Month: July 2019

IDAHO REINVENTS WHEEL

I honestly don’t no whether to be excited or dismayed by this news. I mean it’s kind of like you’ve been trying to teach your baby brother to use a fork when he eats his macaroni instead of eating with his fingers. And one day he suddenly pics up sand shovel and starts putting them in his mouth. It’s definitely an improvement and you are proud of him in a way. But he still has a long way to go before he can sit at the big kids table.

‘Beaver stops’ help road crews keep rodents at bay

Those pesky beavers seem to be intent on building dams wherever they see flowing water. While their dam-building prowess can be a boon for storing valuable water in the backcountry, it sometimes makes a mess when water backs up around Idaho roads and potentially floods them.

To combat this problem, Idaho Transportation Department maintenance worker Gary Cvecich went into the shop and welded channel iron and rebar into 4-foot by 3-foot panels that bolt together to force space between the culvert and a dam-building beaver. The “beaver stops” were put in place on Idaho 75 south of Stanley and Highway 21 at Banner Summit west of Stanley and Idaho 128 north of Ketchum.

“Every time you have a body of water and it has to narrow down and flow through a culvert, (beavers) can really jam that up quickly,” said Reed Hollinshead, information specialist for the Idaho Transportation Department. “It seems to be attractive to the beavers. It provides a good foundation for them to build a dam.”

Cvecich’s design is made to be removable and easy to clean.

Wow.

Just. Wow.

You welded that in your workshop all by yourself? Good job! Did you think about maybe looking to see what was already invented and has worked for two decades? Of course not, don’t be silly.

Do you think beavers might build against your little starter kit thingy? No of course not. Why would they? I’m sure you know best.

Hollinshead said the rebar fence allows water to continue to flow and creates space should a beaver get busy building dams next to the culvert.

So far, the system seems to be working.

“We’ve only had one incident where a beaver has tried to build after we installed these devices,” Cvecich said.

He said the devices could be adapted and used statewide and save road workers time and money.

Now maybe I’m wrong. But I imagine three beavers just sitting at the willow bar boasting about how fast they can block it. One beaver is like “Man I can plug that thing with two nights work”

And the other beaver bests him and says “I can do it all in ONE!”

Here’s what Skip Lisle, inventor of the thing you’re trying to avoid using has to say about them on Facebook.

Without a good pipe system it will just become a big beaver dam. If that’s the goal, terrific. Like thousands of prior flow devices, however, the danger is that the ultimate conclusion will be that “it” can’t be done and the beavers have to be killed. Then ground, or progress, will actually be lost.

But there is good news this morning anyway. A million years ago back I went to my first state of the beaver conference in 2011 and said, wow that was great! Why is it only every other year? There should be one on the East Coast in even years! So that people all over can learn about beavers.

An East Coast Beaver Conference is soon to be a reality! Co-hosted by the Beaver Institute and Ecotone Inc., we are inspired by and wish to complement the successful SURCP State of the Beaver Conference in OR. It is named BeaverCON 2020 and will be held near Baltimore, MD this March. This conference will be held every other year, alternating years with the west coast SURCP Conference. This means we can now have an international beaver

A Save-The-Date official notice will be released soon. However, readers of this blog can have a sneak preview now! ? Check out our website: www.BeaverCON.org. Enjoy! We already have a lot of great speakers lined up. I hope to see you in Baltimore in March!Beaver On at BeaverCON!

I’m pretty dam excited to be able to share this news, and I want EVERY single person here to think seriously about going. I want it to be so successful they run out of space. I can’t say I’m in love with the graphic but hey. all those smart minds gathered together under one roof is bound to produce some more artistic designs.

It’s been a long time coming, but it’s actually here. As Beaver Institute founder Mike Callahan aptly put it on the website

“Beaver on at the BEAVER CON!”

EAGER FOR BEAVERS IN JULY

I don’t know why exactly, but July seems to be the month the few straggling holdouts left are getting around to reading “Eager: The Secret Surprising Lives of Beaver and why they Matter.” It works for me. July is a good month for beavers as you know. Their new kits are visible and easy to spot. Plus old enough that they get to spend lots of time on their own without parents to cramp their emerging styles. I always loved July for just this reason. (Until that one horribleJuly which shall remain nameless.)

Well. get ready for more “Good July’s”.

Northwest Passages Book Club: Wiley Miller of Non Sequitur, Summer Series authors and Ben Goldfarb’s ‘Eager’ beavers

The club’s selection for September was indeed one of the titles I would never have picked up on my own: “Eager: The Surprising Secret Lives of Beavers and Why They Matter” by Ben Goldfarb. What surprised me was how quickly I was engrossed in this book. Beaver dams were important to managing flooding? Weren’t those pesky creatures responsible for the flooding?

Well, not exactly. Through Goldfarb’s engaging, easy-to-read storytelling, I found many things about this creature that I misunderstood. I was schooled in how beavers are a critical solution when it comes to drought relief and flood control. It is difficult not to become a “beaver believer” while reading this book.

No it is not. And that’s why we love it. Thank you for being the next fan to jump on this crowded bandwagon.

The person who recommended that I read “Eager,” The Spokesman-Review’s outdoors editor Eli Francovich, will lead the conversation with Goldfarb on Sept. 18 at Montvale Event Center. The VIP reception includes a copy of the book, drink ticket, reserved seating, meeting the author and starts at 6 p.m., followed by the event at 7.

Wanna go? Me too. There’s a lot of Washington events I’d like to attend in July. Including the KUOW discussion of its book of the month.

Eager reader? Join ‘The Wild’ Book Club!

We heard from so many of our listeners that our episode on beavers was one of their favorites, so we decided to take it to the next level. Introducing: The Wild Book Club!

In the month of July, we’ll be reading “Eager: The Surprising, Secret Lives of Beavers and Why They Matter,” by Ben Goldfarb, who we featured on our episode.

Read or listen to the book this month.
Send us your questions or comments: Instagram (@thewildpod) | Facebook (The Wild podcast) | Online form
Join us for an online meeting of the club with author Ben Goldfarb the last week of July (details coming soon!).

Well isn’t that fun! As if there weren’t enough reasons to like public radio, this month there are readers just carrying around Ben’s book and thinking about beavers. I can’t wait until all those NPR listeners get to ask their questions and think aloud with the author!

I think I’ll send in mine right now. Hmm, “Is that town you mentioned in California really so excited about beavers? And is that crazy woman still doing a festival?”

Or maybe you’re a more private person for who reading isn’t a group activity. There are still plenty of reasons to rejoice. Like this article from Susan’s Inklings at the site “Today I’d like to sit and Read” It seems Susan has some beavers of her own to keep an eye on, so was very motivated to do her homework.

We’ve been watching beavers on the pond at home. For months they have been chewing our cottonwoods. They’ve significantly damaged many and taken some big trees down, expertly placing them in the middle of the pond for nibbling each evening on leaves and bark. My husband and our neighbors have spent many mornings unplugging the outflow that they clog each night with branches and mud. Once they heard the water running freely again, they busied themselves, like beavers, and stopped up the flow.

Believe it or not. There is a new and complete book about beavers and their behavior and this is how it fits into my beaver story. Ben Goldfarb, the author of Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter was brought to Yakima Valley College in collaboration with the Cowiche Canyon Conservancy in mid-March, 2019 to present for the Winter Biology Lecture Series. My husband and I decided to attend. Mr. Goldfarb, an environmental journalist, regaled us with fascinating facts and photos about beavers. I spoke with him after the lecture and he gave me several avenues to pursue for help relocating our furry friends. We left the lecture admiring these creatures even more than before and began pursuing the author’s leads.

Susan, meet Ben. Ben, this is Susan. How fortuitous! I’m sure you’ll have LOTS to talk about!

While the first several organizations did not pan out, Ben continued to email us and make suggestions. He gave us a promising lead with Trout Unlimited in Leavenworth. When we communicated our dilemma to Cody, the project manager for Trout Unlimited in the Wenatchee area, he heard our plea and started the ball rolling to help us, including getting special permits to move The Cleavers to a new locale. In the meantime, Jim and I could almost set our watch for Leave it to Beaver every evening around dusk. Better than TV.

Ahh so Ben connected her with the SEP squad from yesterday’s post but before she sent them packing she says they enjoyed watching them in the evenings. Better than TV. They can’t live here, but in the mean time they amuse me a little. Ahem. Mighty white of her.

On the afternoon of June 10th, three interns with Trout Unlimited met me at the house to scope out the situation. Tessa, Serena and Kate were well-prepared and determined to give this story a happy ending. They sized-up the situation, found a suitable new home within the Yakima River Basin, set up two live-traps that we could see from the house and settled in for the night. Early the next morning they found the smallest beaver in a trap. They graciously let me “help” them put it in a cage for transport and they took off to their pre-determined site for release. Early that same evening, they reset the traps and within a very short time, another huge beaver was caught. I was so impressed with their humane methods and care for the creatures and equally impressed with the calm demeanor of these fascinating creatures now detained and surely confused.

Oh okay, relocating beavers is generally better than killing them. I agree with that. But she still has a nice luscious ponds surrounded by cottonwood trees and how much do you bet some new beavers are going to move in?

Is there a book about that? Why it’s better to solve your problem than to relocate it? Start writing one now, Ben.

BEAVERS IN A S.E.P FIELD

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Beaver relocation July 20, 2019

“A Somebody Else’s Problem field, or S.E.P., is a useful way of safely protecting something from unwanted eyes. An S.E.P. can run almost indefinitely on a torch or a 9 volt battery, and is able to do so because it utilises a person’s natural tendency to ignore things they don’t easily accept, like, for example, aliens at a cricket match. Any object around which an S.E.P. is applied will cease to be noticed, because any problems one may have understanding it (and therefore accepting its existence) become Somebody Else’s Problem. An object becomes not so much invisible as unnoticed.”

The great and forever lost-to-us-way-too-early author Douglas Adams first described the SEP field in his book Life, the Universe and Everything. Basically its a way to hide things in plain sight because we are so good at NOT SEEING something that is somebody else’s problem.

Like Beavers for instance.

Just in: Beaver! Relocation program safely removes nuisance gnawers

The beaver project is in its second year, and has so far taken 20 nuisance beavers from private shoreline propLife, the Universe and everythingerty and moved them to wilder habitat up the Wenatchee River watershed.

“We take a nuisance beaver and relocate it to a suitable location much higher in the watershed,” Gillin says. “One of our biggest project partners, landowner partners, is the Forest Service, but we have other public and private landowners as well that have supported us in our relocation efforts. ”

Just like that the problem disappears! Poof!

No need to go though all that tedious labor of wrapping trees of installing a flow device. Just call us in, lean back, pull the tap, kick back and watch your problem vanish forever,

Well – not exaxtly forever because new beavers are going to move in and do this again very soon – but for right now – for a good couple of months anyway. A man can drink a lot of beers in a couple months.

Their next stop is a concrete raceway at the hatchery, where project workers have set up temporary beaver habitat. The transfer usually goes easy — unless an animal decides to prematurely nudge her cage door open.

Beavers run in family groups, so it takes multiple trappings to clear out a shoreline where they’re active. Once all are gathered, there’s an acclimation period, followed by a move to a new upriver home, farther away from conflicts with humans.

Once there, the hope is they’ll carry on with the kind of brush-clearing and dam-building that helps maintain stable populations of wild fish.

“In a dry desert environment, beavers are creating little pockets of extremely biodiverse wetland habitat … and that is essential for many, many plants and animals that live around here,” Gillin says. “Trout Unlimited got involved in this project mostly targeting those sensitive salmonids, salmon and trout, that are listed under the Endangered Species Act.”

Let us S.E.P those beavers away so you can get back to your previous activities and never have to learn anything new! The whole things on us. We got a grant from fish and wildlife or fish and somebody. We’re doing this for the fish, you know.

Or maybe it’s for the fishermen. One things for sure. It’s definitely not for the beavers.

THE EDITORIAL ARGUMENT FOR KILLING BEAVERS

heidi08 What's killing beavers now? July 19, 2019

Gosh, it seems like only yesterday I was laughing at the CT county that was trying to talk their way out of fixing a beaver problem by proclaiming how interesting and beneficial the animal truly was on someone else’s property. I argued that they were just avoiding the cost of having to do anything about it. I wasn’t the only one who saw through their lazy admiration. Now there’s an Editorial on the subject.

Dealing with the beavers of Black Hall Pond

While beavers generally are considered beneficial, they also can cause flooding and destroy trees. So, as beaver populations continue to grow, also increasing is the likelihood of sometimes unpleasant human-beaver encounters of the type now occurring around Black Hall Pond in Old Lyme. Such encounters, much as those that occur between humans and coyotes, black bears, fishers and other wildlife that also are reclaiming their natural habitats throughout the state, are inevitable.

There are instances when more intervention is warranted to manage damaging wildlife, however. We think this is the case currently in Old Lyme. Black Hall Pond resident Dave Berggren has lived in his house for nearly 60 years and told The Day that beaver dams built on property at the opposite end of the pond — property he doesn’t own — have caused the pond’s water level to rise so drastically his back yard is underwater, his septic system is failing and his house is sinking.

Berggren claims neither local nor state officials have provided him any assistance in solving the problem. Generally, officials have said there is little they can do. If their hands are tied, what is an individual homeowner supposed to do?

I guess you can’t install a flow device if the dam isn’t on your pond. You probably could still get a permit to kill them if they are causing flooding, and no one would ask for their address. Apparently this land owner tried to paddle to the dam and rip out the beaver dam himself. Hmm, guess how well that worked for him?

Because of what is apparently extreme damage in this case, we urge public officials to take a more active role. Locally, for example, officials should assist Berggren in pinpointing who owns the land on which the beavers have built their dam — it is only that property owner who can seek a trapping permit — or provide Berggren permission to secure such a permit. Trapping could alleviate the beaver damage. Connecticut laws allow beaver trapping and in cases in which property damage is severe, it is warranted.

On the state level, officials at the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection should visit the property. Water level control devices installed on beaver dams can keep water level rise to a minimum. DEEP personnel can determine if such measures would be effective in this instance.

We agree that it’s not advisable nor likely would it be effective to break up the beaver dam in the swamp near Black Hall Pond. Neither is it acceptable, however, for local and state officials to take a completely hands-off position here, when a resident’s home appears at risk and a possible public health issue could exist.

Check your watches, ladies and gentlemen, because when a widely read editorial starts tossing about concepts like liability, I predict the sleepy county commissioners are going to wake up very fast. Those poor beavers aren’t long for this world.

And do you think that once their killed the problem will never ever happen again?

Nope. The vacancy sign left with their departure will find another family living their soon, just wait and see. I’m thinking the county will move quicker next time but I could be wrong.

Posted by Quonquont Farm on Wednesday, July 17, 2019

Now I bet a lot of you have seen this fun design. Someone shared it the other day on FB and I thought it needed a little tweaking

THIS JUST IN: BEAVERS ARE DAM HELPFUL!

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Beavers July 18, 2019

Do you ever get the feeling that even though things are better than they were, the WRONG people are still surprised to find out how much beavers matter? I mean scientists and officials you thought should really KNOW by now how really helpful these animals are, are acting shocked to find out they’re actually helpful!

It makes me think they haven’t been paying attention.

Take this article out of Pugeuot Sound University about an interdisciplinary team of students working with the Methow projectin Washington with the subtitle:

Students and professors use summer to rethink the value of beavers

Long regarded as nuisances by many farmers and landowners, beavers are being seen in a new light: as possible allies in efforts to restore rivers and the fight against climate change. The new perception is, in part, thanks to research being conducted by Puget Sound professors and students in partnership with the Methow Beaver Project.

Kena Fox-Dobbs, associate professor of geology and environmental policy and decision making, and Peter Wimberger, professor of biology, have spent years working with the central Washington organization that aims to relocate beavers from agricultural areas and farmland to wilderness streams. They’ve been studying how these remote areas—not recently exposed to beaver activity—change with the introduction of the large rodents. This summer, their research has expanded to examine whether beavers speed the recovery of areas burned by wildfires.

“Their importance is really being pushed,” Kena says. “The idea has been that beavers are good for salmon recovery, but now scientists are saying they could help with the effects of climate change.”

Get the hell out! You’re kidding!!! You mean beavers aren’t just good for fish they’re good for HUMANS too? That’s incredible! No one could have predicted such a thing! Bring on the researchers!

This summer, three science students joined Kena and Peter. For nearly a month, they lived on the banks of a watershed that had been impacted by numerous wildfires as part of their effort to further study the impact beavers have on bird diversity, stream invertebrate populations, and stream sediments in burned and unburned areas. The experience served as the basis for summer research projects for Hayley Rettig ’21, Amanda Foster ’20, and Erin Stewart ’20, who all received summer research grants through a rigorous and comprehensive application process earlier this spring. With their fieldwork complete and data gathered, the students’ next step is to curate and package the data so it can be used by Methow Beaver Project researchers and the U.S. Forest Service.

I for one am SHOCKED to find out that beavers boost restoration after fire and increase invertebrate and fish numbers. I’m also shocked at the shocking news that they decrease the likelihood of fire in the first place. It’s all news to me.

Rethinking beavers? Really? Are you sure they were thinking the first time?

And from Wyoming there’s shocking news that Game and Fish is shocked to find that people are not happy with their “Climb-every-mountain Trap-every-river” Policy. They’re thinking HMM, Maybe we should rethink this who kill beaver thing?

Beavers need protections to keep fish, waterways thriving

As nature’s engineers these amazing animals build dams that keep waterways healthy and create ponds and wetlands that provide important habitat for young fish and other animals, protecting them and allowing them to grow.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department has drafted new regulations that would allow any and all fur trappers to kill beavers in unlimited numbers in several creeks around Jackson Hole. Currently, just a single trapper is allowed to operate in those waterways.

That shortsighted proposal would be bad for beavers and bad for the wild lands Wyoming residents treasure. In response to the draft regulations, public comments submitted on the proposal showed strong opposition to increased trapping in these areas.

Now the Wyoming Game and Fish Department has reconsidered the proposal. The Game and Fish Commission will review and vote upon beaver proposals during it July 18 and 19 meeting in Rock Springs.

Shocked I tell you! Shocked to discover since beavers are good for fish it might be bad for the fishermen if we trap all the beavers. SHOCKING!!!