So I’m finishing up the urban beaver pamphlet, and liking how it looks. Lory is kindly proofing it for me and wrote yesterday that it has a lot of really good information, which I am very happy to hear – because that’s totally what I was going for. This morning there are three city article that cover a 3000 mile radius and cross two nations reminding us that there is a BIG NEED for such things. Let’s do the bad news first.
Province hires trapper to euthanize pesky beaver wreaking havoc near Yellow Lake
B.C. government officials say a pesky beaver wreaking havoc to the shoreline of Yellow Lake southwest of Penticton, B.C. will be captured and euthanized by a licensed trapper.
Local resident Dave Campbell is an avid canoeist who expressed concern about the brazen beaver chomping down dozens of trees near a wheelchair accessible ramp to a popular fishing lake.
He said the risk of falling trees near the well-used ramp and walkway to access the lakefront dock is posing a public safety threat and the damaged trees impacts the aesthetics of the area.
“Whole families come here with children — I get a tickle, I get a buzz out of it, seeing people here with their kids playing, running around, having a picnic and enjoying this spot,” he said.
Whole families with children. Really. Good thing you’re killing the beaver because god knows whole families would never turn out if it was allowed to live. You know how destructive beavers are. They just leave a wasteland everywhere they touch.
Campbell said he’d like to see the beaver trapped and re-located or destroyed.
What a thoughtful man. And so very flexible. The article said you canoe? That’s odd. I usually like canoers.
A re-location of the beaver would be logistically difficult and cause the beaver anguish by live trapping and transporting it and introducing it to an unfamiliar area, according to the ministry.
Beaver populations are not considered a conservation concern near Yellow Lake.
We wouldn’t want to cause ANGUISH now would we? Much better to crush it to death until it drowns.
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Now to Minnesota for some worries and bad puns.
Answer Man: Has a beaver taken up residence near Apache Mall?
Can’t a rodent cut down trees without it leading to a bunch of dam questions? (I tried to resist the low-hanging dam puns, but like the beaver, I thought, “gnaw.”)
Yes, Minnesota Department of Transportation officials confirm that a beaver has indeed taken up residence in the highway runoff pond and has taken down a couple of trees. (That’s not the work of a sloppy maintenance crew with tiny axes.)
MnDOT gets a handful of reports of beavers building structures in and around MnDOT structures each year, said Mike Dougherty, MnDOT District 6 director of communications.
MnDOT maintenance crews will work with other agencies to trap and relocate beavers if they block needed drainage, divert water onto roadways or knock trees over roadways. MnDOT works with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the Army Corps of Engineers if a tiny corps of (beaver) engineers interferes with drainage infrastructure.
Okay, I am a very cynical jaded woman. But if the department of transport in Minnesota actually uses Hancock traps to humanely relocate problem beavers in safe locatiions I will eat the bug of your choice. You and I know that this is the thing they say when they want crazy vegans to leave them alone. It’s the middle of November for God’s sake. It’s 33 degrees in Rochester and going to snow tonight. Do you really think that sounds like an ideal time to relocate a beaver with no food cache, and no territory?
Lets have some good news for a change. Some VERY GOOD NEWS from our hardworking friends in Port Moody, B.C.
Management plan welcomes beavers to Port Moody
A new management plan for beavers in Port Moody will make it easier for the industrious rodents to co-exist with other species like salmon — and especially humans — says an advocate for the creatures, Judy Taylor-Atkinson.
At its meeting Tuesday, council unanimously endorsed a comprehensive plan that has been in the works for several months and involved input from several groups and individuals representing the interests of beavers and salmon as well as local streamkeepers, and was prepared by JBL Environmental Services. The plan will be implemented with an annual budget of $45,000 and any unused funds will be put into a reserve to cover potential cost overruns in other years.
Jim and Judy, you are my HEROES. You did this. It was soo not easy. It was so not going to happen without you. It was so difficult at every sticking god-forsaken turn, BUT YOU DID THIS!!! 45,000 dollars a hear for a beaver budget? My god. These are practically beaver moguls. What can’t they do?
The need for such a plan was sparked after an attempt by city workers to relocate a family of beavers from Pigeon Creek in the Klahanie neighbourhood went awry and a young kit was drowned in a trap.
Taylor-Atkinson said the plan ensures such a mistake likely won’t happen again as it puts the emphasis on finding ways for the community to coexist with beavers.
This is it, This is what cost you 45000 dollars. If you hadn’t horrified an entire community by locking up a drowning baby then you might have walked away a little more cheaply. You are paying for insensitivity and bad planning. Well that and the salmon.
But Ruth Foster of the Mossom Creek Hatchery on the city’s north shore told council she’s not convinced the dramatic changes to the creek’s dynamics are good the salmon.
“We fear many years of work to restore Suter Brook for fish may be in jeopardy,” she said.
That’s why education is also a major component of the city’s new management plan, Taylor-Atkinson said.
“Beavers are a public relations challenge,” she said.
You’re poor little handicapped salmon. Apparently Judy has been told that hatchery chum can’t jump over a dam and will just stop swimming if they come to any obstruction. You can see why they had to fight EVERY STRETCH OF THE WAY to get this done.
Taylor-Atkinson said the end result may not look pretty, with chopped and gnawed trees scattered across the pond’s banks, but that’s the point.
“The messier a watershed is, the healthier it is,” she said.
As a result of these efforts, Taylor-Atkinson said the beaver family has thrived. It now numbers at least five but could be as large as seven. So far, it’s still the only known beaver colony in the city.
As well, the watershed has benefitted, Taylor-Atkinson said. Chum salmon heading upstream to spawn have been spotted in the fish ladder and a heron has made the pond a regular stop on its rounds looking for tasty morsels that might happen along.
Let us all pray, every morning and every night, to be half as successful, smart and patient as Judy and Jim. Let us strive to make a tenth of the difference they have made for beavers and nature in Port Moody and lets all celebrate an international holiday in their honor!
Hmm. 45000? That could be a pretty awesome Canadian beaver festival. Just saying.
