Because you can’t eat just one…

heidi08 Creative Solutions, Environmental April 30, 2009

Our beavers have been hard at work on the Arroyo willow. This recent one should count as three trees, and they are taking care of each one.

This morning revealed a triple beaver show, with an adult and kits going over the dam. Mom is definitely in her late stages of pregnancy and we plan a ‘baby pool” to guess how many kits she’ll have this year. A lucky winner will get a free tshirt, and a smug sense of castor consilium to show off to all your neighbors.

Here’s a feel-good story from Washington (where else?)—the site of this years “working beavers conference”, where implementation of the Watershed Stewards has successfully managed beavers in some of the nations most complicated wetlands, and a state that recently considered mandatory relocation instead of extermination. The Evergreen State is light years ahead of the rest of the country in advanced beaver thinking. This news clip describes the sad fact of some beavers being hit on the road, but listen to the tone of the piece.

Honestly after to hearing so much beaver grief for so many years, enduring every possible beaver pun from condescending media who really can’t see why we care so much, and catching the Brit Hume eye roll when the beavers of Martinez made national news, the earnest and compassionate reporting of this story almost made me giggle. Thanks for the treat, Channel 19 KEPR TV.

Take a Gander…

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, City Reports April 29, 2009

From our rapidly growing WTF beaver files, here’s a story from Newfoundland. Seems the Gander municipal works crew just knew that destroying the beaver dam was the right thing to do. The pond had flooded the boardwalk. Sure it was a big job, but you have to break eggs to make an omelette, right? How were they to know the dam thing would collapse in the middle of their excavation and flood water right through the subdivision?

The water from the pond rushed out and flooded backyards, streets and a couple of basements. “This flooded as far as that window sill right there,” said Herb Burton, who had just moved into his new house last month.”Inside the house, there’s about three inches [7.62 centimetres] of water on the floor there. The gyproc is all soused and everything, and a bit of furniture is wet…. It’s a bit of a mess down there.”

Yes beavers sure can be damaging. Beavers cause nothing but trouble for cities. Thank goodness municipal crews like this are on hand to help. Apparently the cities insurance will be taking care of damages. This was my favorite part of the story:

Horwood said the town managed to prevent further flooding by building a makeshift dam on the pond.

Oh you mean dams can help prevent flooding? No kidding! I sure wish there was just something that could make and repair them on a daily basis. Municipal works get so busy filling potholes…

Gander, flow devices work, and will keep your subdivision and your boardwalk dry. An hours flight could bring you experts from Vermont, Massachusetts or Connecticut to manage the install. Think about it?

The Whole Tooth…

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions April 28, 2009

Even beavers visit the dentist. From The Washington Post

Chipper, an 8-year-old American beaver, has a history of dental issues. His teeth have been closely watched since 2007. National Zoo veterinarian Carlos Sanchez and veterinary dentist and zoo consultant Barron Hall recently determined that three of Chipper’s teeth should be extracted.

Three teeth? Hopefully not three from the front. Beavers do have 20 normally, the famous orange ones in the front used to gnaw down trees, and some little molar-like munchers in the back used to chew up leaves. Still, I feel sorry for any creature at the dentist. This picture is heartbreaking.

We’re looking for a few good Trees…

heidi08 City Reports, Creative Solutions April 27, 2009

Linda informs me that there were two tree casualties this weekend, and Jon saw another midweek as well. The beavers are clearly doing some harvesting. I’m not sure whether the dams need new materials, or its just time to show the little ones some gnaw and order, but trees are definitely on the menu at the moment.

Timing couldn’t be better to remind the city that we have trees to replace and its worth while letting Worth A Dam organize the replacement. Our eagle scout meets with the director of public works today to talk about our planting plan. Felix Ratcliff of Condor Coutry Consulting is finishing his report and was seen measuring tree girth with a colleague in the park last week. Jeff Anhorn, owner of the Livermore Nursery that helped us last year, is ready with specimens and our enthusiastic Environmental Studies Academy students have already offered their help.

It’s a perfect storm of tree-planting, so I expect great things.

Speaking of ESA, they have their official parking lot lauch this weekend on May 3rd. Remember their good work creating the naturally water-treating lot downtown. They are finishing their fundraising to add a mural to the project, and planning to offer a fun event. Worth A Dam will be there to support them. Looks like we will also be offering our 2009 tshirts which might even nicer than last years. Come by, see the displays, and thank the kids for all their hard work.

High Sierra Beavers

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere February 19, 2012

Yesterday we went checking on the nearly-nevada beaver dams that we stumbled on by accident years ago. They are located near the Hung-a-Lel-ti reservation off 88. Last summer they were obviously not in residence and the dams were in disarray. This weekend they were in squeaking clean tip-top shape, and footprints were everywhere in the mud.

One of the things I love best about this habitat is that it allows for a series of small dams, I think we counted seven. Two of the most important are curved, like a hot tube. One is curved with its back to the current, the other faces and catches the current. Clearly some excellent designing.

As we were poking about looking for beaver tracks, another track caught my eye. Deep in soft mud, very clear and about as big as a softball with no sign of claws: Mountain Lion.

It was a little startling to see so near the dams. That shallow seasonal creek offers little protection for its engineers, and I could see clearly how beavers do have predators in the wild.

Still, it was a nice shiver to be miles from anywhere, crowded with willow thicket and pinyon pine, surrounded by distant snow capped peaks, and realize a mountain lion walked by exactly the same way as you.