Looks like the wine country is giving up a few acres to take care of the river that feeds it. (Or for the publicity that feeds it). Still, I don’t begrudge them some free advertising in return for their shifting boundaries. Some folks are working hard to bring the salmon back to the streams and guess what is sneaking in to offer a hand?
It’s not just a drainage ditch anymore,” Piña said. “It’s amazing how the animals are moving back in. We have three or four beaver dams and the river otters are waiting for our first rainstorm because they know the salmon will start coming up. It’s changing rapidly, quite rapidly.”
That’s right.Wine tasting beavers! Which are apparently tolerated at the moment, although I wouldn’t place bets on them living through the season. This is the EPA we’re talking about here, and they are dropping millions of dollars to make offset channels, slow the water and establish deeper pools. They don’t want any beavers showing off and doing it for free!
We don’t know exactly where they are but the speaker in that article is from Rutherford so we can guess somewhere around those parts. I’m going to fantasize that they are offspring of the Martinez Beavers all grown up and trying life on their own. I don’t blame them. Which would you pick? Concord or the Wine Country?
Our wikipedia friend has already entered them on the records and we will work hard to track down the players and educate them about beaver management. In the meantime, I will mention that my parents were once in Calistoga wearing their Worth A Dam t-shirts and ran into a couple in the VERY SAME SHIRTS! So there are beaver supporters in Wine country and maybe when your company comes you should take them for a tasting wearing you-know-what.
“Late late yestre’en I saw the new moonWi’ the auld moon in her arm,And I fear, I fear, my dear master,That we will come to harm.”Sir Patrick Spens: Traditional Scottish
Sadly, I did not spring from bed at 5:30 to see the Total Lunar Eclipse at the beaver dam. I can offer no excuses for my indolence save these: As cool as it might be to photograph the eclipse over the dam there is no possible place to achieve that angle. And my bed was very cozy, which (given the fact that December is turning out to be a Spare-the-Air MONTH) happens to be the only place in our entire home that IS. I imagine it was very mystical, and that the beavers did not notice it at all.
Michael P. Duby, who has a long list of charges levied against him in Alaska, was handed a federal indictment earlier this year for unlawfully selling migratory birds and bird parts and bear hide on eBay. That case is still pending. He was also charged and sentenced this year with illegally hunting in Montana in 2008 and 2009 with his father and a friend, Jeffrey C. Fritz, 42, of Washington. A Gallatin County, Mont., district judge sentenced him to 20 years in prison, with 20 years suspended, after he pleaded no contest in April. The Bozeman (Mont.) Daily Chronicle reported he had been “unable to admit” that they killed 19 antelope and numerous other game animals in Gallatin County without valid licenses, since the federal charges are still pending. The judge had also sentenced him to pay $15,500 in fines and restitution, and banned him from hunting, trapping, fishing or assisting in such activities in Montana for the rest of his life. Frenzel said that bans him from such activities in Alaska as well, according to Alaska state law.
Did someone say “steward”? Mr. Duby was certainly no Steward and exercised no responsibility towards wildlife in a any way. Apparently it was a family affair with father, son and brothers all involved.
Charges against nine other people, including Michael P. Duby’s brothers, have poured out one by one since the younger Duby’s federal indictment in June of this year. Most of the charges have been levied by the Attorney General’s Office of Special Prosecutions and Appeals. Implicated in the most recent string of charges were Benjamin Olson, 24, and Blake B. Coombs, 27. On Thursday, Olson entered a not guilty plea though his lawyer John Leque for killing and taking a beaver with a firearm on Admiralty Island in 2009. The charges are non-criminal, strict liability offenses that cannot result in jail time, only a fine.
(Got that? It’s not a crime to shoot a beaver, but you aren’t allowed to sell bird parts on ebay. Just so we’re clear.)
Charging documents filed by Assistant Attorney General Andrew Peterson on Oct. 2 statedOlson was hunting for brown bears on Admiralty Island near the mouth of Bear Creek in Game Management Unit 4 on April 30, 2009, with Michael P. Duby. Olson said Duby asked him to shoot a beaver they saw on the beach, and that he did. The document states Olson admitted to shooting the beaver, which photos taken by Duby confirm. Duby skinned the beaver and later sent the hide off to be tanned, the criminal information states. Peterson stated the Alaska Administrative Code regulates the methods and means of taking fur bearers and specifically prohibits the taking of beaver with a firearm on Admiralty Island. State law also prohibits possession of game that is possessed or transported by a person “who knows or should have known” the animal was taken in violation of a regulation, the charges say.
Who got that coat I wonder? Mr. Duby and his associates sound like excellent representatives of the hunting lobby. I can only say I’m very relieved he committed his atrocities against multiple species because we all know nothing happens to you for just killing beavers.
Empire records reveal the younger Duby, Michael P. Duby, pleaded no contest in 2003 to charges of taking a brown bear in a closed area, hunting for brown bear without a guide, unsworn falsification, unlawful possession of a black bear, and false statements on three license applications. In 1999, he took a black bear under a false resident license.
To be honest, this is one case where I’m not sure there’s that much difference between the criminals and the prosecution. Alaska is not known for its onerous compassion for wildlife. Case in point? This is my very favorite part of the article
Troopers also observed a whole duck being used as bait. Alaska law prohibits waterfowl from being used as bait unless breast meat is removed, Peterson wrote.
*Let it be said that the phrase “Catfish are jumpin'” is almost certainly misleading since catfish are bottom feeders and probably aren’t jumpin’ anywhere any time soon. You can find references on fishing forums to sightings of an occasional Catfish leap but it is very rare. I can only think that they are using the term ‘jumpin’ metaphorically meaning they’re getting ready to be caught….Or, less charitably, that they are big liars.
We went down last night to see if we’d hear a beaver whine-reprise – but to no avail. Two beavers swam indifferently by each other with no circling. Just before we despaired, Cheryl noticed some new mud and chews at the sight of the street side lodge that washed out last March. We brought a light and sure enough there is a swell like a new grave and the beginning of a pile. I don’t think we know whether beavers in a temperate zone build a lodge because there’s a chance of kits or build it because the water level is adequately high enough (as this video suggests) but it means unmistakably that our beavers aren’t going anywhere and that this is still their home. I wonder how long it will take?
12-10-11
I’ll see if I can do a daily photograph to watch the progress but you should stroll down and check it out- (look but don’t touch of course) It’s a very cool thing to see starting. Now we just need to see one of the sisters walking up and dumping mud like mom used to do.
Mean while we were invited to do another field trip for 75 third graders. Yikes, I remember how exhausted we were last year but who could say no?
This lovely website featured some local beavers the author is keeping an eye on this week. She’s on the East Coast and bravely went to the library for information on them where she learned that beavers are rodents and responsible for 20 million dollars of damage every year. I wrote her something about beaver benefits and she was very happy to have the information. You should go read the whole thing because its fun to watch another person unwrap beaver mysteries!
To my knowledge there is no dam on the pond we visit locally. It’s not really part of a stream; it’s a wetland that was once part of the river, till the curve of the river shallowed out and straightened. At one time a brick-making factory was located at the pond, manufacturing bricks from the mud at the bottom. The bricks rebuilt the town when the entire business district — then constructed of wood — was ravaged by fire in 1849. Now it’s a nature preserve where countless other forms of life make their habitations — including beavers.
Across the Page
Later in the day Brock Dolman sent me thislandowner guide to living with beavers from Animal Protection of New Mexico. It’s a great resource about flow devices, wrapping trees and beaver benefits. APNM brought Skip out for a training and video taped it. Remember?
I wrote them that they should add some other resources including Sherri Tippie’s book and Mike Callahan’s DVD and the director wrote me back to say it will be added to the website along with our address. Excellent!
Last night, Jon and I took a visiting journalist working on a national beaver article around the dams. We met a scruffy character on the footbridge who explained helpfully that he had been watching these beavers for 5 years and they used to be SMALLER. Also that Moses knew everything about them and those “internet people” knew nothing! (Ahh, what a relief to finally find an expert!) And useful to show the journalist that every single stray person in the town has a dearly held opinion about these beavers. Our shivering efforts were rewarded by a some great sightings and a very unusual vocalization display that lasted nearly 5 minutes. Even though the weather was artic we were enchanted by the experience, which reminded me of the beaver-whining that got me involved initially lo these many years ago!
Oh and if you need one more really good thing, allow me to suggest you add this website to your favorites. It is either tear-streamingly funny or head-scratchingly inscrutable or both but it is brilliant in a way I cannot possibly describe. Of course I sent them a beaver picture and I’ll let you know if it says anything!
And all men kill the thing they love,By all let this be heard,Some do it with a bitter look,Some with a flattering word,The coward does it with a kiss,The brave man with a sword!Oscar Wilde: The Ballad of Reading Gaol
That’s right. Wine tasting beavers! Which are apparently tolerated at the moment, although I wouldn’t place bets on them living through the season. This is the EPA we’re talking about here, and they are dropping millions of dollars to make offset channels, slow the water and establish deeper pools. They don’t want any beavers showing off and doing it for free!
