Start Spreadin’ the News!

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions February 15, 2012

10558126-large[1] — These are the beaver-damaged trees along the Creekwalk near the Inner Harbor between the Hiawatha Street bridge and Onondaga Lake.

Syracuse officials a little surprised to see damage done by beaver along Onondaga Creekwalk

“We have a beaver situation,” said Andrew Maxwell, director of planning and sustainability for the city of Syracuse. “We were a little surprised by it. We knew the beavers were active back in November 2010, but it was short-lived and we didn’t know they were active again

A beaver situation? Really? Is it just me or do you immediately want to repeat that into a walkie-talkie? “Beaver situation in sector B. Arboreal damage with no known casualties yet. I repeat. Beaver situation in sector B“

What will Syracuse do with this ‘gnawing’ problem? Who will offer a solution? How can any city survive such an invasive attack? How about the DEC? Surely they know what to do.

Beavers eat the inner bark, or the cambium, and they want to get to the soft green part on the inside, he said. “But the cambium isn’t as tender and nutritious on the bottom of the tree as it is on the top,” he said.

To save the tree, the best strategy is to act quickly and wrap the tree in hardware cloth, which is basically woven metal, from the ground up to about three feet. Chicken wire won’t work because the beaver can gnaw through it, Clark said.

Hardware cloth? Um, well it’s better than trapping, but what exactly is hardware cloth? And why are your beavers so short? Doesn’t it ever snow in Syracuse?

Well, okay that looks like it would work but remember to wrap it a distance from the trunk or you’ll just girdle the tree and end up killing it with kindness!

I’m not very hopeful looking at the professionals quoted in this article. The only one I really admire is the arborist (and maybe the reporter for ending the article with his quote!)

Steve Harris, city/county arborist, said beavers chewing these box elms shows that the area is an attractive habitat for diverse wildlife. “The damage is to an infinitesimal small number of trees, and the beavers aren’t any threat to the public,” he said. “It’s just what happens in nature.”

Of course I wrote them all about the benefits of beavers and how to manage damage. Hopefully armed with this information Steve can make a few new converts!

Beaver Valentine’s

heidi08 Beavers February 14, 2012

This Valentine’s Day I propose we honor a hero that mates for life, helps with the kits, and never forgets to bring home some willow! Brock found these pictures from an old story book called ‘a house in the woods.’ Enjoy!

And good news! The Artist Amelia agreed to do our beaver festival brochure again it’s year! The FIFTH!! Guess what the fifth anniversary traditional gift is by the way?

Preaching to the Choir….

heidi08 Beaver Art, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Earth Day, Friends of Martinez Beavers February 13, 2012

This weekend’s flyway festival saw a couple thousand birders exploring Mare Island’s hidden treasures and rows of environmental displays from wildlife groups around Northern California. There was deliciously expensive optic equipment for sale, mountains of federal employees charged with protecting wild spaces, every conceivable Audubon incarnation and, oh yes, the good folks from the Martinez Beavers!

What surprised me wasn’t that all these many birders were so primed to hear the message that beavers improve birding habitat, or that very few people strolling by hadn’t heard the story of the famous beavers, or how many people crowded together for my talk on Saturday, or that lots of folks were still giggling about the chronicle story of the disappearing beaver in the city mural – what surprised me was how many USFS employees stopped by to thank us for our work, express a real interest in restoring beavers, and scoff at the idea that they didn’t belong in every single waterway in the state.

There were lots and lots of these who came by to draw residents of the beaver neighborhood on our new flag. It was designed by our resident artist FROgard Butler who ended up being too sick to come help this weekend. Lory and Jon bravely filled in for her and we ended up with many young artists engaged in the task while I was busily making friends for the beavers, chatting about beaver benefits, explaining how to wrap trees or install a flow device, and plugging this years festival which will (unbelievably) be our FIFTH.

You can see we found many young artists to volunteer! Once it is finished being readied for hanging by FRO we will think about its display. Maybe we can get NPS to fly it at Earthday? Or Public Works to fly it at the beaver festival!

Hopefully lots of good stories will follow this weekends contacts. I’ll be sure to keep you posted! In the meantime, I would just say that the author from the book featured Thursday has arranged for me to receive three copies of ‘the three little beavers’ as a donation for the silent auction of this years festival! Our senior author and wikipedia friend sent off the historic prevalence paper this weekend for eventual publication, Brian Murphy sends this STUNNING photo from his wooduck box project in downtown walnut creek and San Ramon Creek,

and our European beaver friends tipped me off to this bit of beaver delight from Belgium.

Mike Callahan: Agent of Change

heidi08 Beavers February 11, 2012

Since the website was ‘indisposed’ last sunday I thought I’d run this again! If you missed it you should really listen, and if you didn’t catch the flyway festival yesterday you should really come tomorrow. It’s amazing how big a shadow the Martinez Beavers story cast 5 years ago!

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See you there?

heidi08 Beavers February 11, 2012

Saturday 2:30pm-3:30pm

How Martinez saved its beavers and helped its birds In 2007, the town of Martinez was faced with a problem. Beavers had built a dam in a downtown creek already prone to flooding. No one expected the massive public response which forced the city to control the beaver dam, humanely. New wetlands made and maintained by the beavers since that time have created remarkable habitat for steelhead, otter, mink and a variety of new birds. Come see how a community allowed beavers to restore its wetlands, increase the fish and wildlife populations and broaden its bird count. Beavers really are Worth A Dam!

Heidi Perryman, Ph.D.is an “accidental beaver advocate” who began filming the beavers in 2006, served on the subcommittee that addressed beaver management and started the organization “Worth A Dam” to deal with their continued care. She presented in Oregon at the State of the Beaver Conference and is currently working with a multidisciplinary team on beaver historic prevalence and the role of beaver-assisted salmon recovery in California.

FULL SCHEDULE HERE