Month: July 2013

Boys with Toys

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, Environmental, Who's Killing Beavers Now? July 6, 2013

‘Beaver buster’ targets dams across Dorchester County

What the saw-toothed rodents have done is lay waste to hundreds of hardwood forest acres by backing up creeks and drowning trees that are only supposed to be submerged part of the time

Their dams flood low-lying roads and undermine bridges along drainage in areas as populated as Rumphs Hill Creek outside Summerville. They have backed up Polk Swamp near St. George far enough to help threaten a key sewer outfall for upper Dorchester County.

They are ubiquitous and toothy enough that the county has a dedicated beaver crew to clean up their messes. But with the recent deluges, the ponding has only gotten worse. Now the county is bringing out the cavalry to clear those streams: a Caterpillar 305 Amphibious Excavator. Or, as Councilman George Bailey called it, “the Beaver Buster.”

The $167,000 excavator is an economy-sized mechanical shovel whose tracks double as pontoons. It can work its way into the bottoms and then float its way to the problem.

Obviously when I saw their amphibioua beaver buster and its shinty waterproof price tag, I could only ask the question that I’m sure many women in their lives have exclaimed, “Don’t you have anything bigger?”

You can’t imagine how much fun the crew in Dorchester will have sliding through the mud and ripping out beaver dams. In fact I expect they’ll do such a thorough job tearing up the mud that there will soon be no invertebrate community left at all. Which I guess they don’t mind if the fish or the ducks have nothing left to eat, but I thought the good people of South Carolina were hunters and sportsmen?

Set your clocks, because in three months some colorful public works lackey is going to ride that thing right through a conduit cable or water pipe and the entire city will be without power or water for a week.

Don’t worry, of course they’ll blame the beavers.

For a cruel joke go read the name of the councilman who is endorsing this monstrosity -stunning. When you read something like that you have to wonder if there’s a charity worker in the county saving babies and homeless women named “Henry Potter.”

Martinez Beavertising Campaign!

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Educational, Environmental, featured, Festival, Friends of Martinez Beavers, In the News, kits July 5, 2013

A steady stream of fire-works bound families crossed the bridge yesterday, maybe thousands. A good 300 got up close and personal beaver viewing with a Worth A Dam docent to explain what they saw and point out arrivals. Both kits were in evidence, as well as Jr and a bigger adult. When things got more explod-y the beavers ducked under the bank and hunkered for the duration. Here’s our two kits in tandem coming down from the primary dam.

Amazing how many folks knew about the beavers and had seen it on the news. Always fun to see people who were completely startled to see a beaver dam in town. “Is that a beaver dam?” was a not uncommon question from some mid-wester who was proud to show he recognized it. The best answer was always, “Yup, and that’s a beaver!” One man talked about loving beaver dams as a child in Oregon because that was always the location of the best fishing. There were watchers lined up with cameras along the parkside length of Alhambra Creek below the footbridge. That’s why this kit got a little spooked and gave what appears to be his first attempt at tail slap! This deserves a much better movie but I’m dashing out the door and it’s the most I have time for. Be patient and enjoy!

You can hear in this video what a rapt audience the pre-firework beaver-works drew. The children were awed and respectful, some of them recognized us from class presentations. I did my best to plug the festival and several folks were interested. One child asked if they were otters, and one adult asked if she could pet them. No and No, were my answers.

All in all, a good night. I don’t think there is another city in america that combined the celebration of independence day with the interest in beaver-nature as fine as Martinez did. Our ad is up on the Bay Nature website, and because its a little glitchy they’re supposed to offer us a profile. We’ll see what happens. In the mean time you and I both really need this. It’s from a freak hailstorm in New Mexico yesterday which dumped about two feet of ice!

Beaver Gladness

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Dispersal, Environmental, Festival, pictures July 4, 2013

Beaver damming story missed something

HOPKINTON —

Ms. Podorefsky’s recent article about beavers (Beavers damming in Hopkinton) missed one important point. Most conflicts between humans and beavers can be solved non-lethally; trapping is usually not necessary.

If they continue to pursue trapping, Hopkinton officials will eventually learn the hard way that it’s impossible to permanently solve problems with beavers by killing them in any manner; more beavers will return, plug culverts, and rebuild dams repeatedly if the habitat suits them- as it obviously does at a few locations in Hopkinton. Furthermore, under the law, the Board of Health trapping permits are only supposed to be granted in situations where public health and safety are at risk – not to prevent a future potential problem.

Linda Huebner

Deputy Director, Advocacy

Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

If Linda sounds familiar, she should. I met her through Mike Callahan and she did a lovely job on his testimonials section of the DVD. Nice Op-ed Linda, and I’m so glad you wrote! Their pretend surprise irritated me so much I could only have written about what was missing between their EARS.

Did you get the new copy of Bay Nature this month? Well just in case you haven’t read it yet there is one article in particular that should interest you. And if you don’t get Bay Nature you should, or you might try the subscription donated to our silent auction for a year before you realize you can’t live with out it. Recognize this adorable photo? You’ll probably want to go read the entire article here. Hopefully we’ll get plenty of interest for this year’s beaver festival!

Now for a fun article from Seattle which clearly has the kindest comments you will ever read in the vast history of beaver reporting. Take a peak and see if I’m wrong.

‘You can’t imagine seeing somebody eat a tree in Seattle’

Cheryl caught a great moment with one of our kits the other night and we’ll be out tonight to make sure the foot traffic behaves itself by the beaver dams!

And finally a taste of things to come from Amelia yesterday, there will be changes but this is looking sharp!

The Beaver Gospel

heidi08 Beavers, Educational, Environmental July 3, 2013

In the beginning was the word and the word was with Glynnis and the word was Glynnis.

Glynnis indeed baptized with her water-drought-Alberta research, and her ecosystem research and her waterfowl research, thus showing us WHY to live with beavers, but one mightier (and taller) than her cameth to teach us HOW to live with beavers.

Amy Chadwick of Great West Engineering, left, and Skip Lisle of Beaver Deceivers International install the flow devices that will allow beaver and the wetlands they create to remain as important components of the stream system.

Skip Lisle of Grafton, Vt., and Amy Chadwick, of Missoula, along with her husband, Howard Williams, have partnered with Butte-Silver Bow County to install three “Beaver Deceivers” at culverts in the creek. The structures, made of cedar and concrete reinforcement wire, take up space so beavers won’t try to dam the whole channel.

The beavers plug culverts all along Blacktail Creek, Chadwick said. The dams can cause flooding problems for nearby residents — Chadwick pointed to sandbags stacked by a home nearest to the creek — and can cost municipalities thousands of dollars to dismantle.

Lisle, of Beaver Deceivers International, has been creating the structures for 20 to 30 years, and Chadwick and Williams are training under him, she said.

For truly this beaver challenge endureth but a moment; in this favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning when the flow device is installed and nature itself rejoices.

The constructed in this pilot project are designed to last at least 10-20 years with minimal maintenance.

Chadwick has been doing watershed assessments and stream and habitat assessments for 15 years. She said beavers are important to a stream’s ecosystem, and recently have been recognized as a stream restoration tool, she said.

This is the keystone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the cornerstone.

Here endeth the lesson.

Safaris on your doorstep

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Educational, pictures, Recent Sightings July 2, 2013

Jackson Hole Wyoming is 894 miles northeast of Martinez, and was once a gathering place for trappers. It is bordered by the Tetons and boasts fantastic wildlife, which makes it the location of one of the most popular ‘safaris’ in the nation. Jason Williams is a photographer, guide and founder of the Jackson Hole Wildlife Safaris that has drawn folks in winter, spring, summer and fall to some of the best moose, bison, bear, wolf, and ferret watching in the world.

And guess what else?

When Beaver build dams they slow down the current, flood the land upstream and cut down mature trees for food and material allowing sunlight to penetrate to the ground. This allows a variety of ground plants to grow where they would have otherwise been unable to grow due to lack of sunlight. When the beaver eventually abandon the area the dams will break down leaving behind a lush bottomland meadow and a much more diverse habitat than a mature forest. Without the beaver the trees will eventually move into the meadows, the roots will strengthen the stream banks leading to lower quality fish and bird habitat. In addition the shade from the canopy will disallow sunlight from supporting as much ground vegetation hence less forage for grazing animals like deer, moose, elk and bears.

This is a classic trophic cascade. Fortunately for the beaver and the bottomland species that rely on their work, chinese silk replaced the beaver pelt hats as the material of choice in the mid 1800′s. The fur trade collapsed due to a lack of demand and the beaver once again began to repopulate watersheds where they were trapped out of existence. Today you will see the tell tale signs of beaver habitation in most western watersheds. Since beaver are nocturnal they are best viewed in the evening as they come out to collect food, shore up their dams and patrol their territories.

If you are ready for a vacation this might be the spot for you. I mention this because, I just found out that I’ll be presenting at our own Safari West in Napa on the 17th of this month, talking to the families who are staying over night about the “beaver safari” that is here in Martinez before staying as their guest and taking a tour in the morning! Safari West has been a friend of the beavers since our second festival when I hunted down their founders and pitched a heart-warming tail (tail?) of how researchers in Botswana or Ecuador are biologists who first grew up interested in the nature of their own back yards. They subsequently paid for the materials to make the tiles on the Escobar bridge, and next year donated an overnight. Their tour and guest package is always our most popular item at the silent auction, so bring your check books this August.

In the mean time I am looking forward to sleeping in the company of giraffes, ostrich and Gnu’s.

And speaking of safari’s on your doorstep here’s a photo this morning from our own Cheryl Reynolds on her way to work in Cordelia: A mother otter with three pups!