Month: June 2014

Graduation Day

heidi08 Beavers June 20, 2014

In the 60-plus years since the two naturalists drew up their beaver range maps, surprisingly little has changed in the state’s official outlook. For the most part, Castor canadensis is considered a non-native pest, and subject to state-permitted removal from backyard streams, or anywhere else people find it inconvenient.

But in a new paper recently published in the scientific journal California Fish and Game, a group of hobbyist and professional ecologists rethink Grinnell and Tappe’s assessment. They’ve compiled evidence from a wide range of digital and paper archives to show that beavers were once prevalent throughout most of California, including the entire San Francisco Bay Area.

Alison Hawkes, the online editor for bay nature, did an incredible job putting all this information together. I’m so excited this article got written and hope it inspires 5 more. You really should go read the whole thing, and then have some coffee and read it again: it’s that good.

If that notion could be disproved, maybe it would change the nature of the debate. In 2012, Perryman, Lanman and Brock Dolman from the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center’s Water Institute wrote their first paper reviewing the evidence for beavers in the Sierras.

Perryman founded the beaver advocacy group, Worth a Dam, to save from extermination a beaver family that had moved into a highly-visible pond outside a Starbucks coffee shop in downtown Martinez in 2007. City officials thought the beavers were a flood hazard and didn’t belong there. It’s a reaction that beavers get time and again, and is often legitimized with depredation permits. In 2013, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife issues 172 depredation permits, each one allowing the removal of multiple beavers on an individual site.

Well now those paragraphs made me happy. They sort of remind me of a Judy Garland and Micky Rooney movie, when the kids role up their sleeves and decide they they can clean the old barn to use as a stage for a show that will raise money for their cause. Regular people taking matters into their own hands. Doing it themselves. Plus, I’m always happy when Worth A Dam gets promoted and our hard work is noticed.

It is perhaps because of their longtime absence that beavers are so overlooked as a solution to today’s conservation problems. Need help restoring a wetland, or recharging groundwater? You could bring in a beaver. Does your river dry out for half the year? A beaver might fix that. Are you trying to bring back salmon populations, or red-legged frogs? Beavers.

I wish people had been talking about [this] when California declared drought this year,” said Perryman. “People need to be thinking about the animal that keeps water on the land as a resource.”

Oh my goodness, an article that says beavers used to be everywhere and we NEED them everywhere? Hand me the smelling salts, I feel faint. I dreamed this day would come, but I never really believed we’d get here. Oh and this is my very favorite part, the part where I know I personally made a difference and changed the conversation for the better:

mud[1] — As beavers bring up mud, they diversify the habitat for invertebrates on the pond floor, and set the stage for a thriving food web. Photo: Cheryl Reynolds/Worth A Dam

*Sniff. She really listened.*

Maybe if they are flooded with comments Bay Nature will realize this needs to be in the print edition. Go tell them what you think.

What RSPB really means…

heidi08 Beavers and Birds, Beavers elsewhere, Environmental, Who's saving beavers now? June 19, 2014

Guess who is supporting the reintroduction of beavers in Scotland now? Only the biggest environmental organization in the country, that’s who.

RSPB favours further releases of beavers

RSPB Scotland offered some of its own 80 nature reserves as potential sites following last month’s conclusion of the Scottish Beaver Trial, run by Scottish Wildlife Trust and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, in Knapdale Forest in Argyll.

The beavers, which began to be introduced five years ago, now range over a territory equivalent to 120 football pitches. Between May 2009 and September 2010 16 Eurasian beavers were released in the woodland, near Lochgilphead.

Duncan Orr-Ewing, head of species and land management at RSPB Scotland, said: “Beavers are incredible mammals that have an important role to play in our countryside. We urge the Scottish Government to make way for further projects to bring this remarkable species back to our countryside.“

Not only is RSPB lending their support to beavers, they’re lending their extensive preserves all across the country! If the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds becomes the Regional Spokesmen for the Promotion of Beavers, hold onto your hats. We are in for an AWESOME year!

For those of you following along at home, let’s just review just some of the ways beavers help birds:

Increase fish and frog population which feeds water fowl
Augment invertebrate community to feed songbirds & waterfowl.
Restore plant complexity to benefit all birds.
Create flooded and dead trees for obligate nestors.
Promote coppicing to create dense and bushy new growth for nesting.

We should all be very happy that twitchers support beavers. It means not only can we expect the beavers in Scotland to be welcomed with open willow, we can bet we will see them soon in England. Thanks RSPB!

The Gem State’s real gem

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers elsewhere, Educational, Environmental, Festival, Who's saving beavers now? June 18, 2014

The next big beaver struggle won’t happen in Whistler or the Adirondacks – it is starting right now in Idaho. The issue is trapping on public land, and the playing field is constantly growing. Monday I chatted with Mike Settel in Pocatello who is planning the first ever Idaho beaver festival to teach folk about how and why to live with beavers!

He’s working for a 2-day event in September on USFS land that is focused around music. A beaver dam jam! It will have exhibits and booths and hikes to various beaver sites. Of course the location used to be the site of actual beavers, but they were killed by trapping. I told him he needs signs saying “this is where the beavers aren’t.” and “this is where there are no big fish because the beavers aren’t here to maintain their dams anymore.” You get the idea. He is planning to have folks take a pledge not to harm the beavers if they go on a hike to an active lodge.

We talked about sponsors and crowds and restrooms and event insuranc; about art projects, jam contests, adult quizzes, raffles and maps. We talked about allies and helpers and I made sure to give him the most valuable tool of all that has sustained me lo, these many years.

Remember that Mike isn’t a lone voice in the wilderness. He got a 5000 dollar grant last year from Audubon for doing a beaver cont, and found 75 volunteers to help him make it happen. There’s the Lorax and his merry men, Ralph Maughan who wrote about how the Idaho fires would have been lessened if there were enough beavers on the land. And don’t forget this columnist from the Idaho Statesman:

Ask Zimo: Beavers are common in Idaho, but seeing them is rare

Q: My mom and I were at the family cabin in Garden Valley this weekend when she noticed an unusual rock that turned out to be a beaver. We were very surprised by the sighting and wanted to share the photos. Wondering if this is a rare sighting; we’ve never seen wild beavers anywhere.

TAYLOR TODD, via-email

A: Beavers are not rare in Idaho, but seeing them is rare. That’s because they are nocturnal. Consider yourself lucky to get photos of one during the day. That’s great.

What a critter. Beavers are considered one of the most important animals for the ecosystem.

The neat thing about this busy animal is its work in rehabilitating streams, the brushy areas along waterways and for creating wetlands that are important for fish, waterfowl, reptiles and other wildlife. Their work in building dams helps slow down runoff and preventing erosion.

I love fishing a creek where there are beaver dams and pools hiding brook trout. That’s some of the best fishing around.

Good point! I can’t think of many better selling points in trap-happy Idaho than mentioning that living beavers make conditions that sustain more fish, duck, otter, mink and moose. I’m not a fan of trapping because I generally think it’s easier to take a life than to make one, but if folks will respect the voice of a trapper who became a dedicated beaver believer, I suggest they read this:

He started with two beavers, a dry, over-trapped landscape, and a whispered directive from a crazy native grandma. If you never read this book, you really should. Buy a used copy or read it online here.

Everything old is new again…

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Who's Killing Beavers Now? June 17, 2014

Beaver Attack pulls man off kayak

Click to watch news clip of beaver attack in NY that put one man in the hospital.

Rochester, N.Y. – A beaver jumped out of Irondequoit Creek and attacked a man in a kayak, knocking him into the water last Tuesday. The victim, Michael Cavanaugh of Lima, N.Y. is recovering after being treated in the hospital for bite wounds on his back and deep puncture wounds on his arm. He is also being treated for rabies as a precaution. BayCreek Paddling Center trainer Nate Reynolds saw part of the attack.

And it starts…

I saw this last night and it was picked up by UPI this morning, so we should all get ready for another Belarussian run as every news outlet from Concord California to Caribou Maine covering the excitement. Brace yourself for comments like this,

Beaver are not friendly critters and there have been a few people killed by them. I forget if the Beaver got lucky by biting an artery or if I read that they GO for arteries but people have been attacked and bled to death.

Hahahaha! I know its sick and wrong but the idea of beavers going for arteries makes me laugh very much indeed. Do they keep a copy of Grey’s anatomy in their lodge? I couldn’t help thinking of this famous Monty Python sketch. The lumberjack at the end adds that special touch.

Well beavers ARE protecting their young at the moment. (So much so that in Martinez we weren’t even granted a glimpse of the little bugger last night, I didn’t realize they were actually letting us off easy.) We were lucky. Apparently in New Jersey they’re lunging onto the shores.

Couple says they were attacked by beaver in Watchung

Beware the mad beaver of Lake Surprise.

Karen and Barry Rubinstein were enjoying a stroll by the picturesque lake, nestled in Union County’s Watchung Reservation, last Tuesday when they noticed a head popping out of the water.

The creature spotted the Rubinsteins and set its sights on the shoreline.

“It’s bee-lining, I mean, this thing is swimming right at us,” Karen Rubinstein said.

The animal, which she estimated weighed as much as 40 pounds, came flopping out of the water, its teeth bared and its webbed feet moving as fast as they could manage.

The couple, who live in Summit, started running toward their car when a jogger warned them the animal could get hurt if it chased them into the road.

lake-surprise.jpgThe boat launch at Lake Surprise, which was the scene of last week’s animal attack.Tom Wright-Piersanti/The Star-Ledger

Karen Rubinstein jumped onto a nearby bench and saw her husband cut back toward the lake when the animal suddenly lunged, missing him by inches. After almost chomping Barry’s leg, it scurried back into the water.

If it’s true (and I’m not saying it is) it’s fairly remarkable that they listened to the jogger’s advice. I mean if a terrifying animal was lunging at ME I sure wouldn’t be overly worried about it getting hit by a car. Would you? And how long does it take for a jogger to size up the situation, see the attacker and the victims and guess their destination, and say “Don’t lure him out to the road or he might get hit.” (Was the jogger the president of PETA?) “Make sure he attacks you someplace safe, or he could get hurt!”

Anyway all that must take a pretty long time which means a pretty slow lunge even for a beaver.

Clearly the jogger was not as alarmed as these people were. Are there illegal substances that make you irrationally paranoid of rodents? Will there possibly be blood or urine tests involved?

The park manager explained there were no beavers in the lake nor sign of trees chewed. Otters, however, had been spotted recently.

Still, Karen Rubinstein, who studied forestry at Rutgers University for several years, insisted the creature she saw was a beaver based on its feet, its tail and its size.

“There’s no other animal it could be, unless it was an alien invasion,” she said.

I’m going with that explanation, Karen. Makes the most sense to me. _________________________________________________

More envy-producing adorableness from Rusty in Napa. Turn your volume UP. How’s this for a mother and child reunion?

Awwww…

History repeats itself…

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers elsewhere June 16, 2014

Why does everyone in the world get cute evening beaver footage before me? Jon saw is seeing our little peanut at 5:00 am before he goes to work, but that hardly counts. This is from Rusty Cohn in Napa. Not only does he get two little kits to film in the leisurely evening hours, his footage has no background train sounds, no garbage trucks, and no homeless drunks arguing. It’s not remotely fair – but it’s still adorable.

You can tell him so yourself in person when he comes to table at our beaver festival this year! He and Hank Miller (the photographer) will be representing the Napa beavers together. They need a name. Maybe you can help them think of one? Wine country beavers. Vintage beavers. Vines and Beavers. Fine Whines from beavers. Hey I like that last one. It’s fun, you should play.

I can remember the first time Jon and I tabled at the John Muir Earth Day event in 2008. They gave us the table and we brought Moses’ chew, some photos, books, a scrapbook with three pages filled, and the handbook I had put together for the subcommittee. On the way there it occurred to me to stop and buy some cheap pens and paper from the drug store so that we could have kids draw beavers. What a good idea that turned out to be.

Later in the day we got lucky and FRO came to paint the watercolor she was finishing for me. It still hangs in our living room. (Along with that tablecloth btw.)

I hope she in joyed her time sitting in the sun, because we were never to give her that particular afternoon off at again!

Well Rusty and Hank have their work cut out for them, but we’ll make sure they have everything they need, and lots of friends on hand to help out. In the meantime Cheryl can keep us happy with lovely beaver photos like this, taken the other night when we were waiting for the ROYAL KIT to grant us an audience.