Month: April 2013

Fun Facts about Beavers!

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beaver Rehabilitation, Beavers, Beavers elsewhere April 25, 2013

In my extended learning beaver-immersion campus, there still important things I do not know. Beaver mysteries, if you will. I know what beavers eat, where they live, and how they wrestle. I’ve seen their socialization, their mutual grooming and their child-rearing. I know where beavers defecate, how they mate and how long they live. I even know about the whiskers above their eyes. But I didn’t, however, until this very April morning, know how they drink.

Duncan Haley of Norway just sent the newly finished report on managing European beavers in captivity, and I couldn’t resist pouring through the pages. Remember this is castor fiber – not castor canadensis like we have, but still there is much food for thought. I especially appreciated the notion that their diet is so cellulose- based that beavers only digest about 33% of what they eat! (So they need to eat a lot!) There is even an illustration of their most (ahem) intimate moment!

: Figure 27. Copulation in water, replicated from Ruth Pollitts’ illustration (in Kitchener 2001).

Call me crazy, I was weirdly more impressed by the cleverly named ‘burrito technique’ which can prevent a beaver under anesthesia from losing their body heat.

But this was one thing I’ve ALWAYS especially wondered:

4.8 Drinking

Beavers need access to fresh water daily. Beavers cannot make licking motions and so do not lap water or lick fur. To drink, they hold their noses horizontally, whilst submerging their mouths and making chewing motions with their lower jaws to take in water (Wilsson 1971).

Now that makes sense! Come to think of it, I think I’ve even seen that behavior. Hmm, maybe every time folks wonder ‘where beavers do something’ they’ve never observed, the smart answer is “In the water”. Of course Mr. Willson is the same researcher who so definitively observed that “beavers never stretch”.

Where was I?

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, Educational, Environmental April 24, 2013

Last night I was watching a Colbert report rerun that idly mentioned that the EPA had released a report saying that more than half the nations river’s and streams couldn’t support life. What? More than HALF? How did this story slip by me? Of course I immediately thought of beavers and the idea that if half our streams can’t sustain them, and we kill them off wherever they appear, we might not have to worry about climate change or colony collapse disorder because we’ll all be dead from the water toxins before it really gets intolerable.

More than half of the country’s rivers and streams are in poor biological health, unable to support healthy populations of aquatic insects and other creatures, according to a new nationwide survey released Tuesday.

The Environmental Protection Agency sampled nearly 2,000 locations in 2008 and 2009 — from rivers as large as the Mississippi River to streams small enough for wading. The study found more than 55 percent of them in poor condition, 23 percent in fair shape, and 21 percent in good biological health.

Of course I rushed to the EPA website this morning to try and understand more. The report crashed my computer four times and the fact sheet is so badly designed as to be illegible, but I was able to glean this:

Biological communities are at increased risk for poor condition when phosphorus and nitrogen pollution levels are high
Phosphorus and nitrogen pollution comes from excess fertilizers, wastewater and other sources, and can cause algae blooms, low oxygen levels, and more.
Poor vegetative cover and high levels of human disturbance near river and stream banks are also widespread, reported in 24% and 20% of the nation’s river and stream miles respectively.
These habitat conditions make rivers and streams more vulnerable to flooding, contribute to erosion and allow more pollutants to enter waterways.
Excess levels of streambed sediments, which can smother the habitat where many aquatic organisms live or breed, are reported in 15% of river and stream miles. Excess sediments are found to have a significant impact on biological condition

What does this mean for fish and heron and otters? What does it mean for pond turtles and kingfishers or dragonflies? Forget about them, what does it mean for US? It means we’re in deep, deep trouble. How do the different parts of the country compare?

Okay, so we in the west aren’t a lot better but we’re slightly less awful. I’m curious, how do beaver dams affect the BMI life they were measuring in this study?

Generally found to improve diversity and density of BMI. Contradictory data explained by water health baseline. The effects of beaver-induced changes on water chemistry to fish will vary depending upon the original (pre-beaver) water chemistry. For example, if nutrients were limiting, then an increase in nitrates and phosphates from beaver activity would have a positive effect on salmonid production, while in a rich eutrophic site effects might be negligible or negative.

Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries 10: 439–461, 2001.

In other words, beavers and their dams could make conditions for aquatic life (and ultimately everything that eats it, or eats something that eats it) BETTER in 93% of the rivers and streams in entire United States, trapping sediment, filtering toxins, and cooling temperatures through hyporheic exchange. Admittedly, for the lucky 7 percent that are already in excellent biologic condition, the contribution of beavers will be minimal.

Well, okay then.

Rhode Island goes ‘Martinez’

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Beavers or Social Ambasadors, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Who's Killing Beavers Now? April 23, 2013

Cumberland Officials Consider Killing Park Beavers

CUMBERLAND — A family of beavers has grabbed the attention of town officials, who are concerned that the dam it built on Sylvie’s Brook near the athletic fields at Diamond Hill Park will lead to flooding problems in the area. They also are concerned about the beavers causing tree damage in the popular park.

Their idea to trap and kill the animals, however, is being called cruel and inhumane by some area residents. Local resident Deborah Vine-Smith is among those concerned the beavers will be killed. “Aren’t we supposed to be compassionate to wildlife?” she asked.

Wait! I know this story! Doesn’t the city say “beavers need to be killed” and residents say “Find another solution!” And the city says, “There is no solution but the FINAL solution”.

After reading a story in the April 17 edition of The Valley Breeze, Smithfield resident Nicole Waybright sent an e-mail to DEM that read, in part, “Is there another alternative? I can picture the town making a quick, zero-researched decision. Can something be done to prevent this tragedy? Acre by acre of R.I. is being developed. … I sometimes wonder where the animals will go. People see them as ‘nuisances,’ but is the answer to kill or destroy animal after animal for human comfort until extinction? There must be a way for park wildlife, environment and humans to co-exist without destruction.”

Go get the popcorn. I think this is going to get good. Rhode Island is not exactly a beacon state when it comes to beavers. This could be a turning point. Now shh, listen to this.

Fellow Smithfield resident Jim Bastian was so upset after reading the same story that he fired off an e-mail to various media organizations across the state, including ecoRI News.

“Once again, the arrogance and cruelty of human beings towards nature shows its ugly head,” he wrote. “Cumberland officials are moving towards killing the family of nuisance beavers that reside in their park. Isn’t that a great example of our handling of nature? Isn’t it a park … where we want wildlife to have at least something of a safe haven so on weekends we can ‘get back to nature?’ Or do we really mean, a very controlled nature where we force it to meet our petty narrow perimeter of what we need nature to be? It is not animals that are the nuisance, once again it is human beings.”

Ahh, Jim. Nicely said. Now you just need about fifty more letters from school teachers and senior citizens and a girl scout troop and maybe a local sheriff. I’m serious. Let me tell you in Martinez we found out that getting solutions is easy. Preventing flooding is easy. Solving problems is easy. And protecting trees is easy.

But educating city officials is hard, hard, hard work.

You’re off to a great start. Sounds like you might already have a friend in Mr. Brown

Charles Brown, a wildlife biologist for the state in the management of furbearers wrote that “beavers are often referred to as a keystone species because of their ability to alter the landscape and create wetland habitat beneficial to a variety of wildlife species.”

See if you can bring Brown on board to install a flow device. Get some third graders to help wrap trees. Martinez advice to Rhode Island is to stay vocal and do your homework. And maybe you should watch this from about 45 minutes on.

P1070278 — Click photo to watch an amazing civic beaver meeting

Good luck!

“Because 1000 dead beavers just isn’t enough.”

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Environmental, Who's Killing Beavers Now? April 22, 2013

Congress may be unable to pass a background check, a budget or a resolution for more stalls in the ladies restroom, but a bipartisan group of state senators in New Jersey has decided that the old rule declaring that the division of fish and wildlife can only issue 200 depredation permits for beavers per year is insufficient to the numbers of beavers that need killing in the state. Remember that the state is the fifth smallest in the entire country and about the size of a postage stamp.

Leave it to Sweeney

A bipartisan group of lawmakers, including Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester), introduced a bill last week intended to remove the limit on how many permits the Division of Fish and Wildlife gives out “for the taking of beaver.”

Under current law, the state can give out only 200 permits each year. Sweeney insisted the bill (S2665) was in response to a real problem. “Not that I go out and hunt beavers,” he said. “The problem is they’re actually causing flooding problems where I live.”

A reasonable person, (like say this reporter who is politely writing down everything they’re told), might think, gosh 200 beavers isn’t very many. A reasonable person wouldn’t take the time to look up the legislation S2665 and see that EACH PERMIT ISSUE is good for killing FIVE BEAVERS per year – meaning that it is already permissible to kill 1000 beavers every 365 days.

Lord knows a reasonable person certainly wouldn’t look up the USGS figures for square miles of water in New Jersey, which is 396 or 5.3% of the total state. Even if we assume that water is all excellent unpollted habitat for beavers, it is already legal to kill one beaver for every two or three square miles of water. Which, (if we’re assuming the population is as big as it can possibly be, and thinking of the territory needs quoted in Dietland Muller-Schwarze saying beaver colonies need to be about 2 miles away from each other) means that NJ already gets to kill around half of its entire beaver population.

Why should the garden state settle for half?

Certainly no reasonable person would take the time to write the senators sponsoring this bill on a sunday evening to clarify these issues, teach about flow devices, or reference the essential role that beavers play in water storage and drought protection.

I’m sure you’re aware of the percentage of counties in the US last year listed by FEMA as disasters due to drought conditions. Research has shown time and time again that small dams built by beavers raise the water table, recharge the aquifer, reduce drought, and cool water temperatures through hyporheic exchange. Reducing or eliminating those natural buffers will expose your residents, your fish and wildlife to brutal conditions.

I never said I was reasonable.

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Now for some inexplicable news from Vancouver where the Adrien Nelson has done such fantastic work to promote flow devices but apparently still needs to accomplish a little more reporter and public works education on how they work.

Beaver Deceivers rid Mission of pesky rodents

Water flow devices remove need to trap and kill

District of Mission public works operations supervisor Dale Vinnish agreed, noting the district used to trap and humanely kill about six to 10 beavers a year. “It seemed like if we got rid of one, two of them would come back next year,” he said. “If we got rid of two, you might see four of them there next year.”

Now, with the animal rights groups’ help, Mission began installing the anti-beaver devices last summer and now has eight throughout the district. “The beavers are gone,” Vinnish said. “We were fighting them constantly before, but now we just have to go check the Beaver Deceivers and pull a few sticks out so nothing clogs up. So it has been really great.”

Apparently flow devices are the new “beaver repellant”! I suppose it’s great someone from public works think they work and want to use more. But why is the word COMPROMISE such a difficult concept to grasp? If the flow device makes the beavers leave it didn’t WORK and you have wasted your time and money. The reason you install it in the first place is because it makes the problematic behavior leave (not the beavers), so your culverts don’t get blocked and your roads don’t flood. You’d better hope the beavers are staying right there, doing other stuff and keeping more beavers from moving in.

Sheesh!

“The sun shines not on us but in us.”

heidi08 Beavers or Social Ambasadors, Creative Solutions, Earth Day, Environmental, Friends of Martinez Beavers April 21, 2013

Okay imagine this times a couple thousand, and the following conversation over and over again with children, soccer moms, fishermen, birdwatchers, politicians, and lanky teens, so you will have some idea of what we did yesterday at John Muir’s birthday Earth day celebration.

It was a wonderful, bright, blur of a day. FRO and her daughter worked tirelessly helping children illustrate our newest idea – a giant wind sock that can hang at the beaver festival! Lory and Jean helped get things organized and answer questions. Cheryl tirelessly took photos. Jon managed better than usual with the heavy lifting, and I talked to a fairly uninterrupted stream about why beavers matter. As always it was particularly heartening to be in a community that remembered so much about the story and took such personal responsibility for it. One young woman even remembered having spoken at the November meeting as a child 6 years ago after asking for permission to speak early because of her homework and bedtime. Another teen with a lip ring excitedly explained to his friend about Grey Owl and how he had tried to teach people about beavers way back when. Even better to see the story reach new ears, and really make people think earnestly about whether beaver problems could be solved in new ways. It was exciting to connect with some key players and emphasize what a vital role beavers and their dams play for birds, fish and other wildlife.

The day flew by. It hurdled at such breathtaking speed that I could only tell how long we’d been there by the amount of water I gulped in between spiels, how full the flag was getting with children’s drawings, and where the shade moved to. I was happy to think of Enos Mills (the author of In Beaver World) having dinner at the John Muir house in 1908 on his visit, and maybe even thinking (while he was listening to the great conservationist himself talk about Yosemite or wild places) of the title for his last chapter of his book where he calls beavers “The Original Conservationists” because unlike Hetch Hetchy the dams they make do so much good for the world.

Thanks John Muir, National Park staff, Teddy Roosevelt, JMA, countless musicians and children and parents of Martinez or beyond, for an ecologically amazing day.

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Just in case you need MORE good news on this fine April morning, check out the latest entry on the NOAA Fisheries home page!

Beavers: Mother Nature’s First River Restoration Engineers

Until recently, the role of beavers in maintaining healthy river ecosystems was not well understood or appreciated. Not everyone wants beaver dams in their backyard! But the same things beavers do naturally—cut down trees, dam up water, flood riverbanks—are exactly what we are trying to do to improve habitat for Pacific salmon.

That’s why beaver reintroduction is identified as a priority action in the Upper Columbia Spring Chinook Salmon and Steelhead Recovery Plan. The Methow Valley Beaver Reintroduction Project is relocating them from places where they are unwanted, and moving them to places where beavers can be part of the solution to salmon recovery.