Besides, no carbon credits were brought up. Mooching bunny hugging hippies anyways!

This is all about the rather recent, save the beavers craze.
There are States all over the place, particularly in the west, where this is taking place, and usually involves closing beaver trapping. The proponents want to reintroduce beaver into watersheds that are already full of beaver.
The fact that there are already plenty of beavers doesn't concern them at all; typical lunacy.