Utah has a deep bench

heidi08 Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental, Who's saving beavers now? October 16, 2015

Now this has got to be the icing on the cake. I don’t remember phys.org ever writing about Martinez. Notice there’s hardly a name in this story that we recognize even though I wrote about this three times. That’s what I mean by a deep bench. They have many important beaver advocates that they can endlessly trot out.

Ecologists enlist beavers, walmart in wetlands conservation effort

The big-toothed rodents were nearly hunted to extinction during the 19th century in the mountain-encircled community, along with other areas of North America. But Utah State University scientists say the furry mammals are emerging as a valuable resource in restoring ecosystems imperiled by land use practices, drought and a changing climate.

“Beavers play a critical role in maintaining healthy aquatic and riparian habitat, which we desperately need in arid Utah,” says USU researcher Elijah Portugal. “Beaver dams store water in springtime, slow down the release of snowpack and prevent water from moving too quickly and evaporating, which benefits wildlife and all downstream users. Their dams also capture sediment, which improves water quality,”

“Beavers are brilliant engineers, providing multiple benefits that are difficult and expensive for humans to accomplish,” says Nick Bouwes, adjunct faculty member in USU’s Department of Watershed Sciences and owner of Eco Logical Research. “We believe there are ways to co-exist with beavers, while mitigating their harmful habits.”

To this end, Bouwes, Portugal, their students, Utah Conservation Corps members and community volunteers gathered at the Logan Walmart Oct. 12, 2015, to install two pond levelers, crafted in the USU lab, to the store’s surrounding waters. The cage-like levelers, made from wire, are connected to large plastic tubes that allow water to pass, while catching debris, and prevent beavers from building dams to flood-inducing heights. The researchers installed a leveler on each of two beaver dams on the south side of Walmart’s property.

“The levelers will maintain the height of the ponds at a safe, desired level, without disturbing the beavers and their efforts,” Bouwes says. “It’s a winning solution for Walmart, the beavers and the surrounding community.”

This article is surprising in so many ways, not only does it prove that Utah believes in beavers. It proves that they believe in Climate Change! I love how we now suddenly read Elijah Portugals name even through it never crossed our path before. Because in Utah, there are so many people who understand beavers we have advocates to spare.

Imagine: Extra advocates!

This kind of abundance doesn’t just happen. Its fiercely cultivated at the local, organizational and institutional level. It’s what made Utah the first state in the nation to develop a beaver management plan for the forestry service. It’s what allowed Utah to pull off successful beaver festivals using the work of mostly students and government agencies. It’s why I get happy every time I see them in a headline because I know the end result is going to be awesome.

And you should never, never under estimate how much of that is ultimately due to the work of this remarkable woman.

Mary O'brien — Mary Obrien: Grand Canyon Trust

Beaver Success is Out There!

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Who's saving beavers now? October 15, 2015

Martinez is being deeply stupid at the moment. So we’re looking elsewhere for inspiration. Let’s start with Idaho and our old friend Mike Settell of the Watershed Guardians.

Groups help mitigate beaver dam problems

To help with the beaver dam’s problems, the Watershed Guardians installed a pond leveler in the same pond as the dam. The leveler helps maintain the pond’s water at a set level, regardless of the beavers’ actions.

“We set the level of the pond by adjusting where (the leveler) sets in the dam,” said Mike Settel, executive director of the Watershed Guardians. “We’re actually using the structure the beaver created to help keep the level where we want it to be.”

While the priority was to help with flooding, maintaining the pond’s level does more. By raising the water level it increases the amount of groundwater recharge, provides flows in-stream and helps with wildlife habitat. Particularly giving more water for fish.

Go Mike and the Watershed Guardians! I’ve been impressed with his beaver teaching since 2009 when he somehow got Pocatello Audubon to fund a beaver count! I pretty much talked him into interstate travel and his first beaver conference where Leonard Houston spontaneously gave him a venue to present. Then he met Mike Callahan, learned how to put in a flow device, and the rest (as they say) is history!

And there’s more good news from our friends and the friends of beavers. This is from the Truckee River where Sherry and Ted Guzzi with the Sierra Wildlife Coalition have been making a world of difference.

Enjoying the beauty of beavers

Sherry Guzzi from the Sierra Wildlife Coalition says that beaver dams “hold water on the land longer and allow it to recharge the water table, and help create habitat for fish and wildlife.” Researchers in Utah have found that beavers provide a direct positive impact to farmers and ranchers downstream by allowing the water to last later into the season.

The dams also slow down and capture sediments on their way to Lake Tahoe and other bodies of water, acting as filtering or cleaning mechanisms. Research has found that the amount of phosphorus (which causes algae growth) entering Lake Tahoe took a spike upward when dams were removed from Taylor Creek to allow for the annual Kokanee salmon spawn in the fall.

Great work Sherry and Ted! You have single-handedly made Tahoe think twice about beavers. This is not an easy field to plow, since folks who invest money to move to nature generally don’t actually want messy nature to eat their petunias or dam their culverts. I couldn’t be more grateful for your hard work. And I absolutely LOVE your hat! 🙂

It made me think that we need a graphic like this. There are more photos lurking about from more beaver-saving gurus, but this will do for a start.

dressed — Sherry Guzzi, Ian Timothy, Mike Callahan, Sherri Tippie, Skip Lisle, Alex Hiller, Leonard and Lois Houston, and Malcolm Kenton.

heidi08 Beavers October 14, 2015

Everyone’s smarter than us.

heidi08 Beavers and salmon, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Environmental October 14, 2015

Yesterday we discussed Utah’s superiority in all things beaver, today I got a letter from the Bear River Watershed Coalition saying they were working to get beaver named STATE RODENT in the 2016 legislative session.

STATE RODENT.

Today I received notice that the new Recovery Plan for Coho has been released for public comment in Oregon. Chock full of good things to say about saving our threatened Coho Salmon and guess what that means for our furry friends.

Did you really read that list? NO KILLING until all other options are exhausted! That’s the best sentence I ever saw. I dream of reading that sentence. And number three “Work with landowners to teach non lethal problem solving”. Some one pinch me, I must have fallen asleep again. And number 1! Develop a BEAVER CONSERVATION PLAN. Can I be on that committee? Please?

Wow this says West Coast Region. California’s in the west, right? Why can’t we enlist? Where do we sign up? Why are we always at the back of the line in beaver knowledge?

Sigh.

Here in Martinez, arguably the smartest city in ALL of the state when it comes to beavers (after Napatopia of course) , we’re pretty damn stupid still. Today they’re ripping out the flow device. And yesterday they ripped out the Annex. I’m calling it the Alhambra Creek Bank Destabilization Project. Just see if you don’t agree this will work well to fill the water with mud in no time.

That thing holding back the mud is plastic, which will be removed so the land can slide more easily. There’s an article coming soon about the flow device removal, the reporter is apparently waiting until the city actually returns their phone calls. In the meantime, all these creeks won’t ruin themselves! Martinez has work to do.

We need cheering up so I committed a minor crime and loaded the program I wrote about a while ago on youtube. Watch it fast before it’s removed. It’s a bright, fun and lovely piece about our Scottish cousins, who, btw, apparently are ALSO smarter than California.

And the winner is – UTAH!

heidi08 Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, featured, Friends of Martinez Beavers, In the News, Who's saving beavers now? October 13, 2015

The states of Washington and Utah have been running a neck-to-neck competition to be the beaver Mecca of America. They are both brilliant at beaver management in so many ways and light years ahead of their border cousins. For a while it looked like Washington, (with heavy weights like NOAA, Michael Pollock and the Methow project) was in the lead. But now Utah, (with beaver Shamans Mary Obrien of GLCT and Joe Wheaton at Utah State), has just made a giant leap forward.

Utah: Even their WALMARTs are smarter than yours.

Project helps protect Logan beavers, reduce threat of flooding

LOGAN — A project in Logan may be a lifesaver for beavers, and it may help Wal-Mart get along better with its furry neighbors. Workers have installed a system intended to reduce the threat of flooding caused by beaver dams.

“Killing beaver just didn’t seem like the right way to go,” said Dan Miller, chairman of the Bear River Watershed Council. “There was a better solution, and this is definitely it.”

The new system regulates the level of a beaver pond, functioning more or less like the overflow drain on a bathtub. It prevents the beaver pond from rising too high and overfilling.

Beaver dams store water in the springtime and allow it to trickle downstream in the late summer, a process that benefits downstream water users, he said.
“They help with the water quality,” Bouwes said, “by capturing a lot of sediment and other materials that we would have to clean up otherwise.”

Okay, Utah has some crazy ideas about women and minority rights and wants to sell back their national parks, but HEY they install flow devices at WALMART, so watch out America. This is what visionary looks like! Now Walmart needs to donate a field cam and install it on sight so they can see some photos of the wild creatures they just saved. (Better photos = more media = and more advertising of their good deed.)

I would send a thank you note to the good folk who approved this project, but I can’t find any details about management. Guess we better send our thanks to Nick Bouwes at Utah State and Dan Miller of the massive Bear River Watershed group. That should keep us busy.