And on the third day, (some of them) rested…

heidi08 Beavers March 21, 2014

P1030908 — Rick Lanman presenting beaver history at SRT

Yesterday was a lazy day for me of sitting in the sun and pondering beaver achievements. Others were more ambitious. Rick went on a private guided field trip to Sespe creek with the chief warden. If the name ‘Sespe Creek‘ sounds vaguely familiar, it should. One of the two beaver skull anomalies mentioned in Joseph Grinnell’s 1937 book on fur-bearing animals in California was found there. Since he had already concluded that there were no beavers in Southern California, and he was the very well respected head of the zoological department at UC Berkeley, he decided the skull was a fluke and dismissed it.

Rick found a recently digitized letter between Grinnell and the physician who sent that skull to the museum, Dr. John Hornung, of Ventura who donated many specimens to many museums. (He happens to have been the grandson of the very respected naturalist the Swainson’s hawk was named for). The letter describes how John personally came upon that beaver and shot it himself in 1906 about 20 years before fish and game reintroduced beavers anywhere. Meaning that it was for certain, an actual beaver in actual Ventura – But the book was at the printer’s and his mind was made up. No beavers in SoCal.

Not even the one you shot.

P1030923 — Mike Csllahan: Salmonid passage and flow devices SRF

Others like Mike Callahan spent the day watching the screening of the new film DamNation. It was made possible by the tireless work of beaver-friend Matt Stoecker and his helpers at Patagonia. Even though this is a stunning accomplishment, I can totally believe Matt got this done. He’s a cheerful fire hose. Callahan says it was amazingly powerful and we should all go see it when we get the chance.

Today I will have lunch with Rick Lanman, Duane Nash (of Southland beaver) and some US fish and wildlife folk who he convinced to talk about beavers. We are meeting at the house so I’m assuming they might not want to be seen in public talking about the rodent.

Then tonight it’s the poster session where ideas can be freely swapped. Tomorrow morning will be Riley’s seminar on restoring urban streams where I will present about the work beavers can do before a very long drive home. What a whirlwind!

Good thing I rested yesterday!

All in a day’s work…

heidi08 Beavers, Environmental, Friends of Martinez Beavers March 20, 2014

Yesterday I was up at 5 getting nervous for the conference. Talking beavers to a roomful of fish-biologists? What if I forgot what to say? What if the computer goes blank? What if what if what if? Jon drove me to the memorial hall where in the span of 5 minutes I was warmly greeted by Mike Callahan, Michael Pollock, Rick Lanman, Mary O’brien, Brock Dolman, Kate Lundquist, Sherry and Ted Guzzi and I thought, oh, I know these people, I can do this.

Tim Robinson was leading the session, and what I hadn’t understood before is that he had presented at a conference some pretty uncheerful information about beavers and gotten a SLEW of heated responses and emails which made him curious to learn more. I think an old Martinez supporter (GK) had tipped me off to his presentation at the delta conference, and I had written him an eyeful. To his amazing credit he actually sought me out and invited me to this talk along with a team of the most intelligent beaver advocates on the planet.

Rick started the day and competently went through the evidence about where beaver belonged historically. Eli went next and showed where they are right now. Then it was my turn and as always, talking about the Martinez Beaver story with footage and photos was very well received. A tech woman on hand made sure every one’s talk went perfectly and it was an awesome morning, By 10:30 I felt relaxed and pleased.

After the break, Michael Pollock presented on steelhead and beavers from the bridge creek data. (Does he ever get nervous? I don’t think so.) Then Tim presented on the unique challenges he faced with beavers on the Santa Ynez river which is a controlled water management system that releases water for the lower valleys. Then Kate talked policy and Mike Callahan talked about his adaptions to flow devices to allow salmon passage.

It was an amazing morning. After lunch they all went for a beaver fieldtrip on the Santa Ynez, and Jon and I dashed home to get things ready for dinner after a well-earned picnic in the sun looking at the beach.

I had invited folks for dinner at 6:30 but at 6:15 Mary called and said the fieldtrip had run long and they just got back. I wondered honestly if anyone would show and wistfully thought about the number of enchiladas we would be forced to eat on our own, but by 7 Mary, Michael Pollock (and his very smart tribal attorney girlfriend Karen), Sherry and Ted, and Mike Callahan were all there. We sat on the deck and drank beer while the sky darkened and the air cooled and then we funneled inside to Jon’s enchiladas and guacamole where our very small table hosted the most intelligent lively cheerful beaver conversation this side of the atlantic.

Somewhere in this day, I had the feeling of heavy accomplishment. Like a massive boulder I had been cheerfully pushing up a bumpy hill for seven years had just reached the top. I felt like beaver momentum was finally turning and it felt both relieving and weirdly a little sad – almost as if I was missing something.

I think now that what I was missing was the naive me of 7 years ago that foolishly started this journey in the first place. Without any of these companions, she felt like every part of this job was up to her thinking, planning and execution. I remember her as passionate and fearless, and I learned so much from her commitment. I am so glad she was (is) a part of my life. But I’m glad she’s not alone any more and really glad that dam rock is up the hill.

I know there will be other hills and valleys. But today I will sit in the sun and rest.

Arrived in Santa Barbara

heidi08 Beavers March 19, 2014

Who knew you could drive and drive and drive on 101 and end up by the ocean? Who knew you could see cormorants nesting in eucalyptus trees on the cliffs? And who knew that when you stopped off at Castoro Cellars for a little dam fine wine they would sell adorable ‘beaver in a can’. (Toy stuffed beaver) Now it’s time for me to get my act together and talk about Martinez. Wish me luck. This was my relaxing view from our kitchen last night. Try to just see the ocean and ignore the oil rigs. Ew.

Get ready for beavers in Santa Barbara!

heidi08 History March 18, 2014

Off to Chumash territory this morning to talk about beavers and steelhead and stream restoration. In case you’ve forgotten, the Chumash once had 7000 miles of coastal territory that included Santa Barbara. An old Chumash medicine woman explained that you could create a spring in dry land by planting a beaver-chewed stick in the ground where you wanted it to appear. And it was the Chumash who gave us this, which was my first historical nativity discovery lo these many years ago, when I was SHOCKED to read that fish and game didn’t think they were native in most places. That was before the papers were published, before we knew about the archeologist, before anyone else but Rickipedia was even on board.

Seems fitting to be headed in that direction. Wish me luck!

Report from the Beaver Patrol

heidi08 Beavers and salmon, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions March 17, 2014

Remember the story out of Juneau about a beaver patrol protecting Dredge creek and worrying because the beaver dams were ripped out? Well, it turns out a member of that patrol (Patricia O’brien) is a friend of the beaver management group on facebook and she sent us this:

Background

Dredge Creek runs through a U.S. Forest Service recreation area adjacent to a residential neighborhood. The creek heads near the Mendenhall Glacier Visitors’ Center. From its headwaters to Dredge Lake is only about one mile. Downstream from Dredge Lake it runs only about a third of a mile before emptying into a small holding pond before joining the Mendenhall River. Dredge Creek features coho salmon, Dolly Varden char, and cutthroat trout.

Beaver dams exist throughout Dredge Creek’s length. However, those dams have the potential for flooding trails. Below Dredge Lake, major trails are near the creek and the elevation of the trails is only slightly higherthan the creek. This area is heavily used by hikers, and dog walkers. Above Dredge Lake much of the terrain is rugged, and the area sees fewer hikers.

For about five years the U.S. Forest Service has agreed to allow a volunteer group (the Beaver Patrol) to work inthe recreation area. Additionally, a Boy Scout Weblos troop works with the Beaver Patrol, and the troop does most of the work in the creek above Dredge Lake. Except for months when ice limits beaver activity, the Beaver Patrol works in the area twice each week, and sometimes more. A goal of this partnership is to manage water levels to minimize trail flooding, while maintaining much of the habitat provided by the beavers. The Beaver Patrol has built; and maintained devices; to control water levels, even if beavers continue to add material to their dams. Where fish migration is encouraged, those devices are designed to allow fish to pass.

Excellent resource from Chuck! Thanks for putting this together. Every part of this is worth reading, but I especially liked this.

Obstructions to Migration

The first reaction for many viewing salmon in a stream with beavers is that the dams must be blocking salmon migration. Yet salmon have spawned upstream from several beaver dams in many watersheds for thousands of years. Often salmon may be seen mingling below a beaver dam until after a rain raises a stream’s level. One article commented that coho had no problem getting past beaver dams that were as high as two meters.Other articles observed no problems with coho getting past beaver dams. Steep steam banks allow beavers to build a much higher dam. Intuitively, it seems shallow water immediately downstream would make it more difficult for coho to jump over a beaver dam. Deeper water below an obstruction should enable coho to more easily jump over it. The higher the obstruction the deeper the takeoff pool should be. While the studies reviewed for this article did not cover this topic, the Beaver Patrol routinely clears material that would reduce the depth of areas below obstructions in Dredge Creek.

And what are their conclusions about beavers and salmon?

Conclusions

Pools created by beaver dams provide tailout areas preferred by coho for spawning. Since the Beaver Patrolclears impediments to fish passage twice each week when Dredge Creek in not frozen, it is unlikely that

spawning habitat will be a limiting factor to coho populations in Dredge Creek unless:

-people destroy redds after coho spawn

– construction causes sediment cover or otherwise degrade potential spawning habitat, or

– pollution degrades water quality.

Beaver ponds add summer coho rearing habitat in Dredge Creek. At least as important, by increasing water temperature and slowing stream velocity, beaver dams improve the winter survival of coho salmon in DredgeCreek.

Oh yeah, I guess that crazy researcher from the rogue agency NOAA has been right for all these years.