Feisty? It’s hard to believe that beavers would eat trees in a public park. I mean who do they think they are? Feeding their families in the middle of winter! How could Grand Junction in Colorado POSSIBLY know what to do to solve the problem? It’s not like their sandwiched in between beaver experts with Sherri Tippie of Wildlife 2000 four hours to the east and Mary O’brien of the Grand Canyon Land Trust four hours to the west or anything.
Oh, wait.
Some day the ubiquitous ‘dog bites man’ story is going to be replaced with the ubiquitous ‘beaver bites tree’ headline and then maybe news media will stop reporting it like it’s a shocking development. The only shocking element is that cities that should know better almost never do. And instead of wrapping trees, and relocating family members as a unit, or educating residents, they recreate this scene from Casablanca every time.
We are a full service station here at beaver central. We don’t sugar coat it or report only the bad news to get better ratings. Beaver stories are like any stories, sometimes they bring good news and sometimes not. Thank goodness the good news is coming more often these days.
I was raised Catholic so we better start with the bad news first:
That’s Byram Mississippi in case you were wondering. Not exactly a font of ecological wisdom but it’s on the nightly news so they must think there’s an ounce of interest in the story. If you go to the city’s website it opens explaining what forms you need to fill out if you want to be mayor/alderman. I’m thinking I’ll pass.
Medium news? How about an update on our Bronx river beavers in New York. The first caused such a splash when he arrived, and another showed up the following year spawning tales of romance, but they haven’t been seen for a while and our friends who keep an eye on them have wondered what is happening.
The folks at the New York Botanical Garden and the Bronx River Alliance had been wondering what was up with José and Justin, the beavers who first made headlines in 2007 when they turned up in the Bronx River – the first exemplars of New York’s state animal to be spotted alive in New York City in 200 years.
“We knew they were here, but they hadn’t been spotted for a while,” said Ann Rafalko, the garden’s director of online content. The garden’s Critter Cam, a motion-sensitive robot camera mounted in an undisclosed location in the garden’s 50-acre forest that flanks the river, has provided an answer.
It’s wonderful when folks realize beavers are good news and tell the media as media. Not exactly sure why these beavers have been named as if they’re a gay couple, but we’re very broad minded and don’t mind. The garden’s critter cam is going to be in for a surprise come this summer I think!
The increased activity of beavers in and along streams of Northern California has gotten local landowners, public agencies and scientists talking about these large rodents. The beaver is best known for its iconic teeth, flat tail and lustrous fur. Scientific research also supports the idea that beavers are beneficial to restoring fisheries in the region.
One of the most significant benefits beavers provide to the environment are the dams they create. Unlike human-built dams, beaver dams provide critical wetland ecosystems and riparian habitats which benefit endangered and threatened species such as coho and Chinook salmon. Beaver activity also opens up the tree canopy, allowing sunlight to reach the water and support the growth of healthy algae and other aquatic plants.
So, beavers may be good for the fish, but what about humans? Private landowners have valid complaints that beavers are destroying trees on their property and causing flooding of fields.
Are you intrigued yet? What a great start to an article! Hand me some popcorn!
In order to answer these questions and more, the Five Counties Salmonid Conservation Program will host a free workshop.
in Trinity County from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday at the Volunteer Fire Hall in Douglas City, located near the Trinity River bridge on State Route 299 that intersects with State Route 3 at 100 Steiner Flat Road.
The event will include practical techniques for assessing and managing beaver dams while protecting property. The workshop is funded by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife Fisheries Restoration Grant Program, and the guest speaker is a national expert from Massachusetts who specializes in balancing beaver activity and human interests.
That wouldbe our old friend Mike Callahan of Beaver Solutions who will be teaching the workshop on Saturday, visiting our local installer Ted Guzzi of Sierra Wildlife coalition Sunday, and coming to Martinez monday for a tour of the most famous beavers ever.If you’re wondering just how old of a friend Mike is, this is a letter from him in 2008 which ism so long ago I had not yet ‘inherited’ the website.
This is a letter from Mike Callahan of Beaver Solutions to Heidi, but we really think it applies to everyone who has supported the beavers:Dear “Beaverlady”, 😉
Your efforts are Herculean. It is so difficult to promote coexistence with beavers in an urban setting, especially one that is prone to flooding without beavers. Nevertheless, your efforts have given these beavers a fighting chance at survival.
Irregardless of the City’s final decision with the M. beavers I hope you can see that your efforts have had huge positive effects for not only the Martinez beavers, but also for beavers everywhere. Along with others, you personally have raised beaver awareness in the California masses. Not an easy task, and extremely important if our society is to evolve a better culture of coexistence with the animals on this planet.
I thought you should know how impressive your efforts and results have already been, because I know when a person is in the middle of a fight it is hard to see the entire battleground. I’m glad you are involved. Thanks.
To find out whether wolves could rescue the willows, Marshall and her colleagues charted willow growth at four sites in the northern range. At each site, the researchers fenced some plots to provide total protection from browsing elk and other animals. They also built dams—hauling in logs by helicopter—in streams near some plots to mimic the effect of beavers. Some plots were dammed and fenced; control plots were neither dammed nor fenced, making wild wolves their only possible protection from elk.
After 10 years, the fenced willows that weren’t close to dams, though they’d suffered no browsing at all, on average were far shorter than 2 meters, the team reports online today in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. That’s the threshold height that makes willows tall enough to reproduce despite voracious elk. Unfenced willows along dammed streams didn’t make the threshold either. Only a combination of dams and fences provided the right conditions for the willows to grow to a self-sustaining height.
Another fine study shows [basically] that man cannot reinvent the wheel without beavers in the mix. Who would have thought? So wolves are important to the recovery of yellowstone but can’t do their magic unless beavers do theirs. Hmm. And pretend dams are interesting opportunities to carry logs by helicopter but beavers make the ones that really matter. Are you shocked?
If beavers need willows, willows also need beavers. Beaver dams help create mud flats where new willows can sprout; they also raise the water table, supplying more water to willow roots. When wolves vanished, the willows of the northern range faced a double whammy: too many elk, too few beaver. The result was a scarcity of the thick, lush willow patches needed for a healthy riparian zone.
Wait a minute. Maybe its not just wolves that need beavers to plant the trees that feed the elk that they harvest. Maybe its all of us! Didja think of that?
All agree, however, that beavers might help the willows and riparian zones make a comeback. But until willows are vigorous, beavers could starve. It’s hard to see a way out of this “chicken-and-egg” problem, Marshall says. Perhaps if Yellowstone got a very wet year, encouraging willow growth, combined with a year that saw a low level of elk browsing, beavers could establish a foothold in the small streams of the northern range, as they have in other parts of the park. “It’s feasible that it could happen on its own,” she says. “It’s just not likely in the next few years.”
I’ll tell you what. Instead of using those tax and grant dollars to carry logs and measure trees, why don’t you sponsor a pizza party for every boyscout in the state and involve them in planting stakes of willow as far along the waterline as you and the wolves can see. Then when the sprouts burst along the riverside beavers will settle in and have enough to eat and your problem will be solved.
Two beavers enjoying an early morning swim in Crows Woods in Haddonfield. Credit Vinny & Sal Calla
“They’ve raised the water level near Evans Pond by 18 inches,” Brees told the borough’s Board of Commissioners during a meeting Monday.
The solution: a 15-foot plastic tube to filter water past the dam and back into the pond. Materials cost about $700 and Summerville said it would make an ideal project for a local Eagle Scout. Jacobs said Tavistock is willing to pay for the materials in what he described as a win-win situation.
The Unexpected Wildlife Refuge began as the home of Cavit and Hope Buyukmihci of Beaversprite fame. It is now a licensed non-profit under the deft administration of Sarah Summerville who has been keeping a close eye on neighboring beavers in New Jersey. Case in point: The Tavistock Golf course described in this article.
In this instance, the exclusive club is Tavistock Country Club and the municipal entity it’s appealing to for help is the borough of Haddonfield. Greg Jacobs, the assistant superintendent at Tavistock, urged borough officials this week to help him take action to illeviate flooding on his 16th green because of water backing up from up to five dams the busy beavers have made since recently reappearing in the waterways near Haddonfield’s Crows Woods.
It’s nice to come across a beaver story that has a local advocate offering solutions and education already. We don’t need to worry about the beavers in Tavistock. Sarah’s got this one covered!
Summerville, an official from the Unexpected Wildlife Refuge, Home of the Beaver Defenders in Newfield, explained the system would bypass the dam that is closest to the golf course and not injure the beavers. She said state law prohibits relocating beavers and they can only be trapped if a municipality plans to euthanize them. She also stressed that beavers may appear to be a nuisance, but they actually play an important role in maintaining waterways.
Go Sarah!
Oh and just learned from facebook that our own Greta Mart who gave the beavers generous coverage at the Gazette was just accepted at the UCB graduate school of journalism, which also enrolled Richard Parks which used to give the beavers generous Coverage at the Gazette. Coincidence? David Ferry who wrote the beaver article for the Atlantic was also in the program. Just sayin’.
Beaver atop a dam. Photo: Marcin Klapczynski, CC some rights reserved
Got drought? Bring in the beavers.
Now a December article in Canadian Geographic by Frances Backhouse,”Rethinking the Beaver”, considers how beavers affect wetlands and watersheds with an eye on how that could be a plus in dealing with heightened risk of drought.
The material presented isn’t especially new. But if cycles of drought and flood become more regular spectres it’s worth looking at ways to mitigate those impacts.
Nice article from North County Public Radio in New York, which even links to my father beaver movie. I’ve been having a little fantasy about telling all the folks who get FEMA money for drought that if they’re killing beavers they ‘opt themselves out’ of federal support. It reminds me of that old joke about the minister during the flood. As the water rises around his house, a neighbor paddles by and offers to bring him to safety. “The lord will provide” is his answer, and he sends the neighbor on his way.
He and his family have to move onto the second floor when the waters rise. Now it’s a police boat that motors over, shouting over the megaphone to lower the children down first. He waives them away. “I’m not worried and we’re not leaving.” He dismisses. “The lord will provide.” The police leave – stunned.
The rains continue to fall and that water fills the second floor. The man raises his children and wife onto the roof where they scramble to survive. From the east the noise of a helicopter approaches. As it gets louder a ranger in rescue clothes lowers down from above and reaches for the children. The minister shouts his dissent. “WE’RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE. THE LORD WILL PROVIDE!” He shouts and turns his back on the rescue worker, clutching his bible. The worker shrugs with despair and is raised away on the hook back to the helicopter.
The water continues to rise.
It crests the roof and the chimney, drowning first the children, then the wife and finally the old minister. As the water fills his lungs his bible floats out of his fingertips and the man’s spirit rises to heaven, remembering everything that he lost and will never have again. When he sees god he explodes in fury.
“What kind of God are you! I lived a good life. I did everything I was supposed to for you. I put my faith in you! How could you let this happen? Why didn’t you provide for me and my family?”
God is nonplussed. “Are you kidding? I sent you two boats and a helicopter!‘
Which is to say more than 50 percent of the US faced extreme drought this year, and its going to get worse as climate change continues and these states that are relying on federal money to feed their families are turning away the very help that could save their lives, and water their crops, and support their cattle.
And I’m talking about beavers here.
“My land dried up, and my livestock died and my corn withered. Lord, I trusted you. My family lived by your laws. We went to church on sunday. Why didn’t you provide?”
And God says in my daydream. “Are you kidding? I sent you beavers!“
Yellowstone Wolves
