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2O2 4 – 2O2 5 GU I D E to Y E L LOW S P R I NG S 31 When a family of bea- vers moved into Glen Helen Nature Preserve in 2021, they immediately set to work dam- ming up the Yellow Springs Creek. Now, the busy fellers’ wooden marvel — a long assemblage of not just flot - sam and jetsam, but also the remains of trees that once towered nearby — spans several dozen feet near a frequently trafficked board - walk. Though the critters themselves have been quite elusive, visitors of the Glen have been treated to an up- close-and-personal view of the beavers’ handiwork. According to Glen Helen Association Executive Direc - tor Nick Boutis, who by his own admission has a compli- cated relationship to these industrious furballs, this is the first time in nearly 200 years that beavers have inhabited Glen Helen. On one hand, the beavers have given Boutis and his crews quite a bit of work; GREEN COMMUNITY IN GLEN HELEN By REILLY DIXON ▲ On an early summer day, Glen Helen Executive Director and lifelong ecologist Nick Boutis stood by the large beaver dam that crosses the Yellow Spring Creek. As Boutis told the News, the Glen Helen beavers — the first in nearly 200 years — have a lot to teach us about the ways in which we commune with nature and one another. the boardwalk has needed to be modified several times to keep up with the rising water caused by the dam. On the other hand, the beavers unintentionally made a new, expansive wetland — a native habitat in Ohio that is under continual threat — and with that, the Glen has seen an explosion of new residents. “Only twice in my 17 years on this job have I seen a green heron,” Boutis told the News in an interview last summer. “Now, I’m up to four just this year.” Beyond their inadvertent habitat creation, the beavers and their work have made something more intangible: They’ve created a perfect metaphor that exemplifies the ethos of this ongoing News series about community builders. By bringing people together to witness the ongoing dam saga in real-time, and by furnishing a new home for long-gone species in the Glen, the beavers are, by no stretch of the imagination, “building community,” Boutis said. They remind us of the inex- tricable relationship between a people and a place. As with the creation of a dam, building a community can be messy and fraught with tension, and according to Boutis, there may be no better place to witness that confluence of differing goals and interconnectedness than the 1,147 acres that com- pose the Glen Helen Nature Preserve. To wit, over 125,000 visi- P H O T O : R E I L L Y D I X O N 101Corry St. Yellow Springs, OH 937-319-0489 witH avarietY Of beerSbreweD in houSe Serving loCalwineS & CraFtbeerS OPeN: M–Th: F–Sa: Su: 11–9 11–10 1–9 1535 XENIA AVE. 937-767-9000 OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK! 11 A.M. –9 P.M. CALYPSOGRILL.NET See Our Menus: 259 Xenia Ave. sunrisecafe. ne t 937-767-7211 SUNRISE CAFE BREAKFAST LUNCH • DINNER o r