Where Have All the Beavers Gone?

heidi08 Uncategorized, Why We Care December 9, 2023

Before the beavers came to Martinez, in all the wide world we had only seen one. A single tail slap when we canoed up this river in Mendocino. (Mybluehouse is my non-beaver account). It was thrilling, and I wished we had seen more, but it had to suffice until beavers moved in downtown.

After our beavers moved in we felt like we were finally getting a glimpse of a treasure that always hid beneath the surface before. Given the distance between Martinez and Mendocino there must be thousands of beavers just waiting to be discovered by someone had the time and energy to locate them. As avid canoe-ers we are fairly familiar with the waterways between here and Big River. Surely we would come across more beavers now that we know what to look for?

Only yesterday I got an email from Brock Dolan talking about “reintroducing” beavers to Russian River. I wrote back with disbelief. What made him think beavers weren’t there already? In a large river beavers won’t build dams, and they would use bank lodges which are harder to spot. He very convincingly told me had explored every mile of the river and all of its forking tributaries, and knew people who lived on it, kayaked it, hiked it every day. He sent a round of emails to people who had done water studies for DFG, or for their own non profits. And everyone agreed. No beavers in Russian River. None at all.

Where are they beavers near the coast? Well we have the ones reported in Sonoma a while back. A colony in Big River in Mendocino. That’s it. That’s the known population density. Remember that Fort Ross, the Russian trading post, grew specifically out of the beaver trade.

However the founding of permanent British and American Settlements on the Pacific Coast , took place as part of the terrestial, rather than maritime, fur trade. The westward expansion of trading outposts took place with amazing rapidity as the commercial exploitation of beaver and other valued pelts devastated faunal populations from local rivers and creeks.

Historical Archeology: Back From the Edge Martin Hall & Stephan Silliman pg 275

So beavers in every “river, brook and rill” were trapped and skinned and the fur traders were so good at their job, the remaining beaver along the pacific are few and far between. To think that I personally have seen all the beavers from Martinez to Mendocino is a terrifying thought.

We know we have beavers in the delta. We heard from someone who had two in a creek in Danville. We know they’re in Los Gatos Creek. We know they’re in Sonoma and Sutter Creek. We know there’s a colony in Cordelia. Where are the beavers on Russian River? Willow Creek? Napa River? Gualala River? Where are the beavers in the Albion, the Noyo or Ten Mile River?

“Dead!” I answered, and amiably
“Murdered,” the Hangman corrected me.

California is “hollow” of beavers. Its center echoes with the ring of places they should be but aren’t. No wonder NOAA says that loss of beaver habitat has been the prime assault to Salmon. No wonder we complain of droughts and damage. No wonder people think beavers eat fish, or mistake them for Nutria or muskrats or otters. No wonder a city could go into two years of apoplexy by being forced to deal with this simple social mammal.

It’s a beaver wasteland out there.

Why Keep the Beaver When You can Have

heidi08 Beaver News, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Friends of Martinez Beavers January 12, 2010

the dam for free? Or something like that. There has been a strain of articles recently about the role that little dams have in helping wintering salmonids. (Fish of the family Salmonidae, including salmon, trout, chars, whitefish, ciscoes and grayling) The begrudging recognition is that beavers might be helpful in keeping little amounts of dammed water for these important fish. No one sounds very happy about it. It’s has been greeted with all the enthusiasm that eating broccoli can reduce your risk of colon cancer.

Recently I’ve been exchanging emails with Brock Dolman, who is the director of the Occidental Arts & Ecology Center Water Institute and has been very involved with watershed and environmental education. They are the group responsible for the “Bioneers” conferences, which we talked about in the past and which at least one beaver supporter attended. Amidst their lovely grounds you can take courses in watershed restoration or learn how to garden organically. Brock has become excited about the research linking beavers to salmon, and connected with Gordon Leppig a Staff Environmental Scientist of the Northern division of the California Deparment of Fish & Game. Together the two of them are working on a massive literature review of the relationship between beavers and salmon.

Now getting Fish & Game to think about beavers as anything other than a reason to issue a permit to trap is a big deal. So already I’m excited. Yesterday he sent me an email from a friend with whom he’d been discussing this idea and who responded, “well if dams are good for salmon, lets just dress up in beaver costumes and build some.” This proposal was hailed as avoiding beaver-driven complications such as trees and flooding and permits to trap.

Hey, maybe its just me, but you know what else is really good at dressing up in beaver costumes and buildling beaver dams? BEAVERS. They are excellent at it and their costumes are very convincing. You can wrap important trees to discourage chewing. You can install flow devices if dams get too high and block with trapezoidal fencing of culverts get blocked. You can rely on coppicing to replace the bushy willow growth that comes back making better habitat for nests. And you won’t need to have a potluck every time you get the volunteers together to make repairs.

The beavers will be on site 24/7 and do the work for free.

Still. Beavers=Salmon. Let’s all repeat that. Solidly advertising the relationship between beavers and salmon is going to be the single best thing we can do to help beavers. I told Brock I’d help in any way I could, and gave him the information we’d gathered so far. If there are 5 people in the state who care about beavers, there are 5000 who care about salmon. There are salmon lobbyists. And someday, if we do our job well enough, and support the science strongly enough, and spread the word far enough, they’ll be beaver lobbyists too.

How about a “Salmon Tax” that a city or industry would need to pay for altering their watershed including removing their beavers? That might encourage them to stop and think about which is more expensive?

There’s still time to vote:

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The Kindness of Strangers

heidi08 Friends of Martinez Beavers November 23, 2009

This year we were contacted by a physician in the South Bay with an interest in beavers and beaver history. RL offered to help update our Wikipedia pages and gave us some information on his local beavers. If you haven’t checked out his lovely entries, prominently featuring our own Cheryl Reynolds photographs, I would do so. Highlights include:

The Martinez Beavers entry

Yearling Beaver in Alhambra Creek, downtown Martinez Photo by Cheryl Reynolds, Courtesy of Worth a Dam 2008

The Martinez beavers are a family of beavers living in Alhambra Creek in downtown Martinez, California. Prior to the arrival of the beavers, Martinez was best known as the longtime home of naturalist John Muir. Two adult beavers arrived in late 2006^[1], proceeding to produce 4 kits over the course of the summer. After a controversial decision by the City of Martinez to exterminate the beavers, local conservationists organized to overturn the decision, forming an organization called Worth a Dam.^[2]. Subsequently, wildlife populations have increased in diversity along the Alhambra Creek watershed.

The Alhambra Creek Entry

Beaver in Alhambra Creek: Past and Present

Belted Kingfisher eating fish above Alhambra Creek beaver pond

In November, 2009 the Martinez City Council approved the placement of an 81 tile wildlife mural on the Escobar Street bridge. The mural was created by schoolchildren and donated by Worth a Dam to memorialize the beavers and other fauna in Alhambra Creek.^[9]

The Martinez Ca Entry

Beaver controversy

Mink Returns to Alhambra Creek Beaver Pond Photo By Cheryl Reynolds Courtesy of Worth A Dam 2009

In early 2007, a group of beavers settled in a section of Alhambra Creek that flows through the city.^[11] The beavers and their dam became a local attraction. Because the six foot high, 30 foot wide dam created a potential flood hazard, local officials proposed to remove the beavers. Increased run-off from developed areas along the creek has increased flooding in Martinez, a low lying city built on a flood plain, in recent decades. Although Martinez had completed the construction of a $9.7 million dollar flood control project in 1999, the downtown was flooded in 2005, ironically two years before the beavers arrived. A City Council subcommittee was formed to consider whether the beavers could be protected and flood risk managed, and was given 90 days to issue a report to the full council for a vote.^[12] During this period, expert Skip Lisle was hired to install a flow device that could reduce the level of impounded water behind the beaver dam and mitigate flooding risk above the beaver dam.^[13] The beavers have received national attention, amateur video coverage, a webpage devoted to them, and a new nonprofit organization (“Worth A Dam”) formed.^[14] The beaver have transformed Alhambra Creek from a trickle into multiple dams and beaver ponds, which in turn, lead to the return of steelhead trout and river otter in 2008, and mink in 2009.^[15]^[16]

Back in the dramatic days of eminent beaver death, I struggled with these pages. They were changed every day (sometimes several times a day!) until they got marked as “controversial” and everything was challenged as unsubstantiated. For example, the November 7th meeting was described as being attended by “people from out of town” which any one looking at the video can easily contest. It was so frustrating making references that were deleted that I eventually gave up and decided to focus on the web page which I could control and no one else could change. Thank goodness RL came along, because these lovely, professional entries add alot of visibility to our beavers. I couldn’t be more grateful.

And if you haven’t voted in the “Name the Newsletter” survey, please do so now!

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When will Martinez get one of these?

heidi08 New Species November 22, 2009

Ahhh you have to love the BBC when it comes to nature photography! They always offer the kindest insights. I don’t exactly agree that the beaver is “only interested in the bark”. I believe he’s gnawing rapidly through that trunk so that the tree will fall in the water and that moose won’t be able to steal as much of it. But it’s a nice idea, and certainly one reason why beavers might “time” their tree felling to avoid giving a free lunch.

Three yearlings this morning at the dams, which are looking sturdy. Please take a moment to vote in our newsletter-naming poll. The average completion time is 30 seconds. I promise it won’t be annoying. Help us pick the right title for our Newsletter

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New Title based on a suggestion from friend JO: Tails of the city! If you like it better you can vote again and your previous entry will be replaced. Maybe you have a better idea? Write and let us know!