On August 8, 2021, Betty Ford Alpine Gardens welcomed Dr. Ken Tape, Research Associate Professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, for a fascinating webinar titled The Arctic Be Dammed: Beaver Colonization of the Arctic. The presentation shed light on how climate change is transforming the Arctic landscape, particularly through an unexpected new ecological engineer: the beaver.
Warming Climate, Changing Tundra
The Arctic tundra, long known for its permafrost and sparse vegetation, is undergoing dramatic changes as global temperatures rise. With warming comes an expansion of shrubs and woody plants into regions that were once dominated by mosses, lichens, and open ground. Dr. Tape explained that these shifts are not just subtle adjustments but fundamental transformations of entire ecosystems.
One of the most surprising consequences of this increase in vegetation is that it has created suitable habitat for beavers, animals that had not historically lived in the Arctic tundra. The beavers’ arrival is more than a curiosity—it has profound implications for permafrost, hydrology, and the pace of climate change itself.
Beavers in the Arctic
Beavers are well known across North America for their role as ecosystem engineers. By cutting down trees and shrubs to build dams and lodges, they alter waterways, create ponds, and transform landscapes. While this activity can create wetlands that benefit biodiversity in many regions, in the Arctic tundra the consequences are quite different.
Dr. Tape shared striking images of beaver dams and ponds now scattered across northern Alaska. These dams impound water, raising local temperatures and thawing the underlying permafrost. This thaw accelerates the release of carbon long stored in frozen soils—carbon that, once in the atmosphere, contributes further to global warming. In other words, the beaver’s industrious behavior in the tundra amplifies the very climate shifts that made their arrival possible.
Photographic Evidence of Change
Dr. Tape’s research builds on years of careful observation, much of it captured through powerful photographic comparisons. In fact, Betty Ford Alpine Gardens hosted his exhibit Then and Now: Changing Arctic Landscapes from May through July 2016. That exhibit juxtaposed historic and contemporary images of the same Arctic locations, revealing stark differences.
Over just a few decades, landscapes once dominated by open tundra and receding glaciers have become increasingly shrubby. Where there was once ice, now there are rivers and ponds—and where shrubs grow thick, beavers are moving in. These visual records provide a compelling narrative of a rapidly changing environment.
A Feedback Loop in Motion
Perhaps the most sobering takeaway from Dr. Tape’s talk is the feedback loop now unfolding. Climate warming enables vegetation growth; vegetation invites beavers; beaver dams warm and thaw the ground; thawing ground releases greenhouse gases; those gases accelerate warming further.
It is a cycle that highlights the interconnectedness of ecosystems and the challenges of predicting climate impacts. What may seem like a small ecological shift—beavers expanding northward—turns out to have cascading consequences on a global scale.
Why It Matters Beyond the Arctic
Though far from most of our daily lives, the changes happening in the Arctic are not isolated. The Arctic functions as one of Earth’s critical regulators of climate. Permafrost soils store nearly twice as much carbon as is currently in the atmosphere. As they thaw, the release of even a fraction of that carbon will have significant consequences for global climate stability.
Dr. Tape’s work underscores that the Arctic is not a static wilderness but a dynamic, vulnerable system. The arrival of beavers is just one striking example of how warming temperatures are rewriting the rules of Arctic ecology.
Looking Forward
The Arctic will continue to be a region of rapid change and global importance. Researchers like Dr. Tape are helping us better understand the links between climate, ecosystems, and human futures. By documenting transformations in real time, their work offers both a warning and a call to action.
At Betty Ford Alpine Gardens, we believe education and awareness are powerful tools in addressing climate change. Hosting speakers like Dr. Tape allows us to bring world-class science to our community and highlight the profound connections between alpine and Arctic ecosystems.
As we reflect on The Arctic Be Dammed, the message is clear: the story of the beaver in the tundra is not just about animals adapting to new habitats—it is about the accelerating pace of climate change and the urgent need for solutions.
