Interview with Skip Lisle, inventor of the “Beaver Deceiver”. If he looks familar he should since he was the hero that saved the Martinez Beavers about 4 years ago! (Certain ladies may not recognize him with his shirt “on”.) I apologize in advance for the static on the line, but assure you he’s worth listening to
Yesterday’s Courant paper out of Connecticut sports this headline
The town is evicting some beavers from Beaver Brook. In the last few weeks, a state-authorized “nuisance beaver” trapper has captured three adult beavers in the brook’s swamplands off Spring Street, Town Engineer Michael Turner said.
There may be more of the creatures to be trapped and removed, he said.It’s not clear how many beavers have been living in the section of the brook across from the town skating pond on Spring Street.
Let this be a warning to you in CT that when you receive your eviction or foreclosure notice, the nutmeg state may already have your ‘final destination’ in mind! Certainly that was the case for these ‘nuisance’ beavers which is what a city without problem-solving skills calls a problem.
Obviously Wethersfield, which is only an hour away from Beaver Solutions in MA and two hours away from Skip Lisle in VT, couldn’t possibly solve the beaver puzzle in any other way except by trapping. It’s not as if Connecticut has its own former trapper who is now a highly respected installer of flow devices himself (Skip Hilliker) or has citizens who care about the beavers and would take action on their behalf.
At a town council meeting Jan. 3, resident Barbara Ruhe spoke about the beavers, telling residents the creatures were “quite something to see.” She urged people to go see them and take children before the beavers are evicted or meet an untimely end because “we can’t live with them.”
You most certainly CAN live with them, Wethersfield. And you should. You are surrounded by solutions and we’d be happy to find you more. Aside from the needless repeat pouring of taxpayer dollars on a trapping fix that will need to be repeated again and again, there are very good reasons to live with beavers, including a raised water table, more fish, more birds and more wildlife – not to mention what will happen if you have a few volunteers lead fieldtrips down to the beaver dam.
I went looking through your town minutes for the painstakingly decision you made to solve a problem with action rather than with thought, but there wasn’t even a mention of it in this month’s meetings or the last. Apparently the proposal to kill some beavers might make public comment, but it doesn’t even require a motion to actuate.
I hope someone from Wethersfield watches this video. It might change things a bit
Rogue beavers damaging trees, property on Lake Springfield
Goodness Gracious! ROGUE Beavers? You mean beavers doing something atypical to their species and threatening our very existence? What are they doing? Robbing grocery stores or threatening old women at ATM’s? Carjacking? How terrifying! What an awful threat! Thank goodness the paper was here to tell us about it. Let’s read more.
Beavers have taken up residence under boat docks and damaged or killed trees and shrubs along the shoreline.
Um, that’s it? Where’s the “Rogue” part? I mean don’t beavers normally take trees? Isn’t that like the bottom of the pyramid chart on their four food groups? I’ll keep reading. Maybe the Rogue knocking-over-convenience-stores part is down further in the article.
Mike Castleman knows firsthand. He lost a large shrub and two mature trees in a matter of days. The beavers stripped the bark from his trees to a height of about 3 feet off the ground.
“From what I understand, these trees are dead. This guy killed them,” Castleman said. “I got some pruning spray to seal them and chicken wire to protect them, but everyone who sees them says they are going to die.”
The beavers also reduced a 20-foot-high bush in his yard to a bundle of pointed sticks.
Pointed sticks! That can’t be good. Weapons maybe? Crude hand to hand tools for their eventual world domination? Or planning ahead for a great deal of vampire slaying? Either way, it’s never a good thing when your enemy starts the battle with a bit pile of sharpened sticks. Remember Lord of the Flies? Gasp. Were they sharpened at both ends?
This so rarely happens. Unless, of course, your enemy is a beaver.
Well I’m sure you know about that. I’m sure you studied what beavers TYPICALLY do before you made an effort to describe these particular beavers behavior as ROGUE.
Yep. Looks pretty typical to me, except the paper describes these trees as Shingle Oaks which aren’t beaver favorites by any means. I can only assume this means your lake has a dismal riparian border, no willow or aspen and hardly any vegetation to speak of. No wonder you’re so worried about the trees.
Well, the paper says some residents are wrapping trees and some are talking about trapping. Any other solutions on the table?
Removing beavers is only a temporary solution, according to “Missouri’s Beaver, a Guide to Management, Nuisance Prevention and Damage Control,” published by the Missouri Department of Conservation.
“Once a colony of beaver establishes its territory in a pond, lake or stream, it is virtually impossible to make it move somewhere else through the use of nonlethal techniques,” the manual says. “It is sometimes possible to enjoy beavers in the area while still preserving property.”
Virtually impossible! Better tell all those crazy beaver relocators that they are wasting their time! The sad thing is that Missouri PROBABLY gleaned this little “factoid” from the fact that when you move beavers out new ones move in. Which, by the way is what happens when you kill them too. Better to bear the beavers you have than fly to other’s you know not of.
In case you want a solution besides wire and tar and traps, read here about sand painting the trunk. You’ll be surprised how it helps tame “Rogue” beavers. Oh and get together with your neighbors and plant some willow so that the trees can coppice and regrow. Your bird population will thank you for it.
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Beaver Deceiver Now at Work on Incline Creek
In the interest of protecting water and sewer infrastructure in the Tyrolian Village area, Incline Village General Improvement District Public Works recently commissioned Sierra Wildlife Coalition to install a beaver deceiver device in Incline Creek at a critical culvert, upstream from Diamond Peak Ski Area.
This creek drainage is home to several beaver families. The beavers’ tree cutting activity was creating culvert blockages, which was resulting in stream bank erosion and washout of the culvert. The beaver deceiver is a non-lethal wildlife management tool designed to make it much harder for the beavers to block the culvert. It is designed to protect the water and sewer infrastructure without having to trap and remove the beavers. The device does not affect the beaver’s feeding, lodging, or reproduction. Info: IVGID Waste Not, wastenot@ivgid.org, (775) 832-1284, ivgid.org.
Our Tahoe friends finished their first year amid astonishing successes to show for it – Sierra Wildlife Coalition 2011. Flow Device installations at Incline and Tahoe Donner, trees painted at the request of the Army Core of Engineers, protests and negotiations at Truckee and a pesky porcupine resolution. (No, I’m not kidding.) They’re that good. Go read the whole thing and enjoy their successes.
I’m impressed with every part of their achievements and couldn’t be prouder of how they grew up or what our tiny scholarship helped encourage. But I’m frankly awestruck that Department of Public Works paid them to put in a flow device. Paid them!!!
(Worth A Dam is apparently such a bunch of slack-jawed yokels by comparison that we can only get DPW to take a beaver out of a mural.) Sigh.
Never mind. If we had enough encouraged folks to do wayyyy better than us, California will eventually be in pretty good beaver shape, which means salmon runs will be restored, bird populations will flourish and maybe we can retire.
Now if we could only get them to handle that pesky beaver festival…
Local photographer and videographer Moses Silva took this shot recently of an otter sunning himself on an Alhambra Creek beaver lodge. Jim Caroompas Martinez Patch
Jim was nice enough to run Moses’ excellent photo on Patch last night, and it’s hard to think of a better Martinez Moment. I hope more wildlife comes and sits atop that tuft for their photo shoot! Green Heron, baby ducks, Mink, Muskrat. Speaking of Muskrat the WSJ reporter who gave us the excellent story of Amanda from the Lands Council is writing now about muskrat bellies.
Can we assume he’s been assigned to the “Rodent Beat?”
Newly Rich Chinese Are Swathed in Rodent’s Warm Skins, but Euro Crisis Could Damp Pelt Boom
CALUMET, Mich.—The North American muskrat market has been booming, thanks to soaring purchases by Chinese and other newly rich nations that need muskrat fur to line coats and footwear. Specifically, they want muskrat bellies, the felt-like fur that is practically impermeable to moisture. At $10 per pelt—five times what muskrats fetched in the 1990s—pelts were trading at new highs when bidding for last season’s furs ended in June.
To which I can only say “Stay Away from our muskrats in Alhambra Creek” if you know what’s good for you, and Joel I liked your beaver story better. Ew.
Finally Brock Dolman sent this excellent find of the educational string band from Santa Cruz called Banana Slug. Check out my favorite recording. I already invited them to the beaver festival, lets keep our fingers crossed!
