Month: January 2015

New Jersey reconsiders old legislation

S2492

Removes statutory limitation on number of permits that may be issued by Division of Fish and Wildlife for the taking of beaver. The Division of Fish and Wildlife may issue up to and not exceeding 200 permits in any one calendar year

In addition to the general permitting authority provided by this section, the Division of Fish and Wildlife may, in its discretion, issue permits to owners or lessees of land to control beavers that are destroying [said] the property.

Beaver trapping could be expanded in New Jersey

What might be good news for trappers across New Jersey could also be bad news for the state’s beaver population. Legislation under consideration in the state Senate would eliminate the 200-limit cap on beaver trapping licenses. The legislation, though, calls for a limit of five beavers per permit and sets fines for violating the measure starting at $100, with a $200 maximum.

Supporters of the bill say it’s necessary to help the state manage beaver populations. The Control Operators Association estimates New Jersey has around 10 million to 15 million beavers, mostly concentrated in the northwest part of the state.

Wow. That’s AMAZING 15,000,000 beavers in a small section of a state the size of a postage stamp is one big problem! I’m sorry to say it, but this explosive problem won’t be fixed by writing a few more permits. 15,000,000 beavers in a state with 1300 square miles of water is a national disaster. It’s going to have to be solved by military strikes and the navy. The population of HUMANS in new Jersey n the 2013 census was only around 8.9 million. In order for that to be true you’d have to have over 11,000 beaver per square mile of water. That’s pretty crowded!

Like penguin colony crowded.

Or I guess you might be exaggerating. You know, flat out lying to justify your case so that this reach-around for your trapper friends seems justified. Or maybe the reporter wrote down the facts wrong. We know that ~~never~~ (always) happens.

If all this is sounding vaguely familiar, it should. Because the honorable Mr. Sweeney has been trying to ram this bill through the legislature for as long as I’ve been on the beaver beat. Here’s what I wrote about it in 2013.

Congress may be unable to pass a background check, a budget or a resolution for more stalls in the ladies restroom, but a bipartisan group of state senators in New Jersey has decided that the old rule declaring that the division of fish and wildlife can only issue 200 depredation permits for beavers per year is insufficient to the numbers of beavers that need killing in the state. Remember that the state is the fifth smallest in the entire country and about the size of a postage stamp.

The white hats are on the case, and sent me an alert earlier in the week even before this hit the papers. Hopefully they’ll be able to slow this down, or just challenge the lies enough to make one legislator turn tail (so to speak). The whole thing is on the floor monday morning.

Monday January 12

Senate Environment and Energy Meeting 10:00 AM Committee Room 10, 3rd Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, NJ

Chair: Sen. Smith, Bob

The paper points out that trapper Frank Speicker doesn’t want us to worry.

Spiecker added that, if managed well, beavers can be a renewable resource. Plus, he said, they’re not easy to trap, frequently outsmarting trappers.

“Sometimes they win completely,” he said.

Ahem.

If you’re not quite reassured, you can send your letters here to the chair and vice chair of Environment and Energy here. And then let’s just sit back and enjoy the thought of what it would mean to really have 1500000 beavers in every state.

“We’ve never seen anything like this”

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Who's blaming beavers now? January 9, 2015

Apparently this was such an unexpected calamity in Woodinville that there are no fewer than 20 articles on the subject this morning. Traffic stopped because of an actual beaver blocking an actual culvert! That ~~never~~ (always) happens! I suppose this beaver built his dam far inside the culvert, where it was harder to remove. (Pretty smart actually. More privacy AND protection). Valiant Washington Transportation Crews worked all day using grappling hooks and security lines. Reporters stood by faithfully reporting on their every progress. “He’s inside the pipe. We have first contact”.

Honesstly, you would think they were free climbing El Capitan’s Dawn Wall.

At least its not as bad as Hamilton, Ontario where, out of the blue, unexpected beavers are suddenly taking established trees for no reason at all!

MAHONEY: A trail of beaver dam-age

The beaver finds many trees at hand. Along the Waterfront Trail, for instance. So now we have a problem; not so horribly divisive as, say, the one-way/two-way street debate over which Hamilton families have torn themselves asunder, but it’s a puzzler. We’re losing arbour by the harbour-ful.

“He’s incredible,” says John Smith, half admiringly, half resentfully, pointing out a bare patch in the beautiful screen of trees between trail path and water.

“Look at the gap he’s cleared away.”

I count 12 stumps in a four-metre stretch, but everywhere along the trail one finds ample evidence of the beaver’s xylophagic efficiency (sit back down; it means “wood-eating”).

Beavers chewing trees in winter? Say it isn’t so! I mean you cover the beaver beat for a few years, and you think you’ve hardened to the horror of it all. You think nothing can penetrate that thick skin you’ve developed after all the damage and brutalization. But then something like this happens and just throws everything into chaos.

First the culvert, and now this!

There must be some way to solve this problem. Some clue to a solution. But where? The article kindly mentions that walkers like the beavers so killing them isn’t an option. But what else can they do? If there was only some indication of a solution that they could go on, just some hint or shred of evidence of what might possibly work,

Too bad the article was only published with this ole’ photo.

BUSY BEAVERS John Rennison,The Hamilton Spectator John Smith marvels at the work of our national emblem, the beaver. But as an avid user of our water front trail, he's noticed a drastic decrease in the tree population along the shore and islands of the trail because of beaver damage.

What will we do with the other four hours?

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers and Birds, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Educational, Environmental, Who's Killing Beavers Now?, Who's saving beavers now? January 8, 2015

American Beaver Special for 20 Hours Straight

American Beaver Airs from 7 a.m. Monday,

Feb. 2, 2015, to 3 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2015

(WASHINGTON, D.C. – Jan. 7, 2015) The groundhog is a big player on its big day, appearing for a few seconds on Groundhog Day to tell us how long winter will last, then disappearing for an entire year. Now Nat Geo WILD gives another member of the rodent family its due, dedicating an entire day to the American Beaver. In the grand tradition of Bill Murray’s classic holiday movie Groundhog Day, Nat Geo WILD will replay its American Beaver special for 20 hours straight, airing from 7 a.m. Monday, Feb. 2, 2015, to 3 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 3. (For more information, visit natgeowild.com and follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/NGC_PR.)

Just 20 hours? How will we occupy ourselves the other four? Oh, right. Follow that link on the left margin and watch Jari Osborn’s PBS documentary.

Twice.

It’s nice to see someone celebrating beaver. They certainly deserve it. And besides, we just found out that National Geographic has NEVER had a beaver on its cover. Ever. So they’re certainly due. If you’ve never seen “American Beaver” you’re in for treat. Here’s a glimpse but you can watch more snippets here:

You just know that they saw the PBS documentary and the NYTimes article and the AP article and thought, hmm how can we ride on these successful coattails?Well all I can say is it’s about time. Now if they would only cover this next kind of story. Too bad they don’t mean the OTHER kind of beaver bounty.

Increase in bounty brings more beavers

FOREST CITY, IA – More beaver tails have arrived at the Winnebago County Auditor’s Office the past several weeks since the county raised its bounty on beavers. Deputy auditor Kris Wempen said the county has paid about $600 in bounty since the bounty was raised to $50 on Oct. 28.

Beavers on the radio

heidi08 Beavers, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental, Who's Killing Beavers Now?, Who's saving beavers now? January 25, 2015

This is half of a great interview from CBC and half an ad campaign for the trapping industry. The best part is with Michael Runtz, who’s book is coming out any minute. The whole thing is an interesting study on the unlevel playing fields between people who know what they’re talking about and people who make stuff up with regards to beavers. Here’s B.S. central:

“If we could find a way to keep beaver away from those roads, we wouldn’t have to destroy them. But there’s no way they have found that they can do that yet,” said Barnes.

My posted comment

“If they could find a way?”

The ways of coexisting with beaver are known and documented, and expert Glynnis Hood located in his own province can install them. That makes as much sense as saying “If there were some way to look up for sure how to spell a word correctly, I would do it.

Anyone smarter than a beaver knows how and why to live with them.

Beavers impact on forest and industry ‘dam’ complicated

Balancing the impact of beavers and their dams on the ecosystem and industry is a complicated process, according to a retired Lakehead University biologist.

The comments from Don Barnes come after an Alberta mining company was fined $1,500 for destroying a dam near Savant Lake in northwestern Ontario.

‘It creates water’

“It creates water, where there wasn’t water before so ducks get in there, muskrats. And all those dead trees that are flooded, they become homes for the woodpecker and pine marten,” said Barnes

Michael Runtz said the beaver pools are also vital to the health of moose.

Runtz is a wildlife photographer and lecturer at Carleton University.

His latest book, ‘Dam Builders: A Natural History of Beavers and Their Ponds’, will be published in Feb. 2015.

Runtz said the edges of beaver ponds are the preferred habitat for many sodium-rich plants.

He said moose are particularly drawn to these salty treats.

Michael Runtz has written, and provided the photographs for the new book “Dam Builders: The Natural History of Beavers and Their Ponds.” It will be available on Feb. 1, 2015. (Carleton University)

“And I dare say, if we didn’t have beavers and beaver ponds in the boreal forest, we’d have a paucity of moose. Moose get most of their sodium from plants growing in beaver ponds.”

This is Michael’s book which Amazon assures me is coming out ANY DAY NOW. He is a good friend of Donna DuBreuil of the Ottawa-Carleton Wildlife Centre, and we’ve corresponded in the past. It makes me insane that this article didn’t talk to a single person who knows how to solve the problems beaver cause. It makes me insane that Michael didn’t say it himself or that if he said it they edited it out.

But I am very picky about this subject, and I guess having the discussion is dimly better than not having it.

In case you missed it last night, Leonard Houston gave a great beaver interview on KMUD’s Environment Show with Kelly Lincoln. I thought her questions were remarkably water-astute and realized she must have some Brock-Dolman based permaculture training in her recent past. She’s interviewing Kate Lundquist next week.

Oh and there was a special surprise caller you may recognize.

Beavers & the Public Trust

heidi08 Beavers and Birds, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Educational, Environmental January 5, 2015

Back in September Suzanne Fouty sent me an article from the Oregon Quarterly about the work of Mary Christina Woods and the concept of Natural Law and the Public Trust. I read through it and about the work of the Children’s Trust with fascination and saw clearly how important that argument might be for beavers down the road, but I couldn’t figure out how to begin sharing it with you. The bookmark stayed uselessly on my computer while I tried to think of where to start.

Bill Moyers, in the final show of his very consequential career, figured it out for me.

When we think of climate change, the idea seems so big and unfixably hopeless that most stop thinking very quickly. Mary Wood challenged that lethargy dramatically with her dynamic work, and it’s even more exciting to hear described in person. Find an hour in your day for this program and watch the entire thing. Really. It’s that good. But here are some money quotes from the transcript that will give you the basic platform.

Well, the heart of the approach is the public trust doctrine. And it says that government is a trustee of the resources that support our public welfare and survival. And so a trust means that one entity or person manages a certain wealth, an endowment, so to speak, for the benefit of others. And in the case of the public trust, the beneficiaries are the present and future generations of citizens. So it is a statement of, in essence, public property rights that have been known since Roman times.

In fact, this was articulated by the Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in a landmark public trust decision last year. And the decision basically overturned a statute that the Pennsylvania Legislature had passed to promote fracking. And the Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Chief Justice Castille, said this violates the public trust. And he began his opinion by saying that citizens hold inalienable environmental rights to assure the habitability of their communities.

And that these are ensconced in the social contract that citizens make with government. They cannot be alienated. They are inherent and reserved. So they are of a constitutional nature. And the point of the public trust is that the citizens hold these constitutional rights in an enduring natural endowment that is supposed to support all future generations of citizens in this country. It is so basic to democracy; in fact, the late Joseph Sax said the trust distinguishes a society of citizens from serfs.

Did you catch that? The people of this country are entitled to clean water and clean air and a liveable climate. Without these fundamental rights civic society as we know it becomes meaningless. This is the basic doctrine of the Public Trust, and what she has used so successfully in working with the Children’s Trust in Eugene OR. You don’t have to have a vivid imagination at all to immediately understand how this is important to beavers.

…environmental law held a lot of promise but that it’s not working, and that agencies have basically used it to allow almost unfettered destruction of our natural resources.

BILL MOYERS: What agencies are you talking about?

MARY CHRISTINA WOOD: Agencies that span the full realm of natural resources. So the US EPA, the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Corps of Engineers, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Marine Fisheries Service; you name it. There are dozens of agencies at the federal and state levels that control environmental resources. And they are supposed to represent the public interest and not corporations or moneyed interests in making those decisions. And we the public assume that the agencies are doing the right thing when they’re implementing environmental laws. Whereas in fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Agencies have become politicized creatures that largely serve industry.

Climate is not just an environmental issue. This is a civilizational issue. This is the biggest case that courts will get in terms of the potential harm in front of them, the population affected by that harm, and in terms of the urgency. Climate is mind-blowing. It can’t be categorized any longer as an environmental issue.

Remind me again why climate change has anything to do with beavers?