Sometimes the best solutions to the biggest problems can be found in the most unexpected places. Meet the beaver believers: five scientists and a sassy, spicy hairdresser who are tackling climate change one stick at a time. The Beaver Believers is the urgent yet whimsical story of an unlikely cadre of activists who share a common vision: restoring the North American Beaver, that most industrious, ingenious, bucktoothed engineer, to the watersheds of the arid West. The Beaver Believers encourage us to embrace a new paradigm for managing our western lands, one that seeks to partner with the natural world rather than overpower it. As a keystone species, beaver enrich their ecosystems, creating the complexity and resiliency our watersheds need to absorb the impacts of climate change. Beavers can show us the way and even do much of the work for us, if only we can find the humility to trust in the restorative power of nature and our own ability to play a positive role within it. Shot in 8 western US states, Mexico, and Canada, through desert drought, raging wild fires, spring floods, and wetland tranquility, this film will change the way you think about climate change and inspire you to step up to confront the challenges we face.

About the filmmaker

Sarah Koenigsberg is an award-winning filmmaker, photographer, and educator whose work centers on stories of art, environment, and community in the American West. Her films and teaching cross disciplines, illuminating the power of storytelling as a medium through which to explore complex social, science, and policy issues. Since earning her BA in Environmental Studies and Politics at Whitman College in 2002, she has been inspired by the successes of place-based  collaboratives, determined to facilitate that type of problem solving in public land use, watershed health, and climate issues. Sarah’s film work has screened in festivals worldwide and for venues such as the National Climate Adaptation Forum and the North American Congress of Conservation Biology, while her photography has been featured in publications such as Science, High Country News, and the National Climate Assessment.

Her feature documentary The Beaver Believers has been honored with the Green Spark Award from the American Conservation Film Festival, has won multiple audience choice awards, and was a finalist in the Banff Mountain Film Festival, London Eco Film Festival, and the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival, among many others. In 2020 she was invited to become a member of the Her Wild Vision Initiative, the world’s first comprehensive directory of female and female-identifying conservation filmmakers and photographers.