Because the beaver isn't just an animal; it's an ecosystem!

Month: April 2010


Channel 8 news Austin has this story of heroic challenge:

When Robyn Sutton moved to a house along Brushy Creek five years ago, she found some furry neighbors had arrived there first. “It was frightening. We weren’t sure what it was,” Sutton said. “At first, we thought it was teenagers throwing cinderblocks in the water. Then, we realized it was beavers.”

Ahh those were the days. When me and my posse would hang at the creek throwing cinderblocks into the water! Good times. No one stays young forever.

Typically, what they’ll do is they’ll girdle a tree, they’ll eat their way all the way around until they’re able to cut it down, and then they’ll cut the branches off and take the branches away and feed on that bark,” Texas Parks and Wildlife mammalogist John Young said. At that time, the homeowners association decided to wrap the bottom of at-risk trees so that beavers couldn’t get to them. The wrapping on some of those trees still remains, but the current HOA has told Sutton that it would cost too much to get the rest of the trees professionally wrapped.

Say no more! Of course it’s too expensive to put wire around a tree or spent 6.50 for a gallon of latex paint and mix it with mason sand. We here at the HOA understand your dilemma and your attachment to your trees, but just can’t spend your hard-earned dollars money to save them. We’ve come up with a better idea. Much more expensive than wire and it needs to be repeated every year until the end of time. (Go ahead, guess, I’ll wait.)

That’s when she found out about the HOA’s intentions to hire someone to install underwater traps that could kill the beavers. The HOA declined to comment.

Why cure when you can kill? Why solve the problem for the next five years when you can spend hundreds every year on Tex’s cousin ‘Red’ who makes a little money on the side trappin’ possum and beaver? Why indeed?

But Sutton doesn’t think the HOA has considered all its options, and hopes the neighborhood can find another way for the beavers to stay in their habitat. “We kind of have a responsibility to adapt to them and do what we can to co-exist with them, since they’ve done pretty well with co-existing with us,” Sutton said.

Robyn! You’re our kind of girl! Worth A Dam can help you solve your tree problem with less money than ‘Red’ spends on Miller in a month. Come look us up! We’d be happy to help.

The New York Times Review of books offers this image of the burden of choice through the eyes of a beaver walking down an aisle of willow. The bountiful illustration made me laugh aloud and I was happy to see it on the page. Of course, we should be clear, beavers wouldn’t suffer from any internal debate over which tree to take. They’d take all the ones they wanted and leave all the ones they didn’t. They are much more direct and unburdened that way…


Last week the Winnipeg free press ran a puzzled column about why there were so many recent reports of beavers seen on sidewalks and streets. The blogger, Ace Burpee, a radio personality, wrote that he would get to the bottom of the mystery and find the answer. (He especially got my attention by writing the secret code words, ‘beavers are awesome’.)

Since we received the first phone call late last week about a beaver roaming the streets around Main and Higgins, many more have followed. I’m now up over a dozen calls and e–mails on confirmed beaver sightings on streets and sidewalks in the last week. This is bizarre. One report is intersting. The second report means we might be on to something… but once you hit double digit reports it’s officially a trend. Beavers strutting down Marion. Beavers walking down streets in St. B nowhere near a body of water. Beavers are the greatest thing in the world, but I’m concerned. There are a ton of questions here.

So I tracked down Ace at the radio station and wrote him about overland dispersal. I explained it was the ‘launching’ time for the almost two year-olds, before the new kits are born, to go and seek their fortune. While it was startling, it was perfectly normal and happened every year at this time. He was thrilled to get an explanation that made sense and posted my email on his next column. Another beaver fan in Winnipeg which is always good to know.

Since I first wrote about the oddly high number of beavers–walking–down–sidewalks sightings, I’ve received a ton of e–mail on the subject. Hundreds of people have seen beavers recently, none of them in the water. They’re downtown. They’re walking down Marion. They’re in backyards in Riverview. They’re everywhere you wouldn’t expect them to be. This seemed odd to me, but apparently it is not. I got a detailed e–mail from Heidi Perryman, Ph.D., the President & Founder of Worth A Dam. She knows about beavers. She wrote the following:

“Hi Ace! And I hope I can help with some answers. The walking beavers being seen are probably ‘dispersers’. Around the time before the new kits are born the yearlings (almost two years old) of a colony go off to seek their fortune. They can go by water or quite far over land to find a new place to start a life for themselves. Dispersal is, for obvious reasons, the most dangerous time in a beavers life. No shelter, no family and no idea where they will end up. Actually beavers are one of the few species where females go farther afield than males, probably to be more sure of food supply for a new family. Unless you have some new massive change in waterways, they are doing what they do every year, and its normal for the season.”

There you go. Beavers are just being beavers. If you see one, do nothing. They have a plan. And they’re awesome.

Ahhh music to my ears. Thanks Ace! You can bet we will be asking for your help the next time we read a story like this about beavers in your neck of the woods.


In case you didn’t see the ad, Monday evening Chris Norby will be speaking in town about the dangers of Redevelopment Agencies. He’s a prominent figure on the national stage on this issue and it would be well worth your time to hear about the risks and potential pitfuls, wherever you stand.

By the way, yesterday was amazing. Incredible child artists with heart-melting beaver productions: beaver families, beaver spiders and even a beaver dolphin! There are lots of stories I will share soon! Thanks Martinez and beyond for all your support.

We are off to the Dow watershed event today, but if you’d like a little something extra to read, try this article about Jon’s hummingbirds in Bay Nature.

BEAVER FESTIVAL XVI

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TREE PROTECTION

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Our story told around the county

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URBAN BEAVERS

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