Beaver Heroes: Children’s Hour

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Friends of Martinez Beavers, In the News, Who's Killing Beavers Now?, Why We Care June 21, 2011

Lake Terrapin girl, 5, rallies to save the beavers

: Montclair-area resident Abi Voss, 5, holds a pamphlet that she uses in her quest to save beavers who live in Lake Terrapin, which is loacted behind her home, from being killed. YOUTUBE

Hardened beaver advocate, Abi Voss, is marching door to door with a petition to save the beavers living in the lake in her backyard. Seems there were a family of 5 beavers paddling about and doing beaver-y things until the Terrapin Home Oweners Association got some complaints that they were eating her neighbors trees. They brought in a trapper who was able to kill three of the beavers, and Abi is trying to save the remaining two. The whole inspiring tale (tail?) is gently unfolded by reporter David Pierce here.

Now, remember, it’s June, so when Abi says they’re only “two beavers left” I’m inclined to think five or six, because there were almost certainly kits born this year that no one has seen yet – certainly not two weeks ago when the trapper was called in. Hopefully they’ll be old enough to survive without mom or Dad as long as there’s some family around. (Martinez knows all about that….) I’m sure that upon reflection the THOA will hope their contractor failed to kill two, so there’s someone left to take care of the young in the lodge. I wonder what kind of press adorable Abi would get if her sign said “Save the Orphans”.

Her Dad demonstrates that beaver advocates hail from sturdy stock:

Voss said that there are alternate ways of alleviating the problem without removing or killing the animals. He said beavers have left trees in his backyard alone after he surrounded them with chicken wire. “Chicken wire only cost me $5,” Voss said. “It is not a big expense.” Voss said that people like him who live near a watershed and a lake should plan to “live with nature” and expect to see creatures like beavers outdoors.

Father and daughter’s facebook page is here, in case you want to send some solidarity and love their way. I will be sending him the ‘painting trees with sand’ recipe forthwith. In the meantime, watch the adorable DVD and remember how powerful the voices of children can be. I can’t think of a better start to any campaign than this.

Ohhhhhh and HAPPY SOLSTICE BEAVERS!!! After today your work days will get longer and ours will get shorter!

The Trappers’ Lobby…

heidi08 Who's Killing Beavers Now? June 20, 2011

Would like you all to know that it’s hot, dangerous, muddy work killing beavers and squirrels and raccoons for a living. But apparently it’s not thankless. June appears to be the month for weddings and inspiring tales of very manly trappers. (Hmmm…maybe all these female reporters – and trust me, the reporters are always female – are pining for their own wedding bells and dreaming about someone to kill the big spiders in their tiny apartments.) Or maybe it’s that all of nature is looking for a place to raise its young at this time of year. Whatever the reason, this morning from my google vantage point I can see at least three stories of trapper-porn-informercials, thinly disguised as news.

The first hales from New Jersey where Frank Spiecker’s rodent-killing muscles ripple at wildlife menacingly while he pauses to pose for the camera.

“Animal control doesn’t provide removal of wildlife from your home,” Spiecker said. “When someone calls in and says they have a squirrel in the house, provided it’s not attacking anyone, it’s the responsibility of the homeowner. They assume because they pay taxes that that’s what they get for their taxes.” A hunter since adolescence, Spiecker also was in construction for more than a decade, making him somewhat of an authority on the subject of trapping — especially indoors.

Hmmm….nice. How about this offering from Maine? I’m sure the reporter was eager to do the behind the scenes follow-up on this story.

John Bourgoin works daily to allay the fears of homeowners who call to report hearing “strange noises in the night.”

John Bourgoin was on the job in Fortune Rocks near Biddeford Pool this week, carrying a wire trap for extracting raccoons that settled in a house’s attic through a vent. “I’ve been a state-licensed trapper for 30 years. But I’ve been doing this since 1979. I started out fur trapping for pelts at age 17 with my father and grandfather.”

Too Northern for your tastes? Consider Mr. Burch from Jacksonville Florida, an admitedly more rugged specimen, but one who merits his own cover story after bagging two alligators that were harassing medical staff.

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — A St. Johns County alligator trapper was busy early Wednesday trapping two gators in two places. Adam Burch caught a gator at Flagler Hospital at about 2 a.m. after the gator bit a hospital employee on the leg.

It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there, thank goodess these men are around to protect us from wildlife, and reinforce our lazy reluctance to work for real solutions. I’m thinking all these snare-bearing heart-throbs might want to do a calendar?

Good News Comes in Threes

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Environmental, Festival, Friends of Martinez Beavers, In the News, Video June 19, 2011

THE IBIS TOM RUSERT was trying to release in Yolo County realized it had a good thing going with the avid birder and did not want to leave his side - make that head.

Rusert Earns Bird Award

Our good friend, Tom Rusert, of Sonoma Birding was in the paper Friday for some pretty amazing news. Seems he’s this years winner of the American Birding Association’s Ludlow Griscom Award for outstanding contribution in Regional Ornithology.

Given to individuals who have dramatically advanced the state of ornithological knowledge for a particular region. This may be through their long-time contributions in monitoring avian status and distribution, facilitating the publication of state bird books, breeding bird atlases and significant papers on the regional natural history of birds. This may also be through the force of their personality, teaching and inspiration.

Emily’s article is a great read and really gives you a sense of how remarkable this recognition is for someone who’s ‘spare time’ has created an exciting, national movement. Regular readers will remember that Tom is the director of the Valley of the Moon Lecture Series where I spoke about the Martinez Beavers this year. He has visions of beavers returning soon to Sonoma, bringing waves of birds and salmon with them. He’s already invited Michael Pollock to dovetail a lecture when he’s presenting at the State of the Estuary Conference in September. Not small world enough for you? Tom will be maintaining a booth and leading a children’s bird walk at this years Beaver Festival!

Congratulations, Tom with recognition much deserved! We couldn’t be happier for you!

mendenhall — Beaver dam at Mendenhall Glacier: Photo Bob Armstrong

Want more good news? Read this article about the long-haul beaver advocates in Juneau. Remember Bob Armstrong and Mary Willson whose lovely book on the Mendenhall Glacier Beavers you’ve probably seen lying around? Well they convinced US Forestry to come with funds to have Mike Callahan of Beaver Solutions out to teach them how to safely manage beavers. Now they’ve installed their first flow device and are excited to implement more.

Willson, who is a retired professor of ecology and co-leader of the Beaver Patrol, had been one of eight who worked last week to install the culvert. The group, who has worked since 2007 to preserve the resources, trails and animal residents of the Dredge Lakes area, spent a full day installing two of these apparatuses. Willson said they are called levelers and their installation will help lower and manage water levels in flooded areas and restore currently un-useable trails.

Great work, Bob, Mary, Mike & helpers! the beavers of Juneau thank you!

And finally, a rumor from a ranger at JMA lead me to check out this article from Patch and the Gazette and contact Mr. Chandler about adding possible beaver footage to the new City Channel 28. He wrote back Friday and suggested that they would be willing to air 10 minutes of promotion for the Beaver Festival, and possibly a review afterwards. Assuming the council gives it’s approval, look for this on your TV screen soon!

heidi08 Beavers June 18, 2011

Saturday Stupid

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Who's Killing Beavers Now? June 18, 2011

Alright, it’s the weekend and I got a lot done yesterday. Bring on the outrageous beaver ignorance and bigotry and let’s have some fun. What does google have for us this morning? It’s getting late in the year for killing beavers, almost time to complain about droughts, but this was a doozy.

DNR, Brown’s Creek Watershed District work to fix beaver problems

The Brown’s Creek Watershed District has a problem. The BCWD is seeking help from the state’s Department of Natural Resources to remove a nuisance beaver nuisance plaguing BCWD streams. The BCWD board of managers discussed how to tackle the situation at its business meeting Monday night. The area facing the problem is a stream near Oak Glen Golf Course, said Administrator Karen Kill.

Karen what? Oh, this story can’t possibly end well. What’s the problem anyway? Beavers building dams or blocking culverts?

Kill said beavers are building dams that back up the stream and tamper with the BCWD’s efforts to monitor the stream’s temperatures. The BCWD also has a monitoring station to collect temperature and water-flow data, but the beaver dams have made the data useless, Kill said

Did you get that? Karen says that the beaver dams are interfering with their thermometers and flow meters. No, not because of hyporheic exchange cooling the water in unexpected places from the bank seep. That would be useful data, so she must not mean that. She said they were making the data useless. You know how beavers love to interfere with science, the little imps. A favorite Calvin & Hobbes strip comes to mind.

As if their problems weren’t severe enough, it turns out the golf course is strapped with the RARE REBUILDING BEAVER! That almost never always happens!

One beaver dam was removed recently, but the BCWD quickly learned just how stubborn beavers can be. “There is an area that beavers have been so quick to rebuild their dams that we have four feet of water backed up,” Kill said. “I was really surprised that (the dam) was back in force the next day.” Now the BCWD is teaming up with the DNR to ensure dams are not rebuilt by taking care of the beavers.

Ahh that is priceless. You spoil me . It isn’t often I get to read an article with this many points for potential mockery. This stands out, although Karen ‘live-and-let-live‘s last name might have given you a head start. One more flagrancy will put you in the beaver hall of fame.

“We don’t like to be in the business of killing of natural wildlife, but the beavers are counterproductive to the goal of the stream,” Kill said. Brian Nerbonne (DNR) said that the fish habitat in the stream is of great concern to the DNR. With the beavers continually resting in the area they compromise the fishes’ ability to move upstream to spawn. It also impairs the water temperature and clarity, making the water murky and warmer than what’s required for trout. Nerbonne said that in the recent past Brown’s Creek has been listed on the impaired waters list by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency for these particular problems.

Congratulations! You’ve earned a perfect score on the beaver bogus badge. So Brown’s Creek has been listed as ‘impaired’? You better hurry and get rid of those restorative ecosystem engineers right away then. Once they start raising the water table, restoring the riparian border, filtering the water and increasing fish population density and diversity that MPCA grant money will completely dry up. Thank goodness your taking these necessary steps in time.

The DNR will be hiring a trapper to set up lethal traps to eradicate the beavers. Since beavers are highly territorial they generally cannot be relocated.