No, I’m not kidding. Maybe you aren’t convinced by this whole ‘beavers make habitat for birds/salmon/wildlife’ argument. Maybe you don’t care about raising the water table or combating the drought effects of climate change. Maybe you need more proof that beavers are worth all the trouble they cause to keep around. Have I got the Christmas Eve-Eve story for you!
GREER — A heating oil leak from the basement of the former Allen Bennett Memorial Hospital is expected to have cleanup crews working today to remove the oil from a creek where one resident said a remarkably well-constructed beaver dam stopped much of the spill.
So the leak happened on Friday but no one noticed it until monday of course and the mysteriously named ‘number 2 fuel oil’ was mostly stopped at the beaver dam and didn’t pour into county water sources.
How much oil leaked into a tributary of Frohawk Creek, which feeds the South Tyger River,won’t be known until the contractor tasked with the clean-up finishes and a report is completed,said Thom Berry, spokesman for the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.The city engineer and a coordinator for the Environmental Protection Agency estimated between1,000 to 1,500 gallons had leaked.
The article praises the watertight engineering of the beaver dam and says it saved the town lots of money. I’m always happy when beaver dams get good press but of course I’m concerned about the beavers. There is no indication that the environmental firm hired to take care of the spill has any intention of dealing with them. Obviously the beavers needed to pass through the oil to breath, so theres no way they’re not coated too. I can imagine, with grooming habits, that they have rubbed that toxic sludge all over every part of every family member by now. Temperatures in Greer are dropping below freezing at night and these beavers need their fur in good working order to survive.
I wrote the cast of characters and spoke with Cheryl at IBRRC about it. She said the most knowledgeable voice in oil clean-up out that way is Tri State Bird Rescue. These beavers need to be live trapped, cleaned and re-released. Their dam probably needs to be cleaned too because they’re going to keep touching and working on it. Maybe they need to be relocated because the inside of their lodge is likely covered in oil too. My guess is that the environmental crew will remove the dam and the lodge because its ‘toxic’ and give no thought whatsoever to the first responders who depend on both.
Here’s my letter and where to write your own:
Reporter; City Engineer: City Administrator: Department of Health & Environmental Control
I wanted to write and ask how you plan to care for and monitor the beavers whose dam saved your city a great deal of money and inconvenience. A fuel oil slick on the water surface will obviously affect any animal who lives in it. Aside from its obvious toxicity when it sat on the water they swam in for three days before anyone noticed, the oil could reduce the temperature regulation of their fur and interfere with grooming and care for young. I am cc’ing this email to the International Bird Rescue and Research group so they can advise you how to safely treat coated beavers. You will need to live trap them using baily or hancock traps and I would be happy to advise you who to connect with for that to happen.
The beavers did you a huge favor with their dam. It is only fitting you pay them back.
Heidi Perryman, Ph.D.
President & Founder
Worth A Dam
www.martinezbeavers.org/wordpress
