Month: November 2013

There but for the grace of God goes Martinez…

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Who's Killing Beavers Now? November 5, 2013

Did you ever have one of those friends that never listened? Whatever project he happened to be working at the time on he never wanted advice, or read instructions, or learned from your or your uncle’s experience. He wanted to figure it out himself, and was blessed perhaps with more testosterone than sense. He waived off your advice installing the sprinkler system, putting together the table saw, and laying the foundation. He was the original do-it-yourselfer and didn’t take kindly to guidance of any kind.

Even though he could have used it lots of times.

I think this must be what Bakersfield is like, as they enter their 7th year of beaver challenges, eschewing all the help that has been directed their way. They had their first big beaver drama around the same time as we were facing ours. Folks got pretty engaged and there was enough media attention that the Beavers sports team in Oregon actually gave support of some kind. I would love a FOIA to learn what happened to those original beavers, but of course they promised that they weren’t trapped just ‘discouraged’ and the media likes to pretend that its the same beaver, coming back, every couple years.

Chew on this: The bike path beaver is back

Nearly two years after we left him, having felled eight trees at Truxtun Lake, the fabled bike path beaver is back on the gnaw at the Park at Riverwalk, and making a winter home near the Bright House Networks Amphitheatre.

Recreation and Parks Director Dianne Hoover says the beaver, or beavers, have damaged three Oak trees during the past two weeks, and have felled 11 bay, crape myrtle and redbud trees, costing the city around $550.

Don’t worry. Dianne knows just what to do. She’ll solve it herself and not pay attention to any of that silly advice from those crazy beaver lovers in northern California with the swear word in their names.

In response, city crews have wrapped the bottom three feet of the trunks of more than 30 trees at Riverwalk in green nylon netting that resembles chicken wire, or a very small-gauge chain-link fence.

The device has a better than 90 percent success rate, a parks employee said, at convincing beavers to eschew trees.

90% protection! My goodness! I had to look up this fine product and see how it worked. There are several versions on the market, and sells at height of two and three feet as protection against rabbit, deer, hare and woodchuck. I haven’t seen any that claims to be proof against beaver. Because that would be a very stupid promise unless you lived in one particular city where ridiculous things are routinely believed about beavers.

“They go through and gnaw around and leave a spike, so we had to remove those for safety reasons. We think they’re coming from Kern River Canyon and migrating down. That’s what we think, but we don’t really know for sure,” said Hoover, who described the city’s efforts as “trying to live in harmony with all.”

Crews have dug out the tree stumps at Riverwalk because they’re a hazard.

Thank goodness they acted in time to prevent those trees from coppicing on their own. What with that explosion of nesting habitat who knows what could of birdlife could have cluttered up their precious bike path?

Class reunion: Stand-outs and Drop-outs

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers elsewhere, Educational, Environmental, Who's Killing Beavers Now? November 4, 2013

Mary Willson: Curiosity-driven life

Mary Willson sets up a mist net during her work involving American Dippers. They banded caught birds and, over the course of their study, found that contrary to the results of a study conducted outside Alaska, male American Dippers in this environment play a role in nest sanitation.

Though it’s hard to pinpoint when she first became interested in ecology, she was always curious about the world. It was when she was in graduate school that she discovered instead of going to the library to look something up, she could go outside and find out for herself.

“The answer was not in the literature. It was essentially an unknown, and you could go and find it out. That’s very cool,” she said. After her first grad school course, “there was really no turning back.

If the name sounds familiar, it should. She is the friend of Bob Armstrong in Juneau that worked on the Mendenhall glacier treasure, which I still love leafing through. The pair also invited Mike Callahan come out, survey the area and to do a beaver management plan for the site in 2009 and lead a volunteer group in the meantime to keep removing dams so that no one needed to trap them. Looks like she’s still a believer.

Willson goes for regular walks with friends including Armstrong and Hocker, on which they usually find at least three or four really interesting things to explore, she said. She volunteers as a member of the informally-dubbed “beaver patrol,” which helps monitor beaver habitat and ensure dams don’t negatively affect trails or other wildlife around the Mendenhall Lake and Dredge Lake.

“The idea is that you don’t have to kill the beavers. They’re actually useful. We like them, but they make ponds that are very good for juvenile coho,” Willson said. The ponds also create habitat for ducks, sandpipers, warblers, and other birds.

Yes they do, Mary. Nicely put. You are the voice of nature in Juneau, was just met some folks who lived in Alaska and sang your praises. Keep preaching the beaver gospel and let us know if you ever need help.

And because this is OLD HOME week at beaver central, we might as well visit an old classmate that didn’t do as well.

Beavers return to Park at Riverwalk

In 2007, a beaver which destroyed several trees along the bike path received an outpouring of support from the community after California Department of Fish & Game officials issued a kill order. The issue received national attention and the kill order was later rescinded.

According to Bakersfield City Clerk Roberta Gafford, beavers have been spotted recently at The Park at River Walk .In a release, Gafford said that “staff is in the process of wrapping trees with green nylon fencing, and will continue to monitor tree damage.”

That’s right, the city that famously learned the hard way that orange netting to protect trees doesn’t work and looks silly has turned over a new leaf. After years of letters of phone calls from me personally, as well as countless others, they finally understand that killing beavers brings national controversy their way and they have learned the error of their ways. They fully understand why that netting failed last time.

It was the wrong color.

Don’t hand in your passport yet…

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, Who's Killing Beavers Now? November 3, 2013

Yesterday we talked about the ecological wisdom of Nanaimo, but not all B.C. can boast such foresight. Just three hours away on the other side of Vancouver, the town of Pitt Meadows has a lot to learn about beaver management.

Beavers busy in Katzie Slough

The City of Pitt Meadows has moved to remove several beavers who dammed a section of the Katzie Slough before they cause a flood.

City staff usually discourage the beavers from building by tearing down their dams but this particular colony has been persistent and refuses to move on. “They build their dams, we tear it down. They build their dams, we tear it down,” says Evans.

Thoughtful Pitt meadow has apparently been using the very advanced beaver management technique referred to as “T.O.&O.”. (Trying over and over.) I believe it was developed in the 30’s by Dr. Was ‘Ted’ Effort. Too bad the city has that rare breed of “REBUILDING BEAVERS”. That almost ~~never~~ always happens.

Being so close to FBD they must have heard of flow devices and know something about their use. Hmm, they probably have a completely resonable sounding explanation about why that wouldn’t work in Pitt Meadow, You know, something that makes it clear they did their homework but the lesson just didn’t apply to them.

“They are bad for us in Pitt Meadow because of our shallow drainage system, because everything is so flat. Every time they build a dam, it has huge impacts on our drainage system because it just backs everything up.”

Ahhh, nicely done sir. I fondly remember the sage advice two city managers ago explaining to the public that he knew all about flow devices but that they wouldn’t work in our special Martinez conditions. Still information has a way of getting out because look at the last paragraph of the article.

Animal Welfare Institute says a preferred option and a better long-term solution for dealing with beaver and human conflicts is to work with existing beaver in the habitat.

Beaver pipes can be installed in dams to control flooding, while road flooding can be controlled with Beaver Bafflers. There are several humane alternatives to protecting trees from beavers, including surrounding trees with cylindrical cages, coating them with a sand/paint mixture, spraying them with repellents and/or placing low fences around them.

You don’t say.

Now let’s head east where the Scottish Beaver Trial earned high acclaim in the Nature of Scotland Awards this week.

Scottish Beaver Trial: The Scottish Beaver Trial sees the first ever formal reintroduction of a mammal species anywhere in the UK. In itself, this is a major innovation and a remarkable step forward for conservation, driven by a committed and expert partnership. The project has been meticulously planned, carefully developed and comprehensively monitored and has rigorously followed IUCN principles. It is clearly a leading example of the way such programmes should be designed and delivered.

However, it is not just the environmental aspects that make this project so special and remarkable, but it is the whole integrated approach to the reintroduction, including education, tourism and the wider social and economic benefits as well. The partnership brings together multiple disciplines and multiple perspectives in an original and highly successful way. The project has been taken forward in the open, with a focus on inclusive engagement with local communities, experts, supporters, doubters, and the media.

The beaver is what is known as a “keystone” species, and has been recognised as a major ecosystem or environmental engineer – one that by its very presence and behaviour can transform riverine habitats into much more diverse and natural ecosystems. This has consequent benefits to a wide range of other species, and also the potential to impact on the delivery of other ecosystem services, such as natural flood management, water quality improvement, recreation, education and tourism. Taken together, this is about a sea change in the way we approach conservation at a natural ecosystem scale, and the way we involve people and communities in enjoying nature and the services it delivers. Bringing the beaver back home to Scotland has been an outstanding achievement.

Very well put indeed, I could hardly have said it better myself.

We may all need to move here

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions November 2, 2013

Nanaimo wants to ban ‘barbaric’ traps

The City of Nanaimo is counting on the provincial government to give teeth to its potential ban on “barbaric” animal traps.Nanaimo city council opted to create a municipal bylaw against the use of body-gripping traps, which politicians called a cruel practice. Councillors also agreed the municipality will no longer use traps to manage nuisance beavers.

Nanaimo is located on Vancouver island in British Columbia. It was once a mining town with mostly Seattle weather, light snows in the winter and regular Orca sightings. And it has an unbelievable city council.

Coun. Fred Pattje, who put forward the motion to ban traps, said there are other, non-lethal ways of dealing with beavers, including water flow management devices. The city can and should try to prohibit body-gripping traps, which are “too cruel a way” to deal with the animals.

The most famous mayor of Nanaimo was Frank Ney who in 1967 started the great Bathtub races to the main island for Canada’s centennial celebration. The colorful Ney participated avidly every year dressed as a pirate until his death. The bathtubs now can have motors up to 8.5 horse power but still need to weigh a minimum of 350 lbs. It’s a huge event that has encouraged other regions to try and copy it.

Surely the town isn’t all enlightened right? There must be some naysayers too?

Coun. George Anderson felt the bid to ban was a knee-jerk reaction to public concern and wanted to wait until the city collected more information on the environmental and financial implications of the more humane management methods. City staff members have promised a report in a year on the effect of internal changes for beaver management.

But the remaining eight councillors say it’s important to get started on a bylaw now.

Wow. Just wow.

Nanaimo is just a ferry’s ride away from our friends at fur-bearer defenders. Clearly they have benefited from smart neighbors. I’m thinking fieldtrip?

Never accept a popsicle in Mississippi.

heidi08 Who's Killing Beavers Now? November 1, 2013

New requirements for controlling beaver population

Under the new guidelines, landowners are asked to wrap each beaver’s tail and right front foot in a clear plastic wrap or freezer bag and freeze until collection day. Also different this year is the amount paid for each beaver.

“In order to increase the landowner’s allotment, the bounty price was cut from $12.50 to $10 per tail and foot,” Sandy Mitchell with the Natural Resources Conservation Service told the Daily Corinthian.

This is the new USDA beaver management plan from Mississippi. It is part of the lovingly titled “Natural Resources Conservation Service.” Residents of Alcorn county have to sign up by November 27th to be eligible. Last year the death squad paid for 382 beaver tails. This in the smallest county in Mississippi with only 1.46 square miles of water. Which probably means some of those getting paid had harvested beavers from other areas, or passed off cow tongues as beaver tails with freezer burn.

I’m curious how many times has Alcorn been a recipient of FEMA money because of drought? It was one of 27 counties that got drought relief last year.

USDA Designates 27 Counties in Mississippi as Primary Natural Disaster Areas With Assistance to Producers in Surrounding States

Which is kind of perfect if you think about it. The government pays residents to kill the water-savers and then the government pays those same residents for suffering a drought. Federal employees always have a job.

Do not, for a moment, forget that we’re at war.

I pledge allegiance to the streams,

and the beaver ponds of America.

And to the renewal for which they stand

One river, underground, irreplaceable,

With habitat and wetlands for all.