Never let it be said that our beavers aren’t flexible! Just look at the craftsmanship on this reach around unit they installed this weekend on the secondary dam! A few months ago a thoughtless kayaker paddled through their hard work and ripped a trench in the dam. They’ve been weirdly reluctant to invest time in repairing it, just lightly patching and tolerating a huge water loss as a result. Now they’ve decided that rather than restore the dam., they’re going to move the whole thing south with a snakey shape that required a literal ton of mud to move. I can’t say how this will end up, but at the moment they have built a kind of pond around their pond, which is very surprising to see.
Oh and we saw all three of these last night and Junior looking all growed up! He’s about 2 months away from dispersal so it was nice to see him before he goes. Here’s a weird-angled glimpse of our prettiest kit. (Shh don’t tell her brothers.)
There’s no beaver news or unicorns this morning, so I’m just going to use it for show and tell. Here’s the art project idea I’m kicking around for Earthday. Whadaya think?
The greatest problem today with beaver on the Jordan, is that they no longer have either their historic, longtime predators like wolves and cougar, nor fur trappers to help control their numbers. Beaver skins have long since been replaced by the likes of other natural insulations like wool, or by newer synthetic materials like Dacron to help keep us warm, and fur trapping is now mostly practiced by the few folk still practicing mountain man techniques. Therefore, while populations of both beaver and humans have continued to increase, the encroachment of human development towards the river has resulted in conflicts between these two mammals.
There are areas where beaver have cut down large sections of trees along the river. Efforts to plant trees along the Parkway for shade, beautification, and wildlife restoration projects are hindered by this animal that has historically provided so many benefits to Americans. Some solutions include, protecting the trunk of every tree with chain link fencing, but that could be unsightly. Beaver can be live-trapped and transplanted to areas that would benefit from their works, or they could be merely trapped and killed to control their overpopulation in specific areas where they have become a problem.
No predators, no mountain lions or coyotes. Well, there’s nothing really surprising here. Another author complaining about these ‘water savers’ in Utah, not a bad start right? I mean we’ve seen worse?
In researching this article, I was unable to find any reference by trappers, explorers or even early settlers of beaver being present on the Jordan River, although they referred to most other wildlife. Today, however, we do find an abundance of beaver here. They do not build beaver dams on the Jordan River as they do in more forested areas. Here they generally build their homes in burrows in the riverbank, although they occasionally build a wooden lodge on top of the bank. Entrances to these homes are usually underwater with fresh air available only through a breathing hole dug above the water level.
Such a historian! Doing research for his detail-laden article! Who is this thoughtful genius? The column bio says “Dan Potts is a Poplar Grove resident, local naturalist and President of Salt Lake County Fish and Game Association.” So he must know what he’s talking about. It’s weird, Dan that you couldn’t find a single historical mention of beavers in the Jordan river! I wonder if they just showed up? No wonder we’re having so many problems with them! They’re probably not even native!
Oh wait, you did remember that Heber C. Kimball, only named the Jordan river until 1847 right? (Because it reminded him of the one from the bible that flows through the fertile valley. ) Before that it was called the Proveau River after Etienne Provost, the french canadian trapper who was the first white man to see the great salt lake around 1825. A year before, he and his men were attacked by Snake Indians for trapping beaver on that very river. Eight (white) men were killed. In the 23 years before it was renamed, the Rocky Mountain fur company, the Hudson Bay Fur Company, and the John Jacob Astor fur company all were eager to enjoy the Proveau’s bounty. I’m pretty sure you could have found some reference to that.
Warren Ferris 1836 Map
Well sure, not everyone knows that rivers change names or knows how to use the google. Heidi, you’re being too hard on the man. Have some compassion and let the fellow make his point already. There are too many beavers in Jordan river!.And he should know!
They are now considered the largest rodents on our continent, but at one time (around a million years ago) grew as large as oxen, and possessed unicorn-like horns to help protect themselves from the larger predators that roamed their territory. After humans arrived, however, most of these large megafauna (a scientific term for large animals) disappeared, and today’s beaver are much smaller and largely defenseless.
Beavercorns! The unibeaver! And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the very best beaver myth you are ever likely to read on this or any website in the entire history of the world. Turns out the author of this fine article did know how to use the Google – he read about Paleaocastor, but didn’t realize that the description he was stealing was actually a wiki of the animated movie “ICE AGE”.
In all fairness there was a very small burrowing beaver that dug excavations scientists didn’t understand for a long time and this kinda looked like a unicorn’s horn. There were lots of arguments in the early 1900’s about whether this was a plant or fossil or result of beaver claws, but in the end one was found with a palaeocastor allowing the mystery to be settled that the tunnel had actually been dug with it’s TEETH.
Palaeocastor and burrow in National Museum of Natural History.
Remember, Mr. Potts is the president of the Salt Lake County Fish and Game Association. He must know what he’s talking about. You’d think a wildlife association would want to keep beavers around to encourage more wildlife to associate with. Never mind. He’s the president and his wife is on the board of directors.
The Salt Lake County Fish and Game Association (SLCF&GA) is a private non-profit foundation whose primary mission is the preservation and protection of Utah’s wildlife and natural resources.
I think I will treasure this article more than any I’ve ever read. I’m been told I’m a very fanciful person. I think about beavers a lot and have a good imagination. But I don’t think,even I, could ever in my wildest dreams have come up with anything as delightful as this. Thank you, Dan!
Our good friends Tom Rusert and Darren Peterie of Sonoma Birding are the inspired brains behind the CBC4 Kids. This is a 90 minute course where children and their parents get out in nature and observe and count wildlife. It is a small scale version of the big Audubon event that has been performed by adults for 100 years, but it has the added bonus of getting kids interested in wildlife, getting kids outside, and teaching families to appreciate nature together. I am always awed and impressed with what Tom is able to do with his dream, and he has been invited to Washington D.C. and Canada to teach about this. Here’s his lovely PBS clip about the program. Tom was recently given the Ludlow Griscom award for his amazing hard work teaching the citizen science of bird watching to youth. You might recognize their faces as regulars at the beaver festival, where they are enthusiastic supporters.
This story is timely in every way because Tom was recently instrumental in finding a new fiscal sponsor for Worth A Dam. Way back in 2008 I connected with Bill and Helen Feil of Land for Urban Wildlife in Pleasant Hill. That allowed us to receive charitable donations, apply for funds and accept contributions. I never in a million years thought Worth A Dam, our beavers, or our mission would be around all this time, but with Helen’s untimely death last year it was time for us to move on. Land for Urban Wildlife was a wonderful, supportive umbrella that allowed us to get on our feet. And since we apparently aren’t going anywhere, it was time for us to transition to a more formal sponsor relationship. Tom gallantly introduced us to his sponsor, Loren Cole of Inquiring Systems Inc, and recommended we become a new project. ISI is an organization like Earth Island takes on related sustainable NGOs throughout the world and provides non-profit status. I checked with a few friends who are with EI and found they weren’t thrilled with the process. Not to mention that EI takes 9% of proceeds and 15% of federal grants. ISI will require only 5% to pay for their services, and will take nothing at all on money we’ve already accrued.
ISI has provided project management, business management, fiscal sponsorship services, training and technical assistance services to 3,650+ primarily nonprofit and NGO organizations, along with some value-driven, socially responsible for-profit entities.
Which means to us is that Worth A Dam get help setting up its new bank account, new paypal relationship, filing its paper work, managing request for audits and the like. Leaving us to focus on the subject that we cared about in the first place: Beavers. What this means to you is that as of January 1st, 2014, any donation you make will be made out to Worth A Dam, ISI instead of LUW. As someone who’s been wading through the paperwork on my own for the last 5 years, I am enormously grateful for the help, and appreciative that Tom got me in the door.
Oh and just in case you haven’t opened your Contra Costa watershed calendar yet, go straight to June where you’ll be greeted by this smiling face! (No mention of Worth A Dam and a beaver photo by someone OTHER than Cheryl – but still a nod to our beavers and very good friend FRO!).
October features another hero Cassy Campbell who happily volunteered for a million jobs at the beaver festival. John Finger is the great artist behind the calendar and emailed for advice this year saying, (“I want someone associated with the beavers, but not political, any suggestions?”) Umm…a few. The other 10 months have nice people featured in the calendar we haven’t figured out how to get to help us yet.
Looks like I’m not the only one that was disappointed by the New Hampshire response to beavers this week. After I commented on the article I got an email from Linda Dionne asking me to testify for their anti-trapping bill. (I politely pointed out I was 3000 miles away.) Turns out they had an incident recently where a dog was caught in a conibear and they want to outlaw crush traps just like Massachusetts. (There was an earlier incident where a bald eagle was accidentally trapped and it was saved by a police officer. Here is their petition. Now Linda has this smart letter published in the Seacoast Online.
Regarding the article (State removing ‘nuisance’ beavers near Exeter dam, Seacoast Sunday, Dec. 8) N.H. Fish and Game biologist Patrick Tate sounds ignorant about the importance beaver play in a healthy ecosystem. To call beaver a “nuisance animal” when they are nature’s best engineers and an important keystone species is inaccurate, unenlightened and negligent. Also, Mr. Tate seems to forget, or maybe never learned, of the recommendations of New Hampshire’s Wildlife Action Plan produced by the Nongame Program of N.H. Fish and Game, which recommends keeping beaver dams because they create “marshes, meadows and shrublands beneficial to many species of wildlife.” The Wildlife Action Plan recommends using beaver flow devices whenever possible. Flow devices maintain the beaver pond to a non-flooding level so the wetland is preserved for the long term. A healthy beaver pond is essential to a healthy environment.
Perhaps, though, Mr. Tate is simply trying to get more license money for N.H. Fish and Game. There is money to be made by N.H. Fish and Game by selling wildlife control operator (trapping) licenses and no money to be made in recommending the much better solution of using beaver flow control devices. Sad to say, when money is involved, everyone loses.
Linda Dionne
Great letter Linda! All I can say is good luck in outlawing traps because if we’ve learned ANYTHING from Massachusetts it’s that even when the battle is over, it’s never over.
Happy Birthday today to Cheryl who is still in a wheel chair and probably won’t be able to make the Worth A Dam ravioli feed this year. We will bring raviolis to her door, and activities to keep her occupied but it is hard for a woman who is used to birding and beavering in her spare time to sit at the window and wait to heal. Wish you the sweetest birthday, Cheryl!
Jimmy Taylor has to be the most pro-beaver member of Wildlife Services in the entire United States. (This might not be as much of a compliment as you think…) But this morning his lecture for Oregon Wildlife showed up on You Tube. The most exciting parts come at the end discussing what his graduate students have learned in beaver relocation studies. The beavers they relocate have radio tagged tails so they can learn about dispersal and mortality but it’s surprising how many findings from all this advanced science are consistent with what we’ve learned by just watching here in Martinez.
