Otterly Delightful!

heidi08 New Species, Recent Sightings February 10, 2010

Photos: Cheryl Reynolds

All week we’ve been getting reports of a young otter hanging out at the beaver dam. Cheryl watched him monday morning, Jon watched him yesterday around noon, and I had to see for myself this morning. Unlike beavers, otters are carnivores who greatly enjoy the handy fish tanks beaver ponds provide. They are much sleeker and faster than beavers, and they never appear even for a moment to be resting or contemplative.

In this horrible grainy footage you see first the small otter’s head and the curve of his tail. Then the wide triangle of mom’s head as she comes out of the lodge to defend her space and look imposing, followed by the dart under the water of our little interloper. We will keep trying to get some better footage, but in the mean time you had better just wander down and see for yourself. Otters keep their own schedules and he will likely be seen for a while at all hours.

Want some other good news? Read this article on the Pennsylvania beavers. Looks like the Lawrence County Conservation Commission is going to use nonlethal methods instead of killing those “soldier beavers”.

They agreed to consider a water- flow-control device or “beaver baffler” suggested in a letter to commissioners from Laura Simon, field director, Urban Wildlife Program of the U.S. Humane Society in Woodbridge, Conn. Simon said the device would solve the problem of beaver dams’ causing flooding at the affected culvert along the bike trail, which is owned and maintained by the county. Commissioners also promised that whatever solution they choose will be humane.

Go Laura! And all of you who wrote! Looks like Mr Osbourn will not get any contracts this round. This was my favorite part. It is an almost verbatim quote from our city council.

“I have learned more about beavers in the last week than I have in my entire life,” commented DeBlasio.

Ahhh take a moment to savor that quote over coffee. Considering that Mr. DeBlasio very recently believed a man who told him that he was going to trap the “soldier beavers” and leave the “grandfathers”, I really, really believe that. Live and Learn.

“Go with the Flow Device!”

heidi08 City Reports, Creative Solutions February 9, 2010

This week our wikipedia friend launched the first ever entry on effective tools for beaver management. It talks about flow devices and culvert protection, and emphasizes that trapping is a short term solution. It still needs photos to give it that “stop killing beavers and read me” touch, but its well on its way to being a permanent resource.

Beaver Dam Pipes

Beavers diligently plug leaks in their dams, because their survival depends upon the cover provided by the water in their pond. If a beaver can detect the flow of pond water into a pipe, it will plug the pipe with mud and sticks.

To be successful, a beaver dam pipe must eliminate the sound and feel of water flowing into the pipe. Successful pipe designs (e.g. Flexible Pond Leveler™, Castor Master™, Clemson Pond Leveler) achieve this by protecting the intake end of the pipe with a cylindrical fence enclosure. A beaver swimming along the outside of the fence enclosure is unable to hear or feel the flow of water into the pipe and cannot reach it to block it.

Photo: Mike Callahan, Beaver Solutions Flow device filter ready to be lowered into water

The pond level is controlled by the height of the pipe in the dam. Since beavers depend on water for their survival, the more a beaver pond is lowered with a pipe, the more likely it is that the beavers will try to build a new dam to return the water to its previous high level. In addition, the more a beaver pond is lowered, the more valuable wetland acreage is lost. Therefore, it is important to lower a beaver pond only enough to resolve the threat to human health, safety or property.

I like being able to see the roundfence up close. Ours suffered a bit in the last rain, and Mike says its essential that whatever happens the shape of the fence isn’t changed. Once beavers are able to feel the suction to the pipe they will find a way to dam it. They are also smart enough to learn that round fencing means leaks, and will dam any round-fence in the future too! Yikes!

Culvert Protective Fences

The ‘’’Beaver Deceiver™’’’ (a trapezoidal shaped culvert fence) was invented by Skip Lisle in the 1990s while working for the Penobscot Nation in Maine. It is very effective at completely eliminating beaver damming of a culvert. It works in three ways. First, the perimeter of the trapezoidal fence is typically 40 – 50 feet long, making it difficult for a beaver to dam the entire fence. Second, as beavers try to dam the culvert, the fence forces them to dam in a direction away from the culvert, which is not their nature. Third, as they dam further out on the fence, the opening the stream is flowing into is getting wider. Therefore, the damming stimuli of the sound and feel of moving water decrease the further they dam on the fence. If the sides of the fence are at least 12 feet long the beavers will generally leave the fence alone.

To be effective however, a culvert fence must be surrounded by enough water that the beavers will need to dam the entire fence perimeter. In areas where the streambed is narrow rather than wide, the fence must be narrow so that it is surrounded by water. Being narrow loses one advantage of the trapezoidal shape, but it can still deter beavers from damming the culvert. Since beavers are excellent diggers, a fence floor is always generally needed to prevent beaver tunneling under the fence. The fence walls only need to be 24 inches above the water line, since beavers do not climb.

Photo: Mike Callahan, Beaver Solutions Trapezoidal Fence to prevent damming of culvert

When I think of how hard we all worked to find information about beaver management back before the fateful meeting in November, I am very very pleased with this development. At the time I had three important sources of information: An article on the Clemson pond leveler, an article from Canada about the use of “Limiters” to regulate water height in Gateau park, and an article from the HAW River Assembly in North Carolina. Think about how different the world will be for the next starry eyed woman who wants to save beavers!

Beavers on the Big Screen!

heidi08 Beaver News, Video February 8, 2010

Do you remember wayyyyyyy back in the seminal November meeting when we all gathered at the High School Performance Art building to make the wacky suggestion that Martinez keep its beavers? We had to march down to the microphone when our name was called and there was this slight dark young man who was actually filming the whole thing and checked the mic from time to time? That was Don Bernier, a documentary filmaker who had already started a project about Urban Wildlife, and won an award from HSUS in the process. Don just heard about the beavers on the news, and wanted to see if the story belonged in his larger project. It turned out that beavers would dominate his project, and he was in Martinez filming everything from the beaver festival to the very first meeting of Worth A Dam. He even had two friends filming the night of the April meeting when Mary Tappe wandered down the aisles with her white cardboard beaver displays.

Well, he’s in the stage of the project where you go around and tell people how cool it is and hope you get a buyer. He sent me a copy of the trailer a while back, but its finally online for you to see. Check out how charming Martinez looks on the big screen! This first interview was filmed in my living room, complete with those umbrella things that refract light and a wired microphone through my shirt. At the time it was a very unusual experience. Hmm.

TRAILER: The Concrete Jungle from Don Bernier on Vimeo.

I am reminded again what a long, successful story the Martinez Beaver Tail is, and how many, many voices it contains. Enjoy!

Beavers In the Superbowl!

heidi08 Uncategorized February 7, 2010

Remarkable things

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Beavers or Social Ambasadors, Creative Solutions February 7, 2010

Day 1 of the flyway festival was amazing in almost every way, with fantastic connections between beavers, birds, salmon, and natural history. If you can’t remember what birds and beavers have in common look here. Details of the day will follow, but I thought I’d get you in the mood with some adorable footage of mom and dad trying to keep the young’ins in the lodge.

I started the day off with a note from Leonard Houston of the State of the Beaver Conference. He said the event was an incredible success, and thought that it seemed a good idea to announce our next beaver festival to everyone in the room! Which he did.

“Why Beavers Are Worth A Dam” Sunday at 1:30. Wish me luck!