Tale-slap!

heidi08 Educational, History April 6, 2013

I. STORY OF BEAVER (Kaska tales).

A long time ago, when all the animals were people, Beaver was a great transformer. He travelled along a wide trail that was much used. Along the trail were many monsters that preyed on people. He came to a place where people always disappeared. Wolverene killed them. His house was at the foot of a glacier, between two rocky bluffs. The glacier was very slippery, and people crossing it slid down to the bottom, where they were transfixed on a spear placed there by Wolverene. As soon as something touched the spear, Wolverene knew it, and came out at once. If they were dead, he carried the bodies home; if they were only wounded, he killed them. His house was full of peoples’ bones.

Beaver went down this slide, and, cutting his lips with the spear so that they bled, pretended to be dead. Wolverene knew something had been caught, and came out smiling and very happy.When he saw Beaver, he said, “What a large beaver! ” Then he laughed, and said, ” I have caught this clever man.” He carried the body home and put it down in his house.

He had four flensing-knives. He used one after another, but they would not cut Beaver’s skin. Then he searched for the fourth knife. Beaver knew that this knife would cut him, so he opened his eyes to see where he might find a stick.

One of Wolverene’s children noticed him, and called out, “Father, the Beaver has opened his eyes!” Wolverene answered, “You are mistaken. How can a dead man open his eyes?” Beaver jumped up and seized a stick, with which he broke Wolverene’s arms and legs. He killed him, and put his body before the fire to roast. He also killed all Wolverene’s children, and treated their bodies likewise.”

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Wow. Beaver-wolverine conflict prequel! I guess we know a little more about how the feud starts! Hmm…I wish the reporter who was photographed nailing the beaver to the tree to attract wolverines could read this! There are about 40 more such adventures all printed here, where beaver is a smart, savvy, problem-solver that knows when to run and when to be strong. But most importantly a TRANSFORMER, (not the plastic kind) which is the part of the tale that rings absolutely true.Oh, and for all those folks who wished beavers harm in Martinez lo, those many years ago, it may interest you all to know that it turns out that despite his amiable good nature, the animal is fairly unencumbered by an impulse to forgive, as his later run-in with the Ravens finally reveals:

“They begged to be let off. Beaver, however, had no mercy on them, and burned them alive in the camp-fire, saying, “What about the people you have killed? Why should I spare you?”

(Now if you’re wondering where the word KASKA comes from and where the people who spun these tales lived, look north, because come to think of it there’s even a state name that almost steals the label completely.)

Reprinted from THE JOURNAL OF AMERICAN FOLK-LORE, Vol. XXX., No. CXVIII., OCTOBER-DECEMBER, 1917 BY JAMES A. TEIT.

Kit-watch

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Educational, Environmental April 5, 2013

Beavers in Point Pelee Park could be expecting kits, officials say

Call it Baby Beaver Watch 2013.

Officials at Point Pelee National Park in Leamington are keeping a keen eye on a local beaver lodge, waiting to see if kits emerge. “We’re watching because we want to know if we’re going to have babies,” said Park ecologist Tammy Dobbie. “But at this point, we don’t even know for sure that we have a mated pair. We did see two separate beavers, but we’re not positive that they’re a male and a female.”

Well, that’s a nice way to start the spring! Beavers appreciated in a National Park! Of course they should be valued if for no other reason than the fact that they bring hundreds of other species along with them. That’s what National Parks are for right? To connect you with wild places and things?

“If there is a pair in the marsh, they would have mated already. We would have baby kits being born any day now — in March and early April,” Dobbie said. “They would emerge from the lodge in early June. That would be a real treat for visitors.”

Beavers were hunted almost to extinction but are making a comeback in southern Ontario. “They’re just now starting to come back because of less trapping and more conservation, but there are very few wetlands left,” Dobbie said. “This is a wetland with available habitat. It was just a matter of time before a prospecting beaver made its way here.”

Oh, the long nights waiting for the pitter patter of little webbed feet! I’ve been there myself, and in fact hope to be there again soon. (Three beavers seen this morning, including a little one climbing up the bank for something delicious.) Well, I’m glad the National Parks is greeting beavers with open minds at the moment. I’ll make sure to write Dobbie to make sure she has all the information she needs because we know that cordial reception could turn on a dime – er nickle.

Elko

heidi08 Beavers April 4, 2013

From Carol Evans, Fisheries Biologist for the BLM in Elko Nevada:

It is a new beaver dam on the edge of a meadow. The dam is one of many in the Maggie Creek Watershed Restoration Area (in slide show) which has shown up in response to better habitat conditions and grazing management at the watershed level. Here I’m thinking water sequestration in the face of yet another drought year. Plus, the pond was full of migrating ducks!

Better in Jersey

heidi08 Beavers April 3, 2013

Oh Dam! Mantua woman wants back yard beaver homes repaired

MANTUA — Jennifer Forsyth has a huge dam problem. Literally.

She first noticed a beaver dam in her back yard, which backs up to the Chestnut Branch of Mantua Creek, about a year ago. The wetlands on her property teem with wildlife. Forsyth and her husband have spotted river otters and wood ducks, usually a rare sight in Gloucester County, as well as the occasional bald eagle.

What a nice beginning! This may need to be number nine on the positive beaver articles tally for 2013. It features our good friend Sarah Summerville of the Unexpected Wildlife Refuge, and a DEP worker who clearly has got the memo that beaver make habitat for wildlife.

“Generally, beavers do benefit a whole host of other wildlife species,” said Andrew Burnett, a biologist with the Department of Environmental Protection. “Beavers are one of the few animals that can actually change the environment. You have a stream running by, and when the beavers build a dam, you have a pond.”

Yes you do, Andrew, And by the way that pond might be your only pond on that stream come this summer, and all the wildlife will depend on it even more than they already do. Never mind that the reporter can’t seem to differentiate between the words DAM and LODGE and that Sarah appears to imply that flow devices operate as a kind of birth control for beavers. They’re smart folks and I’m sure they’ll get it all sorted out eventually.

“They think they didn’t build it well enough, so they’ll build it back stronger the next time,” said Barry Bengel, chairman of the Mantua Township Environmental Commission. “They think if it disappears, it needs to be rebuilt.”

“They’re natural engineers,” said Sarah Summerville, director of Unexpected Wildlife Refuge in Newfield, who consulted with Forsyth when she first noticed the dam. “They seem to approach it as a challenge.”

Forsyth wants to work with the township to find a more permanent solution. “I think if we worked smartly together, we could all be happy.”

Yes. You can. And Martinez is proof of that. Good work!

Farther East a friend from the Tay beavers group this morning suggested the idea that we promote Beavers Without Borders, which I liked so very much I had to play with.

Considering I am operating at a considerable graphic handicap without photo shop I am rather proud of getting it together. Setting the inversions right and still getting the outline made me think of this classic scene.

Progress

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental April 2, 2013

Beaver awareness comes from all kinds of regions. It can come from very unlikely places. Just take Martinez, for example, which installed a flow device even after establishing such a time-honored tradition of bad decisions that we built a refinery and a jail in the middle of town. Sometimes beaver wisdom even comes out of Georgia.

For centuries, hunting was an effective way to limit game populations. But popular opinion shifted as Americans moved to metropolitan areas where animals were seen as noble companions instead of food and pests.

Wildlife biologists and animal-control experts have had to find alternatives to lethal control methods. Options include fences and other physical boundaries, trapping, chemicals used as repellents and poisons and habitat changes, such as eliminating food sources like trash and pet foods and closing off nesting sites. Some neighborhoods are allowing sharpshooters to remove deer to reduce population problems and damage.

Wildlife-damage management, regardless of the problem species, has four basic components, according to Greg Yarrow, a Clemson wildlife professor attending the conference. The problem-solving process includes: problem definition through identification and assessment of damage, an understanding of the behavior and ecology of the problem wildlife species, selection and application of control techniques and evaluation of control efforts.

In case that name sounds familiar, Dr. Yarrow is the inventor of the Clemson pond leveler. The most publicized and promoted flow device out there. There is so much information available on the Clemson that 5 years ago when Martinez gathered to discuss ways to prevent flooding, a family from Lafayette offered to donate one to the city. It has been copied a million times and was basically ripped off by this design, which was recently recommended by fish and game to install for our friends in American Canyon.

Beaver advocates everywhere should be very, very grateful for Dr. Yarrow. We should know that his design taught what was possible and helped folks think about a new way to deal with beaver problems. But they should also remember that when this design was invented ‘Baby got Back’ was the hit of the year, Euro Disney just opened in France and Ross Perot ran for president. Digging out a dam to install a pipe through it is a lot of work and the perforated pipe isn’t nearly as successful as the flexible devices used today in designs like the Castor Master (what Skip installed in Martinez) or the Flexible Leveler (what Mike’s DVD teaches.)

Still, outdated learning is still learning. We should be happy this conference is taking place. Little by little folks are beginning to get the idea that beaver problems can be solved in other ways. Slowly we’re getting more wildlife conferences like this in Georgia, and more comments like these from New Hampshire:

“The youth services director, myself, and the parks and rec superintendent at the time, rather than trap the beavers or having them killed by professional hunters, (we) wrapped the trees with chicken wire to prevent them from chewing the trees; that way it saves the trees, ends the hazards, and the beavers simply move on.”

Just so you know, beavers are way bigger than chickens. But it’s a start!