The Tripple Tell…

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere February 21, 2009

After reading over yesterday’s Detroit news a few times, I started to get a familiar and uneasy feeling. Sure Edison is happy about their “single” beaver now, but what happens next? I find it very unlikely that a lone beaver would even build a lodge. I also find it unlikely that a beaver, who can effortlessly travel for miles, would move because the few trees near the lodge are gone. And, most ominously, as the wife and daughter of river-based power plant operators, I find it a little unlikely that down the road Edison’s only reaction to this beaver will be filial.

It got me thinking about the different layers of civic manipulation “the powers that be” use to manage public opinion about beavers. I had thought they were unique to Martinez, but after reading two years worth of reporting on the issue, I can see there’s a handbook somewhere, (or at least a shared instinct pool). Castor Machiavelli? I assume you’re all familiar with what they call in Poker a “tell“. Well, this is a three-piece “Tell” and I would bet that whenever you see these three in action the colony is headed for trouble.

Part 1: Secrecy

In yesterday’s article the power plant made the decision not to disclose where the beaver was even though it is a secured location. The city manager in Robeson Pennsylvania didn’t want to “give away the beavers location” and cause a media circus. Same for the beavers in Devon apparently swimming the Tamar. This is no accident. Keeping the beavers out of the public eye is essential to their speedy dispatch. In the over 50 beaver cases I’ve been involved with since this started, public awareness was the number one way to keep them from being killed once their behavior becomes inconvenient.

Part 2: Failure to Acknowledge Family Structure

These articles often cite “one beaver” or a “bachelor beaver” or even a “rogue beaver”. There is rarely a discussion of parenting or kits, (unless its a discussion of imminent overpopulation). Remember the “bachelor beaver” trapped in Oregon that turned out to leave a family of five or six behind him? Denying the huge and charismatic social structure of beaver family life makes them easier to deal with. We all understand that “young men living on their own can run into trouble”, but no one wants a family with small children to suffer because “Daddy was killed”. Beaver problems are treated in singular terms in order to make it easier to manage public opinion when their behavior inevitably becomes inconvenient

Part 3: Impending Departure

Martinez should certainly recognize this one. The article quotes “reliable” sources saying that “the beavers have used up their food supply and will move any day now.” This is what expert Mary Tappel told our city council nearly a year ago (although the beavers apparently didn’t get the memo.) The message is that the community should expect the beavers to leave, so any action taken that subsequently encourages the beavers to leave (oh say scapping away their food or hammering sheetpile through their lodge) is not really significant because they were going to leave anyway. This sets up a conditions where problems can be quietly managed out of the public eye when their behavior becomes (you know) inconvenient.

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And there you have it! Hours of Exhaustive research on the “Trifecta Tell” for your disposal. I’m not going to include SSS here (Suspect Salmon Sympathies) because I think that falls into a different catagory. That is stage two of beaver public opinion management, when the cat’s definitely out of the bag and the reporter is asking you about your concern for wildlife while the cameras role. This is clearly the initial assault. To cross validate my findings, I suggest you all make little tic marks on your newspapers the next time you read an article about beavers.

If you get all the way to three strikes those beavers may soon be outtttttttttttttttttt.

Beaver-less for 75 years

heidi08 Beaver News, Beavers elsewhere February 17, 2009

From Freep.com

A single beaver lodge has been discovered in an intake canal at Detroit Edison’s Conners Creek power plant on Detroit’s east riverfront. Edison workers using motion-sensitive cameras caught photographs and video of the beaver in November.

John Hartig, the Detroit River refuge manager for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said beavers were last spotted in the Detroit River at least 75 years ago, possibly as long ago as a century. Their return signals that a multiyear effort to clean up the river has paid off.

Lets hear it for the efforts to clean up Detroit’s East Riverfront! They were rewarded with a beaver!!!!! (the article says a single but I doubt they’d build a lodge if there wasn’t a mate) The first beaver in Detroit since Hoover was president.

There’s something naively sweet about the article, which was sent to me by three people within five minutes of each other last night: like a child finding a toad moved into the “fairy house” in the garden overnight. All hail the clean-up affirming beaver! Living proof that we have done our jobs and improved the habitat!

Is it just me or is there also something chilling? Imagine the same article written about a robin. Or a butterfly. Or an earthworm. “Scientists say it is the first butterfly spotted in the state since 2009, but they didn’t want to give away the location in case people harmed it in their rush to see this flutter from the past”. Yeow. If we aren’t very careful, someday in the not too distant future any of our species could become the “Loch Ness monsters” of tomorrow.

“Oooh Daddy, were they really in the garden when you were a boy? What happened to them?”

Sigh. In the meantime lets enjoy this beaver-y success and tap our feet impatiently for more. Remember Detroit that this beaver will bring you richer soil, better bugs, better fish and better wildlife. Take good care of the treasure you have, and it will take good care of you.

You think that river is cleaner now? Wait till the beaver’s been there a while. You ain’t seen nothing yet!

Woodpecker Update

heidi08 New Species July 7, 2009

Our Friend Richard Paddock of the LA times continues his smart and savvy reporting on urban wilderness. 22 woodpeckers killed so far at Rossmoor. Fish and Game say they’ll inspect the site to see if the permit is appropriate. Rossmoor says it decided to kill the birds because it didn’t want “outsiders” to make decisions for them.

Does that mean if we all wanted the birds dead they’d be protesting to protect them?

Let’s try the madlibs reference, shall we? (no offense, Richard.)

Headline: (_Boring in on a Woodpecker Controversy)

City name + immature woodpecker pun

The town of (_Rossmoor_) is worried about woodpeckers that have already pecked more

insert name

than (3000 holes in their residences) . Birds haves caused (damage to a dozen homes) and

insert alarming behavior insert hyperbole

property owners are concerned it could get worse. Mr. (_Orum__) who lives in the

Name of rich, selfish man who’s never been outside.

oak woods says that the birds are (_a pain in the neck) and have been making noise and

Verb meaning destroying

.

ruining trim with no end in sight. No one wants to harm the birds but there is

(_170,000 worth of damage_). The city manager, (Mr. Orum who serves on the

Synonym for No Choice

committee seeking to stop the woodpeckers damage) says if the birds must be stopped.

Name of another man who went outide once to hunt.

(Some days, the woodpeckers hammer for hours) The association has contacted

Insert Pandora’s Box remark

(The Department of Fish & Game) for permission to bring in
Appropriate “wink & nod” Regulatory Body

a (sharpshooter)

Euphemism for exterminator

Just Sayin’….

Pennsylvania 6-5-0-0-0hhhh

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere February 16, 2009

Another exciting “Dog bites Man” story; this one from Robeson, Pennyslvania in the Reading Eagle. It starts with the Titanic-worthy ominous passage “

A dam built on the Allegheny Creek has caused flooding in Robeson Township. Part of the waterway that was 10 inches deep is now more than 6 feet deep.

It goes on to say the usual: Residents tried other solutions but nothing worked and now the troublesome beavers will have to be killed. Would you want your home underwater? It gets kind of repetitious after a while. Honestly, is there a mad-libs out there some where for beaver reporting?

Headline: (___________________)

City name + immature beaver pun

The town of (_________) is worried that beavers could (____________) if something

Insert name insert alarming behavior

isn’t done. A dam has caused (________) flooding in the past and property owners are

insert hyperbole

concerned it could get worse. Mr. (___________) who lives on the creek says that the beavers

Name of rich, selfish man who’s never been outside.

are (___________) and have been taking trees and damming streams with no end in sight.

Verb meaning destroying

.

No one wants to harm the beavers but there is (____________). The city manager,

Synonym for No Choice

(_________________________), says if the beavers aren’t stopped (_____________)

Name of another man who went outide once to hunt. insert Pandora’s Box remark

The city has contacted (_________) for permission to bring in a (_____________).

Appropriate “wink & nod” Regulatory Body Euphemism for exterminator

Honestly, sometimes it feels like that….

Well the Reading Eagle got a written beaver-gram from me, and looks like a few other residents have responded as well. Lets see if we can add Pennsylvania to the list of converts.

Your article does a good job of showing how a community could enjoy the benefits of beavers, and still be alarmed about their potential problems. It is clear that the people of Robeson have tried to adapt to a challenging situation. Still, there seems to be a general feeling that with beavers you have only two options: do nothing, or call the trapper.

That’s like saying if your labrador jumps on your dinner table every night you can either decide to let him eat what he wants, or take him to the pound.

Any township smarter than beavers, can manage beavers. Three minutes on the internet will teach you that beavers are triggered to work on the dam by the sound of running water, which allows clever humans to lower ponds without beavers knowing about it. If the community is truly worried about flooding their are a dozen nearby experts they can hire to install a flow device that would cheaply control the height of the water, allow the beavers to stay part of the community, and let these animals continue to improve the habitat. Concerns about tree harvesting can be met by tree-wrapping or painting the bark with sand.

The city of Martinez California had a similar challenge, with a public that was highly motivated to keep the animals. I served on the subcommittee studying beaver management and we hired Skip Lisle from Vermont to install the flow device that has safely maintained our downtown creek for over a year now. In the meantime we have benefited from this keystone species by increased bird and wildlife, public interest and a stronger sense of community. Robeson has a great opportunity to demonstrate that creative and humane problem solving benefits everybody.

Oh and please remind Mr. McMenamin that the water height inside the lodge is the same as the water height outside the lodge, so unless the beavers have built some massive upper stories, they don’t want the height to continue increasing forever either.

Heidi P Perryman, Ph.D.

Founder & President

Worth A Dam

www.martinezbeavers.org/wordpress

New Visitors at the Dam

heidi08 New Species February 14, 2009

Meet your neighborhood Hooded Mergansers, first seen and filmed today. They are hard to recognize in their nonbreeding plumage, but they are pretty amazing birds. This was filmed this morning by our own Moses Silva. Happy Valentine’s Day!

[youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=I_ZeD2BTa3E]

EBRP walk update! Ted Radke reported seeing three wooduck recently at the fourth dam. Now that would be a treat to see. Park Godfather Hulet Hornbeck was there and gave me praise for helping the beavers and striking fear in the hearts of our city council. Igor talked about the flood management plan, and we were fortunate to see a muskrat swim by. All in all, it was a fine event.