Hard At Work

heidi08 Beaver News, Beavers elsewhere March 8, 2009

This is the time of year we all feel empathy for our hardworking beavers, who fix the dam one night only to have it pour rain the next and wash it out again. Now of course they have three potential washouts sites to deal with and after the water takes everything out to sea they have to find materials to pack them all again. Sometimes, in my most desperate hour, I have a fantasy of bringing down sandbags to reinforce the dam. Can you image how the property owner would respond to that?

All this to say I got this update from Linda last night on the work load…

Btw I saw (Beaver friend JO) pacing along the dams last night when I got back from dinner. I can’t say as I blame her because I was feeling a tad pensive myself. So at 4:30 when we were down there watching the beavers “spring” into action I texted her and let her know there were hard at work. I thought I would save her from worrying too much, sure enough she showed up there at 5:00am to see for herself. One of the bigger beavers was still hard at it at 8:30 when I left.

Work isn’t something beavers “complete”, and its indistinguishable from play and rest and feeding. Our beavers aren’t planning an early retirement so in truth they just respond to washouts the same way every time with no cumulative wear. Maybe humans would say, “that’s it! I can’t take it anymore!” But beavers just pick up a log and get to work.

More evidence of beaver persistence came this weekend as we visited the colony site on Tribal lands on the Sierra-Nevada border that we spotted a while ago. Last time we had seen no fresh evidence and many of the dams were damaged. The whole visit was so depressing I had thought the fantastic habitat may have finally suffered an end at the hands of a trapper.

Yesterday there was evidence of a wonderful recovery. The dams were fixed and holding snowmelt well, and every three or four feet of thicket was marked by distinct beaver chews. Obviously things are alive and well in the colony, and I couldn’t have been happier.

Sometimes I think these “near misses” happen because trappers come, and don’t get all the family members, and it takes them a while to rebound. Sometimes they might remove a colony and have another move in. Whatever causes the mysterious recovery, I was happy to see it.

I’ll be down checking out our colony tonight. No one’s reported seeing a yearling for a while. I read an article the other day saying the average date of dispersal for a northwest colony was February 19th. I wonder if ours have moved on, but we haven’t got any panicked phone calls yet from folk upriver. I’ll let you know what we see.

Day Light Savings Beavers

heidi08 Environmental March 8, 2009

Don’t forget to set your clocks ahead an hour tonight. The time change is very bad news for those of us who have to get up at seven on Monday but very good news for beaver watching. Jon pointed out to me that my math skills are atrocious, so disregard my previous beaver ETA and expect them out later both morning and evening.

Still we are heading towards longer days and more visible beavers, and that is a plus in my book.

If the popcorn flowers aren’t making you feeling “springy” enough, maybe you should plan a trip this month to Point Reyes to see some remarkable fields of Douglas Iris, or if you love hidden treasures, stop by Samuel Taylor and go hunting for some Trillium.

Spring is coming whether we’re ready or not.

Aquatic Engineering, Inc.

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions March 14, 2009

Our Wildlife VP, Cheryl Reynolds, sent this article which I read with hand-rubbing delight. The words Bwahaha may have even escaped my lips, so closely did the article follow my own designs. I’ll give you a gist, but you might want to go read the whole thing.

State officials expect that climate change will create some profound water supply problems in eastern Washington. But there’s a potential solution that’s not only cheap, but also cute and furry: beavers.

Ahhhhh the sweet music of recognition. Wait, I need some popcorn and a tissue. Okay, go ahead.

Here’s the problem: according to climate scientists, warmer temperatures are already melting mountain snows earlier in the spring. That leaves streams and rivers short on water in mid-summer, just when salmon, farms, and homes really need it. Scientists expect that, as winter temperatures in the Northwest rise, the state’s summertime water shortages will only get worse. (The preamble in this state Executive Order has a nice, succinct rundown of the impacts of climate change that the state has already experienced.)

Okay so climate change is a’comin and we need little dams implemented to hold our water in streams so that we can eek it out after the rains and not waste it all in runoff to the sea. I guess that makes sense.

That might sound pretty reasonable, except for a few niggling details – like that fact that the dams would likely cost Washington taxpayers billions of dollars, while flooding thousands of acres of farmland and wildlife habitat.

Hmmm, let me think. What is the cheapest way to build and maintain little dams along the watershed? Gosh, if only there were some way to use materials already in the area and not have to transport them. It could be tricky to get started, you might have the repair crew actually on site 24/7 to make sure it operates the way its supposed to. They may have to try over and over to get the structure of the dams just right in the beginning. And our state is broke, so they’re going to have to work for practically nothing. Where are you going to find a construction company like that?

The Lands Council, a Spokane based non-profit, thinks that it has a better idea: enhance beaver populations, and let the furry wonders do the dam construction for free!

Ohhhh my goodness. Check out the schedule for the “Working Beavers Forum” conference at the end of the month. I could almost cry. No wait, I am crying. Our friend Sherri Tippie will be there talking about relocation, along with a host of amazing others. What I wouldn’t give to be a fly on the wall.

Interestingly, our beaver friend from New Zealand just started the exact same conversation with his local magistrate who is planning on charging taxpayers to build a little series of dams to deal with their drought conditions. For the record, there are no beaver in New Zealand, but plenty of willow. I’ll keep you posted how that develops.

Photo:Cheryl Reynolds

Almost at Buckeye Season

heidi08 Environmental March 6, 2009

Do you know our native California Buckeye Tree? It is apparently undelicious to beavers, but produces some of the loveliest season changes I know of. It is a fractal sillouette in the winter, bursts with flowers in the spring and early summer, and makes a lovely birded canopy for the rest of the year. It producers massive chestnut-like seeds whose smooth surface are perfect for juggling or bouncing off your sister’s head. And long about this time of year, the seeds do something amazing.

They plant themselves!

All through the year the shiny brown nut lays on the ground, uneaten by even the hungriest squirrels. Then when its had just the right mix of sunshine and moisture, it sunddenly wakens like a sleeper cell, splits open and sends a purposful, assertive, extra-terrestial seeming root into the soil.

Once its got its grip on the earth, it hangs on for dear life and begins to grow in earnest. You see these lovely seeds holding their spot on the spinning planet with one arm, and reaching up to the sun with the other. A green leafed shoot begins and the tree is officially on its way.

Some years you find hundreds of these arboreal accomplishments, sometimes one or none, but its a wonderous thing to witness, and I’m sure it anchors us more strongly to our earth when we do. Drive by your nearest EBRP open space and see how the wonders are coming along this season.

With things being so churning and unstable in the world, I think we should all learn from the sprouting buckeye, and hold tight to what we need, while still reaching for what we dream: soil and sunshine both.

Alabama Joins the Beaver Bandwagon

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Educational, Environmental March 4, 2009

Columnist and Zoologist Bob Mount Greets Auburn and Opelika this morning with the advice “Beavers Are Good Neighbors to Have“. He directs readers’ attention to the most recent issue of “Outdoor Alabama” with an article about beaver benefit to the habitat. It’s not yet available online, and since I am not a subscriber I can only guess at its beavery goodness. Here is part of Bob’s summary:

The latest edition of Outdoor Alabama, a magazine published by the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, contained an exceptionally well-written and informative article about beavers. The author, Rick Claybrook, is a wildlife biologist with the department.

Claybrook recognizes and elaborates on the positive influences beavers have on our environment. The impoundments their dams create allow for settlement of silt and sediment that would otherwise contaminate the downstream segments of the streams. I am reasonably certain that the quality of the water downstream from a beaver pond is substantially higher than that flowing into the pond.

Claybrook also realizes other benefits of beaver impoundments. They reduce the severity of droughts by conserving rainwater and helping to maintain ground water levels. He also mentions the contributions beavers make to a wide variety of wildlife species. He did not mention ducks as beneficiaries, but my observations indicate that beaver ponds provide ideal brood-rearing habitats for wood ducks and hooded mergansers.

Bob goes onto to reminisce about some orphan beaver kits that he and his neighbor raised back in the day, right down to swimming with them in the pond. Apparently his dog even allowed them to nurse for a while. My favorite part was the kit responding to being locked outside by chewing through the front door, which reminds us why beavers don’t make good pets, and why I should count my blessings and remember that even though the new puppy has chewed the walls, she’s not chewed through them, and that’s something. The article doesn’t exactly explain how the beavers became orphans who were stolen away by his doberman and forced to live without their parents, but still, its a nice read.

If the outdoorsmen of Alabama are hearing a bit of the beaver gospel, it can only be a good thing.