Month: May 2015

Patagonia Beaver Paranoia

heidi08 Beaver Chewing, Beaver News, Who's blaming beavers now?, Who's Killing Beavers Now? May 6, 2015

On a mid week morning where news is slow, I have to ask myself, honestly. Am I ready for another beaver alarm from South America? This time on PRI for god’s sake. It is stunning to me that after everything that’s been done to the region from military coups, massive burning, agricultural campaigns that destroyed native plants, and ripping out trees at an alarming rate to plant soya for biofuels – we have the gall to blame BEAVERS for destruction in South America.

It’s open season on Patagonia’s voracious, disruptive … beavers?

Even furry, seemingly friendly creatures like beavers can become big problems when dropped into an ecosystem with no predators to keep them in balance.

That’s what happened in Patagonia, where the busy dam-builders are profoundly changing the once-pristine region that spans the southern ends of Chile and Argentina.

In 1946, 25 pairs of Canadian beavers were brought to Patagonia to kickstart a fur industry. That business didn’t take off, but the beavers flourished; there are now about 100,000 beavers in Patagonia that don’t belong there.

They’ve completely changed the entire ecology of the region,” says Derek Mead, editor-in-chief of Motherboard, a digital magazine and video channel.

The industrious beavers have chewed down trees and diverted rivers, reshaping the area’s river system. That’s a useful function in their normal habitat, but in Patagonia, they’ve turned beech forests into barren wastelands. The trees, cut down to stumps by the beavers, can’t regenerate or hold onto the soil. Rains and heavy flooding erode the soil, turning a previously dense forest and tight river into an open pit, Mead says.

Lets start with “no natural predators”. I understand since they are 5000 miles away from their natural predators they are not likely to get eaten by a bear. But hmm I wonder if there are any predators in Argentina and Chile that might like a little exotic beaver meat? Let me just check what’s around there, “87% of South America’s carnivore population occur in Argentina”. The maned wolf for one, and a variety of others. This book outlines seven species of carnivores living in the Pampas. Not to mention a dozen different kind of Caiman (crocodiles) that can be found anywhere there’s water. And let’s not forget those in that Youtube video. I guess no “natural predators” but a host of “unnatural” ones. And It’s not like beavers can offer much self defense.

Seven years ago they were whining that the beavers had grown SO LARGE in South America that they were eating FISH. Seriously. At least they seem to have stopped that nonsense. Now they are paying anyone to hunt them and selling the meat in local restaurants. I’ve been in the beaver biz for so long, I already wrote about it in 2008.

Never mind. Go ahead. Blame the beavers for everything that’s wrong in your lopsided countries. I admit they don’t belong there. And everyone deserves a scapegoat.

Oh and if you don’t think the PRI article and film is stupid enough for me to complain about, check out the comments on Youtube. Grr.

To Beaver or not to Beaver…

heidi08 Beavers May 5, 2015

It was unavoidable of course. It had to be done.

Lots of beaver news in the world this morning, mostly ripping out dams in Minnesota or Peche Island but the most fun beaver news comes from our old friend Patti Smith in Vermont, beloved author of the beavers of Popple’s Pond and friend of this website. If you haven’t read her book yet, you should.

View from Heifer Hill: The seasons of life of a beaver

It is a strange season to be contemplating ecline, but I am doing that too. My pondside companion, Willow the beaver, seems unaware of her diminished status and condition. She looks as content as ever, her big belly against the good warm earth, her eyes closed as she eats. She isn’t concerned that she is blind in one eye.

Over the seven years that I have known this beaver, Willow has outlived three mates. She has helped with the construction of six impressive lodges and seven ponds; she has defended her territory in at least two battles with interloping beavers; she has been wounded by a bobcat in an attempt to protect one of her kits; and she has raised to adulthood at least five kits. While I have lost track of most of her offspring, Ducky, born that first summer, now lives with his mate and two generations of kits on a tributary of this stream. Together these beavers have created and maintain wetland habitat enjoyed by all of the wildlife of this region, from bats to bears.

I love her peaceful appreciative writing and the wonder with which she faces the world. In a time when there are more complaints about beaver than compliments, she remains a breath of fresh air, hopefully inspiring many to look more closely at this remarkable animal. All people need to do is watch, if we can make them do that the beavers themselves will take care of the rest.

Just check out these photos from Rusty at the Napa beaver pond last night!

Desktop6 — Wildlife at the beaver ponds in Tulocay Creek in Napa – Rusty Cohn

Getting ready for Beaver Mother’s Day

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers and Birds, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Beavers or Social Ambasadors, Educational, Environmental, Who's saving beavers now? May 4, 2015

What a headline!

5 pesky animals you might see this spring around Calgary

Spring is here, and BBQs and flowering gardens await. But just as we are waking up from our — albeit mild — winter slump, so is nature. So be prepared to see some furry, not-so-welcome visitors.

While it’s unlikely for someone to have a problem beaver in their backyard, the critters still can cause problems with their tendency to flood an area. To create their homes, beavers will build dams that block water flow, sometimes flooding pathways and other public infrastructure. There is also the issue of tree management, since their food of choice is bark and leaves. Calgary Parks management deals with this by wrapping wire around trees, to stop them from chomping on them. Also, since the flood in 2013, the beaver’s environment has changed, and can now be seen in places they weren’t before.

When near a beaver dam, be sure to keep your distance if you see a beaver. These are territorial animals, and though they will leave you be if you extend the same courtesy, they have been known to attack dogs and humans and to hold up traffic.

Seriously? Keep your distance because beavers might bite or hold up traffic? You know I’m a busy woman, it’s Monday and I have to get ready for another presentation. But this is too good to resist. I literally can’t help myself.

There are more things to mock in the article, but this is most glaring. Now we have other things to talk about. Greg Kerekes from the Urban Wildlife Research project in San Jose is coming to interviewme for a short film about urban wildlife this weekend. I mention it because he went to Lexington Reservoir this weekend and took this amazing photo of a beaver moving a kit:

moving jr — Beaver moving kit – photo Greg Kerekes

Look at that adorable face! When I first saw it it almost looked like a koala bear! Greg a great job of sitting patiently and even waited behind a blind to get this shot. In Martinez, our new mother has moved the kits every year but we’ve never gotten lucky enough to film it.

Yet?

Saturday we’re off to Safari West where I’ll be presenting after dinner to the families staying there. Then we get to stay overnight in the luxury tents and tour in the morning. Since Sunday’s mother’s day I’m going to talk about beaver mothers and the way that beavers act as “Fairy Godmothers” to the creeks. I had a lot of fun making this, and any excuse to download new fonts makes me happy!

Beavers to the left of us, beavers to the right of us,

heidi08 Beavers and water, Educational, Environmental, kits May 3, 2015

Last night we saw at least five family members, two coming from up above the marina vista bridge and two or three coming from above the footbridge. It was one of those days when beavers appeared from so many places at once they were hard to keep track of. I told Lory it reminded me of this cartoon:
We were craning our necks at every turn struggling to catch a glimpse of teats that would assure of us a new generation – no luck on that front yet. Their impressive dam reassures us that new family members are being protected. But I personally can’t understand why the 2 year olds haven’t dispersed yet if there are new kits in the mix. We will just have to be patient, and give the beavers time to show us the answer at the leisure.

Entering the water – Photo Cheryl Reynolds

Speaking of things I hate to do, here is another doozey. Not talking about something really, really exciting. I mean even if there’s a perfectly good reason not to talk about it. And you promised people you respect very much. I remember being a child and going christmas shopping for my mom with my older sisters. They would sternly warn me as to the pact of secrecy and I would promise over and over again not to tell what we got her and explain that I was older now are reassure them I understood. And off we would go shopping to Cost Plus or Penny’s and pick out whatever pretty trinket I could afford.

But as soon as we came back I would burst open like a confetti balloon and explain how wonderful the earrings or vase that we had picked out were going to be. Even before they were wrapped I had to tell her. It was just too exciting. The thought of having my mother’s undiluted attention for the entire twenty seconds it would take to deliver the message was just too much for my little brain to resist. My sisters would be furious. And swear I was never going with them next time. I would feel horrible and immature. But the next year the whole thing would happen all over again.

Now that was a long time ago. Why bring up this old story?

Oh, no particular reason.

“Those bad beavers are ruining all our nature!”

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Environmental, Who's blaming beavers now? May 2, 2015

Maybe it’s the week I’ve had but I’m having zero empathy with the fancy international art gallery upset that beavers are ruining all their aspen. Maybe you’ll see it differently.

Experts called in to handle gnawing issue

John Kinkade and daughter Alyson, owners of Columbine Gallery at 2683 N. Taft Ave., are seeing a recurrence of a beaver problem that first plagued aspen trees at the gallery in June 2001. Back then, a group of beavers from the little Lake Tern next to the gallery took down 35 trees in the sculpture garden area before John hired a company from Boulder to assist with the problem. This time, a beaver has caused one tree to fall and gnawed almost all the way through a second tree.

“In 2001, we would hear the beavers in the pond. They would flap their tails in the water and we thought that was fun until all of a sudden trees started falling all around us,” John said. “We lost 35 trees. They were coming into the interior of the sculpture garden, so we lost one group of aspens that had seven trees in it with 8-10-inch diameters.”

He said the Boulder company did not manage to trap any beavers, but the beavers were seemingly scared away, since they didn’t return to the area for a long time.

This time, one beaver has built a lodge at the base of the sculpture garden in Lake Tern, and the family is seeing the evidence of beaver destruction in the aspen trees again.

There is also a goose that has nested outside John’s window and he joked, “We specialize in wildlife sculpture and real wildlife as well.”

The Columbine Gallery consists of the kind of artISTE expert advice that will help you find a painting that matches your sofa, or commission a sculpture for that perfect garden nook. They certainly are not the rough and tumble gaggle of art workshops and new showings that our own artist FRO Butler maintains in Art Cottage. They are more like this:

They’re about 50 minutes away from Sherri Tippie but something tells me they never invited her to consult on their problem.There’s not a single mention in the article about wrapping trees or painting with sand. They probably didn’t see her in the documentary either. Because they were busy dying grout green to match the mosaic in the patio. This is the way they like to see their Aspen trees.