Month: October 2015

Martinez only has 142 years to go!

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Educational, Who's saving beavers now? October 21, 2015

This is a pretty exciting study. Especially for us here in beaver-forlorn Martinez. There are a lot of things it doesn’t do, like emphasize the ecological cost of removing beavers from creeks. But the part that I know will interest Worth A Dam is the fact that when she went back and analyzed this historical data, beavers favored maintaining their ponds in pretty much the same dam area.

U.P. study shows long-term impact of beaver ‘engineering’

Many of its engineering feats are still evident on the landscape after more than 150 years — longer than such other engineering marvels as the Eiffel Tower, the Mackinac Bridge, the Trans-Siberian Railroad and Toronto’s CN Tower have stood.

The proof is visible in the continued existence of dozens of Ishpeming-area beaver ponds first mapped in 1868, according to newly published research.

“This study shows remarkable consistency in beaver pond placement over the last 150 years, despite some land use changes that altered beaver habitats,” ecologist Carol Johnston wrote in the study. “This constancy is evidence of the beaver’s resilience and a reminder that beaver works have been altering the North American landscape for centuries.”

And in an interview, Johnston said a major lesson from the study is that beavers come back to the same spots on the landscape and reuse them time and time again. That means wildlife managers and public lands managers can expect beavers to return.

There are SO many things I love about this article but that last sentence is the money shot. If new beavers are drawn to ideal landscapes then getting rid of them every time isn’t the answer. Installing a working flow device will prevent family A from flooding your road. And family B, C, and D. Why don’t people realize that beavers chose those spots for a reason and, just like the thickly accented ex-govinator, “They’ll be BACK.”

Dr. Johnston misses a few details along the way, like here where she contradicts Michael Pollock’s earlier work and ignores his most recent work. For some reason, the region is CONVINCED that Western findings don’t apply to their unique special dams (or trout), so I’m not surprised she said this. Hmmm, maybe we could trap her and Pollock in a jar, shake it up and make them fight it out?

I know I’d watch.

Obviously the most important thing about this study is that it suggests that if beavers come back to the same area time and time again, this probably wasn’t the first time that beavers moved into Alhambra Creek. And it won’t be the last. In fact the odds are their dam was in nearly the same place! I can’t tell you how happy that makes me!

Now another word on the previously mentioned beaver genome project. This time from our friend Vanessa Petro in Oregon. She’s the assistant to Dr. Jimmy Taylor at USDA working on the project. She writes:

“Here’s why folks should “give a dam’” about this project:

1. This is the first to ever sequence the beaver genome!
2. It would greatly contribute to our existing knowledge of this species and aid in their future management worldwide!
3. We may gain insight into the beaver’s complex dam-building behavior.
4. Researchers would be able to examine the small scale genetic differences between individuals across various spatial and temporal scales.
5. We can make scientific history together!
Please support and help us spread the word about this campaign! If you’re looking for a chuckle, check out our recent campaign video (located on our website link) taken at a local dam site with our beaver expert and some very special guests.

Thanks for your support!

Folkmanis to the rescue! Support Vanessa and her adorable beaver helpers by going here and donating to this important work. They have 70 donors so far and need about 200 more. So pass it on, because beavers lives matter.

Vanessa Petro
Faculty Research Assistant
Dept. of Forest Ecosystems and Society
Oregon State University
321 Richardson Hall
Corvallis, OR 97331

And give it up for our delicate city workers who removed all the silt in the creek that was easy to reach. You can see from Lory’s photo here how much they left under the bridges where it was harder to use their toys. I’m sure that’s fine, because its not like our creek constricts around bridge areas during flooding anyway. Right?

Yet another reason to be happy about Dr. Johnson’s historic research. It means our city will only need to coexist with beavers another 142 years! They’ll be so relieved.

This just in – beavers save water!

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Educational, Environmental October 20, 2015

Alastair Bland’s fact-filled article on Water Deeply obviously struck a chord. It was picked up by Gizmodo and Take Part, along with other sites. It’s now appearing in the Daily Mail in the UK, which would be a pretty good run, but it gets even better and you’ll hear about that soon.
Despite recent rainfall and even flash floods, California’s four-year-long drought is predicted to continue. But ecologists believe beavers could play a part in ending one the most severe droughts on record. The industrious rodents could help slow the flow of water heading to the sea by building dams, to create extra reserves of water and benefit other struggling species, they claim.

They have hatched a controversial plan to repopulate central coastal parts of California with large beavers – Castor Canadensis – that once lived in large numbers.

Ooh! A plot! and my favorite kind, A beaver plot! I guess the article liked the spicy idea of beaver underground that took matters into their own -er- paws (as it were). I would chalk it up to fanciful English whimsy that produced the likes of Paddington Bear and Peter Rabbit if it weren’t for this article appearing this morning on WSAV channel 3 news in (brace yourselves) GEORGIA! (Our librarian friend BK and his wife must be doing a fantastic job preaching the beaver gospel out there!)

Experts say the industrious rodents could help slow the flow of water heading out to sea by building dams. This will create water reserves and help other species too.

Sounds easy right? Well, the plan is actually a controversial one.

Ecologists want to repopulate the central coastal parts of California with large beavers – Castor Canadensis – that once lived in large numbers. This is a group that caused problems with logging and fishing industries. So back in the 19th century, this large beaver was almost completely removed.

But some say it’s a chance the state needs to take.

Well it’s cheap and easy and people like that idea. And it doesn’t cost industry money or drain tax dollars, so I guess that makes it a little popular. Hey, maybe we should hit the almond growers up for a donation to the campaign. (Have you heard their desperate sponsor statements on KQED? “Almond growers use no more water than other trees and don’t blame us for the drought WAA!”) Something tells me they’d be VERY motivated to contribute to a bring back beaver movement.

To top it all off, I heard from the president of Trout Unlimited today in Coloma that the Conservation Chair of the El Dorado chapter put it up on their face book page and reached about 500 people. They both are shaking their heads and saying there’s obviously a real interest in this topic.

I’m not holding my breath. Here in Marmeanest we were busily ripping out more creek on the weekend, in the little soil patch by Starbucks where our original mom did her swan song. Supposedly they had a fish and game warden to pull out turtles, but I’ll believe that when I see the photos. Lory took this yesterday.

How nice to sit beside the creek with your morning latte and watch it be destroyed. At least that big pile of silt they’re removing can’t be blamed on the beavers, since it is no where near where they dammed or denned.

To further remind me that Marmeenest definitely is no Napatopia, I receiver an email out of the blue yesterday from someone I’d never met or heard of asking me how to save the Napa beavers, because they were building a dam right next to a hotel.

I tried to be very enthusiastic about her support and introduce her to the local players earnestly. But honestly what I wanted to say was,

“Trust me. They’re the safest beavers on the planet.”

Wild about beavers

heidi08 Beavers October 19, 2015

East Lothian pupils beaver away to learn about wildlife

Pupils from East Lothian got up close and personal will beavers and wildcats as part of a Scottish wildlife tour last week.

They hopped on board the ‘Wild about Scotland’ bus to take part in a variety of sessions which focused on native species and their habitats.

The programme, developed by the Royal Zoological Society for Scotland, has been made possible through a partnership between the Clydesdale Bank to support the charity in its conservation work in Scotland.

The tour visited schools in East Lothian as part of a wider campaign being brought to all of Scotland’s 32 local councils. It’s the second time the bus has visited the county, having already been to Whitecraig Primary in September last year.

This time the bus stopped at East Linton and Stenton Primary Schools.

Chris West, Chief Executive of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, said: “Conservation through education is one of the founding principles behind the Society and remains one of our key goals to this day. Our mobile education bus has had a huge impact across the length and breadth of Scotland, carrying out a large number of pit stops in East Lothian.

“It is vital that we reach out to teach young people about conservation work and the species on their own doorstep. This outreach project makes up a significant part of RZSS’s work and we hope to continue with this, and other similar projects, for the foreseeable future.”

Smart, smart, smart. More than 11000 people have toured Wild Scotand on the bank-funded shuttle. I only wish Martinez had been half as intelligent. Let’s say with the John Muir Bank funding the County Connection bus to have school children from San Francisco visit beavers. But I guess that’s pretty impractical, what with our always cutting off our noses to spite our face and all.

Beavers were all over this weekend, making a guest appearance on the John Oliver discussion of the Canadian election, and a guest spot on SNL. Apparently the fun-lovin’ writers at Saturday Night Live can’t tell the difference between a lodge and a dam either! Big surprise.

Looking for lumber in all the wrong places

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers elsewhere, Dispersal, Who's saving beavers now? October 18, 2015

Beaver Browses Hardware Store, Can’t Find Anything Worth A Dam

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — A beaver walked into an Alaska hardware store on Friday, but couldn’t find anything for his lodge. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports the beaver triggered the automatic doors and walked into Lowe’s about 7 a.m. Friday.

Employees trapped the beaver with a cardboard box in the plumbing department. A state wildlife biologist was called. Ton Hollis says he’s used to wake-up calls about “a bear in town or an ornery moose or something, but this was a little different.”

Hollis released the beaver into the Tanana River, far enough from town where it won’t be a nuisance. Lowe’s assistant manager Adam Vanhoveln says the beaver didn’t cause too much of a commotion, and it didn’t reach the lumber department.

Hahaha! “Didn’t reach the lumber department!” that’s pretty funny. Thanks Rusty for sending this cute use of our name to my attention. Knowing what its like to shop the echoing caverns of Lowes, I’m going to guess he couldn’t FIND the lumber department. Or anyone to show it to him for that matter.

It’s late for dispersers. But probably not in Alaska. This little guy was just doing what beavers do when the reach a certain age. Exploring to find their own turf. Hopefully the Tanana River will be a better bet than aisle nine.

Important photo though, because if you look you can just barely make out top teeth. I can’t stress enough how rare that is. All the cartoons with those huge top teeth are funny but wrong. Once upon a time I thought this was funny but wrong. But now I realize its closer to the truth than modern images get today.

I wish it was raining beavers!

heidi08 Beavers and Birds, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Who's saving beavers now? October 17, 2015

Great work from our beaver friends in Sonoma, featuring RUSTY’S amazing beaver photos!

Beavers: A Potential Missing Link in California’s Water Future

10378537_10205350702753324_2801776248016580205_n — Beaver kit Napa: Rusty Cohn

The landscape desperately needs rain.

It could also use beavers, according to ecologists who say the near eradication of Castor canadensis from parts of the West in the 19th century has magnified the effects of California’s worst dry spell in history.

“Beavers create shock absorption against drought,” says Brock Dolman, a scientist in Sonoma County who wants to repopulate coastal California with the big lumberjacking rodents.
By gnawing down trees and building dams, beavers create small reservoirs. What follows, scientists say, is a series of trickle-down benefits: The water that might otherwise have raced downstream to the sea, tearing apart creek gullies and washing away fish, instead gets holed up for months behind the jumbles of twigs and branches. In this cool, calm water, fish — like juvenile salmon — thrive.

Meanwhile, the water percolates slowly into the ground, recharging near-surface aquifers and keeping soils hydrated through the dry season. Entire streamside meadows, Dolman says, may remain green all summer if beavers are at work nearby. Downstream of a beaver pond, some of the percolated water may eventually resurface, helping keep small streams flowing and fish alive.

A great great piece of pro-beaver writing from a big enough source to get picked up by Gizmodo and Huffpo today. (You should see the miles of beaver puns…sheesh) Perfect science from Brock and friends, and great illustrations by Rusty. I’m not sure why, if it’s using Napa photos, it doesn’t mention Napa beavers or how they’re welcomed by the city and improving habitat. Or you know that OTHER city where beavers were allowed to coexist and made a creek rich with wildlife right in the middle of town. Ahem.

But never mind, this is a GOOD piece. In fact it has been 8 amazing great days of beaver news. What’s the explanation? Utah, Idaho, Oregon and now California. That’s got to be worth a toast. Here’s my favorite part:

“Beavers impact almost every aspect of the watershed,” says Andersen. “They lower stream temperatures, retain sediment, create refuge for fish, and create groundwater percolation that reappears downstream later in the year. When beavers disappeared, streams became channelized, we lost our flows earlier in the summer, and temperatures went up.”

While rain is sorely needed throughout California, the absence of beaver infrastructure could make the landscape less able to rebound should a more generous hydrological period resume. Dolman explains that, without woody debris in the creek gullies to slow water down, the land has less opportunity to soak it up when rain does fall. The result is raging floods in the winter and, once summer comes, a watershed that rapidly goes dry again.

“Losing beavers is a double whammy for a watershed,” Dolman explains. “You get exacerbated flooding, erosion and sediment, and reduced groundwater recharge, in the winter. Then, in the summer, you have land that dries up faster because you didn’t get that winter recharge. We’ve created a landscape much less resilient to drought.”

Amen.

We finally got an article about the flow device removal, which is less wonderful. In addition to dutifully reporting every bogus thing the city has to say about their bank destabilization project, it also (after ALL THESE YEARS) demonstrates it still doesn’t understand how it worked.

Martinez: You can’t ‘deceive’ Mother Nature if heavy rains are coming

MARTINEZ — The prospect of heavy El Nio-influenced rains this winter has East Bay cities stocking up on sandbags and already monitoring storm drains to keep them clear.

But in Martinez, there’s a “beaver deceiver” to remove.

City crews worked this week to remove this device, which includes a plastic pipe that channels water under the beavers’ first main dam in Alhambra Creek, between Escobar Street and Marina Vista.

With Martinez’s famous beaver community keeping a low profile lately, and vivid memories of the damage a flooded creek created downtown in January 1998, the time to remove the pipeline seems right.

The device — essentially a pipeline with large anchoring devices — was installed in 2008 to encourage the beavers to choose that location for their dam rather than build ones in other places. The idea is that the water level behind the dam would never rise too high, with creek water instead flowing through the pipe under the dam and downstream. The beavers were convinced, at least for a while, that their dam was effective and that water was not getting through.

Sigh. Where to even start? It’s not a beaver deceiver, it didn’t encourage the beavers to build in a new place, and it wasn’t necessary to remove it. The city lies and has always lied to justify their decisions. But oh well, after 8 years I have learned that the media is like a powerful flying dragon. You can’t teach or influence it in any way. You can’t make it better. Not really. But sometimes it travels big distances very quickly, and that’s incredibly useful. It has no harness that you can gently tug to guide them.

You can only hang on.