Month: November 2018

ALL THE PRETTY LITTLE BEAVERS

Some friends of ours at the new “Beavers and Brush“ website wrote the head of CDFG to ask whether beaver policy was changing to keep up with the need for water and fire protection in the state. After being passed off to someone lower on the food chain (a well-spoken environmental scientist in the upland game program), they got a really interesting response which I have permission today to share so I can riff on the more affronting points and offer praise where it is due.

The original letter was written very respectfully and cleverly starts out by complimenting THEM for having the good sense to publish our paper.

Dear Director Bonham,

Thank you for your service and for reading this email. I’m writing to applaud your agency for the publication of 99(4):164; 2013 in conjunction with researchers who documented the historic range of the beaver in California. As I learned from your publication, beavers inhabited nearly all of our state prior to the fur rush and prior to their designation as a “detrimental species” based on the poor science of mid-20th-century researchers.

Like most Californians, I’m now being endangered by runaway wildfires which have resulted in loss of life for my neighbors including firefighters, as well as loss of property and health. I have been personally impacted. As your agency’s publication demonstrated, California was a wetter place just a few generations ago, with deep reserves of water and natural firebreaks in the form of rivers, ponds, wetlands and streams, all thanks to the beaver. However, because we’ve yet to correct the designation of this most vital missing keystone species, we still have regulation §463. Beaver which allows trapping instead of protecting the one species that will be our greatest ally in lessening and combating wildfire.

I am writing to ask what the California Department of Fish & Wildlife is currently doing to alter this regulation and change the status of beavers so that they can be protected and, in turn, protect all of us. Your publication was so important. Please let me know what is being done now to reflect our modern scientific understanding of the beaver as a beneficial native species. Given the hazardous drought and fire conditions that are leading to fatalities in our state, I fully support these changes and would very much appreciate your reply.

What a good letter! Polite, to the point, relevant, and full of just enough pressure to get a response. Which they did. And which interests me to no end. It starts out with the head-slapping dismissal that of course fish and game always knew beavers were native to the state. They were the one that reintroduced them, of course!

Thank you for your inquiry, your email was forwarded to me from the office of the Director.

As you may already know, beavers were nearly extirpated from California during the early 20th century. The fact that beavers occur over the majority of their native range in California today, is a direct result of reintroduction campaigns carried out by the then, Department of Fish and Game. This action, taken by our department, to reintroduce and re-establish beavers populations across California, is consistent with our current stated policy and objectives in Fish and Game Code §1801.

Never mind that the website we maintained up until just 5 years ago listed beavers as “INVASIVES“. That was just colorful language. Of course we knew beavers were native! We never granted depredation permits in the sierras to kill off “invasive” beaver. That’s crazy talk. Pay no attention to the men behind the curtain!

Here’s a screen grab from their website in 2011.

Deep breath everyone. It gets better,

The determination of beavers as a “detrimental species” in Title 14 of California Code of Regulations 671 is not the result of bad science or a reflection on beaver’s intrinsic value to ecosystem function but rather an acknowledgement that beavers can have profound impacts on both agricultural interests and on human health and safety, as determined jointly by our agency and the California Department of Agriculture.

Beaver are not universally beneficial to the landscape. Nor are California’s landscapes universally suitable for beavers. Beaver are a unique species with great potential to affect significant changes to their local environment over short time periods. These changes may be positive or negative, depending on place and time, as well as the interests of all affected parties.

Humans are important and own stuff. Beavers can ruin our stuff. So we decided to call them “detrimental”. Never mind that all the species that depend on them like salmon and frogs think they’re vital. Just because the things we value need something to survive doesn’t mean we have to change our policy.

Near as I can determine “Detrimental” here means

to be detrimental or cause damage to agriculture, native wildlife, or the public health or safety.

I suppose for sure beavers can qualify. They can alter your irrigation ditches and eat your strawberries. But what if the good things they do for native wildlife (salmon) and public safety (fire prevention, statewide drought) outweigh the risk they pose to agriculture? Who gets to decide?

Given California’s diverse geology, biota, flora and its population of nearly 40 million residents, I am sure that you would agree that there are potential conflicts and limits to the public’s acceptance of beaver’s industrious activities, given prevailing regional land-use practices.

Hmm. How many of those 40 million residents drink water? How many of them would like for their homes not to be burned down? I’m not sure you’re seeing the big picture here. This is followed by a paragraph saying recreational trapping has dropped since the 70’s and in order to keep up with the demand for dead beavers we have to allow depredation.

In recent years, California Department of Fish and Wildlife has made significant updates to the process of beaver depredation permit issuance, to ensure that the unnecessary take of beavers is avoided. To this end, we require consultation with a department biologist in all cases before a depredation permit may be issued. Our biologist first offer information on mitigation strategies as alternatives to depredation and issue a depredation permit, only after other alternatives are exhausted. We have also greatly shortened the time “window” for beaver depredation permits and have limited the number of individual animals authorized for depredation on any single permit based on case-specific information.

I admit, this is my favorite paragraph. It practically has our name in the margins. What they really mean is that “a few years ago some crazy women started looking at our permit data and pointed out that we were irresponsible in how we issued permits” so we moved a few deck chairs on the titanic and now we’re floating comfortably. And we were going to do it all by ourselves just out of innate goodness. Because of how good we are. It has NOTHING to do with those dam women.

The available information does not suggest that beavers are currently in decline in California, in fact beavers have been increasing in California for nearly a century. Today, the occurrence of beaver over much of their range in California is based, in part, on the willingness of landowners and local communities to tolerate the landscape impacts of this species.

This is rich. The “we’re not running out of beavers” argument. How many times have you heard that! Maybe that’s true. Maybe we’re not running out of beavers. But are you running out of any of the things that beavers help with? I mean are you having any statewide droughts, for example? Or loss of steelhead and salmon? Are you seeing fewer frogs? Or noticing any more wildlifes?

You are missing the point. Pointedly.

Think of beavers as the front steps to where california needs to go. Sure you might not want to climb more stairs, and it’s not like there’s a stair shortage or anything, but you all want to get inside the building right? And if you can’t get inside the place you built and are committed to maintaining it doesn’t look so good anymore does it?

Beavers could take California where it needs to go Which the author kind of knows because he finishes with this ass-covering paragraph.

CDFW is currently not actively trying to expand or decrease the range of beaver in California but we are currently working to better understand the gravity and depth of beaver’s ecological relationships to our environment including their benefits to native salmonid species, water storage and management and fire-effects through Proposition 1 funded projects. We will continue to make recommendations for regulatory change whenever those actions are supported by the best available science.

When the science points the way, we’ll follow goddammit and not a minute before! Sure. Just like you did in deciding beavers were native? Meaning when you are dragged kicking and screaming to the inevitable conclusion you will say it’s what you were thinking all along and take credit for it? Grr.

I shouldn’t be too harsh on this paragraph. It has positive hints. I would love to know what prop 1 projects they’re currently running that look at beaver benefits. And I like the idea that CDFG is looking at the “Gravity and Depth” of beaver’s ecological relationships to anything. I hope it’s true.

I will end by saying that fish and game should get letters like this every week. Because they need to know the state is eager for beavers. Have you written one yet? It would help convince them that people are really paying attention and ready for a change.

Now that you have an idea of how it all works, why not add your voice to the discussion? Be polite, reference personal experience, and ask for recognition that beaver matter to a host of endangered and listed species, including the good people in California who drink water, and the agriculture industry that requires it. If you get a response we would love you to share it.

Only when we demand better conditions, and tell them how and why they matter, will we get to the beaver promised land.

DIRECTOR@wildlife.ca.gov

ON SECOND THOUGHT, DON’T DRAIN THE SWAMP

There’s crazy political news every where, but good beaver news just keeps creeping in. Starting with this very practical film from our friends at the Scottish Wild beavers I pulled off facebook. When you consider that the majority of depredation permits are issued for damage to trees, this video becomes pretty dam important. I would love to see millions more. Maybe one where the people keep changing, teenagers, kids, grandmas to show how this is EASY. And then maybe the wildlife beavers benefit keeps changing to show that it’s worth doing.

The funny thing is that last night I dreamed that I had a meeting with Dave Scola the head of public works, who was unhappy that beavers were eating trees at the marina. In the dream I was simultaneously filled with dread and brainstorming solutions, while trying to decide whether to call him on obvious lies and how best to organize tree wrapping soon with volunteers. All of those things at once, because that’s what life was like 11 years ago. I woke up so very happy I don’t have to deal with that kind of pressure anymore, although I would be would be willing to face it indefinitely if ithat meant I could see beavers.

*A beaver at Schwabacher Landing in Grand Teton National Park. Photograph by Charlie Hamilton James, Nat Geo Image Collection*

This makes twice in one year beavers have been the subject of a National Geographic article, but this one is mostly about the value of the swamps they create.

These swamp creatures serve a purpose… and need our help

The phrase “drain the swamp” goes back many decades in reference to changing bureaucracy—and it implies that swamps are stagnant, undesirable places.

In reality, swamps are wildly productive. The swamps in the Middle East’s were a boon to agriculture and human society, and the area is considered the birthplace of civilization.

Only five percent of the continental U.S. consists of wetlands, “yet they are home to nearly one-third of all of our plant species,” and to over a third of rare and endangered plant and animal species, says Mike Hardig, a biologist at the University of Montevallo in Alabama, via email.

“Swamp microbes improve water quality,” says conservation ecologist Christine Angelini of the University of Florida via email. They do this by removing excess nitrogen from the water, she says.

Also, many larger filter-feeding invertebrates such as mussels live on the bottom of swamps, “cleaning the water of suspended organic remains,” Hardig says.

That’s a pretty nice introduction to swamp 101. Of course my favorite part comes next.

Alabama’s Ebenezer Swamp is dependent on beavers, “whose dams create backwater areas where many other organisms can live,” says Hardig, who heads the Ebenezer Swamp Wetlands Research and Interpretive Program.

By damming up rivers, beavers create ponds. That creates “an open water component,” which is especially important in places like Texas that have experienced recent extreme droughts, White says.

These ponds “become the watering hole for local wildlife.”

Insects that require water to lay their eggs in, such as dragonflies and the mosquitos they eat, provide food for birds, fish, amphibians, bats, and other bugs.

And far from being ugly or foreboding, wetlands “provide an abundance of natural beauty that is capable of soothing the ragged psyche of typical modernite,” Hardig says.

No one ever said anything so nice about politics. We’re voting for the swamps.

Well in Martinez beavers were politics, so you talked about them both at the same time. Ahh memories.

Finally today there’s a snippet of beaver news from Missouri of all places. This report on KBIA. from the Department of Conservation’s Discover Nature series. The brief report ran with that nice illustration which I thought you would appreciate. Considering where it’s from this is pretty deft beaver praise.

Discover Nature: Beavers Prepare for Winter

BEAVER FRIENDS NORTH

heidi08 Beaver Book, Who's saving beavers now? November 3, 2018

There’s a lot of beaver news from our friends lately. I’m falling behind. Yesterday a story ran about the Port Moody issue and Judy and Jim again were at the forefront. The B.C. city is finding out that actually DOING the right thing is significantly more complex than just “acting like you’re doing the right thing” which is all they had really signed up for last year.

Thank goodness our award-winning nature hero friends at on the case.

PoMo beaver plan needs science say advocates

Two Port Moody advocates hoping their city does right by beavers that take up residence in the city’s waterways are “cautiously optimistic” it is heading in the right direction with a management plan for the industrious creatures.

Judy Taylor-Atkinson said she and husband Jim Atkinson came away from a meeting Tuesday with Port Moody’s city manager, Tim Savoie, feeling better than a week prior, when they expressed their concerns about the process the city was following to develop its plan during a public presentation to city council.

If you’ll remember, the city hired an expert that “accidentally killed’ one of the kits last year by live trapping it in a pipe the beavers flooded? After that fiasco the then-mayor talked a good game of being sorry and vowing to work with the beavers and said they would create a beaver management plan for the future. Then he turned down all the informed help and hired to salmon experts to who voted to rip out all the dams to save salmon.

In the meantime there was an election, and the town got a new mayor that Judy and Jim helped elect, but before he could step in, the DFO ripped out two beaver dams and the beavers have been surviving in a wading pool.

“What seems to be fading is any pretext toward acceptance of beaver as another ingredient in the wildlife urban melting pot,” Taylor-Atkinson said.

Meanwhile, the beaver family has moved on from Pigeon Creek to take up residence in nearby Suter Brook Creek, where it has constructed a new den near the public works yard and is in the process of raising a new kit that was likely born in the middle of last summer.

Taylor-Atkinson said that’s later than usual, so the young beaver is smaller than it should be heading into winter. She said the adult pair likely mated later than its typical January season because of the stress caused by the city’s interference and the subsequent move and establishment of a new home.

Taylor-Atkinson said because the base of knowledge surrounding beavers and the impact they have on their habitat is still growing, it’s important the city’s plan promote co-existence.

“It will come around to seeing beaver as a benefit to stream systems,” she said. “That’s why it’s important to have the best science.”

Ahhh Judy! I’m so impressed to see you on this journey we know so well. From enchanted to hopeful to heartbroken to angry to determined to clear-eyed steely resolve. We know its a treacherous path. We tried to leave little clues along the trail, but it’s a hard clamber and too few come out the other side. Just remember my favorite riddle.

How far can you walk into a forest?

Only half way. The other half you’re walking out. Congratulations on getting the story into the paper and keeping everyone’s feet to the fire. You are making a huge difference in the lives of these beavers and in the lives of the people who care about them.

Meanwhile author Ben Goldfarb is in Montana getting ready for a talk in Missoula this weekend. Here was his radio interview yesterday. It is a very good interview with a smart host, but there was one little part that didn’t sit right with me and I’m sure you can guess what it was.

‘The Surprising, Secret Lives Of Beavers’ With Ben GoldFarb

Sara Arason at the Write Question :“Eager” is the powerful story of how nature’s most ingenious architects shaped our world, and how they can help save it—if we let them. Ben Goldfarb’s captivating book reveals how beavers transformed our landscapes, and how modern-day “Beaver Believers”—including scientists, ranchers, and passionate citizens—are recruiting these ecosystem engineers to help us fight our most pressing environmental problems. The Washington Post calls it, “A masterpiece of a treatise on the natural world” and The Boston Globe calls it, “The best sort of environmental journalism.”

Ben is doing such an important of telling the beaver story, and so many people are learning how to live with beavers and why they matter. Incidentally also hearing our story for the first time, which has resulted in some unexpected blessings. I’ve gotten a few “fan letters” from folks who loved the book and yesterday worth a dam got a large donation from a man I’ve never met in Maryland!

I plan to retire early if this keeps up.

ALBERTA MAKES WAY FOR BEAVERS

heidi08 Beaver ecological impact November 2, 2018

Each November we see a rash of beaver-flooding articles as cities across the hemisphere (who have waited all summer to respond to a beaver dam) suddenly panic and worry that it will cause damage. (Hey, now who does that remind me of?)

But this November started with one of the best and most complete articles I’ve seen about why to coexist with beaver, which isn’t surprising since it comes from our friends at Cows and Fish and the Miistakis Institute.

Leave it to beavers

BANFF – Beavers are nature’s engineers but have long been persecuted for the damage they do to human infrastructure.

A multi-year program involving the Miistakis Institute, a research institute specializing in evaluating complex environmental problems, and Cows and Fish Alberta Riparian Habitat Management Society, wants humans do a better job living with beavers.

The long-term plan is to help beaver populations recover, but first, researchers hope to convince land owners and managers about the benefits beavers create for watersheds and the ecosystem as a whole in a bid keep them on the landscape instead of killing them.

Goodness gracious I love how that sounds. Don’t you? Honestly if I had to pick one organization to donate all our resources to when I die it might be Cows and Fish. They are consistently at the forefront of beaver management policy and yet somehow they can manage to communicate to pretty rugged folks and not appear overly invested in beavers themselves.

That’s where Miistakis and Cows and Fish come in.

They’ve been engaging and educating landowners on the tools available to help them coexist with beavers, which is Canada’s national emblem. They include pond levelers that regulate water levels to minimize risk of flooding, and culvert protectors, which include exclusion fencing, to create a barrier and prevent beavers from plugging culverts.

Kinas said these are some solutions to some of the challenges that may arise, noting every site is unique and every tool varies in its effectiveness. “Surveys have found that there is support for co-existence with beavers, but things must be addressed,” she said.

See that’s the kind of “let’s see attitude” that connects with ranchers. I would just march in and say that if a flow device didn’t work it’s because it was installed wrong. Which might still very well be true. But wouldn’t get the same kind of results.

Researchers say that recovering beaver populations will help increase and stabilize water storage at a watershed scale, which will help with adaption to climate change.

Beaver structures capture water and slow the movement of water downstream, allowing for groundwater to recharge. Ultimately, this means two to ten times more water in streams with beaver ponds versus those without, researchers say.

“We all know flood and drought are becoming more frequent and more severe. Beavers are not the silver bullet to this problem, but they can certainly help us,” said Kinas.

“Not only do they mitigate for drought, but they mitigate for flood as well.”

Kinas said beavers have been known to decrease stream velocity by 81 per cent. “This is really important because it recharges the aquifer so that when you put in these beaver dams they act as speed bumps so the water actually has a chance to soak back into the ground,” she said.

This is an excellent article by the way and you should go read it all. It talks about beaver families and grizzly bears trying to break into frozen lodges. Cathy Ellis did an excellent job putting this together. She even mentions the work being done in the Western US!

Other jurisdictions, including several western states in the United States, have been convinced that allowing beavers to do their thing on the landscape has had significant, positive effects on their freshwater supply and watershed health.

A number of western states have also been using beavers to improve water supplies, restore fisheries, adapt to climate change and bring back endangered species that depend on the habitat that beavers create.

“They have a really progressive approach to using beavers,” said Kinas, adding work has helped salmon and trout populations, leopard frogs and trumpeter swans, for example.

Ha! Since we always talk about the good work they’re doing to persuade folks down here it’s funny to have them mention our good stuff to persuade folks up there. Kind of like when you and your best friend both lie to your mothers and say “Stacy’s mom says she can go”.

To encourage beavers to reestablish in areas where they have been extirpated, Miistakis plans to build beaver dam analogues, essentially a fake beaver dam that’s sometimes referred to as beaver mimicry.

These dams constrict water flow, encourage vegetation regrowth, and provide a positive signal to encourage beavers to build there.

“Our goal with this pilot project is to actually put these on streams where beavers once were before they were trapped out of the area,” said Kinas, noting there’s evidence of relic beaver dams. “If you build these, they will come back and maintain them for you.”

Beaver swimming above a recently built BDA; Eric Winford

Isn’t that just the best article? The great photo was in the national wildlife federation blog, but it certainly applies. I love how its completely unrelated to Ben’s book in anyway. We are fighting this battle on many fronts, and our friends in the frozen north are doing one heck of a job.

FOLLOW-UP

heidi08 Friends of Martinez Beavers November 1, 2018

So I wrote the naturalist Stan Tekiela that I enjoyed the photos and interview and talked to him about yearlings and dispersal. He very promptly wrote me back agreeing and praising our Martinez story and website. He actually wondered if the beavers were still visible and he could come to town to meet them/me. I told them they were living private lives now but encouraged him to come to the beaver festival, meet like minds, and maybe sell some books/photos. I also suggested he buy Ben’s book, which he was happy to do.

Consider that episode of reaching out success.

Less successful was my letter to Dr, Justyne Kostkowska in Tennessee who I wrote after that story a few days about the trapping in Tennessee. I told her our story, about flow devices, and about the good work being done to coexist with beavers just one state down in Georgia by our friends at the Blue Heron Nature Preserve. I gave her information and resources and even suggested Worth A Dam could provide a scholarship for materials to do this better next time around.

I wrote her the day after the story was published and have received no response.

I am left to wonder whether she just disliked my letter or never opened it. Looking at this follow-up story I’m persuaded to try again.

Murfreesboro confirms 2 beavers were killed after animals built dam, caused flooding

The city of Murfreesboro confirmed it had two beavers killed after they say the animals built a dam that caused flooding, a move that infuriated local environmentalists.

According to U.S. Department of Agriculture biologist Blaine Hyle, Murfreesboro contracted USDA Wildlife Services in April to examine a dam made by beavers at Sinking Creek that caused flooding.

“Several property owners were affected by rising water levels, as well as Highland Avenue and the tributaries that run under this road,” said Rachel Singer, superintendent of Murfreesboro Parks and Recreation.

Kostkowska, an MTSU professor, is part of Friends of Sinking Creek Wetlands and was a driving force behind the preservation of Oaklands Wetlands when a housing development was proposed for the area in 2017.

Beavers, known as a “keystone species,” are an indication of a healthy environment. Otters had moved into the area and fish were beginning to grow in the pond made by the beaver dam, Kostkowska said. The area is home to 141 known species of birds.

Singer says the city “absolutely” considered beavers’ impact on the environment when making its decision.

“We did everything we could to allow the beavers to stay,” Singer said. “This area is important to us as an urban wetland and serves as a refuge for many species. We remain committed to protecting these areas and the flora and fauna within.”

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we’ve heard it all before. “We tried so hard to save the beavers but doing the right thing that everyone else knows how to do is just too difficult. It required we read information and talk to people and stuff. And you know how icky it feels to get your feet wet.“

Pardon me for not believing the ‘team’ ever planned for any outcome but this one.

Cities lie about beavers. Trust me. And they act wounded that you wouldn’t believe their lies. That’s par for the course. I’ll try sending my letter to Justyne again.

Did you see the image from Oakland Zoo yesterday? They tweeted some “Ghostly” animal x-rays of their patients, along with my very favorite one. Check out those vertibrae tail bones. That’s why you don’t pick up a beaver by the tail by the way.

Here’s a reminder why beavers need all those complicated, fluid, descending vertibrae.