Month: April 2014

Drawing Near Beavers

heidi08 Beaver-themed merchandise, Beavers elsewhere, Educational, Environmental, Friends of Martinez Beavers April 30, 2014

Vermont author at peace with beavers

As its title suggests, Patti Smith’s new book, “The Beavers of Popple’s Pond: Sketches from the Life of an Honorary Rodent,” awards no special status to homo sapiens.

Nor does it critique our species’ role in rapid climate change, and the crowding-out (and extinction) of other organisms.Her adventures offer “a restorative respite from bad news,” the West Marlboro naturalist writes in her introduction.

The book also might be strong medicine against paralysis of the sort that occasionally grips the overwrought environmentalist.

Smith, 52, demonstrates that humans can, with help from other critters, wrest a corner of society away from a civilization branded by planetary mischief.

She’s playful. She credits the authors Beatrix Potter, Thornton Burgess, and E.B. White with populating her childhood “with talking trees and friendly fauna.”

Smith no longer traffics in magic. But her command of natural history, animal physiology and wildlife behavior brims with enchantment.

In 1991, Smith co-founded the Bonnyvale Environmental Education Center near her home. She moonlights as a licensed Vermont wildlife rehabilitator.

Patti Smith’s endearing articles about beavers over the years have been a highlight of this website’s beaver travels. Remember “Ducky all grown up“? Living in Vermont, of course she knows Skip Lisle and has the very good sense to appreciate beavers. In addition to co-founding the nature center and being a generally exceptional human, she’s also a very talented artist. We’ve been in contact before, so I was thrilled to read about the book. Her drawings are adorable and I wrote to congratulate her – (and of course, ahem. that other thing too).

Patti and her publisher both wrote back graciously that they would be happy to send me a signed copy for the silent auction and that we were doing great things in Martinez. Which of course we are, and I wouldn’t change it for the world, but to be honest I’m still a little jealous of Patti’s idyllic conditions. She falls asleep on a bunch of clover while sketching the beavers like something from the pages of Tolkien.

If I feel asleep with the beavers I’d wake up snuggling Robert.

Dewberry the beaver, and shoe (Photo: Drawing by Patti Smith)

There’s a fun interview with her and her mom in the article which you should check out. If you can’t BEAR to wait and buy your copy at the massive biding war at the silent auction in August you can pre order on Amazon or direct from the publisher here.

Albert the beaver, eating while swimming. (Photo: Drawing by Patti Smith)

And any time Patti needs a field trip, maybe some wine tasting or a visit to Point Reyes, she should definitely come see our city beavers! Martinez will provide the train whistles, homeless. and garbage trucks and we’ll bring a picnic and introduce you to the BEAVERS OF PEOPLE’S POND.

________________________________________________

Oh, and I just happened to come across this from CSTMS at UCB last may. I contacted the great presenters, Cleo Woelfle-Erskine and Daniel Sarna-Wojcicki . I was told we had met at the state of the beaver conference and Cleo had just finished transcribing my interview. I have zero memory of being interviewed there, but sometimes before I present I am inattentive to anything else, so it could very well be true! Their presentation is a lot of fun, and Michael Pollock wrote back that it cracked him up, which is high praise indeed. I also mentioned that the last slide they presented was OUR photo and they wrote back appropriately chagrined and talked about wanting to come for a beaver visit in June!

I can’t believe it took me almost a year to find this video. Where has it been all my life? But at least it has twice as many views today as it did yesterday, hopefully more after this. It’s a great look at the changing climate around beavers. And even if it gives everybody in the world credit except Worth A Dam, we know very well how important we are.

Wildlife Refuge Ducking Duties

heidi08 Beavers April 29, 2014

Our friends in Montana recently posted about some traps laid for beavers “in order to protect the ducks!” (As if beavers did anything but improve the lives of ducks!) They asked if I’d repost the story here. I would be shocked but I remember when a certain reservoir in Northern California got caught shooting beavers and defended its actions by saying it was protecting red-legged frogs. People lie about beavers all the time!

A dedicated trail volunteer of 3 years at Lee Metcalf Wildlife Refuge in Stevensville, Montana quit after discovering the intentional trapping of beaver. Why would this dry arid state, with shrinking wetlands impacting rare and endangered species, reduced water resources impacting big game browse, agriculture, irrigation, fisheries and natural fire breaks, exterminate beaver? They are perhaps the most critically necessary species able to create and rectify these dwindling resources.. Why not permit them to live out their vital role in the ecosystem and find safe haven in their refuge? Instead they are being purposefully trapped and killed at our wildlife refuge specifically designed to protect species! Please support I-169 Trap Free Montana Public Lands by going to www.trapfreemt.org

I would say its ironic for a wildlife refuge to trap beavers when their job is to provide a refuge for wildlife, but we know people make dam-fool decisions whenever and wherever the animals are involved. Do they have other options? Amy Chadwick has worked with Skip Lisle to install flow devices in Montana, so they should be able to solve any problem without trapping. Footloose is a large nonprofit in Montana that works to prevent trapping on public lands. Maybe they could help raise funds for it? Worth A Dam will make sure they have all the expert advice they need to solve whatever problem they have (or imagine they have). Why don’t you write them to tell them so here and make sure you mention that Martinez has lived successfully with beavers for 7 years. Next time, before they start trapping beavers, they should know that this is the only “beaver catcher” they really need.

To play along at home, print the PDF and fold your beaver catcher like this, and follow these steps, or better yet play with your local fish and game warden or politician!

• CHOOSE AN ANIMAL THAT BEAVERS HELP

• (EVEN) CHOOSE A REAL PROBLEM THAT BEAVERS CAN CAUSE

• (ODD) CHOOSE A SILLY PROBLEM THAT PEOPLE ARE WORRIED BEAVERS CAUSE.

• READ THE ANSWER!

Why Massachusetts thinks its beaver population is booming

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Massachusetts Trapping Law, Who's Killing Beavers Now? April 28, 2014

As many of you already know, in 1996 the voters of Massachusetts acted to ban the use of crush traps. The legislature enacted this, saying that live traps had to be used for killing beavers. This means that after their trapped with a Hancock or Bailey they are shot in the head or gassed to death. So they still end up dead, but it’s slighty kinder than drowning or starving. The trapping process is more involved than setting a snare or a conibear. It costs a little more money and time to do. And this means people take shortcuts.

Remember how Massachusetts likes to whine about having too many beavers now because of this law? They say the population exploded after the law was passed because people stopped killing beavers. Wrong. People stopped getting PERMITS to kill beavers. But they still kill plenty. Case in point:

Letter: Cruel treatment of valuable animal

I recently found two dead beavers with their tails severed on Rte. 20 in West Becket. The most recent one was laying on the side of the road, under the turnpike underpass, just past Greenwater pond. It was not a victim of roadkill. This particular beaver was lying over the top of tire tracks, not embedded as roadkill would have been. Its head appeared to be bludgeoned and the tail was completely gone with a clean edge wound remaining. There was still blood from the beaver in a pool of mud next to some beer cans.

The other tailless beaver I found Sunday morning while collecting my Berkshire Eagle. I hoped that it was not the “smiling beaver” I had posted to FaceBook just two weeks ago, I will never know because the tail with its distinctive nick on the left side was no longer attached to the body.

So this is what happens. People shoot or bludgeon a beaver and get rid of what they think is a problem. MDFG notices that they’re selling fewer permits and assumes that means fewer beavers are being killed. 500 articles get written about how the state is overrun with beavers. And all the while beavers are still getting killed everywhere.

We’re sorry you had a gruesome day, Karen. But I’m grateful you wrote this letter. (I better start keeping a file of these incidents of ‘unrecorded beaver deaths’.) Karen adds this lovely paragraph at the end.

Remember, beavers are one of the main reasons we have such rich soils and landscapes in the Berkshires. The beavers helped create our farmlands, they build the dams and create ponds that help develop the watersheds that supply us with drinking water.

Amen! You are a true Worth A Dam friend! If you need cheering up you can always take a field trip to Martinez. And we’ll show you some safe, happy beavers!

Mind you, at NO TIME, does anyone in the media even MENTION that there are 9 exceptions in the law that allow you to use what ever kind of traps you like. Nine!

(a) beaver or muskrat occupancy of a public water supply;

(b) beaver or muskrat-caused flooding of drinking water wells, well fields or water pumping stations;

(c) beaver or muskrat-caused flooding of sewage beds, septic systems or sewage pumping stations;

(d) beaver or muskrat-caused flooding of a public or private way, driveway, railway or airport runway or taxi-way;

(e) beaver or muskrat-caused flooding of electrical or gas generation plants or transmission or distribution structures or facilities, telephone or other communications facilities or other public utilities;

(f) beaver or muskrat-caused flooding affecting the public use of hospitals, emergency clinics, nursing homes, homes for the elderly or fire stations;

(g) beaver or muskrat-caused flooding affecting hazardous waste sites or facilities, incineration or resource recovery plants or other structures or facilities whereby flooding may result in the release or escape of hazardous or noxious materials or substances;

(h) the gnawing, chewing, entering, or damage to electrical or gas generation, transmission or distribution equipment, cables, alarm systems or facilities by any beaver or muskrat;

(i) beaver or muskrat-caused flooding or structural instability on property owned by the applicant if such animal problem poses an imminent threat of substantial property damage or income loss, which shall be limited to: (1) flooding of residential, commercial, industrial or commercial buildings or facilities; (2) flooding of or access to commercial agricultural lands which prevents normal agricultural practices from being conducted on such lands; (3) reduction in the production of an agricultural crop caused by flooding or compromised structural stability of commercial agricultural lands; (4) flooding of residential lands in which the municipal board of health, its chair or agent or the state or federal department of health has determined a threat to human health and safety exists. The department of environmental protection shall make any determination of a threat to a public water supply.

Making a beaver army

heidi08 Earth Day, Educational, Environmental April 27, 2014

It turns out that convincing people to think new ways about beavers doesn’t take prestigiously published papers, tables of data, award winning researchers, or successful salmon. It doesn’t mean lectures or slides or documentaries. I hate to break it to the universities and fellowships but people aren’t persuaded by science. Just look at climate change or evolution. It doesn’t matter how much you prove it or disprove it. People are persuaded by engagement. A personal experience that touches them and takes their own energy and thought.

And yesterday at John Muir’s Earth Day these children (and their parents) were engaged.

Yesterday 5 lbs of buttons for eyes, 400 forks, 250 kit tails and nearly 300 adult tails were turned into a paper bag beaver army, carefully designed to halt the enemy with a round of “AWWW” so that the subtle weapon of CARING could be neatly slipped in between the steel ribs of indifference.

We were so busy all day that we were grateful for the few momentary lulls in traffic. We saw children and parents talking about beavers, learning about beavers, understanding why adults have orange teeth, and making beavers with their own unique flair. One little girl made a pirate beaver. One boy made a cyclops. And one delightful beaver was lovingly crafted with a belly button.

Beavers were celebrated, clarified, and personalized. Adults who thought they ate fish were righteously corrected by their children who explained that they ate willow. One little girl crisply clarified that they ate “CAMBIUM”. Martinez residents wondered how its beavers were doing, where dad had found a new wife, where the young beavers dispersed to, and why other cities didn’t have beavers.

Jon and Jean were consumed most of the day, passing out bags, selecting ears and letting the spirit of the beaver take over the hardworking craftschildren at the table. Since our artist FRO couldn’t be with us this year, it was left to Jon and Jean to supervise the masses. Jon said he surprised himself by how much fun he had. Cheryl as usual was busy behind the camera taking these wonderful photos. And I was schmoozing about beavers at the booth.

Several times during the day, someone walked up to the booth to thank me for the festivals and the beavers. Sincere moms and Dads described how their children kept their necklaces from the beaver festival and looked forward to it year after year. One mom said that her daughter had never gotten the idea of ecosystems and species interaction until she made the keystone species necklace and now she completely understood.

Lots of families had seen the beavers in person, and lots more had plans to come back and look for them. John Muir stopped by and decried that horrible Hetch Hetchy dam they had built and reminded that the only dams needed in the Sierras were beaver dams. Some thanked us for saving the beavers, and gladly asked for their photo to be taken with their creation.

Highlights of the day were the young woman who said her friend was working on a proposed beaver management plan for the entire country at Oregon State University and would I like to connect with him? Council woman Delaney saying how much she appreciated all the work I had done for the beavers. Congressman Miller’s aide stopping by to talk beavers and ask about the next festival. Councilman Mark Ross coming by later to appreciate my “How to live with beavers” poster. He smiled sheepishly and said that I should have included a photo of the retaining wall.

To which I laughed back honestly and said “You probably wouldn’t want to see the poster I would make about the sheet pile”.

An excellent day all in all with remarkable children, patient parents, curious teens, 10 trekking scarves sold, inspiring conservation award winners, no rain and very little warmth and even a special visual event in the sky.

Muir’s Birthday Miracle ~ 2014 from Alhambra Hills on Vimeo.

In case I haven’t given a good enough description here’s a taste of the day:

I could write on and on. But it looks like I’ve come to The End.

Beavers on the San Pedro River

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental April 26, 2014

This film from our friend Michael Foster is as good of a reminder of why we need beavers in the west as I’ve seen. I can’t remember how we met years ago, but I’ve always been awed with his amazing footage and eye for detail. Michael actually asked me to proof read this script months ago and I was happy to introduce him to Mike Callahan so he could get images of beaver dams causing problems. It’s nice to help the beaver story get told.