In Good Company

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental December 6, 2013

The lineup for the Salmonid Restoration Federation Conference was just published and I had to share a slice. Don’t you want to be there? You know you really should.

And as IF that wasn’t exciting enough, look at the team I’m playing for!

In case you need reminders, the first speaker is ‘Wikipedia Rick’ the senior author on both our Historic prevalance papers, and the second name is Eli Asarian who did the maps and graphs for both papers. Then that crazy lady from Martinez who probably needs no introduction. And after me is Michael Pollock who did pretty much every research on beavers and salmon EVER. Then Tim Robinson who is running the whole show and invited me to speak. Then Kate Lundquist from the OAEC who many of you met at this year’s beaver festival and finally the only person I don’t know but am very excited to hear! (And for us non-fish-scientists in the room, “thermal refugia” means moving to a hangout place that has colder temperatures. I looked it up.)

Wait, there’s more:

Ann Riley is the author of the most famous creek restoration book ever, and partner of Lisa Owens Viani who has been a Worth A Dam supporter since way back in the beginning. You might also recognize the name of Mike Vukman who used to be on the Urban Creeks Council and was a big help during our sheetpile fiasco. Now he’s in the private sector working for Stantec, but still a friend of beavers. Ann and Lisa are regulars guests at our Worth A Dam New Year’s ravioli feed and Ann asked me to talk about what beavers have done in our urban stream. (They are sitting together at the back.)

Oh and the best part of all this? I found out that the conference program had been released by a woman I don’t know from Napa RCD who saw it the beaver workshop and thought I’d be interested! Turns out the folks in Napa have used this website to help with beavers the growing beaver population in Napa and she’s happens to be a friend of Ann’s.

All in all it’s very exciting, and I couldn’t be prouder to be included! See you in Santa Barbara?

Beavers need a good lawyer, too.

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental December 5, 2013

As beaver dams disappeared, pond and wetland habitats disappeared and heavy stream erosion occurred. Many species that depended on these aquatic habitats were affected.

Earth Justice has created these lovely postcards to explain how Wolves keep the balance in Yellowstone. (No word yet on when they will be doing a BEAVERS KEEP THE BALANCE. PERIOD set), but we should be thankful anyway. Earth Justice tends to like sexy, photogenic animals that will look noble for the camera and set the co-eds pulses fluttering, BUT beavers are the lumpy underdog heroes of so many ecological stories – I say they deserve more respect!

Wolves are the apex predator in Yellowstone. When they were exterminated from the park, the ecosystem suffered from the ripple effects.

Without natural predators like wolves, elk populations grew to unsustainable levels. Much of the trees and vegetation were overgrazed, leaving beavers with nothing to build dams out of.

After wolves were reintroduced in 1995, the elk populations have dropped, leaving beavers more wood to build their dams. Insects, fish, and songbirds that depend on the wetlands and ponds created by the beaver dams are now thriving.

Did you ever have a partner that in elementary school with whom you were supposed to be working on that oral book report – and they flashed a big toothy smile and everyone loved them because they were cute and great at kickball but all they did was bring lifesavers for the entire class during your presentation, while you read the book, wrote the speech, drew the posters, carried it all to class and made everything happen? And the teacher gave you BOTH an A?

Just sayin’.

Beavers in Winter: A Fascinating Yarn

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, Educational, Environmental December 4, 2013

Yesterday’s cold weather made me grateful that our beavers at least don’t have to worry about their pitiful pond freezing solid. Beavers in colder climates rely on the deeper water to stay unfrozen so they can get access to the lodge and reach their food caches. Once the surface water freezes solid they can’t get out until it thaws! Ours practically live on easy street – er, creek. This is a nice explanation of what those beavers do to get through the winter from the University of Wyoming.

Not much beaver news today but yesterday I was at work in the salt mines and saw that my name had been dropped on facebook – turns out Michael Howie of Fur-bearer Defenders radio was looking for someone to talk beavers and ecology for 10 minutes and someone I barely know said “Heidi Perryman is the obvious choice!”. Ha. (Only 10 minutes?)

I don’t know if we connected fast enough for his timeline, but its nice to be mentioned!

And just so you know I’m not the only crazy one in the family, this is what my nieces are up to in San Mateo where they received a contract to Yarn Bomb the city. Here are some pictures from from the Mercury News, and this is the explanation on the city’s website. Isn’t that awesome?

Capture — Fiber artist Lorna Watt attaches a hand knit sweater around a tree on 3rd Avenue in San Mateo, Calif., on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2013. The Downtown Art Project paired vlolunteers from sponsor United American Bank with local artists to install the sweaters on 35 trees and saftey pylons …

This sure makes me think the mom beaver memorial might need a sweater….

Trapping our Treasure

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Environmental December 3, 2013

Facts don’t add up in support of trapping

Keith Kubista (guest column, Oct. 24) possesses two attributes which make him challenging in the forum of public debate. He writes fairly well and he has a total disregard for the facts.

His approach to the trapping issue goes something like this: Kubista wants to trap. That’s his starting point. He then begins a long journey of fact-twisting, omission and outright lies to convince the reader that trapping is good for Montana…

Subtract the state budget estimate for maintaining FWP’s trapping division. Then subtract financial estimates for the negative impact on tourism revenue and the staggering loss of Montana groundwater due to beaver trapping.

That’s right. This is an op-ed from Montana saying that trapping beavers robs the state of its groundwater. I’m just trying to wrap my head around this, although it’s an idea whose time has come. This is from the smart non-profit ‘Foot Loose‘ which is opposed to trapping on public lands. They’ve been featured on this website before. I wrote them an excited welcome to the beaver club letter back then, but never heard anything back. Not sure whether they were too busy or too afraid that a bunch of ‘beaver huggers’ would ruin their image. Still, it’s nice to be reminded they’re out there, fighting the good fight.

And speaking of the good fight, Predator Defense launched this documentary sunday based on the work of Tom Knudson at the Sacramento Bee. If you were on the fence about Wildlife Services before, you soon will understand that there is no fence at all. I was happy to see the faces that we’ve been reading about for years. One of them is Gary Strader who you learned about on this website in 2009 when the USDA harvested wood peckers from Rossmoor. Remember that?

It’s a pretty effective but grisly documentary. Consider yourself warned and never ever ever let your city contract with Wildlife Services. Tell your friends who don’t believe the horror stories to watch it all the way through to the end, and for those of us who know better, just be happy it’s out there.

Bipolar beavers

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers December 2, 2013

Backstory: When I was a junior in high school I tried out for the musical ‘You’re a good man charlie brown!’ and with no acclaim whatsoever got the part. (I bet you can guess who.) That really isn’t important. What is important is that because I rehearsed over and over and heard the music in my sleep sung by people I went to school with every day, the lyrics occasionally play in my head 30 years later.

This especially happens at the beaver dam after a terrible storm has flattened the secondary dam and our poor little beavers are living in a muddy hovel where a rich pond used to be. No one has seen an adult for days and the 6 month old kits apparently have no idea how to fix things on their own. They are completely confused by high tides, which make ample water/then no water at regular intervals. I start to get gloomy in my thinking, and this is the soundtrack that plays and replays, imagining that their parents have left them and the kits are left vainly trying to scratch out a meal from blackberries and gnarled roots.

Then just like Snoopy I’m shaken from my grim reverie by a bright email from Jon this morning, who walked the dog at 5:00 am before heading in for day shift.The beavers aren’t dead or lonely! And they have a grown up to help them work on the dam! And we’ll have a beautiful secondary soon! Just like we do every year!

Beavers everywhere this morning! Saw all three kits, two were “working” on the dam, little tiny handfuls! Also Mom cause one of the kits followed her back in to the bank hole.

Whew! Talk about an emotional roller coaster. (What must parents go through? Beavers can’t even drive!) It has gotten slightly easier than it was that first winter, when I had no idea what to expect and the experts all told us that the beavers had moved on. You would think after 6 years I wouldn’t worry – but it’s more accurate to say I at least know I shouldn’t worry. Of course I do anyway. It’s just another of the many moody adventures in following a family of beavers I guess. Who knows, I assume the flooding drives out the adults because there’s not enough room in the bank holes for everyone. But maybe mom and dad stay a way for a while to get the kids motivated to work for a living? Ms. Glass half full would mention that there has been a beautiful great blue heron hanging at the ripped dams, enjoying the escaping fish. She even beaked it out with a night heron wednesday when they were both greedy for the best position. I’m just happy our kits are doing what they need to do and have some adults to show them how.

Oh, our Charlie Brown never made it to the stage, btw. My english teacher (who was the director) decided that he suddenly needed a divorce from his wife (who was the piano player), and the entire production was scrapped.

Broadway mourns I am sure.