WATER POTATOES AND WATER SAVERS IN IDAHO

heidi08 Beavers October 15, 2024

Everything about this article appealed to me, starting with the water potato that I had never heard of and the tribal elder in Idaho who had said what the watershed needed was BEAVERS,’

The tiny potato at the heart of one tribe’s fight against climate change

Last October, Aiyana James attended her first water potato harvest on the reservation of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe in northwestern Idaho. The weather was unusually cold, but she was determined to harvest her first water potatoes, a small wetland tuber that’s one of the tribe’s key traditional foods.

After their land in northwest Idaho was carved up by 1909 federal allotment policies, Western agriculture, and logging thatback persists on some level today, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe lost a massive amount of acreage and, with it, their ability to manage the land and maintain balance between environmental protection and economic development. Salmon and trout disappeared from the streams. Fires became more frequent and powerful. Water potatoes and other key plants like camas, once staple foods for tribal members, started to disappear.

Now, extreme drought is making the situation even worse.

All of this is part of a reinforcing cycle of land degradation and climate change that the Coeur d’Alene Tribe has been fighting for decades. It’s a fight that James has now joined as one of the tribe’s first climate resilience coordinators.

No I had never heard about this little water potato either. But when it was described as a tuber it made me think of the cattail root that beavers eat. I have heard that it can even be made into flour for humans. So that wasn’t completely mysterious but you’d be surprised how many pictures of water potatoes there are NOT on the internet.

The tribe is bringing back beavers and salmon, restoring native grasses, and repairing stream channels. Collectively, those efforts are designed to restore balance to the landscape, make it more resilient to future climate change by fostering interconnected ecosystems, and, tribal members hope, one day allow them to rely again on important ancestral foods like the water potato.

In the summer of 2022, an adult salmon swam in Hangman Creek for the first time in around 100 years. Two years after the tribe released juvenile salmon into the creek, and after an arduous journey out to the Pacific Ocean and back, the tribe welcomed salmon back to the creek for the first time in generations.

For Ralph Allan Jr., the tribe’s fish and wildlife program manager, it was the culmination of 20 years of work that began with long days of fieldwork like planting trees. Now, he’s leading the department as it prepares to bring salmon back to the reservation.

Yes bringing back the salmon is a mighty fine goal to achieve. Congratulations. But guess what;s an even better one?

The beaver dams also support clean, cold-water habitats for salmon, but to do that, they need trees. Since 2019, the tribe’s environmental programs department has planted over 18,000 trees from about a dozen different species, and plans to plant another 4,000 by 2025.

The tribe has used beaver dam analogs — man-made approximations — to encourage beavers to return and posts to reinforce existing beaver dams. Gerald Green, a wildlife biologist for the tribe, says they are currently supporting about seven beaver dams in the creek.

Trees, beavers, salmon, water — they’re all part of a cyclical, interdependent system the tribe is trying to restore and support. Cajetan Matheson, natural resource director and a tribal council member, says that addressing climate impacts or restoration goals one by one will not work. “Everything is really related to each other,” Matheson said. “You can’t just clear-cut a mountain and say, ‘Oh, now we’ve defeated the fire problem.’ There’s way more to it than that.”

Wow now that’s truly getting the big picture. Plant trees, make food and shelter for beavers, who in turn make homes for juvenile salmon clean the water and sustain all kinds of wildlife. I think this is going to work!

Almost everyone I talked to in the Natural Resources Department credits that perspective to Felix Aripa, a tribal elder who died in 2016. He is seen as instrumental in setting the tone for the tribe’s restoration work.

He was an early proponent of using beavers as a restoration partner and helped with things as straightforward as pointing out where a stream used to flow so that the technicians could use that as a guideline to restore the course rather than starting from scratch or guesswork. “The ultimate goal for anybody that works here in the Fish and Wildlife Program is to leave a legacy e way that Felix Aripa left his legacy and his mark on the program,” Allan said.

Before he passed away, Aripa helped Matheson and others put the tribe’s traditional seasonal calendar on paper. The calendar, which is based on seasonal indicators like tree sap rather than months and days, includes detailed information about foods, ecosystems, plants, animals, and human activities. “As we’re thinking broadly about how we approach restoration, it’s the framework that we can use,” Laura Laumatia, the tribe’s environmental programs manager, said. “It represents millennia of knowledge.”

Wow. I am always interested in stories about early advocates for beavers. Whether they are tribal or not. Felix intrigues me but there are too few stories of him on the internet. I did find one video which i will share. But we should always assume that somewhere in the background there is always a wise voice saying, YOU need to bring back the BEAVERS!

Just one question. Do beavers eat water potatoes?

Bonus points? The article comes with an awesome new video that is the best visual for hypoheic exchange at a beaver dam I’ve seen. Enjoy and share,

WE THINK WE’RE FERN, BUT WE SHOULD BE CHARLOTTE

heidi08 Beavers October 14, 2024

I admit that I read this article with one eyebrow arched, ready to mock it wherever possible. But there are parts of it I found genuinely wise, so either its very well written or I’m getting soft in my old age.

Animal Wisdom for Feeling at Home in Your Earthly Body

The fact that humans are animals is not a point rewilding facilitator Vanessa Chakour wants to be swept under the socio-cultural rug. In fact, exploring our inner and outer landscapes from the vantage of our interconnectedness with the web of life leads to pleasure, love, wonder, healing, and connection. In illustrating the wild tapestry that binds us to all we call primal, Chakour shows what it takes for humans to leave the enclosures within our minds, rehabilitate our bond with nature, and finally return our hearts to their true home: Earth.

Stories are the architects of our human world, shaping how we perceive and interact with everything around us. As a child, foxes, birds, butterflies, bats, and countless other creatures populated my storybooks. I devoured books like Charlotte’s Web, where animals were intelligent, complex beings with rich emotional lives. But as I grew older, a painful dissonance grew between my reality and the “civilized” world where more-than-human animals were seen as intellectually and spiritually inferior and, in some cases, devoid of emotion. For far too long, dominant narratives have alienated us from the natural world.

Well you won’t ever catch me disagreeing that stories are important. They saved beavers in Martinez. And the story of Martinez saving beavers inspired countless other stories around the globe. Telling stories is powerful.

By immersing ourselves in the natural world and understanding the unique roles of each species, we can forge a mutually beneficial relationship with our planet. Beavers offer an inspiring example: One of the few animals, like humans, that modify their habitat to be more comfortable. Beavers build homes to protect themselves and, as they build, they create and heal ecosystems.

Yes they do. And they do it without thinking about it. Beavers would neither read or write a book about creating and sustaining ecosystems that other animals depend on. They just do it. Every day and with their last breath.

While our current approach to conservation often treats nature as an entity needing protection from us, Indigenous cultures have long demonstrated the power of reciprocal stewardship, actively supporting the health and resilience of their ecosystems. This is evident in the fact that Indigenous people, who today live on less than 5 percent of global land and still deal with unconscionable injustices, protect a staggering 80 percent of the world’s biodiversity. Stewardship isn’t about “taming” nature but rather working in collaboration with nature’s incredible regenerative powers.

While land may legally belong to someone, ecosystems can never truly be owned. In practice, living landscapes belong to everyone and to no one. It isn’t necessary to buy land to steward land. In New York City parks, and many city parks around the world, people can volunteer to learn how to help forest and wetland restoration, plant and prune street trees, propagate native seeds, and monitor local wildlife. Land is more than a resource to be exploited or scenery to be maintained. The living earth is a complex ecosystem that sustains us all.

I like the idea that we can all be stewards. And that the ecosystems around us can never truly be owned. I think about the truly resilient morning glory vine that is part of the block on my built in the 1800’s home. It was obviously planted once by a dreamy resident who first settled in Martinez when it was mostly soil. It has stunning blue flowers that grow to the sun and over the years it has dominated the block or been stripped out or climbed willfully over walls and stripped paint from doorways. It has been ripped away so that lawns or tanbark could be laid in orderly fashion. And sometimes it has entirely disappeared from site and I miss it fondly.

Only to show up twining around a rosebush or snagging a foothold on a picket fence. Never allowing itself to be forgotten. We just live here for a while. It reminds me. Things like morning glories and beavers have a way of showing up uninvited. And we can learn from them and make our lives more beautiful.

FOUR GREAT BEAVER READS

heidi08 Beavers October 13, 2024

It was fun to stumble across this article this morning. A who’s who of fauna literature with a highlight on beavers.

Check It Out: Possums, beavers and owls, oh my!

Dorothy Gale, of “Wizard of Oz” fame, was obviously not from the Pacific Northwest. If she was, she’d have known that lions and tigers don’t live in forests. She’d also have known that you are far more likely to see smaller creatures in the forest than larger ones — like, maybe, possums. Or beavers. Or owls.

Now, I will admit that I have lived in the PNW for quite a while now, and I still haven’t seen a beaver outside of a zoo. But I have seen evidence of their presence, and I have seen other wild animals and birds native to this area. One memorable morning, I was walking my dog and we came around a corner and startled a raccoon in the shrubbery. The raccoon reared up on its hind legs — MUCH larger than a Disney raccoon. My dog looked at me, turned around, and began walking quickly in the other direction. In that instance, discretion was the better part of valor — at least where my dog was concerned.

Whether or not you have had wildlife encounters of your own, I’d like to share with you some engrossing nonfiction books about some of our local creatures. Read on for a walk on the wild side:

Okay well most of the readers of this website HAVE seen a beaver outside of a zoo, but we get your point. Tell us about your suggestions.

Beavers

- “When Beavers Flew: An Incredible True Story of Rescue and Relocation” by Kristen Tracy (2024). This fantastic picture book tells the story of how Idaho Fish and Game transported 76 beavers to new homes in a remote wetlands area — by parachute!
- “Beaverland: How One Weird Rodent Made America” by Leila Philip (2022). The beaver fur trade had a huge impact on America’s environment and history, as detailed in this book.
- “Bringing Back the Beaver: The Story of One Man’s Quest to Rewild Britain’s Waterways” by Derek Gow (2022). A very funny firsthand account of Britain’s ecological movement to rewild the landscape there.
- “Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter” by Ben Goldfarb (2018). In a very engaging book, Goldfarb speaks on the impact of one of the world’s most influential species.

Not only do I agree that it is a good thing to read more about beavers, I have personally met three of the four of those authors and agree that they are worth pursuing! Half of them wrote about Martinez and one of them even came to Martinez.

Twice.

WHEN BEAVERS ARE TOO WELL DECEIVED?

heidi08 Beavers October 12, 2024

Now that’s a complaint I’ve not heard before. “The Beaver Deceiver works too well!” Apparently this communicty was worried about the road being flooded from the beaver dam. So a leveler was installed and the road stopped flooding.

But now the pond is too low!

Woodstockers worry about water level at Yankeetown

Is Yankeetown Pond, cherished by generations, being drained to nothing but mud flats, leading to an irreversible ecological disaster?

It depends on whom you ask.

The beaver deceiver

On August 13, the Beaver Institute, hired by Moran, installed the beaver deceiver after years of the pond flooding onto Pond Road. The town had previously attempted to remove part of a beaver dam to let water flow, but the beavers would plug the holes.

The beaver deceiver consists of a pipe directing water from the middle of the pond, up and over the top of the beaver dam. A large cage at the pond end keeps the beavers from trying to plug it. The device is designed to channel a steady amount of water out of the pond to keep it from flooding. The beavers do not hear or feel rushing water, so they don’t attempt to fortify the dam.

The height of the pipe, which determines the flow of water, is set at what is determined to be the desired level. It was supposed to lower the pond by twelve to 15 inches, but neighbors, showing an increasing shoreline in posted photos, say Yankeetown is being drained to mud flats.

Mudflats I tell you! It kind of makes me smile to imagine the Martinez tycoon who hated the beavers and was terrified they would flood his properties suddenly complaining that after Skip Lisle came the pond was TOO LOW!!!

A second Hudsonia study

Some have cited a yet-to-be released study by the nonprofit Hudsonia Institute, whose mission is to protect the natural heritage of the greater Hudson Valley.

“I suggest that the leveler be adjusted as soon as possible so that the pond water level is no more than six inches below the normal springtime high-water level, and that the water is at least high enough that there is some water covering the currently exposed water-lily beds,” Erik Kiviat of Hudsonia wrote.

This passage is oft-quoted by Sylvia Bullett, someone who would like the beaver deceiver pipes capped.

I’m sorry this just makes me laugh. I’m imagining a family of beavers wrote that report and all those letters. Can’t you just SEE them demanding the DEC that the beaver deceiver be CAPPED!!!!

COUNTING BEAVERS BECAUSE BEAVERS COUNT

heidi08 Beavers October 11, 2024

Sarah Marshall shared this yesterday on the Beaver Management Facebook Forum and it made me very happy. I thought you’d feel the same way so I’m sharing it here.

With Beaver Con coming to Colorado, I wanted to share the Colorado Beaver Activity Mapper (COBAM) with the group. You can browse clusters of beaver ponds from the past decade, older mapped beaver wetlands, and statewide BRAT model results. This is our state’s most comprehensive beaver map to date and we hope it can inform our state’s upcoming beaver management plan.

Take a look at this resource which makes me smile from ear to ear. I can’t wait until we have the same for California. I understand with the google beaver finder we should see it very soon. You can use the tool to zoom in and look at individual waterways. Click on the image or the headline to accesss.