Month: April 2019

THE TRUE DEFINITION OF ‘SWIMMING UPSTREAM’

heidi08 Beavers and salmon April 15, 2019

For reasons I don’t understand I received notice of this video yesterday, which was apparently posted originally in 2015. I assure you that if I had ever known about it I would have shared it right away and of course sent it wrapped in a big red bow to Ted Williams, but I just found out about it. I can’t imagine what rock I was hiding under that I missed it, (although 2015 was a spectacularly bad year, what with all the kits dying and all.) Not to mention it was originally published three weeks before I was retiring my entire clinical practice and closing out 30 years of files, so I might have been a little busy.

Anyway its a remarkable short film, well worth 5 minutes of your time. Patient filmmaker and Associate Professor Andrew Hendry did an amazing job of capturing the salmon experience, although he can’t help but stick a hand in to rescue a fish or two. Dr. Hendry is a fisheries biologist who teaches at McGill University in Montreal, but was actually born in nearby Woodland California!

His specialty is ‘eco-evolution’. Here’s what it says on his faculty page.

Andrew Hendry

Darwin suggested that evolution proceeds very slowly, and this view was almost universally accepted until the later part of the 20th century. Over the past few decades, however, a dramatic shift has taken place toward the idea that ongoing evolution is occurring all around us; so-called “rapid” or “contemporary” evolution.

Now that contemporary evolution is widely accepted as a commonplace occurrence, a number of researchers have become interested in its consequences for ecological dynamics; i.e., changes in populations, communities, and ecosystems. This idea has been incorporated into the developing field of “eco-evolutionary dynamics,” broadly considers ongoing interactions between ecology and evolution. Most of our work to date has focused on one direction of causality in these dynamics – how ecological changes influence evolutionary dynamics (eco-to-evo). More recently, we have started to explore the reciprocal arrow of causality: how evolutionary changes influence ecological dynamics (evo-to-eco). We conduct work on both arrows of causality in multiple natural systems, most frequently in lake versus stream stickleback, high-predation versus low-predation guppies, and Darwin’s finches.

Pretty darn interesting to see a fisheries biologist who films salmon jumping over a beaver dam. Just GUESS here he got his Ph.D..

Go ahead, guess!

Aren’t you exhausted just watching those fish? Me too! That’s an incredible amount of effort to spend knowing they’re just going to die at the end! Come to think of it, maybe that’s one of the greatest parts about being a salmon. The complete lack of self-awareness so that they have zero idea of the futility of their mission.

I’m sure once humans figured out that they were going to die when they reached their original stream and spawned NO ONE w0uld ever go through with it. Even if the possibility of sex was guaranteed.

Self-awareness is an obstacle to evolution. Who knew?

SALMON SEZ “WE NEED BEAVER”

If you happen to see a beautiful article that emphasizes the vital relationship between beaver and salmon, and its centered around some unrecognizable, unpronounceable river, that you never even heard of set in a region of the country you actually know zero about – it’s a safe bet that you’ll find the river on a map of Washington state.

I’d bet Washington, every time.

Where to Discover Spring Chinook Salmon Around the Nooksack

Imagine the life of a local salmon emerging from the protected shield of its egg into the fast-moving currents of the gorgeous, green Nooksack River. You evade predators, like adult fish, and your body is so small that you filter through wood and debris in the river for a year. Then you drift all the way down to Bellingham Bay. There, your gills adapt to saltwater and you remain in the ocean for several years.

You know how Felix the housecat has only ever known the love and warmth of your home and understands nothing of the dangers outside? That’s what hatchery fish are like. Unprepared for the wild.

If you are looking for that rare article that calls out hatchery fish for the monstrosity they truly are, look no farther. The amount of money Americans spend on fish hatcheries so that lazy fisherman can get lucky twice in their life is a reminder that we are a vastly stupid country.

Not to mention the amount of money we spend every year getting rid of the rodent that otherwise would be that salmon’s best friend.

“Dams block the passage of fish. Fry (baby fish) must swim above them in the reservoir and expend exorbitant amounts of energy,” explains Chris. “In a stream, they could just go with the current. Fry also have to go through the spillway of a dam, which is stressful on their bodies. Salmon need clean, cold water. Anything above 65 degrees Fahrenheit is lethal.” Concrete dams do not keep the river clean or cold.

But What About Beaver Dams?

Beavers are quite integral to natural ecosystems, as they create complex habitats. Since their dams are not made of concrete, many organisms – including fry – thrive in their structures. Beaver dams filter water keeping it clean, they encourage vegetation growth, vegetation keeps the water temperature cool, and all this creates an ideal salmon habitat. Beaver dams even conserve water because they slow down the current without stopping it like a concrete dam does. This recharges the aquifer and gives us all more water.

How did they get so VERY VERY smart about beavers in Washington? It can’t be the Canadian border influence because our friends in Port Moody are surrounded by hatchery-driven beaver stupid. Is it Michael Pollock and NOAA fisheries? If he were based say in Arizona would that be the smart state we all envied?

I don’t know but it’s sure wonderful to read. Thank you Washington for showing us what to strive for.

And since we’re heading into Earth day and John Muir’s birthday, I thought I’d let you read something wonderful that just celebrated it’s permanent home at UOP yesterday. Try and imagine what it felt like for an oldish man in with Orchards in Martinez to receive this letter.

“I don’t want anyone with me but you.” That must have been the very best letter a man like Muir could receive, knowing that it meant he would have the powerful man’s full attention and the nearly assured future preservation of the place he loved most in the world. It probably was second only to this letter which was sent two highly successful months later.

IMMERSED IN BEAVERS

heidi08 Beaver Art, Beavers, Who's saving beavers now? April 13, 2019

I just realized that one of the things I love about this photo is that the way it’s taken makes Amy look like she’s IN the beaver pond, part of the scenery. Maybe like she’s just about to help that beaver build a dam when she’s done drawing. Amy-and-her-purple-crayon kinda thing.

Isn’t that just beautiful? The photo was taken lovingly by her husband who knows full well how to capture her beautiful creations. I am eager to see what she designs this year. Stay tuned because the premiere is due to come out very soon!

In other news about being up close at a beaver pond, we have a snippet about Skip Lisle leading an earth day beaver walk from the Bennington Banner.

Outdoors News in Brief

WILTON, N.Y.

Earth Day Beaver Education Program

To celebrate the 49th Earth Day on Monday, April 22, Wilton Wildlife Preserve & Park and Saratoga PLAN are teaming up to offer a nature walk that is all about the largest rodent in North America, New York State’s official animal; the Beaver!

Environmental Educators from the Preserve & Park will be joining with nationally renowned beaver expert, Skip Lisle to lead this family-oriented walk. The walk will leave from the Meadowbrook Parking area of the Bog Meadow Brook Nature Trail and explore the wetland habitats that are created and maintained by this fascinating animal.

Participants will learn about the importance of the beaver to the exploration and settlement of our region, about its natural history, about how it is one of the few animals to be able to manipulate the environment to create its own habitat, and about the efforts that Saratoga PLAN has gone through to help keep the beavers as residents of the Bog Meadow wetlands. Space is limited and registration is required by April 18.

I want to go! That sounds amazing! Touring beaver habitat with Skip Lisle sounds like the perfect thing to do on Earth Day. Oddly that was something I never go to do in Martinez. He was a little intimidated by the attentive beaver public. And we didn’t know him well enough back then talk him into going down to watch the beavers – although we did have him over for a spaghetti dinner because I was hoping to keep him from lowering the dam too much.

Something tells me he would have been delighted to see a community watching beavers together.

Not sure yet of the best beaver-y way to celebrate your earth day this year? There’s an upcoming beaver management online course featuring Jakob Shockey of Beaver State Wildlife Solutions. I know it’s not the same as being at a beaver pond with Skip, but Jakob was trained by Mike Callahan who was trained by Skip, so its almost the same thing. The class is free but you need to sign up in advance for this webinar:

Ecosystem Restoration Deep Dive with Jakob Shockey: Collaborating with Beaver for Ecosystem Restoration

Jakob Shockey is an expert in riparian ecosystem restoration and beaver ecology, restoration, and conflict mitigation. He is the Restoration Program Manager for the Applegate Partnership and Watershed Council in Oregon, and the owner of the wildlife conflict mitigation company, Beaver State Wildlife Solutions.

In this deep dive, we will hear of the keystone role that beaver play in ecosystem function in the northern hemisphere. We’ll also hear how their eradication has disrupted ecology and hydrology, and how their reintroduction has led to restoration of these ecosystem functions.

While the beaver’s collaboration is invaluable as we seek to restore ecosystem function, often their hydrological designs conflict with our land use and infrastructure. Jakob will also discuss various conflicts that commonly arise, often leading to dead beavers, and how he and others mitigate these conflicts with innovative methods, enabling the beaver to stay in place and repopulate without flooded basements and blocked culverts.

When: Apr 23, 2019 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

COLORADO GETS IT

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Beaver Book, Beaver Chewing April 12, 2019

Ben Goldfarb is in Colorado this week, and in Idaho last week. You would think that if a book was doing well enough to hock copies all across the beavered United States that the author would at least make it to Martinez for the festival, wouldn’t you?

But no, Capybaras and South America await. Too bad for beavers. Benny’s got a brand new rodent.

Learn all about beavers April 11

In his book “Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter”, author Ben Goldfarb reveals that our modern idea of what a healthy landscape looks like and how it functions is wrong – distorted by the fur trade that once trapped out millions of beavers from North America’s lakes and rivers. The consequences were profound: Streams eroded, wetlands dried and species lost vital habitat.

Today, a growing coalition of “Beaver Believers,” including scientists, ranchers and passionate citizens, recognizes that ecosystems with beavers are often far healthier for humans and nonhumans alike than those without them.

Ben Goldfarb will present, “Beavers: Their Landscapes Our Future” on Thursday, April 11, 6:30 p.m. at the Salida SteamPlant. In his presentation he will describe beaver biology, ecology and history; detail the many environmental benefits provided by beavers, including habitat creation, water storage and pollution filtration and discuss how landowners and municipalities around the country are learning to coexist with these keystone rodents.

That presentation was last night, I wonder how it went. I’m going to imagine their are tens of new beaver believers walking around Central Colorado. As I’m sure there are in California, I keep get letters from them, Like this one from Wyoming.

Letters like these make me feel like I accidentally slid into something very important, although I’m still not sure what happened or how to tread this particular water. No matter how many ‘Ellens” there are, we could always use more.

But I’m sure Capybaras are nice too.<span style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" data-mce-type="bookmark" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span>

SALMON SEZ “WE LOVE BEAVER!”

heidi08 Beavers, Earth Day, Educational April 11, 2019

April 20th is the John Muir Birthday – Earth day celebration. We’ve been doing what we can to get ready for it and the many hundreds of children that join our activity. This year we wanted to emphasize beavers importance to salmon, so we’re creating a banner that can be used in the children’s parade at the beaver festival. The idea is that kids would will pick a button with either species out of a hat and then draw that species on a 6-foot table runner. By the end of the day we should have something truly splendid, covered in memorable children’s artwork. The complete banner will be mounted on poles so it can be carried in the parade. Here’s how the banner looks before the kids decorate it. We used leftover tattoos from Coyote Studios to get them started.

Of course no American child lives past the age of 10 without having to play at least ONE game of “Simon says” – so I thought “Salmon sez” would be very familiar. There will be various beaver/salmon puppets hanging around the tent where kids are working and some images to get them inspired. This poster came out very cute so I think it will be on display as well.

As you know, the best way to get adults to pay attention to a new idea is to have them watch their children drawing it for 15 minutes. And maybe for them to snap a photo of their child in the parade featuring said idea very cutely so that the photo gets sent to grandparents.

Works for me.

I’ve been chatting about the idea with Dan Logan from NOAA Marine Fisheries in Santa Rosa who will be joining us again for this years beaver festival. He was asking me about the fish population in Alhambra Creek and who was monitoring it. I told him about our informal photos and playing ‘name that fish’ with Peter Moyle over the years.

He laughed and said he had to be careful with that game, because one time a man asked “can you tell a steelhead and a salmon apart if I send you a photo?” so of course, fisheries biologist Dan answered, yes I can.

Then the man sent him a FILET.

Earth day is always fun and exhausting, and there is so much to see and do. If you want to join the fun you should stop by and say hi, or lend a hand!