Month: December 2016

Forget the Lion in Winter – What about the Beaver?

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beaver Chewing, Beavers, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Who's saving beavers now? December 16, 2016

It rained and rained
For forty daysies daysies
It rained and rained
For forty daysies daysies
Nearly drove those animals crazy crazies
Children of the Lord

The hard rain yesterday reminded me of all those worried days we would go down with umbrellas to check on the beavers and their dams. It reminded me of when the filter cage washed away and when their lodge was flattened. It worried our Napa friends too, and they did an admirable job checking on the beavers they know and care about. Here are Robin’s pictures from the Pearl Street Dam:

And here are Rusty’s photos from the Tulocay pond. The big beautiful lodge was nearly covered and the anxious yearlings took sheltered together on the roof, like Katrina victims.

onthehouse — Juvenile beavers hunker on flooded lodge – Rusty Cohn

It’s so human to me to think of your home as safety even when it stops acting safe. I remember seeing the little beaver footprints the morning after our second lodge washed out when our kits tried to come home and said “Where is home?”

As much as we worry about our beavers in these flooding conditions, I shudder to think what its like in the snow, where getting flooded out could mean freezing to death. Come to think of it, I guess if its freezing they just get massive snow, and if its flooding its not freezing. So stop worrying Heidi. Beavers have done this a long time. they know the drill.

It’s nice to read articles like this about their snowy habitats though.

Off the Trails: Snow-walkers

By MARY F. WILLSON

FOR THE JUNEAU EMPIRE

Snow was falling, snow on snow, as the song goes, and another four inches fell on the thick snow blankets already on the ground. Splendid! We strapped on our snowshoes and took off. No adventures in the high country, but the Dredge Lakes area offered plenty to see.

There was still a little open water in some of the ponds and channels, despite several days of freezing and single-digit temperatures. So it was Watch Your Step, if we crossed the dicey spots.

Then down the lake beach to the lake’s outlet, still breaking our own trail, with a couple of short side excursions to check some beaver lodges. Ice continued to clump up on the ‘shoes, making hard work. Along the river, there are a couple of spots where it is best to duck up into the woods for a little way, before dropping back down to the river edge. By now, this is getting old, all that clambering over and under the sagging branches. Then one more stretch of open beach and another alder crawl back up to the dike by Moose Lake. Now it’s a piece of cake, on well-packed trail back to the bridge, with just a few drooping branches to dodge.

The big beaver empoundment was marked by some critters that crossed the wide open space and others that had ventured out only to retreat quickly. In addition to the numerous hare and porcupine tracks, we found signs of many other critters too. A shrew had scuttled briefly out into the open and right back, ducking into a hole only a shrew could fit into. Nearby was a bigger hole with signs of traffic in and out; one clear footprint let us guess that an ermine used this place. A deer had wandered out of the woods onto the river beach, and a mink visited a pond. Squirrels hadn’t done much traveling on the ground, but here and there a vole had made a beautiful trackway in and out of cover. Ravens had landed and taken off, leaving marks of wingtips etched in the snow. Before the last snow, a coyote (or wolf perhaps) had crossed a pond; its tracks were now just dimples in the snow, but the pattern suggested a running carnivore. Lots of activity, and for most of this walk, few signs of humans.

Sunlight on the mountains, with wind-whipped snow streaming off the peaks. All the trees and shrubs and tussocks draped in many inches of gorgeous snow. Back home, the aching feet and weary muscles were resuscitated by cups of tea and a pile of cookies. Once again, we claim that this is one of the best backyards in the world!

If Mary’s name sounds familiar it should. She’s the ecology professor who authored the mendenhall glacier beaver book. She may be retired now but boy she sure gets around and sees what’s happening! I always thought of beavers in the bay area having an easy life, but maybe the flooding is a different set of problems. True, they don’t need to do a food cache which must be hard work, but they also don’t get three months down time in the lodge just chilling out and waiting for spring. I guess both locations have their benefits and drawbacks. Just like they do for people.

In Minnesota they were surprised to find a beaver-chewed power pole.They think he mistook it for a tree, while we are pretty certain he just needed to sharpen his teeth.

Confused beaver chews power pole instead of tree

GRAND RAPIDS, Minn. – Maybe he needs glasses.

A beaver near Grand Rapids apparently needed to exercise his teeth recently, and instead of chewing on a tree, which is routine behavior for beavers, the semiaquatic rodent decided to get after a power pole near the shores of Boy Lake.

Lake Country Power posted a picture of the chewy beaver’s handiwork on its Facebook page, which is drawing plenty of attention and laughs. As one person posted, “Worked for power company 39 years, never seen a beaver chew a pole.”

Pshaw, if you had read this website you would have seen it a month ago! It must be a winter thing, but it’s strange we’ve seen it twice this year and never before. Hmm.

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Today in rotten beaver news…

heidi08 Beavers December 15, 2016

Honestly today is just a ganglion of bad news for beavers. Starting with more money to kill them from the state government of North Carolina.

Flood, fire aid okayed in session

The state senate and house this week approved a 200 million dollar relief package to aid recovery from flooding caused by hurricane Matthew in eastern North Carolina and recent wildlfires in the mountains.

It facilitates the removal of beaver dams to help prevent future flooding problems.

Millions of dollars to help fire victims and repair flood damage. Even though beaver dams reduce BOTH for free. They were going to call this bill the “Too stupid to live relief package, but that name was already taken.

How about this nice story saying beavers were responsible for the upsetting explosions residents heard in Louisiana?

Authorities: Blame the beavers and Barksdale for the blasts

Reports of what sounded like explosions poured into the KSLA News 12 newsroom and Bossier and Webster law enforcement agencies this afternoon. KSLA News 12 viewers said the window-shaking booms came around 2:30 p.m. or so.

No, authorities tell us, it wasn’t another blast at Camp Minden at Doyline. Barksdale Air Force Base said it’s blowing up beaver dams on its East Reservation.

Yes, because when our young people join the air force to serve their country what they REALLY can’t wait to do is blow up some beaver dams. You realize that this means we paid for this. I paid for this. With my hard-earned tax dollars.

Grr.

But I think this story bothers me the most. Rocky, the hand raised orphan from Wildheart Ranch is going to live at the aquarium in Jenks ecodisplay today.

Rescued beaver is heading to Jenks

You’ll be able to see him. We told you back in September about a baby beaver named Rocky, getting rescued from Grand Lake. A staffer with Wild Heart Ranch says Rocky was found beneath a boat dock, where it’s believed he was floating and crying for at least three days.

Since that time, staffers at the Wild Heart Ranch have nursed him back to health. They say he’s lucky to be alive. Today, he will be headed to his new home at the Oklahoma Aquarium in Jenks. Staffers say he has bonded with the entire staff and was acting a bit suspicious on his last day at the facility.

“He was hiding under his shirt and wouldn’t come out,” a staffer said. “It’s almost like he knew

The aquarium beaver exhibit only has one occupant at this time, so they’re welcoming the cute little fur ball with open arms.

Hey, how insane do you think that lone beaver is by now? Beavers are inherently social animals. So I’m guessing pretty insane. Let’s hope they get along and Rocky isn’t competition for the beaver voices in his head. Honestly, you’d think someone wouldn’t even START an aquarium display for beavers unless they had more than one.

As you can imagine. It looks like a classy place. Good luck, Rocky.

Martinez has 140 years to go (reprise)

heidi08 Educational, Environmental December 14, 2016

It was funny to read this headline, since the story broke about a year and a half ago, but I like where they went with this article which pushed the issue further than before. It’s from TVN which apparently stands for True Viral News.

Beaver dams can last centuries, 1868 map shows

Beavers aren’t just busy – they’re swamped. But while building and maintaining a marsh can take time, it’s apparently worth the investment. The rodents’ ecosystem-shaping homes have long been known for their durability, and a recent study offers unique evidence that individual beaver dams can persist for centuries.

That evidence comes via an 1868 map (see below) commissioned by Lewis H. Morgan, a prominent American anthropologist who also worked as a railroad director. While overseeing a rail project through Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in the 1860s, Morgan came across something that amazed him: “a beaver district, more remarkable, perhaps, than any other of equal extent to be found in any part of North America.”

Morgan went on to study these beavers for years, resulting in his 396-page tome ” The American Beaver and His Works.” Published in 1868, it included a map of 64 beaver dams and ponds spread across roughly 125 square kilometers (48 square miles) near the city of Ishpeming, Michigan. And now, almost 150 years later, a fresh look at Morgan’s map has revealed that most of the beaver dams are still there.

“We haven’t known much about the long-term resilience of beaver populations, but this map allowed us to look back in time in a pretty unique way,” study author and South Dakota State ecologist Carol Johnston tells Science Magazine’s David Malakoff.

“This remarkable consistency in beaver pond placement over the last 150 years is evidence of the beaver’s resilience,” she writes in the journal Wetlands.

This is fun to read again, but I was ESPECIALLY shocked by what came next.

Other research has hinted at even longer resilience. A 2012 study, for example, found that some beaver dams in California date back more than 1,000 years. One of those dams was first built around 580 AD, making it older than China’s Tang Dynasty or the earliest-known English poetry. Later evidence shows the same dam was in use around 1730, when beavers apparently made repairs to it. It was finally abandoned after suffering a breach in 1850 – some 1,200 years after its initial construction.

HEY THAT’S US! Or rather the paper that Rick and Chuck published separately in order for our mutual review to follow. I didn’t think the science article mentioned us before, so I don’t know where they got this reference. But nicely done!

Still, it’s encouraging that so many beaver homes survived the 19th and 20th centuries, a particularly turbulent time for wildlife across North America. Any averted extinction is good news, but beavers are keystone species whose DIY wetlands boost all kinds of biodiversity, so their comeback is especially welcome.

Beavers only live for 10 to 20 years, and since they’re often parents by age 3, dozens of generations could have inhabited Morgan’s ponds since he mapped them. The aforementioned California dam could have even spanned 400 generations, about the number humans have had since our ancestors began farming. Yet despite all our species’ success, we have a knack for destroying ecosystems in the process. Beavers, on the other hand, use local resources to enrich themselves and their habitats.

That doesn’t mean beavers have all the answers. But the industrious rodents are a useful reminder that we’re all defined by what we leave for our descendants, whether it’s an unpolluted atmosphere, a biodiverse bog or just a dammed place to live.

I feel like I read most of this article three or four times already. But I really love where this article ends and how it lays down the values of beaver resilience. It wasn’t an accident that they were the first animals back after Mt. St Helens errupted or after the nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl. I only disagree with one part, of course.

Beavers do, in fact, have all the answers.

“Gnawty or Nice?”

heidi08 City Reports, Environmental, Friends of Martinez Beavers, Who's saving beavers now? December 13, 2016

“We’ll have to figure out if this is the handiwork of an animal of interest or “primal” suspect.”

Oh Oh! I know! Call on me!

Beaver: Gnaw-ty or nice?

A sign posted to a tree in Broadhead Creek Park warns visitors “Use of property, streams and ponds at own risk.” That same tree now presents a hazard. With a section of a trunk gouged out, only a narrow piece of wood holds the tree upright.

“That tree may have to come down,” said Stroud Township Supervisor Daryl Eppley. “It looks pretty far gone, and we don’t want to put the public at risk.”

The damage was discovered by recent park visitor Bill Sine. Township officials have one suspect already – a beaver. Sherry Acevedo, executive director of Stroud Regional Open Space and Recreation Commission, said preliminary evidence shows signs of an animal preparing for winter.

“Beaver activity does occur naturally along the stream,” she said, “and they do typically chew on trees.”

Stroud Township could decide to remove the tree as early as Tuesday, said Eppley. A public works crew will investigate multiple factors, including the direction the tree might fall.

“Even if it falls into the stream,” he said, “it can cause a dam – something beavers are notorious for.”

Full credit to the author of the article for using an actually new pun. “Gnawty or Nice” amuses me. Stroud Township is in Monroe county in Pennsylvania. It is one of the counties stricken by drought, although they apparently don’t want any beaver dams saving their remaining water though. Beavers are rascals. Any amusement leftover from the very rare new pun in this story is directed to the public works crew who will be “Investigating multiple factors”to determine which way the tree is going to fall. I can just see our DPW crew now out with their tape measures and plumb bobs using calculus to determine the trajectory.

Yesterday I showed you the trail cam video of Michael Forsberg which showed a beaver doggedly protecting his home from intruders. Turns out Michael’s a renowned wildlife photographer with extensive background in prairie wildlife. His glorious work has been featured in books and shown in National Geographic and PBS.

Lots of cranes, foxes and stunning night skies in his portfolio, and you should check out his website. But surprisingly few beaver. Obviously his resume has some beaver gaps that he is hoping to fill. We friended on facebook yesterday and I’ll do what I can to nudge him closer to beaver greatness.

capture — *Sadly, this is Mr. Forsberg’s only beaver photo featured on his website.*

Don’t I always save the best for last? Yesterday I read about the first episode of Autumn Watch in Cornwall which stared the river otter beavers. So of course I went looking for it. I wrote my buddy Peter Smith of the Wildwood Trust in Kent and he directed me to this. You should really watch the whole thing. But first I’m going to tell you what made me very, very happy.

The interview with scientist/naturalist Derek Gow shows him wearing the Worth A Dam hat we gave him at the beaver conference a few years back. Martinez in Devon! Worth A Dam around the world! Isn’t that WONDERFUL?
I’ve cued up the segment so you really need to watch!

Beaver friends you didn’t know you had!

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers and Forests, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and Ice, Beavers and Insects, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Environmental, Who's saving beavers now? December 12, 2016

There is a charming column this morning from a NY forester who grudgingly appreciates his beaver neighbors. The author is Paul Hetzler. Thank goodness!

North Country scofflaw beavers don’t ask DEC to okay their dams

Among the myriad blessings in my life are the neighbors. In the decade I’ve lived at my current address they have come through with everything from a jump-start on a cold morning to a cup of sugar in the midst of pie-making. They’ve even delivered and stacked firewood when I was ill for an extended time.

A couple of years ago I became concerned when a new family built a house next door, just threw it together without so much as a building permit or a civil “hello.” They were hard-workers, to be sure, and could fell timber like there was no tomorrow, but were very stand-offish, and I began to eye them with suspicion. After it was brought to my attention they were beavers, we got along much better.

This population rebound is great for improved water quality and groundwater storage, healthier fisheries, habitat diversification, and more migratory waterfowl. It is not such good news when beaver engineering clashes with human engineering, as happened one morning when I found that a stream, usually directed under my dirt road, was suddenly flowing over it and washing away the roadbed at quite a clip.

Exemplars of family values, beavers are monogamous for life, which translates to maybe a 10-year marriage between first mating at two to three years and death at the ripe age of 10 to 15. This is better than the 8.2-year average length of marriage in the U.S. And both male and female beavers help raise their offspring.

Social bonds are strong, with three generations often living together. Older siblings frequently pitch in to groom or babysit the young kits. Beavers of all ages, especially yearlings and kits, have been observed engaging in play. This is one of the reasons many Native American peoples refer to beavers as “Little People,” and hold them in high esteem.

Even though they may have the moral high ground when it comes to social issues, beavers can be annoying neighbors. I had to protect the trunks of young fruit trees from beaver teeth, and “adjust” their dam so the yard did not flood. Solutions can be simple, like an “over-under” pipe that lets them build the dam as tall as they want while leaving the water level where you want it.

Accurate and amusing? I guess years of living down the street from Beavers: Wetlands and Wildlife has paid off, Paul. You have achieved a fairly rare accomplishment by reviewing beaver attributes in a new way that I actually enjoy reading. Thanks for this and the light-hearted willingness to wrap trees.

Trust me. Your new neighbors will give back, too.

This was posted on Facebook by Michael Foseberg of last night at the Platte River. We are going to be fast friends, I can tell.

There was quite a bit of nighttime activity at the beaver dam recently near the Platte River. And it’s obvious that between the river otter, mama beaver and raccoon that amazingly all make appearances in this 15 second remote video clip, that the mama beaver rules. Beaver dams don’t just hold back water, but provide travel corridors and create habitat for myriad wildlife species that rely on the beaver’s water engineering skills to survive. With the help of remote cameras and technologies developed with Jeff Dale of TRLcam.com, I am trying to document a year in the life of a beaver dam complex near the banks of the Platte River and see what we can discover as part of the ongoing work for our Platte Basin Timelapse project.

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