Month: September 2010
Like a beaver adaption of a Thomas Hardy novel the beavers were seduced by mountains of fresh strawberries last night which were dumped by an unknown source at the dam. Although Worth A Dam generally supports supplemental feeding with only natural food, this misadventure created a unique photo opportunity for our starlets, and they weren’t about to miss out. Earlier in the evening, Jon spied a pond turtle attempting to sample the strawberries but unable to get a hold of one. The beavers had no such difficulties, and even developed a skill for holding one in their mouth while eating a second. See for yourself. Photos by Cheryl Reynolds.
VP Cheryl Reynolds took a beaver field trip and tracked down the beavers she had seen a few years back on Sonoma Creek. She found the beavers in full swing with at least three lovely dams on display. The creek is stony with very little loose soil so the dams reflect the materials available and have little mud to speak of.
This is the beaver habitat I found 2 yrs ago and haven’t been out there much. We walked the creek today and found 3 dams. I couldn’t get through to where I thought the lodge was before. this first dam is where someone was supposedly takng it apart last year. It’s the most beautiful beaver habitat I have seen. It’s really weird though, the river is all rock. the dams are a combination of rock and branches, no mud.T
Watershed friend Brock Dolman says that they wash out every winter and the beavers have to rebuild in the spring and fall. They look pretty qualified at their year round jobs.
My understanding from the Sonoma Valley folks, is that they continually have
the beavers there, but it is just that the creek is too rowdy in the winter
and always blows out their dams and they move into bank burrows for the
winter and then rebuild each spring to fall small ones like in the photo.
Some think that some may also go down to the lower marshes of Sonoma Creek
and hang out for the rough winter flows as well? Likely, all is happening?
Just got to stop the vineyard depredation permits!!
It’s fun to see stones in the dams. I just watched a National Geographic movie of beavers and saw images of them lifting and carrying stones to place in the dam. They definitely don’t get the opportunity in Alhambra Creek. Still they are spoiled for mud, and it looks like the Sonoma beavers would love some in their efforts. Its nice to see how adaptable their instincts are, proving that beaver building relies on both inherent biology and available materials and practice.
\Photos By: Cheryl Reynolds
If you discover a beaver field trip of your very own, we would love to see photos! Its important to keep track of known colonies so that we can monitor a city’s response. Lets just say most cities first reaction to a beaver dam isn’t ‘wow an opportunity to restore our creek!’. They sometimes need a little civic nudge in the right direction.
(For four years.)
Did you see our nice article in the Gazette? Apparently beaver art is officially launched! Monday’s school board meeting will start with a short presentation on the mural by EBAG artists FRO and Randy. Hopefully we’ll generate more interest in the beavers – their impact on the habitat and the community. It’s a busy night. I can’t be there (day job!), Jon can’t be there because he has to do a “beaver tour” which someone bought at the silent auction. FRO and Randy will carry the night and Kathi will be there in her ‘school board capacity’. Worth A Dam is apparently in high demand at the moment.
Speaking of which I got a nice response from the columnist in the Missouri Bambi-myth article saying he was actually pro-beaver and ‘never lose your passion’ (!) and then a cordial letter from the trapper in question whom I had never written. He explained that they do use flow devices in public lands but offer only trapping on private property. He assured me that they offered information about wrapping trees and told people that trapping was a short term solution. I’m not sure why writing an unknown woman who had never contacted him was a good use of his time, but there it is.
To tell the truth, the website has been getting a weird amount of traffic lately. I got an offer to host adds for pay and a threat for an international lawsuit for writing about a certain iconic-bra-appearing product. I did what I could to talk my way out of both for the time being. The really exciting news is that beaver-friend and Worth A Dam benefactor Scott Artis is going to begin an upgrade to the site Sunday. Site designer Michael Cronin taught me as much as he could before he moved away, but he never taught me how to do an upgrade. Now technology has moved forward without us and this website is like a tricycle on the freeway. Hopefully we’ll get new wheels soon. There may be moments of the look of the page changing but don’t worry, we’ll be excitingly upgraded and restored eventually!
BEAVER FESTIVAL XVI
DONATE
Beaver Alphabet Book
TREE PROTECTION
BAY AREA PODCAST
Beaver Interactive: Click to view
LASSIE INVENTS BDA
URBAN BEAVERS
LASSIE AND BEAVERS
Ten Years
The Beaver Cheat Sheet
Restoration
RANGER RICK
Educate & Engage
