Month: May 2019

THAT SURPRISINGLY HEAVY THING WITH FEATHERS

heidi08 Beavers, Environmental May 16, 2019

I don’t know about you but the world is seeming pretty grim at the moment. With Alabama deciding women should be broodmares and the Bolton gunning for iran. There’s horribly grim news about Scotland with farmers having killed all the beavers they could before May 1st, and now there’s a headline saying that Koala bears have been determined to be “functionally extinct“.

KOALAS BEARS!

I ask you, how much bad news can this old woman take? Apparently not that much, because when I read this article yesterday it made me cry. Margaret Renki writes with a poignant and terrifying attention to detail. She didn’t overwhelm me with the list of horrors so much as the very last few crushing lines.

Surviving Despair in the Great Extinction

One million species of plants and animals are heading toward annihilation, and it’s our fault. How can we possibly live with that truth?

Last week, the United Nations released the summary of an enormous report that broke my heart in more ways than any backyard-nature observations ever have. The Times article about the report, “Humans Are Speeding Extinction and Altering the Natural World at an ‘Unprecedented’ Pace,” called it “the most exhaustive look yet at the decline in biodiversity across the globe and the dangers that creates for human civilization.”

Whole expanses of the natural world are disappearing. It’s not just poster animals like polar bears, tigers and elephants; it’s life on earth as we know it.

I hear a truth like that and succumb to despair. I look around at all the ways I’ve tried to help — at the reusable grocery bags and the solar-field subscription, at the pollinator garden and the little meadow of wildflowers, at the lawn mower blades set high enough to harm no snakes or nesting cottontails, at the recycle bins and the worm composter, at the nest box for the bluebirds and the nest box for the house wrens and the nest box claimed this year by a red wasp — and it all strikes me as puny, laughable, at best a way to feel better about myself. How is any of this a solution? Or even the path to a solution?

it’s a heart-wrenching and well written article, but it isn’t the panicked hopelessness that upset me. its the grim resolve that comes at the end. it’s not the giving up that makes me cry – it’s the stepping up that follows. like weak soldiers in a hopeless battle that you know you are going to lose, but you stand there anyway, at the front lines with your fists clenched and your eyes squinting uselessly into the smoke.

The odds are completely against us. This is a terrible, hopeless battle to fight.

But it’s our fight. The one we inherited from Rachel Carson and Aldo Leopold and John Muir and Cady Stanton. It’s the one the pioneers gave us and our ancestors pledged at Ellis Island or Plymouth Rock or Wounded knee. Hopelessness is horrifying and hard to bear. but it’s pre-determined, unsuspenseful, grim and simple to understand.

it’s the hope at the end of this beautiful eulogy that made me cry.

And I can remind myself, all day long every day, that there’s a difference between doing something and doing nothing. That “something,” small as it might seem, is not “nothing.” The space between them is far apart, limitless stretching distances apart. It’s the difference between a heartbeat and silence.

I feel at this particular crossroads, we should all be reminded of this terrifying invitation to redemption:

DECEIVING THE BEAVERS IN IDAHO?

heidi08 Beavers and Culvert Protection May 15, 2019

If you live long enough, they say, you will see things that surprise you. Like this report from the Idaho Transportation District in Montpelier. It was even in the local news!

State agencies team to create a “beaver deceiver”

MONTPELIER, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK) – Two state agencies have teamed up to create what they’re calling a “beaver deceiver” at a wetland project near Montpelier.

An access road crosses a wastewater canal and creates a prime location for beaver dam-building, which in that location, creates roadway flooding that has become a recurrent problem for Montpelier based maintenance crews.

The team believes the fence shape increases the length a beaver would need to create a dam, making the location less desirable for building. Biologists hope that will encourage the beaver to build somewhere else.

They plan to monitor its effectiveness and durability over the summer. If successful, it could provide an inexpensive option to protect road culverts in other areas, while allowing beaver to remain in the area.

Whoa! If this is for real it’s a pretty big deal – Fish and Wildlife teaming up with the department of transportation to install culvert protection. but we’ve been fooled before. Just because some one calls it a beaver deceiver doesn’t mean it is one. I wish they showed a photo of the finished product, because I can’t tell whether they’re actually doing this right.

It certainly sounds right.

D5 installs trial culvert-fencing exlosure to deter beaver-dam construction

Because funds are not currently available to replace the culvert with a different structure, ITD asked for advice on the problem from Idaho Fish & Game biologists. After discussing possible strategies, the two agencies decided to join forces to install a ‘beaver deceiver’ fence as an experimental project.

On April 17, the Montpelier shed crew and IDFG staff met at the site to install the trapezoid-shaped fence exclosure and discussed plans to monitor the effectiveness and durability of the structure over the summer.

Members of the Montpelier crew installed the ‘wedge’ fence and IDFG will add wire panels around the culvert inlet to complete the exclosure. The fence shape increases the length needed for the beaver to create a dam, which makes the location less desirable as a choice for building, so ideally, the beaver will move elsewhere.

If it works, the “beaver deceivers” would provide an inexpensive option to protect road culverts, while allowing beaver to remain in the area.

This is amazing. It sure sounds like they have the thinking down on this one. Even though we can’t see it I’m assuming it may have a chance. Stranger things have happened. And besides Mike Settell is just an hour a half away in Pocotello, so I’m assuming accurate information could be shared. I went hunting for more details in the DOT newsletter. This is my favorite part. Imagine this being in the Caltrans newsletter!

Beaver are important components of healthy stream-wetland systems in North America, yet they tend to dam culverts and can cause roadway flooding. The Montpelier maintenance shed spends much time and effort to keep the culvert clear.

Isn’t that very, very intriguing? So they installed a trapezoidal fence and are going to monitor to see if it protects the culvert and saves DOT money, and if it does the technique might be more widely used. That’s sounds so logical. What am I missing here?

i guess sometimes the big players really do the right thing?

Robin Ellison of Napa recently championed her way into the 2018 depredation permits for California beavers. 209 in all. I thought you’d be interested in the summary. Surprising findings include beaver permits issued for Monterey and San Diego Counties for the first time. Also the news that CDFW is officially keeping a spreadsheet of permits issued, although they either didn’t include the number of beavers allowed or they edited that part out before they sent it to her.

Looks like we still have a lot of work to do.

For those of you keeping score at home, Placer is still #1.

BEAVERS: BOTH SIDES NOW

heidi08 Video May 14, 2019

Everything should be this easy, Wildlife photographer Suzy Eszterhas talked her talented boyfriend Jak Wonderly into doing some underwater video of the beaver in rehab at Sonoma Wildlife Rescue. I’m not wild about the audio, but It’s pretty dam special

Talk about adept in the water! You really start to understand how beavers swim for a living when you watch this immersive look at their lives. I love how the back feet and tail work together. And this is just a youngster. imagine how skilled an adult beaver would look! love the whisker shot too, you can really see how those sensitive vibrasae provide all kind of information about any unexpected water movement or leaks.

Yesterday I worked on the protest signs for the children’s parade at the festival. Eventually they’ll be double sided with a pole for children to carry in the march. I was happy with this one and was racking my brain for another clever rhyme and laughed out loud when this next slogan fell into my mind.

i couldn’t help it. I HAD to send that photo Michael Pollock at NOAA, who immediately wrote back that it was excellent. Tell me you won’t be hearing that rhyme on some lips from now on! this of course goes on the other side.

Ahh if life were limited to finding clever rhymes for things I’d be in business!

WASHINGTON IS A SPOILED BEAVER-BRAT

heidi08 Beaver Book, Beaver ecological impact, Urban beavers May 13, 2019

Do you remember that kid in third grade that got the best toys and the best clothes and went to Disneyland every summer? Their family seemed to have infinite funds and their mom was always driving a new car that was so clean it twinkled when she dropped them off at school. Maybe there name was something like Susie or Biff but admit it, you hated/envied/admired them. They had everything you wanted and never had to work for it.

Well that’s how I feel about Washington state.

Pikes/Pines | Stop giggling and consider the urban beaver on the shores of Lake Washington

Beavers have a way of getting under our skin. Some people despise them, others think they are panacea, and cute as a button to boot. Beliefs and feelings often intermingle inextricably with facts, which is why I believe beavers are amazing creatures, and a landowner with a flooded yard might have different thoughts. And yet, we’re all talking about the same creature.

Now you’re reading this, thinking to yourself: “There aren’t any beavers on Capitol Hill.” On top of it, certainly you are right. However, a quick trip down to the water nearby yields obvious signs of their presence, regardless of our actually seeing a beaver.

Most importantly, beavers are keystone species, meaning that entire ecosystems are reliant on their presence or absence. For birds, plants, and fish they mean life, and luckily many an ecologist, land manager, and tribal nation have acknowledged this in their work more and more often these days.

It isn’t very often that I want to excerpt the entire article and repost it here, but this one by Brendan McGarry is nearly perfect in every way. It talks about Ben Dittbrenner’s excellent urban article and Ben Goldfarb’s excellent beaver book and hardly leaves any good stuff out.

in a 2017 paper published by Dittbrenner and colleagues titled “Reintegrating the North American beaver (Castor canadensis) in the urban landscape,” there is explicit support for beavers in the city of Seattle and other urban centers. It calls for landscape design to consider the beaver, and highlights the success of some recent projects around town. Dittbrenner said that despite the fact that they can be problematic, “there is no question that beavers are increasing diversity.” When we desperately want species like Chinook salmon in our streams, it makes sense that beavers, with their ability to create refugia for young fish and their food, should be welcomed into places like Thornton creek.

The human task is to try to figure out ways to interact that don’t require lethal trapping. From Dittbrenner’s perspective, more beavers are inevitable in urban Seattle. The question is, can we accommodate them for the ecosystem services they provide? Goldfarb’s “Eager” makes it clear as well: beavers will return. We can either waste a lot of time and money to be rid of them, or learn to coexist. I’d like to think we can find ways to get along too, because hell, I just think they’re fun.

I know which one I pick. Hell, I think they’re fun too. Go read the entire article if you want a cheerful boost to your morning. It describes how the author has been trying to photograph elusive beavers for years. As we could tell him Martinez, summer evenings is usually the best,

Of course one nice beaver article doesn’t make Washington a spoiled brat. That takes two fantastic article on the SAME exact day to earn that title.

Check It Out: Check out ‘Eager,’ join ‘beaver believers’

This is without a doubt the most persuasive book I have ever read. If you need any amount of convincing that beavers are absolutely essential (that’s right — not just essential but absolutely essential) to our planet, check out Ben Goldfarb’s book now. Informative, witty, eye-opening, “Eager” has turned me into a complete “beaver believer.” Aside from noting a beaver dam or lodge during outdoor excursions, I hadn’t given beavers much thought. The sum total of my beaver knowledge before reading this book went something along these lines: beavers have paddle-shaped tails that are good for slapping on the water; they make dams and lodges; their fur was highly prized during the fur trade; they’re good at felling trees; and around here a “beaver fanatic” equals an avid college football fan not a lover of rodents. Now that Goldfarb’s ode to the Castor (that’s the genus of this species) has expanded my castorid awareness, don’t be surprised if I go all fangirl at my next beaver dam sighting. Squee!

The most persuasive book you’ve ever read. That’s quite an opening line. What a compliment! Ben will think of course its his considerable prowess with the pen that is so convincing, but you and i know better. It’s the subject matter of course. When he knocks off his next book about Capybaras or road ecology people will like it but I’m going to go out on a limb and say that no one will call it the MOST CONVINCING BOOK they ever read, It’s the beavers themselves that are convincing.

Learning about beavers and their habitat has never been so delightful. While “Eager,” the winner of the 2019 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award, is full of scientific information, not once did I feel book-weary with facts and stats. Goldfarb turns what could be a dry treatise on science and nature into a fascinating and charming account about our tree-gnawing neighbors. When Goldfarb interviews a biologist and the conversation turns to predators of the beaver, specifically the grizzly bear, the biologist says that in the grizz’s eyes the beaver is a “fat, slow, smelly meat package” — descriptive and accurate. Did you know that a select group of castorids sky-dived their way into a new habitat thanks to a special beaver named Geronimo? Oh, I could go on and on about these paddle-tailed wonders, but I’ll stop because what I really want to you to do is read “Eager,” and become a “beaver believer” like me.

By all means, go read the book! And thank you Jan johnston, for the excellent review. More people should read Eager I agree, but maybe not more people in Washington state. I think of beaver wisdom in the western states as a kind of raft floating over the sea of ignorance that runs through our nation. A lot of smart people are already piled up on the Washington corner. The whole thing is starting to tip to one side. What we need is smart beaver minds spread equally across the states.

“I GOT YER CHARISMATIC ANIMAL RIGHT HERE, BUDDY”

heidi08 Beavers and climate change May 12, 2019

Yesterday was a pleasant mix of adults who had heard about our beavers on the news, or grown up with others on the east coast, or were just pleasantly curious about the story. The day was neither too hot nor too cold and for once large gusts of wind didn’t blow our belongings over or off the table. There were plenty of people who had enjoyed the presentation at Audubon and i was once again grateful it went as well as it did. The last presentation before the festival will be at Safari West in 2 weeks and then it’s serious buckling down for the big day.

In the mean time there’s lots to discuss, starting with this excellent article from the website “Resilience” which discusses the array of benefits rewilding can have in slowing the devastation of climate change,

The Wild Way to Rapid Transition – How Rewilding can Slow Climate Breakdown, Protect from its Worst Effects and Improve Biodiversity

Even as they fall under increasing pressure from human activity, the restoration of natural habitats like forests, is a key component of rapid transition. Not only is it a vital defence against climate breakdown, but it also protects the web of life and is beneficial for human well-being too. This ‘rewilding’ has caught the public imagination…

Charismatic animals like the Lynx, the wildcat and the wild boar are all candidates for reintroduction in the UK, but the humble beaver is currently the key species leading the way: its incredible engineering skills create a diverse range of habitats for birds, insects, fish, small mammals and plants; slowing down water flow; preventing flooding downstream; and storing water for use locally. Beavers are native to the UK but were hunted to extinction for their highly prized fur. In 1789, the last bounty was paid in Britain for a Eurasian beaver skull; today they are thriving again – some as part of highly controlled, fenced and monitored trials and some from unregulated releases.

Are you implying that beavers aren’t charismatic? Beavers? You know of course that they’re specifically described as such by numerous researchers. Besides, come on! They make infant bath towels and socks with beavers on them. Why on earth would that be true if beavers weren’t charismatic?

The beaver is native to the UK and made itself quickly at home; positive effects have been reported on water catchments and biodiversity in very short periods of time. Beavers are so good at water engineering, they have been proposed as a tool for implementing the EU Water Framework Directive.

Rewilding proves how good nature is at bouncing back to abundance, given the opportunity to thrive without human interference. This gives us hope for a future in which human populations could live in a more diverse environment, where the balance of nature helps mitigate our more destructive tendencies. Beavers had all but died out across Europe by the 18th century, but are returning successfully to manage waterways, ponds and whole water catchment areas. Most ponds used to be made by beavers, but are now man made. In the Devon Beaver Project site, one family of beavers made over 10 ponds in just three years, benefitting a huge array of dragonflies, birds and amphibians. The 10 clumps of frogspawn laid in 2011 increased to 370 clumps by 2018.

That sounds pretty impressive to me. At least the frog spawn thinks so.

The finances are important because rewilding is often predicted to be a costly effort, causing the loss of productive land for food and the death of livestock by large predators. However, for a fairly small amount of money and in the right place, big changes can happen that can offer enormous benefits downstream – literally. Research by the UK’s Environment Agency suggests returning England’s water bodies to a good ecological condition could generate benefits worth £21 billion over a 37-year period. Beavers could be part of this solution, restoring wetlands, boosting water reserves and slowing down flood water. Beaver dams also act as a filter capturing pollutants such as agricultural fertilisers.

The National Ecosystem Assessment highlighted that 30% of ecosystem services – the benefits and services nature provides society and the economy, such as clean water and flood alleviation – are in decline, and many others are impoverished compared to historical baselines. Soil degradation is estimated to be costing England and Wales £1.2 billion per year. The causes include: erosion, compaction, loss of organic matter, loss of soil biodiversity and contamination. Rewilding may be the fastest, most effective way of undoing some of this damage.

Yeah, beavers can help with that too. In between preventing flooding and species loss. And they do it all with SO much charisma! I can’t tell you!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Grandma’s. Mom’s and about-to-be Mom’s out there. Of course we will never forget the amazing mother who started this all.

June 29, 2010

Honestly when I went down this morning I purposely decided not to bring a camera because I thought it would just be too sad, but I wish I had filmed it so you could all see how completely calm and unpanicked mom was. she just was in no condition to react, and if we had left her alone she was in such a visible part of the creek that people would have intervened and/or called animal control. This way she was completely protected by us and not at all agitated or frightened. It was almost like she knew we wouldn’t harm her, and it certainly felt right, after everything we have been through and all the mornings I have spent with mom to have her riding peacefully in my subaru. We will be out tonight to make sure the kits are feeding and happy. It was becoming clear that the family has already transitioned and the kits have been relying on the yearlings care more and more, which is just like we’d hope.

I’m very grateful for everyone’s help this morning, and grateful that mom gave us the easiest possible decision about whether, when and how to intervene. The saddest part for me is thinking about how hard she must have worked to stick around and care for those three new lives. We can all be grateful for her remarkable parenting and the 15 live births she allowed us all to enjoy.

I thought this morning of this quote from one of my favorite books ever written. It is an amazing tale of a young girl during the holocaust, fearlessly and compassionately narrated by “Death”.

Lastly; the Hubermans

Hans.
Papa

He was tall in the bed and I could see the silver through his eyelids. His soul sat up. It met me. Those kinds of souls always do – the best ones. The ones who rise up and say, “I know who you are and I am ready. Not that I want to go, of course, but I will come.” Those souls are always light because more of them have been put out. More of them have already found their way to other places. This one was set out by the breath of an accordion, the odd taste of champagne in summer, and the art of promise-keeping. He lay in my arms and rested.

Markus Zusak: The Book Thief

Come tonight if you want to see reassuring beavers and comfort your hearts. Thank you all for your caring and concern. I will make sure to update as soon as we know anything about mom’s health.

Heidi