Cooper Lienhart graduated from Cal Poly with a degree in Environmental Management and Protection. He works with the SLO Beaver Brigade to support our beavers in creating lush wetlands that benefit our lands and communities. Cooper’s interest in the environment began back home in the suburbs of Chicago during a big project on climate change in his high school Earth Science class. Ever since then, protecting and healing the planet from climate change has been his main drive. While at Cal Poly, Cooper was lucky enough to continue his climate research abroad in Iceland and Greenland where he was stunned by how beautiful the Earth is.  He learned that our best tools for fighting climate change are our natural ecosystems- especially wetlands, which is what drew him to beavers. He is enrolled in the Beaver Institute where he is learning techniques that allow us to live with beavers safely. This past summer Cooper continued his beaver training with three river restoration groups in California thanks to a grant from Biodiversity First!  He also trained with the Tulalip Tribe in Washington on how to safely trap and relocate beavers.