No rest for the beaver-y. Now I have 6 whole days to get ready for my upcoming talk at SARSAS next monday. SARSAS stands for Save Auburn Ravine for Salmon and Steelhead. I met the founder/director Jack Sanchez at the Salmonid restoration conference in Santa Barbara last year, and he asked me to be part of the dynamic and packed list of speakers they host. (In fact he mentioned that they already had a beaver expert but she wasn’t very positive about them, and I knew at ONCE who he meant.
Jack accompanied me to the meeting we had with CDFW last November after a review of depredation permits showed Placer issued 9 times more permits than anywhere else in the state. I am thrilled to be marching boldly into enemy lines to deliver the beaver gospel. We might even have a few friendly faces at the meeting as Sherry, Ted, and Janet aren’t far away.
I’ll relax when we get the TIME CORRECTED. (Sheesh!) And if it’s not corrected I’ll just stay there and give the talk again to anyone who shows up! In the meantime I am busily working on graphics for the talk. I especially like this one. Don’t you? The background is the beloved drawing of a series of dams in a gorge from Morgan’s book. Overlaid with swirling column of fish.
Nice video from Rusty this morning of beavers eating their spring diet. Enjoy!
Yesterday was a bright sunny blur of Earth Day fun. Rusty from Napa started out by coming to our house at 8 am to help unload the car, and we were settled in our comfy spot by nine. Our first totem makers were an entire family that each made a figure for one totem they were going to give to Grandma later. The day just got more inspiring from there, as kids chose a favorite animal or design to embellish highly personal totems. Throughout the day and everywhere in the park they were visible. And one creative soul even taped the tube upright on her hat!
One of the best things about a project like this was the look of deep concentration visible on the children’s faces as they worked on their vision. They seemed to shut out all the disruptions and just work on their ideas. No computer screens or watching their neighbor. Just deeply meditative art. The biggest obstacle was always time, as parents wanted them to hurry up and finish. But you can see their concentration was unhurried, and deeply powerful. As always Chery’s lovely photos treat those moments with the deep respect they deserve. See for yourself.
There were lots of appreciative comments about winning the beaver battle, questions about the current family and sympathetic voices about wildlife in general. I even found a few good ears to listen to our tree drama, including our newest city council member who was very alarmed. (I figure if the city didn’t want me to talk about this with 2000 people they wouldn’t have done it right before Earth day, am I wrong?)Beth Pratt-Bergstom of the National Wildlife Federation was the keynote speaker and she and her husband stopped by to swap appreciations and friendly wildlife banter. She will be at the beaver festival this year and he will dress up in a Ranger Rick costume. We even discussed his alternating as a beaver! She had a life size cutout of the famous LA mountain lion P-22 and we couldn’t help but do this.
Megan Isador of the River Otters dropped by soon after, getting ready for her award. She introduced me to a wonderful volunteer who had baked 600 cookies for their welcome back otter event. I told her to be very careful because there was a powerful magnet under the table and we just happened to have a beaver cookie cutter. Megan laughingly scolded me and pulled her away to safety!
The totem project was a great success and at least 100 children managed to craft their own tribal vision of wildlife. Each one came out perfectly, as you can see here:
We sold many wildlife scarves and offered beaver solutions to folks as far away as Lincoln, but my very favorite part of the day was when John Muir stopped by at the end to chat about beavers and Enos Mills. I managed to bring up our tree story and he told me that for years upon years he has visited classrooms at Earth Day and planted giant sequoias with children. In nearly every instance those trees had been pulled up by administers shortly thereafter who had redwood-phobia. Only one such tree had survived but was still standing after 40 years!
I guess if it even happens to John Muir too, we shouldn’t feel so bad.
Drop some pocket money in their jar so they know for sure that saving beavers matter. I did and got a nice letter last night asking for more tools to educate the public about their value. I know money is tight and it’s earth day, but fergawdsake those kits are dam cute and two years is a long time. Tell them you you want to support the beavers!
Yesterday in Martinez was a rollercoaster starting when Jon went down to the creek an saw that ALL OUR PLANTED STAKES WERE PULLED OUT an neatly piled. The cages gone!
11:30 am
Those stakes had been pounded hard into the soil so I knew this wasn’t the work of the beavers or the homeless. I called Tim Tucker, the city council, and notified the Americorp Interns so they could call Tim too. Then I called channel 7 news and said that the stakes they had filmed us planting on March 28th had all been pulled out.
Shortly there after I got a slightly more trusted member of public works who said he had been worried about the stakes being too close to the water, called some guys and pulled them ALL UP. But he’d been talking to Tim and ‘don’t worry THEY just put them ALL BACK”. Including the cages and the rods to keep them secure. And he loved the beavers! And told public works in Benicia about Skips’ flow device!
3:30 pm
They and their cages were all returned. Some planted upside down, barely in the soil, and not watered. Meanwhile Tim called the interns and calmed them down with similar language. Although at no time did anyone explain why, if some of the stakes were too near the water, they took ALL OF THEM.
I realized after that we had all been effectively Cindy Loo-hooed. Something obviously triggered their removal (I have my theory) and after their removal someone realized ripping them out was a mistake (Or channel 7 inquired), and the Grinches came and patted our heads and told us all to go back to sleep. I felt the same internal pressure not to seem to rudely incredulous when I knew I was being lied to as I did every moment of my time on the beaver subcommittee. In a way it’s comforting to recognize that the city has not changed an ounce in 8 years. Everyone always thinks I’m exaggerating.
To be fair: They didn’t remove ALL the stakes. Only the ones in danger of living.
Saving grace of a thuggy day. Riley of the SF waterboard called on her way out of town and said that she was committed to this project, would put pressure on the city and we’d get MORE interns and ANOTHER PLANTING in the fall!
So there Grinches! Now come to Earth Day! The earth and spirit of John Muir need us!
What a great article from Troy Alabama. I won’t say of all places because Alabama is the site of the most important fine EVER for removing a beaver dam and destroying the habitat of the rare watercress darter. Looks like the city of Troy learned nothing from their northern cousin’s misfortune.
The city of Troy tore down a beaver dam beside McKinley Drive near the walkway that connects the Edge apartment complex to campus.
Vaughn Daniels, environmental services director for the city of Troy, said the city worked with the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to make sure the dam removal was environmentally safe.
The beavers were not killed, Daniels said. According to Daniels, the dam was a threat to the road.
After the beaver dam was removed, the pond it created drained.
Members of Troy University’s Environmental Club moved animals from the remains of the pond to the Lagoon.
“In one day out there doing a visual survey, we saw 3-foot grass carp, sunfishes, red-winged blackbirds, belted kingfishers, musk turtles, pond sliders, gray and green tree frogs, Eastern garter snakes, as well as a huge female great horned owl,” said Tanner Stainbrook, a senior ecology and field biology major from Huntsville and a member of the Environmental Club, in an email.
Members of the Environmental Club have voiced concern about the effects tearing down the dam will have on the area. “The big thing is that this eliminated the major wetland ecosystem in the area,” Stainbrook said. “This mud hole, in two days, will be just that. There’ll be no water left.”
Group members said they were concerned that this may harm the great horned owl’s habitat, as the owl fed on the frogs in the pond.
A university, an environmental club, and a sympathetic reporter. Something tells me these beavers might be making a splash. I spent time yesterday tracking all the major players so I could make sure they new about solutions and consequences of dam removal. I haven’t heard anything back, but I’m hopeful. And it gave me a new idea for responding to these stories. Since we review every beaver report that’s written every year, we may as well give notice to the best and the worst beaver articles of each caagory. Gradually notify contenders that they’re in the running and pick the winners in January. I already got Robin excited about the idea and she’s going to help! I took the liberty of inspiring myself for the project with some graphics this morning. Hahaha! Aren’t they fun?
A less pleasant article came out of Norway yesterday about one of the many hazards of beaver life. It’s nice to see it written about respectfully though (except for the headline).
The unlucky beaver trapped under a birch. Photo: Beate Strøm Johansen
A beaver in Norway has been crushed to death after misjudging which way the tree it was gnawing down was going to fall.
Beate Strøm Johansen, a Zoologist at the Agder Natural History museum in Kristiansand on the southern tip of Norway, was called to the scene after a local logger stumbled upon the unfortunate animal.
“This beaver has been extremely unlucky,” she told The Local. “I hope it’s not something that happens very often for the beavers’ sake.”
Johansen said that beavers normally have an uncanny ability to predict when and where a tree is likely to fall.
“When the tree is falling they have to jump aside so the tree doesn’t hit them. Instinctively, they should know where it is falling, but sometimes they don’t know which way to jump,” she explained.
I might be strange, but it seems almost kind of sweet to read this article. As if it mattered that a beaver was killed by a tree when we all know sooo many are killed on purpose. Yes trees are unpredictable, and I’m not sure beavers have any uncanny abilities to know where they’re falling except practice and luck. As the old saying goes, that which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
Now it’s time to invite you to the birthday Earthday event at John Muir tomorrow. The event information is here for you to print. The guest speaker is going to be Beth Pratt for the wildlife federation, the winner of the conservationist of the year is going to be our friend Camilla Fox, and the non-profit of the year is going to be our friends at the River Otter Ecology Project. My congressman is getting a lifetime legacy award, which we hope he will be able to pick up in person. At the moment my office is literally surrounded with art supplies for our ‘build your own totem’ project. Rusty from Napa is coming to help with our booth and 57 other environmental exhibits will be on hand to celebrate the day. Plus Frank Helling as John Muir, which is sooo appealing. Whatever your planning tomorrow stop right now and plan to come. It will be an amazing day.
My graphic for the award winners will be a big sign. The background is Muir’s letter to Enos Mills congratulating him on his conservation work and inviting him to the house. See for yourself.
A new protocol for dealing with wildlife conflicts at local conservation areas will leave beavers at Fifty Point alone unless they wreak major havoc.
Set to go to Hamilton Conservation Authority directors for approval in May, the protocol only allows lethal trapping as a last resort in cases where beavers are a significant threat to health and safety, property or the natural environment.
Directors placed a moratorium on lethal trapping last May after a Fifty Point neighbour’s discovery of a dead muskrat and injured snapping turtle in two beaver traps in the park’s trout pond created a public outcry.
He said if beavers aren’t creating an immediate flood risk, park staff will simply monitor their impact and if necessary consider habitat modifications, like fencing trees and modifying culverts so they can’t be blocked.
If beavers have built a dam that is a flood threat, depending on the situation the authority may remove it or try less intrusive measures, like installing a flow device to restore normal water levels, the told the authority’s conservation advisory board.
“Humane, lethal trapping is the last resort if you’ve got acute significant issues and the other approaches you’ve tried are not successful,” Stone said. “Generally, our preference is to leave wildlife alone.”
Go Hamilton! Fifty Point is an actual place, for a while I was reading this headline as if it meant fifty beavers at point! I had to hunt all over to find who’s responsible for this bit of beaver magic, but it turns out Hamilton is the home town of the Digital Director of content and the voice behind the radio at Fur Bearer Defenders, Michael Howie. So I’m not at all surprised they could will this into happening. Here’s their article on the victory.
The issue arose last year when a resident was out for a walk and came across a muskrat and an at-risk snapping turtle in beaver traps. The Fur-Bearers (and our wonderful supporters) spoke with the media, the Conservation Authority, and local politicians about non-lethal solutions following that news; it would appear the decision makers liked what they heard.
Last night I received the completely unexpected request for photo use from Demitrios Kouzios, a dedicated Cubs fan from Chicago who said he tweeted a beaver picture from our website and wanted to pay for its use. The photo was this, (hahaha) which I replied wasn’t ours, wasn’t a beaver and wasn’t even alive. Which he was thrilled to hear. He thanked me heartily and this morning donated $100 to Worth A Dam! Go Cubs!
Then Robin of Napa pointed me to me this article on wildlife and traffic in the chronicle, reporting a study by the very group we featured this week. It also tells you where the danger spots are here in the Bay Area.
Californians, with their famous love of the highway, tend to run over a lot of animals — raccoons, deer, desert iguana. But the danger for road-crossing critters may be rising with the drought.
A UC Davis study released Wednesday, which seeks to promote safety for both wildlife and motorists, identifies stretches of California asphalt where the most animals have been hit — and where more are likely to die in the baking sun as they extend their ranges in search of water.
Finally, in case you forgot to watch Nature last night there was unbelievably adorable footage of beaver kits in the lodge in winter. You will miss out on something truly special if you don’t go watch it right now. Beavers appear at the beginning and the end (the Alpha and the Omega as it were) but it’s all good. Ann Prum did a great job, although not better than our friend Jari Osborne who was prescient enough to just focus on beavers! Enjoy!
The quality of mercy is not strained;It droppeth as the gentle rain from heavenUpon the place beneath. It is twice blest;It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
Merchant of Venice, ACT IV: Scene 1
No rest for the beaver-y. Now I have 6 whole days to get ready for my upcoming talk at SARSAS next monday. SARSAS stands for Save Auburn Ravine for Salmon and Steelhead. I met the founder/director Jack Sanchez at the Salmonid restoration conference in Santa Barbara last year, and he asked me to be part of the dynamic and packed list of speakers they host. (In fact he mentioned that they already had a beaver expert but she wasn’t very positive about them, and I knew at ONCE who he meant.
Jack accompanied me to the meeting we had with CDFW last November after a review of depredation permits showed Placer issued 9 times more permits than anywhere else in the state. I am thrilled to be marching boldly into enemy lines to deliver the beaver gospel. We might even have a few friendly faces at the meeting as Sherry, Ted, and Janet aren’t far away.
Nice video from Rusty this morning of beavers eating their spring diet. Enjoy!
