Month: August 2015

Higher latitudes and better attitudes

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Educational, Environmental, What's killing beavers now?, Who's blaming beavers now? August 11, 2015

Yesterday’s labor of love. I wanted to send this to our UK beaver friends. Simon Jones of the Scottish beaver trial wrote back this morning that it was such fun he was sending it to their educational department because he thought it would be a great idea for a classroom activity!

Just imagine, the children of Scotland learning about beavers while doing an art project from Martinez!

In the meantime there’s lots to catch up on, as this article from Prince Edward Island shows us that opinions can thaw even in the coldest of climes.

Beaver killed on Brownsmill Road

Debbie Miller is furious to learn that a beaver on Brownsmill Road near her Merigomish home was killed as a result of a permit given to the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal.

The beaver was one of two that had a dam in the area, but a little over week ago on Aug. 2 she found it dead. She called to report it to Department of Natural Resources and was told it had been shot. She said the beaver’s dam had actually been destroyed the week of July 20. The following week she saw someone throwing something into the water.

Keith MacDonald , who is acting area manager for the Department of Transportation confirmed that his department had applied for a permit from the DNR and then hired someone to get rid of the beavers because they had blocked off a double culvert in the area. He said the DOT often have to deal with beavers because of their tendency to cause destruction to infrastructure. He said all the proper procedures of going through DNR were followed and the trapper chosen from an approved list.

Miller does not believe that the deaths were truly necessary, however.

“If anyone states that killing the beavers had to be done because they were being destructive, well they did not do any proper assessment of the area,” said Miller.

She said eroded banks in the area were from streams of water coming down the road due to lack of ditching, not because of the beavers. She said the beavers had developed a nice little wetland that was used by other animals, including ducks.

Beaver advocacy is in SUCH early days in this region that there is no mention of a flow device to protect the culvert instead. She even concedes that it would be okay to kill large populations but notes that in this case it was unnecessary because “There were only two!” Never mind, PEI is a tough area for beavers. The island insisted for years that they weren’t present historically and forced our own Rickipedia to do a little research and prove them wrong. They still regularly kill beavers to protect fish and this practice inspired one of my all-time favorite graphics, which I’m still delighted with.

I’m happy that Debbie is starting the conversation and upset about trapping. Maybe she will even find out that the culvert can be easily protected without dead beavers! Once she believes it she can make others believe it. All advocacy starts with compassion, remember.

Brock Dolman of OAEC sent this yesterday, and I thought you’d want to see it too.

Let the record show…

heidi08 Beaver Art, Beaver Behavior August 10, 2015

If you, like me, you were too busy at the beaver festival to watch Robert Rust create his historical, artistic all natural wattle and daub beaver, you might enjoy this video taken by Bob Kobres of Georgia documenting his creation. This is at the very back corner behind the festival, and there’s still a fair amount of traffic. Remember he started with a framed beaver filled with a crosshatch of willow stems, and fills it in just like a real beaver.

So after he was done weaving, he mixed the wattle with his bare feet and dabbed it onto the beaver over the course of an hour. Here’s the exciting conclusion. If you think Bob is more historian than artist, pay special attention to the 8 minute mark when he gets down to finishing touches.

I’m so grateful for his wildcard of creativity which always brings something magical to the festival, and for Bob Kobres capturing the thing on video. I spend a lot of time planning how the festival will work, but I could never even dream up this and sometimes the unplanned things are the very best!

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Lately I’ve been thinking about the way that beaver life is written in the water, and the intimate relationship beavers have with it. A kind of mirror they live with every day that records their every intention. This probably isn’t the last poem I’ll write about it, but it will do for now.

Cute Beaver Ideas that are not mine…

heidi08 Beaver Art, Beaver-themed merchandise, Creative Solutions August 9, 2015

I couldn’t help browsing around to see what other fantastic beaver ideas there were in the world. I came across this adorable kickstarter project that is very near its goal. Lucky for us, we still have time to help.

Little Beaver Builds a Bed is a short, illustrated children’s book focused on the importance of making things by hand, doing things well, and working together to get the job done. This book will be beautifully hand-illustrated and will be great for kids on an age 3 – 5 reading level. Through the book I hope to connect more kids with the craft of woodworking and introduce them to the value of making things with your hands.

In this delightful story, you’ll follow Little Beaver as he follows his curiosity about the amazing things his father builds in his woodland shop. Little Beaver will learn a lot about patience, making something from scratch, and will get to build a special project with his Dad.

Go here to help Katie bring this project to fruition, because we need some copies for our silent auction next year. The children of Martinez have certainly learned something about creating with their hands. These fuzzy little illustrations by Kristen are adorable. They should be prints as well because I bet I know where they would sell nicely.

Meanwhile here’s some fantastic children’s artwork by Caroline Brose, a young artists featured on the Ink and Snow website. I think this needs to be a t-shirt, don’t you?

Big smile for Caroline. Thank you!

I idly thinking how to make our awnings more beaver-y and wondering about whether we might let kids paint our art table awning next year. Since awnings are waterproof it’s a pretty sticky proposition to try and paint one. Look how this artist solved the problem. Jeanette Janson did a beautiful job setting her artwork display apart from all the others at the vintage fair. She’s an artist who got tired of her plain white display canopy used at fairs, etc. So she painted her own.

There were 48 birds by the time she was done and it took her an entire weekend or longer. She ended up with something truly awesome that made her booth completely visible and unique. It was a lot of work. Because if you do the math it’s 40 feet total (10+10+10+10).

But it would be a lot easier with 100 children to help, right?

Detonation of Dams: The De-watering of America

heidi08 Michael Gibson Natural Resources officer, stupid solutions, What's killing beavers now?, Who's blaming beavers now? August 8, 2015

Every now and then you encounter decisions made by theoretically informed individuals that are so egregious and devoid of common sense, that you just HAVE to write about it. This story about an airforce base in Louisiana fits the bill.

De-watering demolition defends against flooding

BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. — Airmen from the 2nd Civil Engineer Squadron Explosive Ordnance Disposal flight detonated explosives under two troublesome beaver dams in the east reservation on Barksdale Air Force Base, July 29.

The process of removing beaver dams is called “de-watering” and is necessary to keep the environment healthy and safe.

“Beavers will expand their habitat as far as nature will allow, and they will keep building their dams higher and higher if not stopped,” said Gibson. “By controlling the beaver population, we can help prevent flooding and damage to infrastructure. The flooding also drowns the trees. We lost around 10 acres of trees here because of flooding due to beavers dams.”

That’s right. Even though our tax dollars are paying Michael Pollock to do research proving that beaver dams are good for trout and erosion. They are also paying for soldiers to keep their hand in between military assaults by blowing up beaver dams. To keep the environment healthy. Because nothing is healthier than mud, sticks and fish blasted into the air.

It seems instructive to me that no matter what youtube video you watch of blowing up a beaver dam (and there’s a bushel to chose from, believe me) that the blast is ALWAYS followed by hoots and whoops of excited men.

Blowing up beaver dams is the cialis of watershed management. Boys just LOVE it.

Calling this procedure a technical term like the “De-watering” is particularly annoying. As if this extreme action was really for the good of mankind. It’s like calling the economy collapse of 2009 the ‘de-mortgaging.” Or your health insurance rejection a “De-benefitting”. Or your company firing you a “De-employment” Just don’t come to FEMA for drought assistance when all your water dries up, okay?

Just because you put a DE in from of it doesn’t mean it’s not a stupid idea.

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I have to mention that this time last week we were already exhausted in a good way from the best beaver festival ever. Honestly, it seems like a world away, but the calendar swears it has only been a week. This year we had most of our expenses paid for with grants, so were pleased that we not only held a very well attended event, but also generated funds for the next one. We have only one final item from the silent auction to get to its owner, and everything is organized and put away.

(Mind you, I have a shrink talk to give at the BAR at the end of the month, so I have to start working now and hope I can remember anything at all except beavers when the time comes.)

This just in…beavers try not to be killed.

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, kits August 7, 2015

Are you sitting down? Because this might come as a big SHOCK. But apparently all those years of ruthlessly hunting beavers affected their behavior. I know, get out! But apparently the scientists are saying what we’ve always known, and it greatly interests the BBC.

Beavers’ activity is still influenced by “ghosts” of long-gone predators, study suggests

A new study suggests beavers are better adapted to diurnal – or daytime – activity, but switched to coming out at night and twilight to avoid hunter-gatherers.

Past persecution could have influenced beavers’ behaviour down through the generations. The semi-aquatic rodents’ nocturnal activity pattern could be a persisting effect of the spectre of human hunters, who would have killed the mammals during the day thousands of years ago, according to scientists.

Scientists at the University of Antwerp in Belgium studied camera trap footage in the country’s Flanders region to find out if the the beavers had adapted their activity patterns to a predator-free environment.

But extensive footage revealed the cautious creatures continued to be mainly nocturnal and crepuscular (active at dusk and dawn).

The study, published in the journal Mammalian Biology, suggests this could be the legacy of a long period of persecution that began in the Pleistocene epoch (2.6 million – 11.7 thousand years ago), when hunter-gatherers would have used hand-held weapons and gone out in daytime, before the use of animal traps.

The new study points out beavers’ night-time activity pattern may not be optimal for the species. “First, their eyes are not particularly adapted to seeing in the dark,” Swinnen tells BBC Earth.

“Second, when beavers would be active during the day which is warmer than the nights, they would lose less energy for thermoregulation, which is beneficial. Third, as a herbivore, their food is always present, so there is no reason to forage mostly during the night.”

Now if this doesn’t sound like news to you, you’re in the right place. I’ve been saying this ever since I read it hypothesized by Hope Ryden in Lily pond, which was written around 40 years ago. And she was informed by the writing of scientists of her time who were writing about earlier writing. The headline on this story should be Everything old is New again! And why on earth WOULDN’T our behavior affect them?

In a decade in Martinez we’ve changed how comfortable one particular family of beavers is around humans. Why wouldn’t 1000 years of aggression do the same for all of them?

It’s important to add that in large rich, safe habitats beavers STILL work in the daytime. Our own Lory watched several in Denali park in Alaska. The area surely wasn’t without predators, wolf, grizzly and mountain lion to name a few. However their primary threat has always been of the bipedal variety, so they adapted their behavior accordingly. Even the fierce nocturnal wolverine, famously lured by beaver meat, was less threatening then humans. I guess because sometimes wolverines aren’t hungry.

But humans were always greedy.

Glorious photos from beaver friend Sylvie Meller this morning of the new generation in Devon. Enjoy.

Healthy beaver kits photographed on the River Otter this week by Sylvie Meller. Ref exb beaver2

Wild beavers growing up fast

The news that England’s only wild colony of beavers had given birth to kits was taken as proof that the creatures are ‘thriving’ by Devon Wildlife Trust (DWT) in June.

Now, pictures taken by photographer Sylvie Meller show the young beavers to be healthy and already feeding on riverbed vegetation.

Sylvie said: “They have grown already quite a bit, but are still tiny compared to their parents.

“Seeing an adult beaver swimming, only its head would come out of the water. The younger the kits are, the more they are above the water.”

Healthy beaver kits photographed on the River Otter this week by Sylvie Meller. Ref exb beaver1

So wonderful and heart-breaking to see. I love the idea that despite all the bruhaha and legal machinations, the beaver family is just marching on. After all the media, and DEFRA, and being trapped and tested, the family is fine. Doing what beavers do. It’s fabulous that Sylvie is there to photograph them. Much better than night cams.

I can’t help think about four particular kits that we will never see grow up. I’m sure you can’t either.