Month: January 2018

STOP! IN THE NAME OF SALMON

heidi08 Beavers and salmon January 11, 2018

UPDATE:

I just had a phone call with Dr. Jimmy Taylor of APHIS in Oregon. He confirms that WS represents only a small portion of the legal take of beavers. Land owners who have concerns can legally kill beavers without a permit. And agencies who want to get rid of beavers can also use private trappers. Wildlife Services is the easiest target, but by no means the biggest. Also they keep records of the method and number taken, and have to report accidental take, while others don’t.

This is mostly a symbolic shot across the bow.

A little over two months ago you might remember reading here that something BIG happened in beaver world. It was in Oregon where two powerful conservation groups declared they were going to sue wildlife services because they were damaging the salmon population by continuing to trap beavers. Remember that? It was a wild move that had never been done before and it was a big, big deal.

Guess what news broke yesterday?

Threat of lawsuit halts efforts to kill beavers in Oregon

PORTLAND — The U.S. government will temporarily halt a little-known beaver killing program in Oregon, where the rodent is the state animal, appears on the state flag and is the mascot of Oregon State University.

Beavers once played an important role in the state’s economy, earning Oregon the nickname “the beaver state.”

Environmental groups have threatened a lawsuit alleging that the practice of killing the animals reduces the number of dams that create deep pools that are ideal habitat for young, endangered coho salmon.

In a letter released Wednesday by a coalition of environmental groups, the government said it will further study whether the actions violate the Endangered Species Act.

Wildlife Services, a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said in the Dec. 27, 2017, letter it would “cease all aquatic mammal damage management activities” directed at beavers, river otters, muskrats and mink.

Wildlife Services killed more than 400 beavers in Oregon in 2016 as part of a federal effort to control damage to agricultural fields, timber land and roadways caused by flooding that resulted from beaver dams.

Whoo hoo? A moratorium on beaver trapping! I’m not exactly sure what this means for all the beavers in Oregon, but you can bet I’m going to find out. (In California it wouldn’t mean a heck of a lot because there are plenty of folks that trap beaver besides Wildlife Services). Our counting usually shows APHIS only counts for a third of all the beavers depredated in the state. I’ve asked if Oregon is different and will let you know the answer. For now be grateful that this puts SQUARELY in the public eye the important relationship between killing beavers and harming salmon.

In fact this news broke yesterday in Houston of all places!

Environmentalists say killing beavers to mitigate damage to private agricultural interests harms the environment — particularly endangered salmon species — because the dams help salmon, another Northwest icon.

Beavers are “nature’s engineers,” and their complex dams form deep pools in bubbling streams that shield young salmon and give them a resting place to fatten up as they migrate to the Pacific Ocean, said Andrew Hawley, a staff attorney with the Western Environmental Law Center.

The dams also have been shown to reduce turbidity in streams and maintain stable water levels — even in drought — by blocking and slowing the flow of water. “Instead of going in and just killing them, there are options for live-trapping them and figuring how to move the family units into other areas. Let them do what they do best,” he said.

“They do exactly the type of restoration work that the biologists say we need to do for salmon and coho and steelhead recovery, and they do it for free — and better than we could ever do.”

If you want to support these litigation beaver warriors, send them a little love here: Western Environmental Law Center and Center for Biological Diversity. You know I don’t break out this award ceremony for just any old news story, but this one deserves it. I have already heard from several lawyers watching this case and thinking about launching their own in their respective states.

‘BORROWING’ FOR BEAVERS

heidi08 Beavers and Culvert Protection January 10, 2018

Sitting here watching the world of beavers I can usually trace ideas as they trickle from one location to the next. I can tell how often new headlines are recycled and when they are actually NEW and had never ever been used before.

This particular headline got my attention, not because of it’s novelty, but because of its familiar ring. Other than a Peter Bush article about beaver sex, I’ve only seen it one place in a decade if beaver reporting. And I think you all know where that was.

The Secret Lives of Beavers

Beavers are some of the most misunderstood animals. By nature, the critters gnaw at trees in order to fell them, so that they can create dams… homes, where they live. Unfortunately, in modern times when humans have done all of the felling, there are few trees left for beavers to do what they do best. This is especially true in urban environments, of course.

Where bodies of water are found, or streams/rivers, beavers will still most likely be present. Take, for example, the Scajaquada Creek, and the Buffalo River. Have you ever noticed the metal caging wrapped around the trunks of trees, to protect them from the beavers?

Yes, beavers have it rough. There are few trees, and the ones that are left are protected from their gnawing nature. What’s a beaver to do? They head to Tifft Nature Preserve… that’s what they do.

On Monday, January 15, you are invited to explore the fascinating world of beavers.

“Hidden beneath ice and snow is the busiest animal you’ll ever know! Meet the beavers on a guided hike and indoor workshop investigating real clues at the beaver lodge and hands-on specimens in the classroom.”

In addition to being Martin Luther King day, January 15 is my mom’s birthday! What a wonderful day to teach folks about beavers and the good they do on the landscape. Please start with whoever wrote this article because they should know that beavers don’t live in the dam.

They should also know that stealing other peoples titles is frowned upon in the literary community. (Check out the subtitle under Eager). Like I said, other than the Peter Bush article I haven’t seen this headline used a single time in an entire decade, and now that the book is officially for sale on Amazon someone else suddenly ‘thought’ of it.

Sheesh!

Yesterday there was a city meeting in Port Moody BC and folks showed up to talk about how important the beavers were to the community, and how badly the city had bungled the process to clear the culvert that lead to drowning the kit. I spoke with Judy on the phone for the first time, (which was like hearing my own voice from ten years ago talking back to me). I gave her ideas about where to focus public comment and congratulated her for doing so much so well. They haven’t seen the other parent or the kit since the bungle took place. but one wonderful thing happened that we could celebrate.

A creek on the other side of the subdivision suddenly ‘got’ beavers!

Judy and I talked about how this was likely the other part of the same family, leaving the danger zone and carrying on. I also suggested that there was a chance that the beaver they are still seeing in the area is a yearling they never knew was part of the family, and that the parents had brought the kit to the new zone. It would be pretty unusual for a parent to abandon a kit, I thought. But not so unusual to have a family member you never accounted for. I told her that one year we spent an entire summer SURE that we had two kits, until another one suddenly ‘appeared’ in August. Beavers don’t always show their hand.

They have Secret Lives, as you may have heard.

I DON’T KNOW WHAT A BEAVER LOOKS LIKE, BUT I KNOW HE’S GUILTY!

heidi08 Beavers and Ice January 9, 2018

Salmon-arm British Columbia is located above washington state about midway between Vancouvery and Calgary. It is far enough north that it should know be well able to tell the difference between the national animal and an invasive rodent. But I guess not.

Beavers and balloons blamed for power outages in 2017

BC Hydro compiles a list of most memorable outages of last year

From beavers to balloons, to ships — BC Hydro is recounting the most memorable causes of power outages in 2017. Crews responded to more than 17,800 outages last years with wildfires in the Central and Southern Interior topping the list.

A squirrel chewed through a piece of electrical equipment causing it to catch fire and 180 customers in Burnaby – including a local cheese factory – to lose power.
Loose birthday party balloons contacted power lines and caused an outage to 800 in downtown Vancouver on a Friday evening.
A beaver gnawed a tree that fell on a power line, causing the community of Hixon in Northern B.C. to lose power.

If you don’t know what the animal LOOKS like, how can you possibly know it was responsible for the crime?

Speaking of what beavers look like, there are some nice wintry beaver photos this morning. This one was uploaded to the Canadian Geographic Photo Club by Brittany Crossman from Riverside Canada and shows a pair of beavers in an icy pond.

The second is from our friends Phil Price and Julie Lamont who are vacationing in wintry yellowstone because they are hardy folks and that’s the kind of thing they do. They were excited to find this on an exploration yesterday,

First beaver sighting ever in Yellowstone – and in winter, no less. Clipped willow branches and drag marks on the snow and ice led us to this beaver’s lodge – and as we scanned the area at evening, in hopes of a glimpse, there he was, at the edge of the water. Nature’s best engineers; the Army Corps could learn a lesson or two…

I asked if Phil if he thought this was a hole they made and maintained and he answered

“This section of river has several open leads that I think are naturally open in the unseasonably warm weather here right now (around 30 daytime, 10 at night… Both are about 20 degrees warmer than normal). Maybe the beaver would have to work to keep them open in normal weather, but not right now.”

As a special historic treat, here’s his lovely and well-spoken wife Julia at our very first beaver festival in a video letter to the mayor.

ANOTHER MODEST BEAVER PROPOSAL

heidi08 Beaver Chewing, Beavers and water January 8, 2018

The smith canal takes water from the San Joaquin river in to the interior of Stockton to feed Yosemite lake just south of the University of the Pacific. It was originally created as a passage way for barge ships carrying or picking up agriculture to and from the region. It is now lined with homes and docks for pleasure boats. American legion park houses the old barge turn around point which is now called a ‘lake’ and lined with trees for recreation.

Gee, I wonder if anyone we know is enjoying those trees.

Fitzgerald: A modest proposal for smith canal

Beaver or beavers unknown are gnawing down trees around the lake in American Legion Park.

Mark Farnsworth, who with wife Liz spotted unmistakable beaver chew marks while walking their dog, said he believes the beavers are not building a dam but a lodge.

“These guys don’t have a stream to block,” opined Farnsworth. “They’ll build a den down lower.”

Beavers build DIY dams on streams to surround their mud-and-wood lodges with a pond as protection from predators. They also eat underbark. The North American Beaver used to be so prevalent around Stockton that city founder Charles Weber nicknamed Stockton “Castoria,” after the beaver’s Latin name, Castor Canadensis.

“We’re unaware of that issue happening,” stated Offi

cer Joseph Silva, spokesman for the Stockton Police Department, which includes the Animal Services Division.

Silva added, “Our Animal Control officers are only equipped to deal with domesticated animals.”

As fate would have it, there’s a long-running controversy over a flood control gate proposed for nearby Smith Canal, which feeds the lake. Perhaps, instead of spending millions, flood control officials should just step back let nature take its course.

Hmm. Isn’t that a very interesting column? Mr. Fitzgerald thank you! Although being in Stockton which depends so dearly on its levees, the odds of these or any beaver being allowed to do their work is zero percent. If once upon a time the area was so full of beavers it was nearly called “Castoria”, that is because it was so full of marshy water and reeds there was little space to build anything at all. The creation of levees divided up the town into actual land and actual water, and the area guards those levees with its very life – for a good reason. Their great worry is that a beaver or muskrat wikl burrow into a bank, weaken the levee and send the whole place underwater. They spend considerable time and money every year trapping out whatever threats they can find.

Which is why I like this article so much. If there’s one thing folks from Stockton hate more than beavers, its wasting their hard-earned money. Telling them they could save some by letting these beavers live will likely lead to some interesting head-scratching.

Last night was an awesome beaver advocacy battery recharge. The raviolis were delicious, the company was lively, and the wine was free-flowing. To start the evening everyone took a little field-trip to Susana Park to see the site of the new festival next year. There was much delight to imagine where tents and trailers could go and how the park would look with a giant chalk beaver pond in the middle.

There are a precious few things that make you feel like the beaver decade is starting out on the right ~~foot~~ – er paw. But this was definitely one of them.

BEAVER PROTECTORS

heidi08 Beavers and Scotland January 7, 2018

The first week of 2018 wasn’t so bad, was it? This morning there is a big profile on a plucky young beaver trapper cluttering up my mailbox, but I don’t have the strength of character to tackle that much podsnappery this early in the year. (And yes that IS a word that I just learned, and I love it very much, thank you.) So if we can’t talk about an article that glorifies trappers, lets do the opposite instead.

Calls for state-sponsored trapping and removal of beaver family in the north to stop

Angry campaigners have called for a state-sponsored trapping and removal of a beaver family in the Highlands to stop.

Three beavers died in the first phase of the controversial Scottish Natural Heritage operation, which was ordered by Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham last year. And now, Labour MSP David Stewart is backing conservation charity Trees For Life in its calls for a consultation before any further trapping takes place near Beauly.

Mr Stewart said: “It is concerning that the organisation has written three times to Ms Cunningham since she announced her decision to trap the beaver family but the Secretary has not replied,” explained Mr Stewart. “Strathglass appears to be completely different to Tayside in that the beavers have never caused any difficulties for land managers and most of the community has been unaware of their presence.

“I believe the Scottish Government needs to listen to local views on this issue and I back the call for a full consultation with the community before there is any action to capture the remaining beavers. I would hate to see more beavers dying after being trapped.”

Alan McDonnell, Trees for Life Conservation Manager, explained: ‘We simply don’t understand why the Secretary is in such a rush to take these beavers from the wild without even considering other options or listening to what local people think.” Alice Clifford, Strathglass landowner added: “The beavers have been here for years now, but they haven’t caused anyone any problems – in fact most people didn’t even know they existed.

“The trapping has been a complete overreaction from the Government and a lot of people here are very upset that it has led to beavers dying in captivity.” Trees for Life was studying Strathglass when workers discovered a beaver family in June last year on the River Beauly with two generations of young and the breeding pair had clearly been active for nearly three years.

Did you hear that? Stop trapping our beavers! And let people weigh in on the decisions you make from hear on in. I like the way that sounds. The government has its priorities mixed up. If you want to raise your picket fence by a foot you have to apply for a variance by posting signs and writing every one of your neighbors of your plan. But if you want to kill the only beavers in the county – or the country – that’s just fine.

In California we have so little influence on who gets to trap beavers. My annual PRA request for beaver depredation permits is required by law to happen in 90 days. At day 100 they wrote me this

???

I wrote back with polite incredulity and said are you saying that zero beavers in california have been depredated? Or that you no longer keep track of the ones that are? And if this represents a policy shift please send me the statute so I’m aware of it.

Which prompted an immediate phone call from too-cheerful CDFG attorney saying “OHHHH those records! We didn’t understand! The request went to the wrong place. We’ll take care of it now!”

Meanwhile its day 133 since my request and I’m still waiting.

Tonight is the annual beaver guardians ravioli feed, so you’ll understand if I have to dash this morning and straighten the curtains, count the silverware, or refrigerate the champagne. Our tiny living room is now filled with a table set for 12 and we sat in folding chairs last night. These great folks are coming of course, sadly, minus one. and joyfully plus 2. There are so many more that should be there, but you would need a can-opener to fit one more body in our shabby victorian, so they will have to wait.

We finished dipping the beaver tails in chocolate yesterday, and 300 raviolis are made and at the ready so we’re ready for show time! Wish us and beavers luck.