Month: May 2013

Great Scotts! (Valley)

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions May 11, 2013

This beaver resides on hay producer Michael Stapleton's ranch in Scott Valley. Stapleton said beaver have not caused any serious problems on his ranch and he believes their dams provide tangible benefits for river health.

Beaver Valley

Representatives of the Scott Valley Groundwater Advisory Committee and the Scott River Watershed Council appeared before the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, May 7 to explain how beavers could be a valuable tool in efforts to improve groundwater levels and surface flows in their watershed.

Tom Menne, Scott Valley hay producer and chairman of the groundwater committee introduced the subject to the board, explaining that he had attended a presentation by NOAA Fisheries Biologist Michael Pollack about the beneficial impacts of beavers on groundwater levels and fish habitat.

On every level, in every possible way, the river champions of Scotts Valley are smart, smart, smart. They know they’re walking a tightrope on fire over traffic delicately navigating between landowners, politics and a feisty independence where folks don’t take kindly to being told what to do. I can’t find a list of the stalwart members of the Groundwater committee or the Watershed council, but I can guess at least some of the names. They were at the first meeting of the California Beaver Working Group and those who attended persuaded those who couldn’t. Bringing Michael Pollock in to talk fish habitat was brilliant. As was getting a landowner to introduce the plan himself.

“Several landowners that were present at [Pollacks] presentation are interested in exploring the possibility of encouraging beaver that are already present in the Scott River to build dams in strategic locations where it could primarily benefit the groundwater but also the riparian vegetation and fisheries habitat,” said project coordinator, Danielle Yokel.

Supervisor Marcia Armstrong said she is skeptical of the effectiveness of beavers as a watershed tool because she’s heard negative stories from several people about the animals interfering with irrigation ditches and other agricultural operations.

Yokel assured her that the watershed council, groundwater committee and the landowners are aware that, in some cases, beaver activity can have negative impacts on riparian vegetation and irrigation ditches. But, she explained that there are several effective tools available to prevent or address those impacts, such as wrapping the base of important trees with wire mesh to protect them, and specially designed structures that keep beaver debris from blocking diversions.

Do you think, if I’m really, really good, when I die I can go to Scotts Valley? Pass the popcorn, reading this article is better than anything you’ll do all day. Let’s get back to the good stuff.

Armstrong also invited U.S. Department of Agriculture trapper Dennis Moyles – whose job it is to trap problem animals designated for removal in Siskiyou County – to give his opinion on the subject.

Ooh! The villain of the piece! Boo! Hiss!

One of Moyles’ major concerns was the possibility of beaver activity causing erosion. He told the board about a spot on the Scott River, near the Horn Lane bridge, where “about half an acre of ground has been lost because of where [the beaver’s] den site was.”

Half an acre? A beaver den that used half an acre? I’m tempted to imagine a sprawling ranch style accommodation, but it’s more likely that he mean the DAM caused water to back up which caused erosion and the beaver gained half an acre in pond. Dam not Den. Of course one might assume trappers know that beavers don’t live in the dam, but then one might be wrong. Never mind. Let’s see how our heroes deal with this challenge.

Because losing half an acre of property is a serious problem, the Daily News visited the location on the Scott River referred to by Moyles. The eroded section of stream bank is approximately 50 feet long and 30 feet wide – far less than half an acre.

Ooh a reporter who checks for accuracy! Does the Scotts Valley have magical powers? No one does that any more. Hand me a handkerchief, I feel a swoon coming on.

However, Moyles had other concerns. He fears that if beaver populations get too big and need to be thinned, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) may not allow it. Yokel said the watershed council intends to work cooperatively with CDFW to ensure that beavers can be managed if the potential project causes problems.

Why on earth would a trapper worry that the population would get too big so that he’d have to be hired too often? Does he hate money? Oh, I see why. He’s the trapper from USDA. And gets hired when folks turn to the feds to solve problems. Every permit from CDFW is a cut in his salary. So when he says “I’m worried they won’t issue enough permits” he’s really rubbing his hands together and thinking about his boat payment.

Now for the big finale.

Chairman of the Scott River Watershed Council and Etna City Councilwoman Marilyn Seward told the board she is interested in the benefits of beavers because “Scott Valley owes their wonderful soil and everything else to beaver. It was Beaver Valley [before being named Scott Valley].”

Alright then! That’s it. SCENE! Cue victory chorus!

Wow, if only Martinez had had brilliant folk helping like they do in Scotts Valley. We could have overcome prejudice and changed hearts and minds in no time. We could have saved all that money in sheetpile and convinced the city council in a single meeting!

In an email, Armstong told the Daily News, “Not enough information is known about the specific benefits and risks, or the potential impacts on landowners or irrigators for the board to give a blanket endorsement for the notion of ‘encouraging’ beavers to build dams in the Scott [Valley].”

The board took no action on the issue.

Be kind to bears & squirrels but not beavers!

heidi08 Who's Killing Beavers Now? May 10, 2013

Someone wrote me yesterday asking for a copy of a beaver depredation permit, which I’m finding no one has actually seen. In the mean time I was looking up the codes for beaver killing. Weirdly it seems like you’re welcome to kill beaver in Martinez but not in Sonoma? Click on the image to make it larger or go to the original here.

Why are certain counties no-killing areas? Does it mean they are committed to protecting beavers? Or that ‘no permit is required’ and you may do what you like? Or that they have a contract with APHIS to do all their killing? What if a county isn’t listed at all?

Do you know that regulations specify humane treatment for bears AND squirrels but NOT for beavers? For bears it even requires you say why the action is necessary, what you did to try and solve the problem another way, and what you’ll do in the future to prevent this from happening again! Original here.

Of course no such requirements for beaver.

UPDATe : Got it. Ugh!

Where have all the beavers gone?

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, City Reports May 9, 2013

Photo by: John Dixon/The News-Gazette A tree trunk damaged by beavers in Meadowbrook Park, Urbana, on May 6, 2013.

Tom Kacich: Beaver colony gone from Meadowbrook — for now

A colony of beaver, which numbered at least eight a year ago, is gone from Meadowbrook Park in south Urbana. So is their dam. And so, temporarily, is the damage — easily visible to the human visitors along the park’s trails — that they did to trees and other vegetation along McCullough Creek that bisects the park.

But the beaver likely will return, according to staffers with the Urbana Park District.

“What we’ve noticed in the past is that the beaver presence has been cyclical and they have come and gone over the years,” said Derek Liebert, a project manger with the park district. “We think it’s likely related to food source.”

Ahh the cyclical migration of the beavers! Like the undaunted swallows returning to Capistrano, or the mighty monarchs clinging to the branches in Pacific Grove. Who hasn’t been sad to see beavers go and thrilled to have them return? Over and over? You know how our beavers love to go away and come back, right? I mean they are such nomads!

Informal surveys by the park district show that there were beaver in Meadowbrook from 1995 to 2002, that they disappeared for a time and then reappeared in 2009.

Very often I speak to someone who fondly remembers when there were beavers in Martinez. “I used to watch them!” they say as if they’re reminiscing about an exciting first date. When I say the beavers are still HERE they narrow their eyes. “They were washed out” or “Their dams were broken” or “Their lodge is gone” they argue. “Yes. Yes . and yes.” I reply, but they’re still HERE.

Our beavers have been in basically the same section of creek with the same limited food supply for seven years. They have shuffled their habits but they haven’t disappeared. Same church – different pew! Never mind. Here’s the very best part of the article so let’s stop to savor it before we get down to the gristle.

“We’re happy to have the beaver there. We feel like they contribute significantly to the park, in terms of the ecology,” Liebert said. “There’s a number of birds that became associated with that stream corridor that wouldn’t be there otherwise. And there are frogs and turtles because of that beaver habitat. Even plants. We had an inventory done of the plants at Meadowbrook Park the summer before last, and there was abundant beaver activity at that time and one of the more diverse areas was the stream corridor where we had beaver ponds.

“The term you often hear in ecology is that there are keystone species that dramatically alter the environment, and in our opinion benefit the habitat. There almost certainly will be a loss of diversity with the loss of the beaver.”

Almost certainly. Nice summary. Still trying to figure out why your population comes and goes…

Last year at least seven beaver were found dead in the park, possibly from an outbreak of Tularemia, also known as rabbit fever, that was reported in animals throughout Champaign-Urbana. The remains of three of the beaver were tested at the University of Illinois veterinary clinic, but results were inconclusive, according to the park district.

Oh. That would explain where the beavers went, by golly. Except it wasn’t last year. This was reported in March 2013, which by my expert calculations was two months ago.

Liebert said the first dead beaver was found in January 2012. It was taken to the University of Illinois veterinary diagnostic laboratory, where tests were conducted, with inconclusive results. Then in June and September, two adult beavers were found dead, but were too decomposed to be necropsied, he said. The biggest spate of deaths occurred in October, when three beavers were found, two of which were necropsied. In November a seventh beaver was found. Liebert said the most recent sighting of a live beaver, a single individual, occurred Dec. 19.

Oh, they died off OVER the year, and just reported it in March. I guess they didn’t want to alarm the public until they knew what it was. It definitely sounds suspicious. I’ve been on this beat for too long now, but no where in the report does it say that they were able to rule out human causes.. They must have looked for bullet wounds before they rushed them off to the pathologist?

THE EFFORT TO ISOLATE the cause of the deaths was hampered by several circumstances, Mateus-Pinilla said. One is that decomposition sets in rapidly, and sometimes there is not much a pathologist can do because of the condition of the body. The “gold standard” for a confirmed diagnosis, Mateus-Pinilla said, is the ability to grow a culture of the suspect bacteria. The Meadowbrook beavers were tested for several pathogens, including tularemia, salmonella, leptospira and canine distemper. No cultures resulted.

So no proof of tulerimia. But they’re pretty sure that’s what it was. And an entire colony – except for one lone ‘island-of-the-blue-dolphins’ beaver found swimming away to look for new family. And bodies of dead beavers that were too decomposed for necropsy because you didn’t know where they were. But for goodness sakes protect the pets!

Health district planning director Awais Vaid said people should not let their pets roam and should take them to a veterinarian if they exhibit symptoms such as loss of appetite or difficulty with movement. People who see sick animals in the wild or along trails should not approach them, Vaid said, not only because of the risk of tularemia but of rabies.

Am I too cynical?

Derek Liebert, project manager at the Urbana Park District, said a wildlife biologist suggested to him that if tularemia is in fact the cause, the die-off may be a corrective measure for a population that grew too large.

The Champaign-Urbana Public Health District issued an alert notifying residents of tularemia in the area. The alert cited a Meadowbrook beaver diagnosed with clinical symptoms of tularemia and an unrelated 2011 outbreak among five pet cats in Champaign, Urbana and Savoy.

No word yet on whether the Ubana house cat population had grown also too large.

Where have all the beavers gone – long time passing

Where have all the beavers gone – long time ago

Where have all the beavers gone?

Killed by trappers everyone.

When will they ever learn?

Extra beaver?

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Environmental May 8, 2013

Last night Worth A Dam trotted expectantly to the water’s edge with lenses of every variety, hoping for a chance to see the new beaver. Others showed up too and we lined the bridge with hopeful faces ready to snap photos. Channel 2 called me about running the video. The tiny beaver was never seen even once. And we were sorely disappointed.

But there were compensations.

Around 7:30 it seemed like the beaver alarm clock went off and there were suddenly beavers in every direction. At one point we saw three adults at once, and then Jr from last year. And then mom from this year. That’s four adults and one yearling and one baby who never came out. Six! When we thought we had four?

Who could the other adult be? Not a stranger or a mate for one of the other adults. Beavers are territorial and only let mated pair breed. How could a new beaver arrive? Strangers aren’t tolerated but family members are always welcomed back. Beavers are just like adult children who sometimes ‘boomerang’ back after an unsuccessful launch. GQ was a returning disperser who showed up at just the right time to raise mom’s orphans. Could this new beaver be one of our 2010 kits who gave up on independence and came home?

What if a returning family member brought a kit and that’s why we’re weirdly seeing them so early? I have heard of beavers letting family members bring offspring and raising them as their own. I guess the only way we can tell is to photograph every beaver in a reaching position – so that we know if more than one of them have teats?

Gosh I miss mom with her lovely tail marking. She was beaver introduction 101.

Montana goes with the Flow Device!

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, featured, Podcast May 7, 2013

Dam pipes save beavers and ditches

Last Sunday, a handful of people started removing part of a beaver dam from a ditch near Four Corners. But they didn’t destroy the dam. Instead, they took a notch out of the middle and inserted a large plastic pipe, which has restored the water flow down the ditch to the Gallatin River but leaves enough water for beavers to swim in.

“The normal practice is to blow up dams, but even after you do, the beavers come back,” said landowner Bob Judd.

That’s a landowner from Montana, where beaver advocacy isn’t exactly a regular occurrence. In fact the first 5 comments I read on the article were excitedly saying how much beavers needed killing. Never mind. There are clearly some forward thinkers in the state.

Fortunately for the animals, the ditch passes through the property of Judd and his wife, Kathryn Kelly, who wanted to keep the beavers around. The beaver dam has created wetlands on their 500-acre property that animals and birds are flocking to, Kelly said. Plus the standing water helps maintain groundwater levels and provides safe habitat for young trout.

So this winter, Kelly proposed the plastic pipe solution to the ditch company board. She spoke from experience. Last summer, she and Judd spent time in Maine observing beaver guru Skip Lisle of Vermont install flow devices to counteract beaver dams. Such devices have been used on the East Coast for about 25 years.

Skip! Nice to see your excellent work literally stretches from coast to coast! Well, lots of folks saw his handiwork in Martinez too! I love when good news about beavers gets broadcast to a new audience. We just need some newbies in the installation biz. The next generation who will allow cities to live with beaver for the next 50 years. Any hope on that front?

Beavers naturally repair any holes in their dams or lodges, so if people tear them down, the animals will return to rebuild. Similarly if a simple pipe is stuck through the dam, beavers will find it and plug it, said Amy Chadwick, a pupil of Lisle who works at Great West Engineering and designed the flow device.

But if the pipe end extends 15 feet or farther upstream from the dam and is surrounded by a wire cage, the beavers don’t know to plug it and couldn’t if they tried. Sometimes, such pipe structures are called “beaver deceivers,” although Chadwick said that name technically applies only to pipes going through culverts or ditches, per inventor Skip Lisle’s definition.

On Sunday, Chadwick joined Jeff Burrell of the Wildlife Conservation Society to help Judd and Kelly install their pipe. Each device has to be tailored to the specific dam, so it’s best to get an expert opinion.

Amy! Not sure whether pupil just means ‘I read about what Skip does’ or actually worked with him….but yesterday when I excitedly wrote her congratulations she wrote back anxiously saying that Skip might get annoyed because she was misquoted calling the pipe a beaver deceiver. Hahaha! She MUST have worked with Skip directly, I decided, because much like Adam himself, he is very concerned these things get the right names.

Amy introduced herself at the beaver conference this year after I presented, so we’re going to need to remember this name. And in the meantime celebrate a new flow device in Montana. It’s success is sure to change hearts and minds, which will definitely change the lives of beavers and the many species who depend on them.

Speaking of which, I just got an email this morning from a research assistant of Glynnis Hood working with her to show the cost effectiveness of flow devices. She wanted names of everyone who does this work so (in addition to many others) of course I introduced them to Amy! ________________________________________________________

No kit sighting last night. Cheryl was in attendance and her patience was rewarded only with a tail slap. We’ll be back again tonight, because tiny beavers deserve a photo shoot!