Giant beavers (Castoroides ohioensis) grew to more than 2 meters long, not including their tail. For comparison, modern beavers grow as long as 1.3 meters (tail included). ​Image courtesy of The Canadian Encyclopedia (thecanadianencyclopedia.ca) @ Corbin Rainbolt

Pleistocene Paleoecology of the Mid-Willamette Valley: A Ghost Story

Thank you to everyone who joined our Sips 'n' Science pub talk with Aubrey Cloud at West Valley Taphouse on January 25, 2023. Below is the recorded presentation, ready for viewing and sharing!

Synopsis: LWC Project Manager Aubrey Cloud transports us back in time to discover the lost world beneath our own feet. This presentation is a tour of a land both familiar and surprisingly wild. You'll hear about exciting fossil discoveries in our watershed and its neighbors, and learn about local Pleistocene paleoecology; the mammoth-sized hole it has left in our modern world, and the lessons it holds for our future. You are invited to reimagine how you think of the land; to engage with it on its own time scale instead of our own.​

​A big thank you goes to Willamette Habitat Restoration Fund for providing the funding that allows us to make this event free of charge!

About Aubrey Cloud: Aubrey joined the Luckiamute Watershed Council as Project Manager in May 2020. Aubrey moved to Oregon from Denver, Colorado in 2011 to pursue education in Natural Resources and Ecosystem Restoration at Oregon State University. He has been working to restore the Willamette Valley’s native habitats since 2016, when he was hired as a restoration contractor. Starting as a crew member doing boots on the ground restoration work (often at LWC sites), Aubrey continued to work as a Crew Leader and then a Project Coordinator, improving riparian and floodplain forest habitat at a wide range of sites throughout the Valley. In his free time, Aubrey loves writing, native plant gardening, and amateur paleontology. Aubrey lives in Corvallis and also serves as a Project Manager for the Marys River Watershed Council.

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