Chuffed

heidi08 Educational, Environmental, Friends of Martinez Beavers May 31, 2010

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{column2} This book, by Professor Dietland Muller-Swarze, is a careful, scientific, and exhaustively-researched chronicle on our hero and his works. It was, without a doubt, the single most useful weapon employed during my service on the beaver subcommittee. It shaped my contribution to the report and gave me the confidence to recognize that in addition to being what I, personally, wanted, keeping the beavers was also the right thing to do for the creek. I still use it regularly to remind me of details about dispersal, molting, sexual maturity, or scent marking. The chapter on beaver reproduction and kit rearing is particularly on my mind at the moment for obvious reasons. I believe I feel for it an echo of the same reverence and affection a soldier feels for his trusty rifle after a long and bloody battle. ‘It got met is outta there alive.’ and ‘This is the one friend I can trust’‘ or even ‘This has seen things that no one back home will ever understand’. {/column2}

Certainly all of those apply to this unique resource. So when I approached Dr. Muller-Swarze about donating a signed copy for the silent auction at the festival, I was prepared to be ignored or brushed away (‘Go away and come back tomorrow! The wizard will see no one today!) Imagine how pleased I was to get his gracious response, promising me a signed copy and polishing my tarnished advocate’s spirit with the words “Worth A Dam does great work, in both direct support for the beavers and associated flora and fauna; and educating the public. Your efforts deserve support.“

chuffed

Pronunciation: \ˈchəft\

Function: adjective

Etymology: English dial. chuff pleased, puffed

British : quite pleased : delighted

Bitter Tear Update:

Heard from Cheryl last night that IBRRC experts are still hard at work in the gulf. (600 dead birds so far and counting.) Add this to your “worst story ever” diary. The oiled pelicans you keep seeing are busy nesting. These skilled fishermen dive deep into the ruined ocean to catch their dinner and come up slick with oil. Devoted mothers all, they return to faithfully sit on their hopeful eggs (because even during an apocalypse children must be cared for). In doing so they coat the eggs with oil, which becomes a natural coddling process, sealing off the oxygen and suffocating their own children.

Wish list…

heidi08 Beaver News, kits May 30, 2010

I want some of these!

It’s the right time of year. We are fairly certain mom’s nursing. The new lodge is looking tight and cozy and dad just took down a tasty new tree. Is it too much to ask for family number three?

The first 2007 kit was seen June 13th. It took a while to realize that there were four in that batch. Our 2008 kits were first seen June 4th and one was filmed atop the old lodge. Again there turned out to be four. In 2009 four kits were filmed in may but none of those survived. We are hopeful that this year mom is able to manage their care and nothing keeps us from welcoming new family members.

Cross your fingers and think positive thoughts as you cross the bridges. With any luck will all be aunts and uncles soon!

Blame the Beavers: Part Infinitum

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Who's Killing Beavers Now? September 10, 2010

Poland has had massive flooding, rains, levee failure and deaths. The minister of the interior knows JUST who to blame.

Is the beaver “the greatest enemy of the flood defences”? According to Jerzy Miller, Polish minister of the interior, there is no doubt. “They live everywhere along the levees on the Wisła River and cause a lot of damage to them,” the Daily Telegraphcited. Since torrential rain caused rivers to swell beyond emergency levels in southern Poland almost two weeks ago, the surge has spread further to the regions of Wrocław and Warsaw.

Ahhh the beaver-levee conundrum! What could be more alarming than collapsed water walls because of beaver burrowing! We’re terrified of it in the Delta, so much so that in some parts of the state there is an official movement to replace the word “boo” with the word “beaver”.

By gnawing through dykes, digging tunnels in dams and thus sapping protective barriers from the inside, beavers caused further flooding. So far, the flood claimed 16 victims and around 4,000 people had to be evacuated. Overall, about 20,000 people were affected by the deluge.

Beavers gnawing through dykes? Seriously? Okay, middleschool sniggers aside, aren’t dykes made out of dirt? Are you really saying the beavers chew dirt? I’ll grant you beavers are excellent diggers, so maybe that’s what you mean. You should probably read the paper at the written by biologist Skip Lisle about the limited extent to which beavers tunnel. They aren’t coal miners. You know of course that most damage to dams is done by muskrats, right? Which far outnumber the beaver population in your country? And that muskrats are faster breeders and especially like to tunnel along levees?

Never mind. I’m sure you’ve thought this through.

During the course of the catastrophe, local governments increased the hunting quota on the apparently unconcerned beaver to mitigate the problem. Hitherto protected by the state, the Castor fiber (European beaver) seems to have lost its environmental immunity in Polish inshore waters.

Well there you have it. No reason to fix a problem by better planning or environmental management. Just kill some beavers that you’ve been protecting for a hundred years. Great solution! And nice blame shifting. I see a promotion in your future.

Yet, blaming and preying on the beaver appears, once again, to be a way of dealing with the unforeseen consequences of human actions. It is not the first time that Poland experienced such a devastating flood. In 1997, when the country was hit by the most severe deluge in recent history, 54 people died, more than 150,000 people were evacuated and the overall damages accounted for billions of euros. The question remains, what measures have been taken to prevent and deal with such emergencies?

Seven Maids Update:

Well it looks like the top kill isn’t working, although BP will tell us more when they’re good and ready thank you very much. In the mean time you should definitely read the article in today’s New York Times about what’s being found below the surface.

Yearling News

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Recent Sightings May 28, 2010

Yesterday morning Mom beaver was seen chewing willow with another, mostly adult beaver that was not dad. We were thinking our three yearlings, not seen since March, had moved on to seek their fortunes. Apparently at least one of them is still around.

Yearlings “disperse” around their second year and head off looking for territory of their own. They will go anywhere from 2-30 miles away looking for a place to call home. Sometimes you hear the very strong belief that “beavers always go down stream from their parents”, but obviously if that were true by now all the beavers in the world would be in the ocean. In fact, several dissertations have been done on this subject, and it turns out that slightly more yearlings go upstream than downstream, but that the ones that go upstream are more likely to come back.

“Coming back” is an interesting thing beaver families allow. Although they wouldn’t let another beaver move into the territory, they will let yearlings come back and hang out with the colony for a while. Every family member recognizes them by their scent. Beavers are the only animal besides porcupines where the females “disperse” for greater distance than the males. This again speaks to how importantly the beaver family is a matriarchal society. It’s important to note that as unlikely as it seems, dispersal also happens over land. Beavers walk their way to freedom, and often when we are at displays or events the most prominent story we hear from strangers is that “once they saw a beaver hit by a car.” In fact, more people have probably seen a dead beaver than a live one, I guess because they stay still longer.

At any rate, one of our yearlings is in the lodge still, and whether this means he didn’t ever leave, or he’s come back to try again, we have a family of at least three, possibly more. Interestingly mom was seen swimming upstream last night, past Starbucks, past ward street and towards where the creek is under cement. Not sure what that’s about, but very interesting to ponder.

“If seven maids with seven mops
Swept it for half a year.
Do you suppose,” the Walrus said,
“That they could get it clear?”
“I doubt it,” said the Carpenter,
And shed a bitter tear.

Lewis Carrol

“Unprecedented”. “Nobody could have predicted”. “Never before”. These words keep getting used to describe the oil volcano that is busily digesting its plug at the moment. Here’s some very smart reporting showing you that this isn’t as unexpected or new as you might think.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Let’s Talk About Coppicing…

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental May 27, 2010

Beaver friend MBG from the UK points out this clip from the BBC about the effects of the Scottish Beaver Trial. It’s been startling how few beaver people are soundly familiar with this concept, even though they’ve done the same thing with a wimpy house plant or a scraggly sapling in their garden many times. Nice to see it explained on National television.

“If seven maids with seven mops
Swept it for half a year.
Do you suppose,” the Walrus said,
“That they could get it clear?”
“I doubt it,” said the Carpenter,
And shed a bitter tear.

Lewis Carrol

Since news of the top kill’s progress is precariously changing by the minute, I will leave you with something more reliably hopeful: the generosity and creativity of children. Olivia Bouler is an 11 year old artist in New York who was feeling hopeless and overwhelmed by what she saw in the gulf. She responded powerfully by writing Audubon and pledging to help by donating one of her lovely bird drawings for any donor to the cause.

Dear Audubon Society,
As you are all aware of, the oil spill in the Gulf is devastating. My mom has already donated a lot of money to help, but I have an idea that may also help. I am a decent drawer, and I was wondering if I could sell some bird paintings and the profits to your organization. My mom is in touch with an art gallery where I live. She is going to sell them here. I also am hoping to go to Cornell in the future. I want to become an ornithologist. I know a few species of birds. I also acknowledge that this is breeding time for plovers, terns etc. I will do all in my strength to earn money. All I need is your OK. Here is a picture of a northern cardinal as a sample.
Thank you for your time.
Olivia
11 years and willing to help.

Her facebook page now boasts some 1871 fans, and other children are sending their own heart-stopping artwork to her as well. The Huffington Post reports that

Each person that makes a donation to the National Audubon Society, The Sierra Club, The Weeks Bay Foundation, The Mobile Bay Estuary Program or the National Wildlife Federation can e-mail Olivia’s mother to receive one of Olivia’s drawings. E-mails should be sent to nadinebouler@hotmail.com.