Month: January 2017

“Taking care of Busy-(ness)”

heidi08 Beavers January 20, 2017

And on the day when the mean drunk(s) moved into the China cabinet, people still found time to complain about those awful beavers.

It’s true what they say about beavers being real busy

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Industrious beavers can cause headaches for landowners when their work causes water backups in fields and pastures.

Removing a dam without eliminating the animals doesn’t work because beavers tend to rebuild quickly. Because live relocation of beavers — and any other wild animal — is banned in Minnesota, killing them is the most viable option.

If beaver damage occurs on your land, the animals can be shot or trapped without a license or permit. However, you must contact your local Department of Natural Resources officer or area wildlife staff within 24 hours of killing one. A answering machine message is sufficient if you leave your name, address, phone number and the number of beavers killed.

The sad part is that as miserable as this shoddy excuse for beaver management is, it’s still better than California where the number of beavers killed is an X value that no one will ever determine. We assume it’s somewhat less than the Y value (The number of beaver for which permission has been given to kill) but we honestly have no idea.

After the killing recommendation where the article outlines how free and convenient it is to trap them, it at least offers a few other options.

• Water levels in the beaver pond can be controlled by special devices such as the Clemson beaver pond leveler. Contact your local DNR office for more information.

• Protect trees in your yard by putting hardware cloth cylinders at least 30 inches tall around the tree’s base. Electric fencing can protect larger areas.

• Plant native evergreens that beavers don’t like or other shrubs that regrow after beaver damage — red osier, dogwood, pussy or prairie willow are some options.

I’m not sure why on earth anyone would want to do those extra steps when killing beavers so inexpensive and easy, but well, okay then.

Busy beavers cause flooding at West Kelowna’s Rotary Trails Park

WEST KELOWNA – The City of West Kelowna is temporarily closing the Rotary Trails Park due to the flooding caused by beaver activity. The combination of flood water and icy trails is causing extremely slippery conditions, according to a media release from the City of West Kelowna.

Public safety is cited as the reason for the closure of the Gellatly Road park.

The press release states the park is prone to flooding during the snow melt and the movement and activity of the beavers has contributed to the problem. The Parks Department is watching the conditions and will send notice to the public when Rotary Trails Park is reopened.

Kelowna is in British Columbia just north of Washington. We are not sure how it is they know the flooding was caused by beavers, and not oh, say, WEATHER, but I’m sure they have some scientific method to determine whodunit. There’s a picture with the article of a beaver in the zoo, so there’s that. Obviously the essential feature of any beaver article isn’t the actual evidence or investigative journalism:

It’s that you use the word BUSY in the headline.

That is all. You may now turn back to your regularly scheduled horrors. Apparently the NEA is gone, as is the Humanities grant. But I’m mostly worried about our National Parks. Which apparently will not be sold -YET- but opened now for “Multiple Use”. Which means drilling.

And remember Ryan Zinke, the nominee for Interior Secretary who called himself a Teddy Roosevelt Republican, and who professed his allegiance to the “Gifford Pinchot” model for “multiple use” of our public lands? The oil industry sees him as a bit of a ray of light. From Petroleum World:

“Yes,” he said in response to a question from Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska about whether he would review drilling curbs imposed by President Barack Obama’s administration in her state, home to vast petroleum deposits both onshore and beneath Arctic waters. “I can guarantee you it is better to produce energy domestically under reasonable regulation than overseas with no regulation … We need an economy.”

Beaver Fan Club still has Openings

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers, Beavers and climate change, Beavers and Forests, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and Ice, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental, featured, Who's saving beavers now? January 19, 2017

Ooh how nice to see the upcoming beaver conference get some positive press! I hope that gets many more curious people in the door.

Seven Feathers to host conference on beaver restoration

CANYONVILLE — Oregon’s official state animal, the beaver, plays an important role in the state’s wetland ecosystems. Those advocating for the beaver plan to convene next month for a series of presentations focusing on beaver ecology as a crucial part of threatened species recovery.

The fifth State of the Beaver Conference, slated for Feb. 22-24 at the Seven Feathers Convention Center in Canyonville, is meant “to provide an international venue for academia, agency and stakeholders together to disseminate information pertinent to beaver ecology,” according to Leonard Houston, conference coordinator and co-chair of the Beaver Advocacy Committee (BAC) of the South Umpqua Rural Community Partnership.

“We chose the theme of ‘agents of regeneration’ largely to highlight the role that beavers play both in natural regeneration, which is ecological succession, and designed regeneration, which is restoration ecology,” Houston said.

The nicest part about this conference, and there are many, is that the famous names you have been reading about for years here or elsewhere are walking or sitting right next to you. Or coming up to say ‘hi’ and ask

about your presentation. The truth is that it is both a blessing and unfortunate that the science of beaver ecology isn’t yet so advanced that names like Woodruff, Obrien or Pollock can send

their undergrads to do the presenting for them and report back if they find anything interesting. As renowned as they are, they have to do their reporting in person and are eager to share ideas and learn from each other. They’re even happy to hear what you have to say.

Admittedly,they are probably even happier if you invite them out for a beer to say it. (And happier still if you offer to pay for it. Government salaries being what they are.)

santa barbara dinner — Michael Pollock, Mary Obrien, Sherri Guzzi, Mike Callahan and Me!

The point is, I think this is a golden moment in time where beaver science hasn’t become dominated and controlled by lofty minds and big research institutions. You can contribute, you can interact. They need you! But already the world is starting to shift. More and more folk are interested in taking charge of the beaver meme, and it won’t be easy and collegial forever.

Beavers are getting so famous, you better come this year. Just to be on the safe side.

“Poppies will put them to sleep…”

heidi08 Beavers January 18, 2017

I must be a very suspicious person. Because when city council members say their policy is to “relocate” beavers who are causing problems and not kill them I immediately think of parents telling their child the family pet went to “live on the farm”.

In other words: I don’t believe it.

They’re are extra delicate around the public in Langley, apparently. which is in British Columbia just between Washington and Vancouver. Folks are primed there for beaver outrage and require a pretty detailed story to have their alarm buttons turned off.

Langley resident ‘appalled’ by beaver trapping in Gloucester wetland

Ted Lightfoot was walking his beagle, Homer, along the trails near 56 Avenue and 272 Street in Gloucester on Jan. 7, when Homer caught wind of something near West Creek.

The dog darted off the perimeter path toward the water, leading his owner to the scene of a large beaver, lying motionless inside a hunting trap, with a second unsprung trap close by, just inches below the water.

“I was just appalled to see this beautiful animal with its broken neck in a trap,” said Lightfoot’s wife, Lynda, who came out to see the beaver shortly after it was found.

“I mean this is — on top of everything else — this is the start of Canada’s 150th birthday, and what are we doing but killing these beavers? In my way of thinking, they are not a nuisance issue here. They’re not flooding a farmer’s field or a house or anything.

A typical opening to a beaver story. Man walking his dog is horrified to come across a dead beaver in a trap. A typical start to the ‘why do we need to use traps’ story. Cue the city worker who can explain how destructive beavers are and its the only way.

According to the Township, a professional trapper was called in after multiple beaver dams were discovered at the detention pond in December.

The dams were backing up the storm water system on 272 Street, and following “typical beaver management practices,” the Township first attempted to remove some of the dams by hand, said Aaron Ruhl, Township manager of engineering and construction services.

“We’ll monitor the site and then if things are being rebuilt fairly quickly, then we’ll look at maybe putting in pond levelers, which at this detention pond site isn’t feasible because of the size, the (number) of beaver dams in there and the importance to the storm water system,” he said.

You see we tried taking out the sticks but those darned beavers just kept putting them back. And we really, really need that pond for the storm water system. Because you know, it’s our concrete system for slowing water down and it doesn’t work well with a series of natural systems that would do the same thing. Understand?

There are two poem fragments I hear in my head when I read these kind of stories. It is just the way my mind works. This is the first one from Dr. Seuss’s Grinch:

His fib fooled the child, he patted her head
gave her a drink and then sent her to bed
And when cindy loo hoo went to bed with her cup
He went to the chimney and stuffed the tree up.

The second poem fragment actually bothers me more. Because its the”tearful response of the person who voted to cause harm in the first place”. I’m on the city council but I’m shocked! shocked to learn that we voted for beaver trapping! It’s from the Alice thru the Looking Glass and its just as apt.

“I weep for you,” the Walrus said:
“I deeply sympathize.”
With sobs and tears he sorted out
Those of the largest size,

Councillor Petrina Arnason, who also witnessed the dead beaver, said she is very upset that the rodents are being trapped.

“I’m extremely unhappy. I think that on a number of levels that this is not something that the Township should be doing,” she said.

In particular, Arnason said she is upset because council recently passed her motion to have an integrated storm water management plan created for Gloucester.

“So the idea behind that is … prior to any further redevelopment in that area by Beedie — who’s the primary land holder there, which is why they are charged with doing this — they have to create a holistic approach to how it is that they are going to manage that area as a watershed,” she said.

That includes wildlife and the beavers, who are attracted to the wetland habitat of the area. Arnason believes trapping them now, prior to the storm water management plan being adopted, is premature.

“I’m just honestly incensed that in light of this, and in my expectation that this (storm water management plan) is being done in order that meets that commitment that council put forward, that we are now going out there and trapping beavers.

“They are what’s considered to be a keystone species, and there is lots of literature that indicates that they are very much a part of an integrated approach to how to manage wetlands, and that conflict resolution with beavers, a progressive approach, would not look at ‘let’s just exterminate them.’”

Even my wounded suspicious nature gets confused by that last paragraph. When I hear words like that I so want to see a potential beaver hero. What if she was outvoted and really wanted to use other means to control the problem?

She’s still a ‘walrus’. And I will tell you why. Because she uses words like ‘holistic’ instead of words like ‘pragmatic’ and ‘cost saving’. In this instance, holistic is a synonym for ‘bleeding heart’ and ‘don’t listen to me‘. If she wants to get their attention she should be talking about investing taxpayer dollars for a temporary solution.

The entire region is full of beaver polite doublespeak. Which just terrifies me.

Cute, hard-working and destructive: the beaver

In the Langleys, beaver-proofing can include installing metal mesh wraps around tree trunks, and modifying their dams to reduce flooding. When the beavers can’t be discouraged, sometimes they have to be relocated.

And that’s when licensed trappers are called in.

“Trapping is our last resort.” said Aaron Ruhl, the Township’s manager of engineering and construction services. “We prefer not to.”

Ruhl says at any given time, the Township is monitoring multiple beaver dams with the potential to cause problems. “We’ve got sites we visit weekly,” Ruhl told the Times.

Before a trapper is called in, Township policy calls for trying alternative beaver management methods that can include installing fences and or barriers around culverts, drains, structures, and trees to keep beavers away as well as wrapping heavy gauge wire mesh around trees.

Arnason points to the SPCA best practices, which state that the organization “does not support killing beavers for nuisance reasons.”

Instead, the SPCA suggests methods such as relocation, putting up fences to deter them from building dams or running flexible corrugated pipe through existing dams to control water levels.

Kyle Simpson, Langley City manager of engineering operations, said a colony of beavers recently had to be rousted from the Baldi Creek area after alternative beaver-proofing methods failed.

“They (the beavers that get relocated) are treated very delicately,” Simpson says.“They will not be harmed at all.”

Right off the bat, when folks discuss relocation FIRST and installing a flow device SECOND they are just plain lying that the beavers are well treated. I’m sorry, but they just are. This isn’t Yakima or Sherri Tippie that comes in a relocates the entire family to safer ground. It’s Jake from ‘Critter gone’ who uses a snare to trap the single beaver and dump him into some bigger pond where he’ll have no family and no food cache for the winter and will likely die.

What worries me is that when the civic powers use flowery ecological language to describe what they’re doing they put to sleep the exact kind of public outrage that could be ignited to motivate real beaver action. That’s why they use it.

Also it just bugs me when they use Cheryl’s lovely photo (taken in an urban setting where beavers were successfully managed) to do it.

Afancod for all!

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beaver Chewing, Beavers, Beavers and Insects, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Friends of Martinez Beavers, Who's saving beavers now? January 17, 2017

Wales is on the beaver Warpath, and something tells me they aren’t giving up on their quest to reintroduce beavers any time soon. When Scotland gave the all clear they were immediately lining up to be next. They will be presenting at the beaver conference next month in Oregon. It’s pretty generous them to all do this separately, so we get to prolong the discussion of beaver benefits as long as possible. After they succumb, we still get all of England to do the promoting! Then what?

Proposals to reintroduce beavers to parts of Wales

A SPECIAL talk is to be held next week over proposals to reintroduce beavers to parts of Wales.

Welsh beaver project officer Alicia Leow-Dyke will be opening up the elusive world of beavers at a free event at the Centre for Alternative Technology on 24 January.

Alicia, of the Radnorshire Wildlife Trust, will talk about beaver ecology, the history and future of beavers in Wales and the impacts that beavers have on ecosystems, looking at how this can benefit many species, including humans.

In a report by the WBAI they said: “Beavers are often considered a ‘keystone’ species in aquatic environments, with an ability to modify riverine and wetland habitats to the benefit of many other species, with few negative effects.”

That sentence makes me excited and nervous in exactly equal measures. Yes, beavers modify rivers and benefit species but oh they bring a few negative effects for humans. Or at lets call them ‘challenges’. Truly solvable and worth doing but unfortunately not all people are up for a challenge. I’ll let them know when I get to meet them (assuming the sled dogs can get us both there). Here they are listed on the agenda for the State of the beaver conference:

5:00 pm – 5:45 pm

“The Long Road: Returning Beavers to Wales.”

Adrian Lloyd Jones, Wildlife Trusts Wales. Alicia Leow-Dyke, Wildlife Trusts Wales

Nice photo published this morning from Jestephotography I thought deserved sharing. His description says:

While out at Elk Island National Park this fall I stopped to set up on a family of 5 beavers , mom n pop with 3 offspring doing what beavers do. Most of the time they where at a mid distance but this fellow decided the log right in front of me needed a good chewing. I was belly down in the mud with my lens poking out between the cat tails for this one.

Illustrating Beavers

heidi08 Beavers January 16, 2017

blog_12_reasons_beaver — *Beaver by artist Heidi Snyder*

Beaver, Boreal Toads, and Grazing

These dams transform shallow, narrow streams into deep ponds–incredible resources in the arid West. The benefits of these beaver dams are many, including creation of pond and wetland habitats and food webs for native trout, muskrat, voles, shorebirds, cavity-nesting birds, deer, raptors, and more. Beaver dams also raise the streambed level by capturing sediment, which allows water to replenish the adjacent floodplains. Leaked water subirrigates the valley below the dam, and the dams are physical roadbumps that reduce flood force which could otherwise gouge the stream. And more.

And what are these miracle dams built of? Wood, often stripped by beaver of its bark, for food. Beavers’ favored food is the willow family–cottonwood, aspen, or willow—that has its own particular skill: resprouting after being eaten. It’s a great match: beaver expand wetland areas that, in turn, grow more of the willow family, and the willow family provides renewable food and construction materials for the beavers’ dams and lodges.

Those willow family sprouts, however, are also favorite foods of cattle, elk, deer, and sheep. And here the conflict arises: Riparian areas are the favored hangout of cattle, for shade, water, and…willow, cottonwood and aspen. And though these plants can sprout back after being eaten, they do require rest from being consumed in order to regrow. Aspen and cottonwood need their main stem to grow above browse height, and willow need to retain a majority of their multiple stems. Thus, cattle can eat our water-master beavers out of house and home.

Since boreal toad reproduction is so tightly linked with higher-elevation beaver ponds, and since beaver are so tightly linked with abundant willow, cottonwood, and aspen, and since cattle in particular (but also elk) spend so much time eating in willow, cottonwood, and aspen stands, we begin to sense just how indirectly, but effectively, excessive grazing can interfere with species and habitats we know and love on the Colorado Plateau.

So stop letting your cows graze the waterways. We would like our water to be ecoli free anyway, but it’s especially worth noting that they eat the shoots that would feed the beavers who would make the streams better. I believe this is the last in the series of 12 reasons enumerated by the Grand Canyon Trust with artist Heidi Snyder and hero Mary Obrien. This is the final of six reports on the topic and you can go here to see the others.

Heidi Snyder’s paintings are wonderful and we are thrilled that they were commissioned to tell this story. And speaking of commissioned we’re working with the artist at Coyote Brush Studios to do an original painting of our ecosystem poster, so that we can share it far and wide without incurring copyright wrath. Tina Curiel is also doing watercolor tattoos for our beaver activity at this years festival, and I for one can’t wait.