At our beaver pond in 2008.This is a fantastic article by folks who know that keeping their water means keeping their beavers. I’m so old that when I just glanced at the topic “beaver volunteers along the San Pedro River in Arizona” I immediately thought of the old beaver buddy who had taught me soo many years ago.
I wonder how Mike Foster is doing now? Does he still care about beavers?
Beavers and Watershed Management: Volunteers Work Tirelessly to Catalog and Preserve Local Beaver Populations
One of the stakeholders is Watershed Management, an organization of roughly 70 volunteers, some of which are students from Cochise College. Mike Foster, who is one of the chief volunteers of Watershed Management, is a local naturalist. In addition to survey work, he also makes videos of the survey to educate the public. Mike works with Catlow Shipek, a founding member of the organization. They were able to provide me information from the 2022/23 survey.
Ahh there you are Mike! Wow beaver believers are loyal. He was an old hand at this when I was getting started!
In 2002, Watershed Management began its work in Southern Arizona. They monitor beaver populations and advise wildlife managers on relocation efforts. This helps ensure the protection, progress and survival of local beaver populations. Restoring beaver populations is a top priority for watershed managers.
Beavers are essential to watershed management. It is in their nature to enhance wetlands and create habitats for keystone species. When they build dams, this slows the streams and causes floodplains to fill. This forms a cienega, a type of marsh. Surface water increases and this causes water tables to come up. Without the beavers, our wetlands dry up and biodiversity decreases. When there is a loss of biodiversity, the ecosystem is at a higher risk of total collapse.
I just love this paragraph. How rare does water have to be before all of America treasures the animal that keeps it?
In places where beavers have been reintroduced, several species of plants and animals make a significant comeback. There is an increase in willow trees, mesquites and Arizona ash, due to beaver activity. This adds to the food web and restores a healthy ecosystem.
The beavers are brought here from other places when they become a nuisance. Some came from the Yuma area, where they dammed canals, creating problems for agriculture. Others came from urban settings, where they caused problems for water treatment facilities and storm drains. These relocated beavers have made their home in the San Pedro watershed. In our region, they do not interfere with infrastructure. They are given a second chance, starting a new life here, to help save our wetlands.
I guess things have to get pretty bad before folks start to notice that beavers actually improve the watershed.
There is more evidence of beavers living in Northern Mexico. According to Foster, it is a possibility that some of our beavers may have passed through the border wall, while floodgates were open, and went to the other side. This raises a question of beaver migrating along the river. “The border wall doesn’t kill that possibility, but it complicates it,” Foster said. There is a chance that some beavers may have left before the recent construction of the wall.
The world is getting drier. Do you know where your beavers are?
Yesterday we had beaver representation both at the John Muir House and Safari West. Hopefully there are a few more folk with beavers on their mind this morning. I thought all day about this…we had so much fun at every single one…
Sniff, this is a proud morning for beaver advocates everywhere. 17 years after the Martinez beavers changed our world, another champion is unfolding her story. Hurray for the beavers of Orchard Park!
Bedeviled by beavers, Orchard Park chooses non-lethal solution
The beavers in Orchard Park’s Birdsong Park may be deceived, but not deceased, under a nonlethal means to control flooding.
Town Board members approved a plan to split the cost of hiring a Vermont company to install devices to allow water to flow through the beavers’ dam in a way that fools beavers and does not stop the flow.
Beaver Deceivers International will install one to two devices in the pond and tree chew guards for a cost not to exceed $13,500. The cost will be divided between the town, the Friends of Birdsong and a grant the Friends group obtained, with the maximum contribution of $4,500 each.
Raise your hands if you recognize this story! I heard about the city’s agreement weeks ago but Julie wasn’t sure they had any beavers left. Was it too little too late? Yesterday Julie told me she just saw two at the pond and was over the moon.
The Friends group started lobbying the town late last year after the Village of Orchard Park hired a trapper to kill five beavers that had built a dam near Highland Avenue to prevent flooding. The Town Board approved a contract with the trapper for the beavers at Birdsong Park, but residents urged the town to investigate other methods.
Skip Lisle created his first beaver deceiver as a boy when a beaver clogged a culvert near his family’s property. He later earned a master’s degree in wildlife management, and honed his interest in beavers and saving the habitats they create into his company in 2001.
“One skilled person can eliminate the beaver conflict in a town with hand tools in a couple weeks for 50 years,” he said in a recording on his website.
Fifty years? that might be a little exaggeration there Skip, but we get the idea. That’s four generations of beavers. I wish Martinez had beavers for fifty years. Don’t you?
He maintains that killing beavers does not solve the problem, because the area will attract more beavers in the future.
The flow device usually includes a pipe that goes through the dam, creating a permanent leak to lower the level of the pond. The long pipe empties the water away from the dam, deceiving the beavers that would otherwise notice water flowing and fill up the hole.
Boy Scouts installed a similar pipe years ago but it doesn’t work anymore, according to Town Engineer Wayne Bieler.
Never send a boy scout to do a man’s job they say. Or adult woman’s job. Or trained young person. You know what I mean. Get a professional to do the work. And Skip invented the profession so he knows what he’s doing.
Before making arrangements with the company, Wettlaufer said she made sure the beavers were still in the park. There was a concern that they may have been the same beavers that were killed in December.
Wonderful work Julie. Things are headed in a very good direction and I’m thinking Orchard Park would be a great place for a beaver festival.
Happy Earth Day Julie and beaver friends! Just remember what Willly Wonka warned about the boy who got everything he always wanted.
This weekends episode of Mutual of Omaha’s Protecting the Wild will have a few stars you recognize. One might look somewhat like this:
I heard about this from Michael Pollock who will be featured in the episode no doubt talking about how important beavers are to salmon. I saw some BDA clips so maybe they’ll be talking about the work at John Day in Oregon where they put in starter dams to bring in more beavers and fix the incised streams and improve the salmon population.
Local listings have it airing on KCRA Saturday morning but you might want to check your area. It will also be available to download after it has aired. For those of you keeping track at home this is the second time beavers have appeared on Wild Kingdom.
Michael Pollock visits Martinez Beaver dam
BEAVER FESTIVAL XV
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