“Beaver Troubles?”

Scouring through the latest beaver trapping articles, I came across this ominously named specimen from Ontario’s Frontenac EMC. Given the title and a few of the tag lines I wasn’t expecting such a beaver friendly article. What a nice surprise.

Although there are short-term issues associated with local beavers, their long-term contributions to the environment make them a worth-while neighbour when managed effectively. The beaver is an ingenious ecosystem engineer that shapes the unique rural environment that Canadians take pride in, and its ability to beneficially modify its ecosystem renders this species one of the largest contributors to Canada’s aquatic environments. In addition, beavers ensure productive ecosystem functioning, which creates and upholds the natural beauty and species diversity of southern Ontario. This species ensures the integrity of aquatic habitats through the enhanced growth of aquatic vegetation, which prevents erosion and acts as a buffer in the face of contamination, restoring pristine conditions. Beaver damming also shapes the species diversity in the surrounding area by providing ideal habitats for a variety of charismatic bird, mammal and fish species. Not only are these animals captivating, but they also provide recreation for birdwatchers, fishers and hunters alike.

That’s a great paragraph! It goes on to mention tools like the beaver baffler and the Clemson pond leveler as a means to humanely manage pond height, I posted information about more modern techniques and will send it to the authors as well. (The danger being that if people try outdated methods they run a greater risk of them not working, and the inevitably of trapping looms that much closer.) The general idea that beavers are good for Canada’s wetlands and that their challenges can be humanely managed is a great one. I wish there were so many of these that our “who’s killing beaver now” dance card was impossible to fill. Sigh.

Frontenac even had the good sense to post a photo of an actual beaver, unlike the nutria and woodchuck images I’m getting sick of seeing. Good job.

Light a Single Candle – Make that two!

heidi08 Beaver Rehabilitation, Beavers elsewhere April 20, 2011

Weighing only about one pound each when admitted, the beaver kits grew up together at PAWS Wildlife Center. By the time they were released, they had spent more than a year in PAWS’ care.

As the beavers matured they practiced their construction skills. All of the wood around the hide box in the background was placed there by the beavers.

After they were placed in the lodge, the beavers came out to explore. Having had minimal human contact at PAWS, they were wary of the people who were there to wish them well. Everyone soon left so the beavers could explore in peace.

A floating lodge that staff built is serving as a temporary home for the beavers. PAWS Wildlife Facilities Caretaker Jim Green and Wildlife Rehabilitation Manager Dondi Byrne get the lodge ready at the release site.

How cute is that floating lodge! Is it just me or do you WANT one? I bet our beavers could use one of those….it’s not a luxury. When Leonard and Lois Houston relocated some beavers in Oregon last year one of the families was eaten by a moutain lion because they hadn’t time to build a shelter yet. There’s a lot of stupid news in beaver world this morning, with North Carolina undertaking some statewide genocide, Alabama paying for tails and Province deciding to “lower” the beaver population. Before we have the spirit to tackle all that stupid, I though the PAWS story would give us something to smile about.

Worth A Dam

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Educational, Environmental, Uncategorized April 19, 2011

The dam is the largest and in many respects the most influential beaver work. Across a stream it is an inviting thorough fare for the folk of the wild. As soon as a dam is completed, it becomes a wilderness highway. It is used day and night. Across it go bears and lions. rabbits and wolves, mice and porcupines; chipmonks use it for a bridge, birds alight upon it, trout attempt to leap itand in the evening the deer cast their reflections with the willows in its quiet pond. Across it dash the pursuer and the pursue. Upon it take place battles and courtships. Often it is torn by hoof and claw. many a drama, romantic and picturesque, fierce and wild is staged upon the beaver dam.

p. 73 Enos Mills In Beaver World

Is that the loveliest thing you’ve ever read? I had to stop and read it aloud and send it to everyone connected to the story. I can’t recommend “In Beaver World” highly enough. It is less sentimental than Lily Pond, not as intrusive as Beaver Sprite and more scientific than Grey Owl. It is both less and more flattering to its subject than Lewis Henry Morgan, and oddly more observant than Muller-Schwarze. It is forcing me to read it in teaspoons so that I make sure to appreciate every vividly descriptive paragraph. Surprisingly, I’m on page 85 and haven’t yet read anything untrue. In fact he has a few things to say about beaver myths in general noting “One might read almost the entire mass of printed matter concerning the beaver without obtaining correct information about his manners and customs or an accurate description of his works and without getting at the real character of this animal“ Wow. Can I get an Amen?

The two things he has written that have raised my eyebrows are so firmly embedded in the midst of the verified the beaver-behavior we have closely observed over the years, that I’m inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt. The first is that the beavers at one of his locations allow other families into their lodges and maintain lodges with up to 30 beavers. Hard to imagine, but I suppose not impossible. The second, and equally impressive, is that he had seen a beaver kill a bobcat on two occasions, again not outside the realm of imagination, but surprising none the less. His observations are so accurate and respectful of the animals that they have taken my breath as often as they have expelled it. Remember this is a lone man in the field, nearly a hundred years ago, just watching. No radio collars, tail beacons, or radar. Only a man with keen and quiet observations, day in and day out, in every season and weather, over many years and across many colonies and regions.

I was especially surprised to find this paragraph basically presaging the research of Michael Pollock 80 years ahead of its time, and describing the principal of hyporheic exchange about 65 years before it was ever discussed in scientific circles.

The Beaver dam gives new character to the landscape. It frequently alters the course of a stream and changes the topography. It introduces water into the scene. It nourishes new plant life. It brings new birds. It provides harbor and a home for fish throughout the changing seasons. It seizes sediment and soil from the rushing waters and it sends waters through subterranean ways to form and feed springs which give bloom to terraces below.

p.74 Enos Mills In beaver World

Did I mention it’s a good book? If you aren’t sure its worth your hard earned dollars to pick up a used copy at Amazon, Google has it mostly online and its well worth the read.

Our own beaver sightings are frustratingly inconsistent at the moment. Cheryl and I scoured the area for beavers this morning without success. Of the morning’s labors I can only report:

Beavers: 0

Mosquitoes: 2

Be Careful what you wish for…

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, History April 18, 2011

XVII.

On the dam stood Pau-Puk-Keewis,

O’er his ankles flowed the streamlet,

Flowed the bright and silvery water,

And he spake unto the beaver,

With a smile he spake in this wise:

“O my friend Ahmeek, the beaver,

Cool and pleasant Is the water;

Let me dive into the water,

Let me rest there in your lodges;

Change me, too, into a beaver!”

Cautiously replied the beaver,

With reserve he thus made answer:

“Let me first consult the others,

Let me ask the other beavers.”

Down he sank into the water,

Heavily sank he, as a stone sinks,

Down among the leaves and branches,

Brown and matted at the bottom.

Artist WH Gibson - Engraver John Filmer

From the bottom rose the beavers,

Silently above the surface

Rose one head and then another,

Till the pond seemed full of beavers,

Full of black and shining faces.

To the beavers Pau-Puk-Keewis

Spake entreating, said in this wise:

“Very pleasant Is your dwelling,

O my friends! and safe from danger;

Can you not, with all your cunning,

All your wisdom and contrivance,

Change me, too, into a beaver?”

“Yes!” replied Ahmeek, the beaver,

He the King of all the beavers,

“Let yourself slide down among us,

Down into the tranquil water.”

Down into the pond among them

Silently sank Pau-Puk-Keewis;

Black became his shirt of deer-skin,

Black his moccasins and leggings,

In a broad black tail behind him

Spread his fox-tails and his fringes;

He was changed into a beaver.

“Make me large,” said Pau-Puk-Keewis,

“Make me large and make me larger,

Larger than the other beavers.”

“Yes,” the beaver chief responded,

“When our lodge below you enter,

In our wigwam we will make you

Ten times larger than the others.”

Thus into the clear, brown water

Silently sank Pau-Puk-Keewis:

Found the bottom covered over

With the trunks of trees and branches,

Hoards of food against the winter,

Piles and heaps against the famine;

Found the lodge with arching doorway,

Leading into spacious chambers.

Here they made him large and larger,

Made him largest of the beavers,

Ten times larger than the others.

“You shall be our ruler,” said they;

“Chief and King of all the beavers.”

So I’m thinking that it might be a problem to become a beaver that is ten times larger than the other beavers INSIDE the lodge, since lodges are small spaces designed for normal-sized beavers but what do I know? It’s poetry. Poof, he gets changed into a monster beaver, and he thinks how lucky he is to have hidden from Hiawatha, who suddenly shows up on the scene, rips out the lodge the way we read about and comes to get him. All the other beavers scatter but he’s too big to fit through the plunge hole and he’s a sitting duck for the hunters.

With their clubs they beat and bruised him,

Beat to death poor Pau-Puk-Keewis,

Pounded him as maize is pounded,

Till his skull was crushed to pieces.

Artist FOC Darley – Engraver Russell and Richardson

I guess from the beavers point of view, this was a test that he failed. Think about it. They agreed to change him into a beaver without conditions or payment. But the role of the beaver is to be a member of the colony, to work for the greater good and value others as highly as you value yourself. Ahmeek even demonstrated this when he answered his inital request with “lemme go ask the other beavers what they think”. (Doesn’t sound much like a ‘king’ to me.) When Pau-puk-keewis asked to be ten times larger, he failed the test. When they hailed him as ‘king’ they were probably humoring his ego and writing him off. They stopped thinking of him as a beaver and a member of the colony, because even though he still had a flat tail, he wasn’t one of them any more. So in the end all the other beavers left him to his kingdom and swam to safety.

Hmm

Hiawatha: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow