> [!summary] Progressive Summary # Structured Notes ## Definitions ## Chapter Summaries ### Introduction Beavers can weigh sixty pounds, as much as a golden retriever. Their sex is hard to discern. Trappers referred to broad, game-filled valleys as "holes". That's how Jackson Hole got its name. Before it became a ski resort, it was part of the fur trade during the first half of the 1800s, which dominated the region between Colorado and California, and sent pelts down the Missouri River to St Louis and then to the East Coast to be shipped off to Europe. Swans used towering beaver lodges as nesting platforms. With the beavers gone, there are now only about 90 pairs of trumpeter swans in the region. "Swans are the poster child for the importance of the beaver," according to biologist Ruth Shea. # Quotes