when Trump partisan sacked the Capitol.
Trump partisans in the Congress refuse even to support an independent investigation of that horror. Republicans blocked creation of an independent commission. Now they are seeking to sabotage the special House investigation. They simply don’t want an honest inquiry which will detail Trump’s responsibility for the riot that sought to stop Congress from certifying the results of the presidential election. They don’t want to expose the complicity of Republican operatives in organizing the mob and the complicity of Republican legislators in stoking the insurrectionary anger.
Trump partisans want Biden to fail, even if it costs American lives. They have worked to discredit U.S. public health officials, to support resistance to sensible measures like wearing a mask and now to spread the rumors and lies that have helped fuel resistance to the vaccine. The direct result is that the new variant is spiking among the unvaccinated across the country, with the U.S. death toll rising once more. Even a pandemic that threatens us all could not bring them to join together in support of responsible action.
Their focus on making Biden fail led congressional Republicans to vote in lockstep against the Rescue Plan that was vital to helping the economy recover and providing a life preserver for the millions displaced when the pandemic forced the shutdown of much of the economy.
Similarly, even as extreme weather savages communities across the country, Trump partisans impede steps to address the real and present danger of climate change. The price of any Republican support for the infrastructure bill was to strip out virtually all measures to accelerate the transition to renewable energy, while blocking any increase in taxes on the wealthy and corporations to help pay for rebuilding the country. Now Republicans in the Senate seem intent on voting in lockstep against the Child Tax Credit that helps families with children, against universal pre-K, against support for childcare, against paid family leave, against expanding Medicare to cover dental and eye care.
Trump has led his followers closer to sedition than to bipartisan cooperation. They spread the big lie about the election and seek to limit the right to vote. They fan fears about the vaccine, and smear public health efforts amid a pandemic. They oppose efforts to help families as the economy reopens and begins to recover. They stand perversely in the way of even the first steps to address climate change.
The most costly war in American history was the Civil War, which broke out when the South seceded to protect the spread slavery to new states joining the Union. Now Trump is fanning the flames of revolt among the minority of Americans that support him. With the economy just beginning to recover, climate change and pandemic threatening us, entrenched racial disparities dividing us, it is time for the majority to act — not to allow an aroused minority and cowed elected officials to stand in the way.
Kanye West has been living inside an Atlanta stadium while working on his new album.
A representative for the performer said Monday that West planned to remain inside Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium while working to complete “Donda,” his 10th studio album. The person spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
West held a massive listening session at the stadium Thursday and was seen on social media attending a soccer match over the weekend.
“Donda,” which was slated to release last Friday, is now due Aug. 6.
The Grammy winner’s album was named after his mother, Donda West, who died at the age of 58 following plastic surgery complications in 2007.
West unveiled “Donda” in front of a sold-out crowd at the venue after he announced two days before that the first public listen of his highly-anticipated album would take place. He barely said a word while introducing his new music during the event, which brought out several big names including Rick Ross, Khloe Kardashian and his estranged wife Kim Kardashian West, who showed up in a red jumpsuit with their kids.
West’s new project is a follow up to his 2019 gospel-themed album “Jesus is King,” which won a Grammy for best contemporary Christian album.
Last year, West announced on Twitter — with colorful cover art and a track list — that he would release his latest album. At the time, his tweets indicated that his project would release on the same day as his rival Taylor Swift’s project “Folklore,” but his album was postponed.
Streets are being shut down around Grant Park this week for the Lollapalooza music fest that starts Thursday and ends Sunday.
Balbo Drive from Columbus to DuSable Lake Shore Drive is closed from Monday through Friday, Aug. 6. Balbo to Michigan Avenue will be closed from 8 p.m. Monday through Aug. 2.
Jackson Drive from Columbus to DuSable Lake Shore Drive is also closed through Friday, Aug. 6. Jackson to Michigan Avenue will be closed from 8 p.m. Monday to Aug. 2.
Columbus from Monroe to Roosevelt will be closed from 8 p.m. Monday through Aug. 2. Columbus to Randolph Street will be closed from Monday night through Aug. 2. Northbound center lanes on Columbus, from 13th Street to Roosevelt Road, will be closed from 8 p.m. Monday through Aug. 2.
Ida B. Wells/Circle will be closed from Michigan to Columbus from 8 p.m. Monday through Aug. 2.
Monroe Street from Michigan to DuSable Lake Shore Drive will be close from 8 p.m. July 28 through 6:30 a.m. Aug. 2.
The Bears’ return for receiver Anthony Miller was predictably paltry.
The trade, agreed to on Saturday, became official Monday. The Bears will send Miller and their 2022 seventh-round pick to the Texans for their 2022 fifth-round pick.
In the last year of his rookie deal, the slot receiver will report to training camp in Houston with, as the saying goes, a second chance to make a first impression.
The Bears grew frustrated with Miller’s inconsistency and lack of focus in the three seasons since general manager Ryan Pace traded up to draft him in the second round. Miller punching Saints pest C.J. Gardner-Johnson in the playoff game was the last straw — Bears receivers had been warned earlier in the week not to engage with the same cornerback who had suckered Javon Wims into throwing a punch in their midseason meeting.
Dazz Newsome, which is on the PUP list, and Damiere Byrd are expected to get Miller’s snaps.
Days after Attorney General Merrick Garland came to Chicago to promote a new program to combat gun violence in partby targeting so-called straw purchasers, a federal judge handed down an eight-month prison sentence in what the feds called a “case study” in the problem.
Federal prosecutors say Eric Blackman bought a 9mm Smith & Wesson pistol for someone who was underage in August 2019 from a licensed firearms dealer in Oak Forest. They said he later told investigators, “I just figured, what’s the worst that could happen?”
By buying the gun, Blackman played the role of the so-called straw purchaser — using his lack of criminal history to purchase a gun for someone who wasn’t supposed to have it.
Before U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman handed the eight-month sentence to Blackman on Monday, Blackman told the judge, “It was basically a mistake that was made that I wish I could really take back.”
Blackman’s defense attorney, Michael Leonard, tried to underscore Blackman’s lack of criminal history and said that Blackman is “not the guy we’re looking for to solve the gun problem.”
But Gettleman noted that Blackman’s lack of criminal history helped him commit his crime.
The judge noted that Blackman didn’t seem to commit his crime for money — distinguishing his from other straw-purchasing cases. But Gettleman also said guns have “destroyed so many lives in our city” and “stray bullets are killing children almost every week in this community.” The judge rejected a request from Blackman’s attorney for no prison time.
The person Blackman purchased the gun for was caught with it a little more than a week after the mass shooting when officers saw him walking with what appeared to be a gun handle sticking out of his right coat pocket, according to court records. The feds say the firearm was loaded and had an obliterated serial number.
That person was not accused of participating in the shooting, the judge said during Monday’s hearing.
Attorney General Merrick Garland meets with Chicago U.S. Attorney John Lausch during Garland’s visit to Chicago on July 22, 2021.Jon Seidel/Sun-Times
Garland paid an overnight visit to Chicago last week to tout a new Justice Department program meant to combat gun violence in Chicago and in other cities across the country, in part by targeting straw purchasers.
Asked about people who consider straw-purchasing a “paper crime” because it involves lying on a form — Blackman pleaded guilty to lying about a firearm sale — Garland called that characterization “unfortunate.”
“We do not regard this as a minor matter,” Garland said. “We regard this as a major matter.”
The question of gun violence in Chicago came up again Monday at the White House, where Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the Justice Department is focused on the selling of guns “that are getting into the hands of people who shouldn’t have them.”
Meanwhile, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sheri Wong wrote in a recent court memo that, “The straw purchaser plays a significant role in the gun violence that has continuously troubled the city of Chicago and threatened the public safety of its residents.”
Wong called the Blackman case “representative of the harmful ripple effect that straw-purchased firearms can have,” and she wrote that Chicago “has been inundated with violence from the actions of individuals who illegally possess firearms and then use those firearms to commit crimes.”
During Monday’s sentencing hearing, Wong told the judge, “Saving this city starts by sending a message.”
Chicago’s most important news of the day, delivered every weekday afternoon. Plus, a bonus issue on Saturdays that dives into the city’s storied history.
This afternoon will be sunny with a high near 92 degrees. Tonight will be mostly clear with a low around 71. Tomorrow will be mostly sunny with a high near 93.
The executive board of the Fraternal Order of Police has overwhelmingly approved a new eight-year contract, setting the stage for a ratification vote by rank-and-file Chicago police officers in line for a 20% pay raise, more than half of it retroactive.
FOP President John Catanzara pegged the cost of the retroactive pay raise alone at $600 million. The retroactive pay raise for firefighters and paramedics cost taxpayers $96 million, and “we’re three times their size and we got an extra year,” he noted.
“It’s not because we’re taking ’em to the cleaners. It’s because we waited four years for the money,” Catanzara said today.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot, however, continues to play cat-and-mouse about the new contract, refusing even to acknowledge the existence of a tentative agreement the FOP board already has approved by a 14-to-1 vote. The union also has received a signed copy from the city and started mailing out copies for the rank-and-file to ratify.
“I think we will ultimately get there. But we’re gonna do it on a timeline that makes sense for our city, for our taxpayers, for the members” of the City Council, Lightfoot told Kara Swisher on the New York Times’ “Sway” podcast, which was posted online this morning.
“We need to make sure that the dollars that they propose make sense. We’ve obviously got to think about what are the revenue sources for that. And we’re fly-specking all of the reform measures that we’ve advocated for to make sure that we’ve gotten everything that I know that we need to be able to move forward. We’re doing our diligence.”
Ten-year-old Susanna Aderotimi had been roller skating only once before last Friday.
But after a few laps around a new outdoor rink in West Garfield Park, she already was planning a return visit.
“I like that you get to move around,” said Susanna, who attended the rink’s opening day with a group of Chicago Park District day campers. “It’s like exercising.”
The rink, at 4008 W. Madison St., is only a temporary structure, built on one of many empty lots along the neighborhood’s main commercial corridor.
Kids skate at opening day for the community plaza and outdoor roller rink at Madison Street and Pulaski Road in the West Garfield Park neighborhood on Friday. Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Along with the rink, there’s a community plaza — a project that some residents hope is the start of rebuilding the West Side.
The main attraction is the outdoor roller rink, where attendees can borrow skates at no cost if they don’t bring their own.
Besides dozens of day campers, there also were some Chicago police officers taking spins around the rink.
The National Sports Collectors Convention is in town this week. Do you collect anything? What and why?
Reply to this email (please include your first name and where you live) and we might feature your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.
On Friday, we asked you: With COVID-19 cases on the rise, how do you feel about the city hosting Lollapalooza next week? Here’s what some of you said…
“Let it happen. Can’t keep rolling back the clock everytime cases spike up a bit. People have the choice to be vaccinated, if they do then great, if not it’s their own risk.” — Justin Griletz
“I have mixed feelings about it because the COVID-19 cases are slowly rising in Chicago’; however, I got to applaud their efforts in trying to put the proper protocols in place to keep everyone safe during the event.” — Charlotte Yolanda
“Since you have to be vaccinated to go or be tested multiple times which is a pain I’m totally fine with it. Let the unvaccinated stay home this time.” — Missy Porter Badynee
“It should not be happening. We will see numbers rise tremendously. It’s so unnecessary just because the city wants to make money. People’s health is so much more important vaccinated or not.” — Sheri A. Mendez
“I think we are crazy if we don’t cancel. Do we all want to be stuck in our houses again? Do we want our health care workers at risk again.” — Linda Chariton Goodall
“What many forget is that you can be a carrier of the virus and the new variants regardless of vaccine status. Hosting Lollapalooza is irresponsible, especially considering the latest travel orders that have developed in the last couple of weeks.” — Amber Nicole Alvarado
“The Democrats are never gonna let this go away. There will continue to be more variants forever. Best for anyone concerned to get vaccinated and wear masks. Anyone who is not concerned should be able to do whatever they choose. Enough of this tyrannical nonsense.” — Ken Gaspar
Thanks for reading the Chicago Afternoon Edition. Got a story you think we missed? Email us here.
There’s a mystery behind the deaths of three popular beavers that made their home at the Evanston campus of Northwestern University.
“They were getting regular visits. A lot of people in Evanston were excited about them,” said Margaret Frisbie, director of Friends of the Chicago River.
When the beavers were found dead recently, their bodies were too decomposed for veterinarians to test for a cause of death, Northwestern University spokesman Jon Yates said in an emailed statement.
It’s unclear if there were any surviving beavers. They reportedly began living on campus in 2018. “We plan to work with the county in the future should this unfortunate situation occur again,” Yates said.
The beavers had likely migrated from the Chicago River and settled around the Lakefill on campus, according to Frisbie. She said beavers are making a comeback in the Chicago area.
“There’s some real enthusiasm about beavers. Beavers can have real impact on their environments, particularly in rivers,” she said.
Beavers can help shore up water levels in drought-prone areas out west. And wetlands created by beavers can help fight wildfires. In the Midwest, beavers can be most helpful by creating wetlands to combat flooding.
“They’re extraordinary. And there’s good reason to leave beavers alone,” she said.
But despite their importance in the ecosystem, beavers are considered a nuisance by some because they chew on trees and dam up running water, Frisbie said.
In nearby Glenview, one of the community’s beavers was recently found dead — and some feared it was killed.
“There was speculation they were poisoned,” Rachel Siegel, a founder of Glenview Beavers Fan Club and the president of the Illinois Beaver Alliance.
The beavers had made enemies with a nearby homeowner association after chewing on the local vegetation, Siegel said. Someone had even made a group on social media calling for the killing of the beavers, she said.
“They are controversial and the homeowner association wished they would go away. But if they had just wrapped their trees, the beavers would be harmless,” Siegel said.
Beavers are an “urban success story” and a key to combating the effects of climate change, Siegel said.
“Pre-settlement, North America was teeming with beavers — with ten times what he have today. Because of that, rivers were different then, a complex river wetland corridor. But we’ve lost 80% or 90% of our wetlands since then,” she said.
And then hunters nearly trapped beavers out of existence, followed by farmers who pumped away water from the wetlands, she said.
“And here we are in Illinois, we want everything to be predictable so we don’t tolerate the ecosystem engineers (i.e. beavers). But with climate change we’re getting more rainwater in shorter and more intense bursts. And our water infrastructure isn’t made for it,” she said.
Although beaver dams create a level of uncertainty in our water infrastructure, they slow the flow of water and lessen the risk of flooding, she said.
“Our river system is designed to remove water from the area as fast as possible, but a slower system (created with the help of beavers) with many channels and wetlands would be healthier,” she said.
Providing spaces for beavers to thrive would go a long way toward restoring that ecosystem, Siegel said. “If humans learned to live with beavers, we’d solve our problems.”
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