Now that’s a blocked culvert!

heidi08 Beavers February 7, 2014

I-90 Blocked Culvert 2 (2) — Blocked Culvert: photo from Mike Callahan of Beaver Solutions

This made me laugh so hard I got permission to share it. Enjoy!

This morning’s donation is from Mark B at Wintersmoke. Isn’t it lovely? Thanks Mark!

Seeing the forest for the trees…

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Environmental February 6, 2014

Parks allowed nature to take its Course

A few weeks ago, an eager beaver began gnawing at a tree along the side of the Derby Pond in Whatcom Falls Park. The parks department removed a bench in the tree’s way, and posted a notice that they were going to let the beaver finish its work — something our family appreciated so much.

Over the following weeks, many trips were made to watch the progress, always amazed at the dif-ference and wondering when the tree might fall. Trips to the library and Internet searches were made to learn more about beavers — the “Beaver Tree” was the buzz of the park and neighborhood kids.

This past Wednesday, shouts of glee were heard on the trail as three of our kids discovered the tree was down. Sadly, the finishing touch was made by a chain saw, but we were excited nonethe-less! The gentlemen handling the tree told us it would be moved to a place where the beaver could harvest the branches, and we could continue to witness the final stages of the process.

We are so thankful to the parks department for allowing us this invaluable experience. The tree was in a place where they could have easily chopped it down as soon as the beaver had started the “damage.” Instead, they left it, giving our community the opportunity to watch the wonders of our natural world in our own backyard.

When I read an idyllic beaver letter like this I am always transfixed with a mixture of admiration and envy. Here’s a city that knows how and why to live with beavers. It doesn’t require 200 people at a meeting, or massive media shaming, or a popular website or Heidi flinging herself at the stubborn officials like a salmon beating against the rocks for six friggin’ years. There are no lawyers or CEQA violations. No committee meetings or civil disobedience.

It just happens because it’s the right thing to do.

Instinct demanded I check to see where this utopian paradise is and of course I needn’t have bothered: Washington State.

And while we’re on the subject of humane pragmatism, isn’t this the most glorious beaver painting you’ve seen this decade? Its talented and whimsical artist, Cori Lee Marvin is in Port Hope Canada and has generously agreed to donate a watercolor to the silent auction. I am so excited to see the work up close. It reminds me of the end of the Grey Owl movie! Thanks very much Cori!

Beaver morning

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers, Beavers or Social Ambasadors, Environmental, New Species February 5, 2014

Four lovely beavers this frosty morning,. I was so happy to see them again. It’s definitely turned into a morning show, and they were all in bed by 7:00. It looks like everyone is sleeping above the primary dam – at least for the moment. I was particularly thrilled to see our stunning hooded merganser is back again with his bride.

hooded — Male Hooded Merganser in Winter plumage at Alhambra Creek
Photo by Ron Bruno

Reporter Claudine Wong from KTVU stopped by with a camera man to visit the beavers and talk about how they cope with and mitigate the effects of drought. She wondered how Martinez has been affected by the beavers and how the creek was fairing, so check out the evening news and see if we get a mention. Oh and the website server is getting overhauled tonight some time between 8 and 6 am, so if it’s down that’s why.

Washington D.C. beaver friend Malcolm Kenton sent this beaver mention my way from last night’s Daily Show. Enjoy!

Not only did Peter Sorrell of Coin Creativity in New York agree to donate from remarkable designs to our festival, he hand crafted more necklaces especially for our event! Peter wishes us an awesome festival, and says he can make more to order if needed but he needs time to get together the materials. Thank you so much, Peter!

Across the Pond

heidi08 Beaver-themed merchandise, Beavers elsewhere, Educational, Environmental, Friends of Martinez Beavers February 4, 2014

More good news from Britain, where Louise’s article in the Ecologist just keeps echoing. This one is from the Mammal Society on Smallholder. If you’re looking for a competent summary of beaver benefits all in one convenient place, this provides just about the best collected arguments I’ve seen. Bookmark the page and enjoy!

Bring back beavers to stop flooding, urges Mammal Society

In the aftermath of the recent severe flooding in parts of lowland Britain, with adverse impacts upon the lives and businesses of thousands of people, The Mammal Society has urged the government to consider a”bold and cost-effective” wildlife solution as part of its overall flood defence response: bring back the beaver and allow it to apply its benign engineering skills to our river systems.

Beaver activities have multiple physical and chemical repercussions for streams and rivers and the benefits of beaver dams can be considerable, vastly outweighing any minor, localised negative impacts. Water velocity and associated erosive forces are greatly reduced while large quantities of water are retained within surface, soil and groundwater compartments; this leads to attenuation of ‘flash flood’ phenomena as the stored water takes longer to travel through the catchment. ‘Beaver rivers’ do not exhibit such high and low extremes of discharge, which is regulated more evenly throughout the year, alleviating both floods and droughts.

Beaver dam building also improves water quality, through retention of sediments, organic carbon and pollutants; this could significantly reduce the cost of water purification for water companies.

Lastly, beaver rivers exhibit increased hydrological and morphological complexity and connectivity, and provide greatly enhanced opportunities for many different plants and animals, including invertebrates, fish, amphibians, birds and semi-aquatic mammals; biodiversity is significantly improved and, as a consequence, is likely to be more resilient to the effects of climate change. Recent studies in the United States have indicated that the economic benefits of beaver reintroduction into a river catchment, in terms of water storage, regulation of water flows, sediment retention and water purification is likely to run into many millions of dollars annually, and many projects are underway to re-establish the similar North American beaver into degraded river catchments throughout the country”

Oh what a glorious couple of paragraphs! It’s nice to see folks doing their homework and learning about beaver benefits. Let’s hope they are well into their tutorial by the times beavers actually bring themselves back on a grander scale. I think it really doesn’t matter much whether the country ‘decides’ to reintroduce beavers or not. Just like it doesn’t matter whether you ‘decide’ your teenager will become sexually active.

It’s going to happen anyway. All you can do is educate as much as possible. Here’s their handy bullet list:

Beavers exert many positive effects on ecosystem functioning including:
Regulation of stream flows
Flood alleviation
Increased water storage and raised water table
Sediment retention and sorting
Reduction in erosion and decreased turbidity
Improved hydrological connectivity within and between surface and groundwaters
Increased hydrological & morphological diversity
Improved lateral connectivity between channel & floodplain
Increased nutrient cycling
Improved acid-neutralising capacity
Carbon retention, pollutant retention and water purification

And on biological diversity:

Increase in habitat heterogeneity
Increase in species richness and diversity
Increase in aquatic, transition and deadwood habitats
Increase in open canopy riparian habitats and improved riparian understorey
Increased in-stream woody debris
Improved habitat for invertebrates, fish, amphibians, birds and semi-aquatic mammals
Improved connectivity and resilience

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Virgine St. Jean is the clever artist behind Green Banana Cards. She’s from from Ontario Canada and has crafted a brilliant idea for ordinary postcards. Her “Mail A Beaver” invention has morphed into “mail a lobster”, “‘mail a wolf” and “mail a panda”, missives that are a snap for travel sales. The card wryly notes “It has become increasingly difficult to clear airport security with a standard beaver” and offers a pragmatic solution. She sent a generous stack our way for the auction. Imagine how nice it will be to send some postcards to friends telling them you attended a beaver festival!

Sad and Cheerful Beaver News

heidi08 Beaver-themed merchandise, Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Who's Killing Beavers Now? February 3, 2014

LATE BREAKING:

We just got word from JDH of a beaver dead near the Marina Vista entrance onto Northbound 680. The kind woman who wrote to alert me says it was likely struck by a car. She’s certain it was a beaver. As it’s February and young beavers are ‘dispersing’ traffic deaths are not unheard of for beavers. We know there are other families of beaver in Martinez. A female beaver was found dead at nearby Mountain View sanitation not too long ago, and after the death another beaver came to the exact same spot – possibly looking for its mate. This could be the survivor of that pair. But we can’t be certain its not one of ours. It’s a sad day for beavers. Jon and Jean both went out to have a look. Looks like a yearling with a kit-sized tail. I don’t think it’s one of ours. Sad,though. Drive carefully and keep an eye out for beavers.

Now let’s think about something more hopeful:

This is Paulina Unrue. She is in first grade at Kensington Elementary School. Last year their teacher told the class the story of the Martinez beavers and encouraged them all to go see them before they were to turn in a report on the subject. She was a fiece wide-eyed little wisp of a girl who tiptoed around the footbridge watching our kits with a bouquet of fresh fennel clutched to her chest like a bride. The beavers did not disappoint, and were apparently appreciated!Since you’ve heard pretty much everything I have to say about beavers, I thought you’d want to see some highlights from Paulina’s report today. (Since she was so young and remembered so much, I have to imagine mom had at least something to do with it! Good job Mom!) This was my favorite part:

MY VISIT TO MARTINEZ TO SEE BEAVERS

Last weekend my family drove to Martinez where beavers moved into Alhambra Creek several years ago. We met Heidi, the President and Founder of Worth a Dam foundation, and her husband Jon.

They showed us around the creek and I could see several dams build by beavers, their old lodge and also hear some interesting stories.

There are seven beavers living in the creek now – father, mother, their five kits and yearlings. Old mother beaver died three years ago from infection after she broke her tooth. They were really worried because she left behind three kits but father did a great job raising them. Jon told me that the night the mother beaver died her older son who left a year before came back and they saw him swimming in the creek with a kit brother on his back.

Three years ago heavy rains washed out all beaver dams and lodges. Father beaver left after that and later returned with new young mate. Together they had four baby beavers. I got to see one of them swimming underneath the bridge. Little beaver swam to the shore, grabbed a branch of willow tree and dove into the creek.

Jon showed me some trees that were gnawed by a beaver. City of Martinez protects some trees and to keep beavers away they decided to put a metal net around some of the trees and also cover the bark with the paint that beavers don’t like.

Some of the beavers’ favorite trees in Martinez are willow and cotton wood. Female beavers also like wild fennel, especially when they are nursing. Martinez beavers also like carrots and I threw them at the dam so beavers can have their favorite snack.

Heidi explained to me why beavers were keystone species and presented me with a special necklace to remember it. She also invited me to their annual Beaver Festival that happens in Martinez every August.

Thanks Paulina for sharing your lovely report! Its a bright spot in a grim day and we appreciate it.

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Yesterday’s gift was three stunning hand drawn pins from Niina Koivusalo in Tampere Finland. Her work can be found at NinnyandKook here. They are drawn in India Ink on pressboard. Usually the donations from Etsy are wonderfully evocative crafts from creative people who care about wildlife. Niina’s are truly works of art, and when you see them you will agree with me. Her shop is on vacation at the moment, but I wouldn’t hesitate pick up something of your own when she gets back. I assume Niina will be on Etsy for very little time before she is snatched up at a gallery somewhere. In the meantime, look at these: