Month: September 2008

The Dreaded Dredging Project

heidi08 Beaver News, City Reports September 12, 2008

If you’ve stopped by the farmer’s market you’ve seen the plans for the dredging project to widen the lower flood plain in Alhambra Creek. The plan is to remove all vegetation (100 foot width) from the east side of the bank from the Marina Vista bridge to the train bridge with the exception of a two foot border where a silt fence will be installed during the work. Our position all along has been that we support the widening as good for the health of the creek but have asked for the city to leave a 10% strip for the beavers to feed. (10 feet instead of 2). We have not yet been assured that this will happen, although there has been a committment to replant willows that are removed. Work starts monday and it would be good if you could come check in so that the contractors are reminded that there are lots of concerned eyes on this project.

Today’s guest blogger is city engineer Tim Tucker who describes the project:

City of Martinez’s

2008 Silt Removal Project

Guest Blogger: City Engineer Tim Tucker

In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s the City of Martinez widened Alhambra Creek, created a flood terrace and constructed a new train bridge and pedestrian bridge for approximately $3.2 million dollars at the new Amtrak Station (Intermodal) site. These improvements increased the capacity of Alhambra Creek, north of Marina Vista, to a 100-year flood level. The New Years Eve flood of 2005 deposited large amounts of silt on City streets from Highway 4 to the downtown railroad tracks. This storm also deposited approximately two to three feet of silt on the flood terrace. The raised elevation of the flood terrace not only reduced flood capacity but also changed the dynamics of the plant and animal habitat. The area no longer experienced the environmental benefit associated with occasional inundation from very high tides. Invasive weeds and non-native grasses can better sustain themselves in this higher, drier zone.

In July the City Council awarded a construction contract for the silt removal. As part of the contract award the Council directed staff to evaluate the possibility of preserving vegetation and still meet the objectives of the project. Several volunteer willows are in the removal area.

Removal of the silt from the flood terrace is scheduled to begin on September 15^th. City staff walked the site to evaluate vegetation preservation. The plans called for vegetation from the waters edge to two feet beyond the top of bank to be preserved. This will provide an approximate 8-10 foot swath of vegetation in the area with the highest density of cattails. In addition staff concluded that several of the willows can be easily saved. Preserving the willows will not affect the function of the flood terrace. As the contractor’s excavator encounters a willow tree to be saved the tree will be scooped up and replanted to an adjacent area already graded. Willows are very hardy plants and will quickly take root this time of year. Trees planted as part of the original project will also be saved. Lastly the City has hired a biologist to supplement oversight of the vegetation removal and construction oversight.

This is the sentence that most confuses me; “for vegetation from the waters edge to two feet beyond the top of bank to be preserved. This will provide an approximate 8-10 foot swath of vegetation in the area with the highest density of cattails” and for which I have asked for clarification without success. Since the area is a steep (not sloped) bank, it sounds to me like 2 feet of vegetation will mean 2 feet of vegation, period. Here’s hoping I’m reading something wrong.

At any rate, work starts monday, so expect to see bulldozers and heavy equipment camped out. If you’re down in the morning you can help by making sure our beavers have cleared the area before work begins. Remember they still have lots on the west bank to feed on, including blackberry, cottonwood and poplar.

Beaver Tug-of-War…

heidi08 kits, New Species September 11, 2008

Last night there was delightful beaver viewing below the Marina Vista bridge. Three kits whining and mewing to each other over who was getting the best blackberry branch. The fourth kit, who appears to go his own way, was in residence not to far off. (So those who have worried do we still have four, yes, we do!)

The kits would chew down the branches like corn on the cob, making loud smacking noises on the way. The newest shoots were the tastiest and first eaten, then the leaves, then the stalk unless something better came along. They ate with such speed it reminded me of being a child and trying to eat a treat very quickly before your sibling came in and wanted a bite.

At one point one lucky kit decided he’d take his branch away from his brothers to enjoy in private. As he swam off, the littlest fellow grabbed onto the end of the branch. For a while the pair had a tug-of-war in the water, each pulling the tendril in opposite directions. Then the bigger kit decided just to swim off anyway and pulled his brother a ways through the water. The little one quickly bit through the branch and acheived his own freedom, but eventually picked up the branch and decided to follow his sibling anyway.

Quite a show.

Envious of their acquatic cuteness, a family of raccoons approached the bridge for their share of oohs and ahhhs. There were about five little ones, and they followed mom up the oak tree at the edge of the bridge. We thought they were hiding from human threats, and then noticed the tree was bursting with acorns. Each little raccoon made his clambering way out onto the skinniest branches to strip them from the tree. There were sounds of crunching and glimpses of black-and-white-bandit-heads on every furthest branch. Like a omnivorous Christmas tree. I of course left my camera at home that night, but this is from our own Cheryl Reynolds on a prior visit.

“A Boy and His Turtle”

heidi08 Friends of Martinez Beavers, New Species, Uncategorized September 10, 2008

The dramatic rescue of Hector and his siblings is a story for all ages. Steve Weir and his crack team of turtle-midwives braved the heat and the traffic (and a few uncharitable eyes) to keep these eggs safe. In the end though, it was Steve who took the final risk and dug the young free when they failed to emerge. I thought you’d want to read the account in his own words:

We opened the nest last Tuesday (it was covered with a thick, adobe clay brick type cap. I found an empty shell inside and thought the eggs had rotted. Then I noticed a dirt covered baby turtle, I thought it was dead. It moved when I touched it and so I took it to the creek and off it took! Of the 15 eggs laid, I released 11 that morning. Two more had just hatched, but had extensive egg pouches attached and so I took them to my office and placed them in a dish of creek water. Two more were left in the nest, covered up.

I released the two with the egg sacks because they had absorbed them by that afternoon. That evening, I removed the two remaining eggs so as to prevent them from falling victim to night time predators. One was ready for release the next morning, but the last was just coming out of his shell. I kept him all week (and cared for him over the weekend).. By Saturday, I was hooked and bought him/her a large tank. Today is the one week birthday and “Hector” is living well with filter, two types of lights, lounging rocks, cover, and food.

It was just dumb luck that I decided to check on the nest, I am convinced that they youngsters could not have dug themselves out.

Dumb Luck? I don’t know. I guess in the sense that the beavers were “lucky” not to be killed, and the city was “lucky” that people explained why they should be taken care of. Maybe whenever animals are saved by human compassion and stewardship it’s a kind of luck.

I would never call it “dumb” though. I’m pretty sure that taking care of the wild things near our tame spaces is one of the smartest things people can do.

Turns out Mr. Weir worked with the Lindsay museum in his younger days, was involved with the raptor release program and even played a grandparent role with Sioux, the mountain lion. I’m thinking that Mrs. Turtle couldn’t have picked a better place to lay her eggs, unless it was inside his office. Come to think of it, didn’t the PWA hydrology report on the dam mention a Weir? Hmm, must have known that the county recorder’s support of wildlife could represent an obstacle.

Sliders today, western pond turtles and salmon tomorrow!

Streamkeepers

heidi08 New Species September 9, 2008

Close watchers of our dams may have noticed the increasing dragonfly population with the winding down of summer. The view, standing on the Marina Vista bridge looking towards the footbridge, resembles a WWII fighter pilot movie. Many different kinds of dragonfly, zipping and chasing eachother about. Their numbers are sign of an increasingly healthy creek. When I went googling for species identification I was distracted by the fact that there is even one called a “beaverpond basket tail”. How do we get one of those? We need a dragonfly expert on staff, so if you want to brush up on your flyfacts, you might start here or here:

As you can see from this introductory guide from a Canadian lesson on creek health, an increase in dragonflies is sign of a moderate improvement. Better than some bugs but not as good as mayflies, which we should be hoping for. Fishermen understand well how popular mayflies are with trout, and they are considered the king of eco-bugs. Turns out their larvae makes a tastey morsel for dragonfly larvae, so maybe our increase is a sign of very good things to come. Hopefully we’ll be seeing mayflies soon, especially once the water gets moving again.

Need a little practice spotting your streamkeepers? Check out this delightful game from Queensland Waterwatch and help “Freckles” clean up his creek.

They gotcha comin’ and goin’

heidi08 Beavers, New Species, pictures September 11, 2008

This fantastic picture by Cheryl Reynolds shows two kits crossing the dam in different directions: (this is apparently why you see logging trucks on the highway going both ways!) It also explains why there were complaints that beavers were taking trees and yet alarm at the re-planting of trees, concern expressed that beavers would interfere with steelhead, and now disbelief that the steelhead are really in the creek at all.

“My mind’s made up. Don’t confuse me with the facts.”

This “position of imposition” was re-illustrated with a tale told me last night by a beaver regular. Apparently he was hard at work on his usual filming and was pleased that the property owner approached him in a cordial and chatty way. (Mind you this is the same property owner who said the blackberry bushes on his bank never produced fruit…check the photo in the frame). He eventually observed that he thought “people were putting new animals in the creek” and remarked that there were mink farms “and one could have been placed here.”

This, I assume, in an effort to disprove the improving effect of the beavers on the creek by accusing beaver supporters of “planting” habitat evidence. Nevermind the “Keystone Species” nonsense. Bring in the “Keystone Cops.”

Maybe the mink and the steelhead were brought in by hand. Maybe the otter was someone’s pet. Maybe the green heron and the kingfisher were smuggled down in a pillowcase and stapled to the branches to make them stay. Maybe the turtle was forced by well-meaning county workers to lay her eggs there against her will.

Maybe making still pools that trap increasingly rich sediment doesn’t really affect a creek at all.

This reminds me of another conversation with the city. We were describing our idea of putting little video snippets of human visitors to the dam in a “whose watching our beavers now?” segment. Staff agreed it would be interesting, with the caution added “If they were legitimate”. Implying they might not be. As if we would write a script, find actors, direct the scene and have them “pretend” to be visiting from Minnesota or Wisconsin and comment on enjoying the beavers.

The mind reels.

The willingness to believe anything but what you actually see is a deeply cynical mindset that cannot be challenged or even influenced with facts. We can’t show the animals that visit the creek if watchers are going to assume they were brought in by truck and released out of a cage the moment before the camera rolled. We can’t even introduce them to our vast field of human visitors if it is assumed that they are all in costume, “pretending” to care about beavers for their acting debut. That is the point. The facts (which challenge the belief) are rejected and don’t matter.

I will say this though; as frusterating as those examples of incredulity are, (and they provoke real outrage in this particular woman who has tried to tranparently document things from the beginning) they attribute to us a lot of power: think of it! Armies of exotic animals (perhaps the entire lindsay museum!) at our disposal, busloads of actors to impersonate actual visitors, and hours of free time to make all this stuff up.

Never mind the logic that says if we had the luxury of scheming and pretending an entire ecosystem we wouldn’t post grainy videos that were taken at an ungodly hour of the morning. We’d sleep in until eleven and go to the studio after a leisurely breakfast of croissonts, browsing the endangered species list before chosing our animal star of the day.

Sigh. Until that enviable day of arrives, we will have to settle for real animals and real people who take time out of their real lives to notice the impact that these beavers have had on this creek.

That will have to do for now.