Month: May 2014

What Texas and New Hampshire have in common…

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions May 31, 2014

I had a long conversation yesterday with Kat Milacek and Rhonda Burkhardt-Thomson from the DFW wildlife coalition over the beaver issue in Irving Texas. If you haven’t heard anything about it, here’s a fairly recent report.

They got word of the contract the park issued to take out ALL beavers from ALL wetlands. But when the media started poking around they revised it to say they were relocating beaver only from the pond. (Insert Grinch explanation to Cindy Loo here). Kat and Rhonda started an online petition that got 800 signatures from around the nation, and the park department got so defensive they adapted their own web page in response.

There is misinformation and a petition circulating regarding Irving’s beaver trapping program. The City of Irving would like to correct the misinformation and provide our residents an accurate account of this story.

Yayaya. I’m sure it was all a complete misunderstanding…

Apparently three beavers (one adult and two yearlings) have already been captured and released onto private land. This is less than ideal timing, to say the least. Since kits are probably going to be left behind as they may not be able to dive out of the lodge/bank hole without adult help. My guess is that mom will stay with them as long as she can, but eventually succumb, leaving them alone.

I talked with Kat and Rhonda about solutions, about wrapping trees and getting media, they expressed frustration over how slanted the news was and how many of the park department’s lies it broadcast. Was it worse because they were in Texas? (Hahahahaha) Sadly no, I sympathized. The media is deeply naive and will be believe what officials tell them to the ninth degree. The only things on your side are cute pictures and compelling stories. Which you have so far, so buck up I told them!

Given that three beavers were already captured, I advised that it was going to be better to get the rest as quickly as possible. Try and find out where they were living to make sure none get left behind. In the mean time try and get video or night video and send that to the news station in order to pressure the park to sit down with you and make a beaver management plan for the NEXT beavers that come along. I thanked them for caring about beavers and wished them a hearty good luck!

It’s hard for me to wrap my head around the thought that there are people who want to save beavers in Texas. But I’m grateful for the chance to be proven wrong. It’s a big state, and they need the water. They should all care about beavers. Just look how good that’s working in California! (Not.)

Onto beaver defense in New Hampshire where this great letter was published in the Valley News.

Letter: What About the Beavers’ Ecosystem?

I have lived in the Upper Valley all of my life and for 53 years have traveled 12A, where on numerous occasions the beaver dams have been altered to prevent flooding. I just wonder why we always have altered the beaver dam, a dam that builds a viable ecosystem for aquatic life and waterfowl. We continually use destruction to solve the immediate crisis. I ask the state to propose alternative solutions before the next crisis.

Throughout all the election years of the past, I have listened to campaigners boast about their achievements in passing bills that have millions of dollars set aside to preserve and maintain habitat. Can we apply some of those funds in Plainfield to a solution that allows for a viable Route 12A and a thriving aquatic ecosystem? Upper Valley residents need to say we want a chunk of the money to preserve this ecosystem now! Do you believe that money spent regarding our encroachment on wildlife habitat is better than money spent to preserve wildlife habitat? If so, I ask you to help by writing or calling our state legislators about this issue. Let’s stop responding to a crisis and start finding a permanent solution.

William Monette

Wow! Asking for action at the state level! That’s dreaming big William! I like it! But you might start with your own city or county to get the ball rolling. Why not talk to your neighbor Art Wolinsky who installed a culvert protector a few years back. Now the beavers are building on the other side of the culvert, but he’s committed to solving the problem the right way. Just look at this video from this morning: (watch all the way to the end for essential commentary).

Cheryl was down last night and saw lots of activity but no kits. We’ll all be watching tonight just in case…..

Not that retired from teaching after all…

heidi08 Beaver Behavior May 30, 2014

Beaver Guru, professor emeritus at SUNY college and author of these beaver bibles: has decided that retirement doesn’t mean an end to teaching about beavers. He has a great article in Northern Woodland Educators about beavers ‘recycling’ plant defenses for the own ends.

Arms Race in the Woods: How Beavers Recycle Tree Defenses

Around a beaver pond, we sometimes catch a whiff of beaver odor. People have described it to me as smoky, woody, or like tobacco. It may waft over from the lodge, or it might emanate from scent mounds – little piles of mud by the water’s edge. Beavers make scent mounds by dredging up mud from the bottom of a pond, then carrying it up on land in their front paws while walking upright. The beaver drops the mud, then squats over the mound and applies castoreum from glands near the base of the tail.

Compounds from a number of trees in the beaver’s diet end up in their castoreum. Benzyl alcohol occurs in aspens and poplars, benzoic acid in black cherry and scots pine, and catechol in common cottonwood. In summer, beavers eat aquatic plants such as pondweed and pond lilies – the alkaloids that these plants use to deter insects also end up in the beaver’s mix.

Beavers cope with plant chemicals in different ways. They have in their saliva a protein that binds tannins and renders them harmless. They deal with other compounds by breaking them down into their component parts: when they ingest salicin – a bitter chemical in willow and poplar bark – the salicin molecule gets broken down into sugar and, eventually, salicylic acid. (Beavers are not the only animals that have this trick – leaf beetles also ingest salicin when munching on willow leaves. They use the glucose as a nutrient and the salicylic acid for defense against predators, such as ants.)

It’s a great article, go read the entire thing HERE. Of course I’m not surprised, because as we all know, beavers are awesome. Mind you, in 7 years of watching beavers with a dozen beaver experts checking our territory we have never YET found a single scent mound in all of Alhambra Creek. But I’m sure if Dietland made the trek to Martinez he’d know where they were right away!

And now to make sure you start your weekend with a sense of purposeful compassion and civic ingenuity, I’m sharing these awesome photos from the Isla Vista paddle out (organized by the UCSB surf team) in memorium of the horrific killings there last Friday by a young man who said women shouldn’t be allowed to choose their own sexual partners. Look at these photos and tell me that they aren’t a reminder of how awesome many humans can be in response to monstrosity.

Not big enough to make a difference? Let’s back up a bit.

Lee Metcalf gets a clue

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions May 29, 2014

Exactly a month ago, I posted about the wildlife refuge in Montana that was saying it was trapping beavers to protect their ducks. An advocacy group was arguing that this was yet another reason to ban traps in the state, and wrote letters to the editor and refuge. I wrote a detailed post about the issue here, and wrote them with information about how to solve this problem by bringing in local Amy Chadwork to work with Skip Lisle and install a beaver deceiver.

Guess what’s happening?

Trapping

Beaver deceiver FTW

To that end, Footloose is now in talks with the refuge to help install a non-lethal device called a “beaver deceiver”—a trapezoidal fence that angles out and away from the mouth of a culvert, discouraging beavers from damming. The design was developed by Vermont wildlife biologist Skip Lisle. Beaver deceivers have proven successful in protecting culverts in Washington state; Lisle also partnered with Missoula ecologist Amy Chadwick to install such a structure near Butte last year.

Poten adds that Footloose—which intends to push its own anti-trapping ballot initiative in 2016—may also help the Lee Metcalf refuge by installing fencing around several larger cottonwoods to protect them from beavers.

Not only is the reserve doing the right thing, (albeit reluctantly) the reporter is entirely accurate and well informed! Get the champagne, this sounds like a total victory! unless….

While Reed does feel a beaver deceiver could aid maintenance in certain areas, he says it won’t solve problems with beavers refuge-wide. The refuge’s mandate is to manage for migratory birds. It may not be his preferred option, but Reed says trapping “is a management option we’ll continue to evaluate.”

Ahhh, what was it that Hamlet said?

For virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it

Which basically means that Mr. Reed may look a little bit smarter about beavers when people are watching, but he’s still massively uninformed so keep his Montana feet to the fire.

Yesterday I dutifully made space for miles of new kit footage on my computer by installing not one, but two TBs of space. The beavers decided not to reward me with a kit yet, but they did think I was worthy of grooming footage, which I’ve never gotten in 7 years of beaver watching. So I’m pretty happy. In fact, eagle eye Jon just called me to announce that you can see teats in this footage, so that’s mom! Look above where her paw is.

The family is still in full force, and the secondary dam is amazingly maintained.

We counted six beavers last night- as many as four at once! They are obviously trying to secure the area, but two tail slaps meant no kits for us. There is so much traffic on the bridge, including two rottweilers, four bicycles and a baby, because the beavers are so visible. I was jealous for the lonely days of winter. I’m starting to wish there was a librarian saying SHHHHHH at each end because I don’t want anything to spook them!

Grooming on the dam – Photo Cheryl Reynolds 2014

Great news yesterday. Martinez Kiwanis generously sent a check for the beaver festival, and Hornblower cruises donated two dining cruises to our silent auction! I hope you’re saving up!

Beaver Telephone

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Who's Killing Beavers Now? May 28, 2014

Russia: Beaver dam causes road to cave in

Engineers in the Sverdlovsk region first thought a pipe under the road had collapsed, washing it away, Moscow’s NTV television reported. But during the repair work, it soon became clear the culprits were beavers who had blocked the pipe while building a dam. The weight of water trying to get through the pipe apparently caused the road to collapse, opening up a 4m (13 ft) pit in the middle of the route.

One expert tells the ITAR-TASS news agency the disruption was probably caused by younger beavers. “Young individuals build dams and settle in new places,” biologist Pavel Kosintsev says. “There’s only one way to protect communications from these animals – put iron bars over the pipes.”

Huh?

Do you ever get the feeling that we are playing an elaborate game of telephone, where we whisper a solution in someone’s ear and by the time it reaches the end of the line the message is ridiculous? Like the statement started as “beaver deceivers protect culverts” and ended up as “install bars to keep beavers from communicating with each other”.

beavers behind bars — Beavers Behind Bars – HP

Well, the communication problem must also have happened with the “beaver” photo the BBC ran with the article, because the beaver photo I’m certain is an otter (and Megan of the River Otter Ecology center confirms it). It’s a lovely photo, with a beautiful reflection, just not of the right species. And the reflection means its wrong TWICE. They bought it from Getty images, so many more people should be making that mistake soon.

Now for the cream. Fun news this morning from our beaver friend Willy de Koning in the Netherlands. Turn your sound up and get ready for a treat! I especially love the “reach”, which was amongst the funnest days I ever spent watching our beavers in Martinez.

Thanks Willy for an enjoyable reminder that beavers should make us all happy! She recently published a book on her adventures called ‘Avonden aan de waterkant;’ (Evenings at the waterside).

I can’t leave without some final thoughts for the sad news this morning. The world is a little bit darker now that her light has gone out.

Beaver Swat Team

heidi08 Beavers May 27, 2014

Last night was amazing as at least five beavers constantly prowled the pond for safety ostensibly to make sure they could let the kits out. Obviously it required the entire family for assurance patrol. Including last years kits, Dad, Mom, and uncle. It was an amazing display of the collective beaver family. They even patrolled “UNDER” the water! Watch this line of bubbles.

Everyone wanted in on the action. And I mean everyone.

After a crowded half hour if watching, and us chomping at the bit,, sure the kits were coming out any minute, Dad gave a tail slap under the bridge to something we couldn’t see. And the whole show was over. Over! The beavers took off one by one over the secondary dam. And we went dejectedly home.