Month: October 2015

Out of left-field, Medfield.

heidi08 Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Massachusetts Trapping Law, What's killing beavers now?, Who's blaming beavers now? October 31, 2015

Less than 100 miles from Beaver Solutions in Massachusetts, the historic town of Medfield has learned something about beaver management. Something. Who was it that said “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing?“.

I mean, besides me?

Increased beaver population wreaking havoc in Medfield

A string of beaver dams has caused flooding in 28 acres of Medfield forestland over the past few months, backing millions of gallons of water up into the Fork Factory Brook and Rocky Woods Reservations.

We have a number of concerns from the loss of public ways, to mosquito concerns, to flooding areas, and residents downstream,” said Selectmen chairman Richard DeSorgher.

The avoidable problem is flooding on both sides of Fork Factory Reservation. If the water level continues to rise two to three more feet, then the integrity of the pavement on Hartford Street, a main commuter road, will be compromised said Town Administrator Mike Sullivan.

The Trustees of Reservations, owners of the Fork Factory Brook and Rocky Woods Reservations, are attempting to take a non-violent approach to the beaver infestation.

Okay, so far so good, right? Considering this is Massachusetts, home of the big whiners about beavers, and the alarming headline from the hyperbole department, that’s not a bad start. But keep reading, It gets very confusing very fast.

Rather than attempting to halt the creatures from doing their work, they aim to find ways to slow them down but mostly intend on “allowing the natural changes to take place, with some intervention,” said Mike Francis, superintendent of the Trustees. The transition from wooded area to wetland is not uncommon, and is often instigated by beavers, he said.

“Beavers are a keystone species. A lot of other species rely on beavers to create the habitat that they need. When beavers move in, you see a lot of changes, quickly,” he said. “I think people have started to see those changes there and will continue to. You will see new wild life and new species moving in as a result of the new habitat created there.”

The preferred and most humane method of dealing with the overpopulation of beavers is to use long 10-inch wide pipes to avert the water through or around the beaver dam allowing the brook to flow as it had before.

The idea is that the beaver eventually becomes discouraged by the lowering water level and moves somewhere else. Two of these water-diverting pipes, commonly known as “beaver deceivers,” were installed two weeks ago doubling the amount of covert pipes since early summer in the Fork Factory Brook Reservation.

Francis said that the culverts are monitored and maintained regularly, and that the water levels have decreased as planned. The Trustees are working closely and cooperatively with town officials to make the best decision for the community.

The issue that the two groups face is whether to install culverts at every dam hoping that the pipes prove affective [sic] in the long term, or to take advantage of the short trapping season this winter.

“We still feel trapping is the long term solution,” said Sullivan. “The long term for the beavers is to kill them unfortunately because otherwise they keep multiplying.

Wait, so you just put pipes through the dam because and didn’t bother about putting fencing around the pipes? Because I guess you think that that good-for-nothing Mike Callahan just makes up busy work to charge folks more and you know better? And you think this will make the beavers leave because they hate the water draining away? Um, sit down for a moment and take a deep breath. You’re right that beavers hate their water draining. But you know they have way to stop that, right? It’s called ‘plugging the pipe‘. And they have a nearly unlimited supply of plugging materials right there in the creek. It’s called ‘mud‘.

Send the photographer out to get a photo of what those pipes look like in 5 days.

This article could hardly be more wrong. Aside from the spelling errors and mistaking the word culvert for the word pipe. I think the reporter is every bit as confused as the trustees. Funny that he got the misleading numbers from Fish and Game exactly right. I guess they’re probably printed on the newsroom wall, (or the cocktail napkins). I can’t help it. I’ll print the last part with corrections.

The mammal’s population has increased from 20,000 to 75,000 in Massachusetts in the last seven years, according to the Department of Fish and Game. ~~The population spike is due to the passing of a law that shortens beaver trapping season to the early winter months.~~ The population spike is due to the passing of a law that outlaws kill traps except for in specified circumstances.

“We really want to just be installing these water flow devices,” said Francis. “Only as a last resort, when the other options have proven unsuccessful, then we will really adhere to a permitting process to go about trapping the beavers.” (We hate installing pipes and would much rather kill them but we didn’t do the paperwork fast enough.)

Sullivan said the ~~culverts~~ (pipes) will be monitored and hopes they do as they claim to. He does, however, have his doubts.

“If they leave, they’ve got to go someplace,” he said.

Can you go somewhere else please? Because you’re making my head hurt. I can’t decide where to START with this story. Especially because Mike Francis delivered that nice paragraph about ‘keystone species’ and made me think he’s trying to do the right thing. And then two paragraphs later said we can’t wait for them to leave. Obviously you don’t really BELIEVE that beavers will bring new wildlife to your beautiful historic brook. Other wise you wouldn’t want them to leave. And you don’t really BELIEVE that they’ll leave because you decorated their dam with a pipe. That’s why you want to kill them. This is beaver kabuki.

I almost trust Sullivan more at the end of the article because he can see these silly pipes aren’t going to solve the problem.

If two pipes thrown into a dam solved the problem why even bother installing them? Heck, if your beavers are going to be that accommodating just leave pipes on the bank and I’m sure they’ll install them themselves, before they leave the key under the mat and check out.

Oh and Happy Halloween Everyone!

IFLBEAVERS

heidi08 Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Educational, Environmental, Who's saving beavers now? October 30, 2015

You have probably seen this logo around. It stands for I Fucking Love Science, which is the brain child of British Blogger Elise Andrew. Since its release in 2012 it has awakened wild new interest and promotion, and beyond its visits on the Discovery Channel and National Geographic, was slated this year for a TV spot on the Science channel.

Elise (who does all her own posts) uses a cheery engaging series of infoblasts, relying on her many million followers to get the messages shared around the world. How successful is she? This year Forbes magazine rated her as one of the 30 under 30 to keep an eye on.

Guess what she wrote about this week?

Beavers Are Awesome For Ecological Conservation

Beavers are proving to be quite the helpful little creatures: First, they proved themselves to be awesome engineers in the California drought. Now, they’ve found a new vocation as biochemists. A recent study has shown that beaver populations are helping to remove nitrogen from waters in northeastern America.

Despite the ecological importance of beavers, they still face threats from fur trading and the stigma of being viewed as a pest by salmon farmers.

Arthur Gold, a natural resources scientist who worked on the project, said in a statement, “It’s noteworthy that the beavers have such an impact on improving nitrogen downstream. We have a species whose population crashed from wide-spread trapping 150 years ago. With their return they help solve one of the major problems of the 21st century. I don’t want to minimize that. We have to remember that those ponds wouldn’t be there without the beavers.”

Thank you Elise! I am always eager to get the word out and your voice is an especially great way to do that. Scientists everywhere are thinking about the need to work harder to make their messages understandable around the globe. And you changed an entire conversation for the better.

It naturally raises again the issue of allowing profanity on this website, which I know has over the years rattled some readers. Back when Suzi Eszterhas was planning to do the entire article on the Martinez Beavers story she mentioned that Ranger Rick would link to the website as a resource. So I went dutifully back and took out evey swear word. (Well, within reason. I left the ‘dams’). But since our kits died, she sadly won’t have enough material to do the story entirely about us. In a literal illustration of adding insult to injury, that means we won’t get to be a link either. Boo.

But every loss has its bright spot somewhere. There is always a silver lining if you look hard enough I guess. And I’m pretty sure this is it:

“Quick! To the Batmobile! Beavers are sounding too good!”

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Who's blaming beavers now? October 29, 2015

I am certain now, that somewhere there in a highrise in Stockholm or Chicago is a beaver war-room where authorities with clipboards are watching a multitude of screens – dismayed as news promotes beavers as good for water storage and nitrogen removal – so that whenever the news gets too alarmingly positive this secret cabal of beaver-blockers activate their many lobbyists and researchers and make sure headlines like these dominate the news cycle until the coast is clear.

What, you think I’m being paranoid?

A potential downside to the beaver’s comeback

While the structures are marvels of natural construction, they also change the chemistry of the water they’re in. They affect the sediments, water flow, oxygen content and temperature, creating conditions that help convert mercury into methylmercury. A few studies have suggested dams can boost levels of this form of mercury, which can cause developmental and neurological problems in animals and people. Oded Lavnoni, Frauke Ecke and colleagues wanted to take a closer look.

Beavers are wreaking havoc across Europe, scientists warn

Methylmercury, converted from regular mercury, forms as beaver dams alter the sediments, water flow, dissolved oxygen concentration and temperature of the water.

Over a two-year study period, researchers sampled water downstream from 12 new beaver dams and found that methylmercury levels were 3.5 times higher than the water upstream.

Oh my goodness, how terrifying!

Hey public, you know all those toxins we poured into the streams years ago? When we told you they were harmless and good for you, while they helped us get filthy rich – but actually turned out to be pretty dire? Well, after all those years of birth defects and cancer, they got covered up with mud in the streams, thank heavens.

And now those rotten beavers are digging some of them UP! Isn’t that terrifying?

The truly funny part of this ‘discovery’ is that it is being reported by “The Chemical Society”, who kindly brought beavers the mercury in the first place, so they should really know.

Duncan Haley, the esteemed beaver researcher in Norway, had this to say about the headlines:

So far as I know the paper on this isn’t out yet. I’d guess that on a few dams levels will have been raised from very, very trivial from a health viewpoint, to very trivial. Journalists love scary headlines.

So for the meantime we’re not going to be alarmed by this ‘chemical society’ news. Yes, people are and have been worried that beavers dig up mercury. They have worried about this for 50 years. No one bothers to report that if they hadn’t poured mercury into the streams to squeeze every last ounce of gold from the rocks in the forst place there wouldn’t be anything for them to dig up. (At least that’s why we have it in California. I’m not sure about all of Europe.) I’m sure its greed-based.

Those headlines are all thunder and no rain, so I think we should focus our energy on a much better one.

Can Beavers Help Save Los Angeles From Drought and Floods??

Years of drought have plagued California, and though rains are supposedly on the way, they might pose their own problems, like mudslides and flooding. Offering a possible solution to issues of both too much and not enough water is Britt Sheflin, a private chef who has applied for a $100,000 grant from LA2050 and the Goldhirsch Foundation to “Strategically reintroduce native beaver populations back into the dwindling watersheds around LA County,” using techniques that would have the beavers “trained” to build their trademark dams where they’re needed, while keeping them from being destructive.

The return of the beaver, Sheflin argues, could help mitigate drought (like the one California is in now) and erosion, plus help cut back on flash floods (which Los Angeles might be having more of if the predicted El Niño shows up). Sound too good to be true? Sheflin says it’s been tried and it’s worked in Canada, Nevada, and elsewhere in California, though she notes that Los Angeles would be “the first major metropolitan area to embrace this cost-effective solution.” There’s more here on how beavers can help out in a drought—researchers in Canada have found that “Even during drought, where beaver were present, there was 60 per cent more open water than those same areas during previous drought periods when beaver were absent.”

Don’t you love that cool beaver in shades? There are five days left to vote, and the LAist contacted Britt yesterday, so this is getting some great attention. Let’s just cross our fingers and hope that this will, even if it doesn’t win, raise enough awareness to start a murmur across the land that sounds something like,

“why the hell aren’t we doing this?”

Gridley Beavers

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Educational, Environmental, Who's blaming beavers now?, Who's Killing Beavers Now? October 28, 2015

The Grey lodge Wildlife Area is a richly maintained 9100 acre wetland in Gridley CA managed by CDFW. It is a sweet spot for thousands of migrating birds; bringing birdwatchers, fishermen, duck hunters and wildlife enthusiasts. Visitors and groups of school children take wildlife tours of the area. They even have a drive-through viewing loop for the less active visitors. But you won’t be at all surprised to learn that they have a constantly uninvited guest that gums up their waterworks and causes less than joy.

Recently Grey Lodge contracted local filmmaker Jay Goble to do a wildlife management film. They had lots of information they wanted him to include on the pesky visitor, (because messages of intolerance won’t promote themselves). Jay needed some footage but their haunted beavers are pretty hard to see. So he thought he’d come to Martinez and contacted me. Here’s one of Jay’s recent films for CDFW.

Pintail Banding – Vimeo from Jay Goble on Vimeo

We had a nice chat and I filled him in on our absent beavers but also the other places they could be viewed, (although from now on is grim winter invisible-beaver time everywhere). We agreed that summer would be a much better time to film. We also talked about the negative earful he had gotten about beavers from GLWA and some of the research about how important they are to water, salmon, frogs, nitrogen removal, invertebrates and all the wildlife that relies on those species. He was really surprised to hear the OPPOSITE of what he had been told. And intrigued.

I made sure I told him about managing beaver challenges with flow devices and how ours had worked successfully for nearly a decade. I told him about looking for beavers in Napa, American Canyon and Winters. And said we would be happy to help with 8 years footage if he needed it.

Afterwards I thought of the (by comparison) nearly infinite resources of CDFW which can pay top notch filmmakers to spread their “beavers are bad” message. And the little mouthpiece of this website, which has such a short range and narrowly finite budget.

And I thought, if he’s calling ME for advice on how to film beavers, I guess we’re doing okay.

LA Beaver story

heidi08 Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Educational, Environmental, Who's saving beavers now? October 27, 2015

Effective Drought Solutions

Strategically reintroduce native beaver populations back into the dwindling watersheds around LA County, using modern techniques where beaver are “trained” to engineer dams where we want them to, yet leave our infrastructure intact. Beavers are proven to be highly effective at mitigating drought, flash floods, and erosion. As the first major metropolitan area to embrace this cost-effective solution, we would be ensuring a lasting, positive impact on the economy and ecology of our whole region.

Britt Sheflin is a private chef committed to zero waste in the kitchen that uses leftovers to feed homeless on skid row daily. She loves the outdoors and thought that beavers should be part of Southern California’s drought solution. She’s smart, compassionate and forward-thinking.

But she needs YOUR help.

Britt has a bold, sweeping idea for the drought affecting all of Los Angeles County. BEAVERS. She wants to introduce beavers on a broad metropolitan scale to the polluted waterways of the LA story. And LA2050 could give her the money to do it. Your vote will help her take this project to the next level. And voting is easy.I’m doing it now. Click on the link above or at the vote link at the 2050 site, and signup to receive the email. Then send a response from that email to confirm your vote. And help move beavers one step closer to LA. Here’s the request in her own words.

“Please vote for a grant from the Goldhirsch Foundation and LA 2050 to make Los Angeles County the first major metropolitan area to embrace beaver reintroduction.” work? The proposal page itself covers the details of how we plan to go about reintroducing beaver to LA County, if we win. Any help on the public awareness front is greatly appreciated! We are currently ranked 30th out of 72 in votes and 8th out of 72 for “most discussed”. With a little help, winning this grant is very doable!

I found out about Britt’s formidable plan from Kent Woodruff at the Methow Project in Washington yesterday. We had never exchanged emails or spoken before that, so you can imagine how excited I was to come across this project. Even more so when I read the project description and saw it begins with a quote from ME.

“Any city smarter than a beaver can keep a beaver!”
-martinezbeavers.org/wordpress motto

I’m realizing now what a difference it makes to have beaver voices from outside the regular community. People making a powerful difference in their own front yard and changing the conversation in a dramatic way. People without ‘biology degrees’ or forestry backgrounds. People like chefs (or child psychologists) who stumble upon this issue and use their unique background and skill set to make a difference. If only our old friend Donna Richardson, who worked SO hard to save the Owens Valley beavers, were alive to see this today!

Britt is the ‘wildcard’ Martinez once use to be. Lets welcome her beautiful idea into the world with a hearty round of VOTES, shall we?