The beaver must chew wood-- something hard-- to keep its ever-growing front teeth short. It uses its felled product to build. It alters the landscape with its dams that stop creeks effectively enough to form ponds that become a new environment for many other species of plants, fish, frogs, insects, birds. The pond becomes a food chain that would not exist but for the beaver. Since the beaver is the key to a new environment it is dubbed a "keystone" species. The original keystone is the wedge-shaped stone in the top center of a stone arch that keeps all the other stones in place, making the arch possible, even without mortar.
For those who love nature and have actually visited a beaver pond, this book is a way to introduce an amazing habitat to their friends. For those who have never visited a beaver pond, At Home with the Beaver can motivate them to put down their phones, and make plans to go find one for themselves.