MR. TOADS BEAVER RIDE

Beavers to the rescue in Colorado! And after all Sherri Tippie has done for them. it’s about time!

CPW hopes enhanced wetlands will help boreal toad survival

Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) biologists are working statewide to revive populations of these high-altitude amphibians that live from 8,000 to 13,000 feet. But as is the nature of wildlife research, biologists will not know for at least three years if the work will help toads survive.

To start the process, Cammack and his crew collected eggs from two wetlands in the Triangle Pass area near Crested Butte. The fertilized eggs, collected in early summer, were then taken to CPW’s Native Aquatic Species Hatchery in Alamosa, where they were hatched in captivity. By late summer, they grew into tadpoles and were ready for stocking in the San Juans.
In the high country above the San Luis Valley, the West Fork Fire in 2013 burned through 100,000 acres of forest.

Paul Jones, a now retired CPW biologist, had seen research that suggested burned areas might prevent development of the chytrid fungus. He also knew, based on historic records, that toads had once inhabited the area. So, he worked with the Rio Grande National Forest, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Rio Grande Headwaters Restoration Project and the San Luis Valley Water Conservation District to build small levies in a wetland area to enhance and enlarge optimal reproductive boreal toad habit. The area mimics wetlands created by beaver ponds — favorite breeding areas for toads.

When nothing else works, imitate beavers. That’s my mottow. Or encourage actual beavers to be themselves. That works too.

“We’re working on creative ideas to help bring these toads back. Building these ponds in this burn area is one idea. Hopefully, one of them will work, but it will take time,” Cammack said. And he’s hopeful: “With wildlife we have to manage with optimism.”

I’m sure you meant to say “We have to manage wildlife with beavers.” That’s the secret cure you know. Off to impeach, Gosh it’s hard work being a citizen.

BEAVER SONG SINGALONG

heidi08 Beaver Book November 21, 2019

Stacy Studebaker and Kay Underwood’s ‘Beavers song’ arrived yesterday. It is the most truly amazing book with the most truly breathtaking illustrations you will ever, ever see. You must stop what you are doing right now and go buy a copy. I’m honestly not kidding.

Stacy can sell directly to you if you send $15.00 each plus Priority postage. She can get three books in one Priorityenvelope@$7.35. A Sense of Place Press P.O. Box 970 Kodiak, AK. 99615

The beaver and wildlife illustrations are amazing but the salmon alone will change your entire life, In the interest of NOAA fisheries and science in general I just have to share.

Off to impeach, and you go mail your check so we can swap details. I want teeshirts and coffee mugs made. Do you think that can happen?

BUY BEAVER BONDS!

heidi08 Beavers November 18, 2019

It turns out Canada is so cool even their war bond posters are amazing. Don’t believe me? This original came up at auction for a cool 1500 last. night, and I immediately stared hunting in the couch cushions for change.

What a singularly AWESOME poster and sentiment. If the price is a little steep for you too you’ll be happy to know I found the print on amazon for 10 dollars. Not an original but still very very cool.

Stocking stuffers anyone?

LATE BREAKING

Cheryl just sent me this photo of the aDORABLE beaver that has been hanging out on an island at MVSD in Martinez. He doesn’t appear to be making a lodge so we wondered if he was sick, but he surely has no problem with his appearance or grooming, does he?

IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO SAVE A BEAVER

heidi08 Beavers November 17, 2019

It’s late fall in the Sierra foothills and winter still feels like its a mile a way, There’s no beaver news in my inbox so it seems like as good a time as any to share the remarks that came with the citizen of the year award. I have since learned that in addition to Mark Thompson who delivered it was helped along by Sherida Bush of the John Muir Association. So thank you both very much,

When a family of beavers moved into Alhambra Creek 12 years ago, the City Council yielded to pressure from downtown landowners and decided it was best to kill them. Apparently, the Council decided they were more powerful than Godzilla and would ultimately destroy downtown by flooding it.

Heidi, believing there was a better way than killing these beautiful animals, which had gotten a lot of attention downtown. She spearheaded a meeting to organize the community to fight this travesty. She’s been the catalyst for forming an organization called “Worth a Dam,” and convincing this city that there are better ways to handle beavers moving into town than to kill them.

She started the first Beaver Festival before the Council had made its decision because she figured it would be harder to kill the beavers if there was a party for them. There has been a festival every year since. She consulted experts and highlighted the “Beaver Deceiver,” which would allow the beavers to build their dam and coexist without the threat of flooding.

Due to her efforts, with community support, the Council capitulated, and the beavers became nationwide celebrities. Heidi has been great with garnering publicity and support of all kinds for our local beavers, and beavers in general.

She has had influence internationally through her research and scientific connections as well as connecting with just plan folk. People from other parts of the country have come to Martinez to see how we co-exist with the beavers. Heidi has highlighted beavers as true “ecosystem engineers.”

She has brought awareness that beavers are not only a keystone species (which means they have a disproportionate effect on their environment), they create a community of diverse plant and animal life wherever they settle. More people are educated to the benefits beavers bring, as well as their importance to our ecosystems. She has also helped to teach cities, ranchers and landowners how to co-exist with them, instead of viewing them as a nuisance animal that needs to be exterminated.

Locally, of course, her impact is known. People may not know what a wide impact she has had in other areas. She co-authored a research paper on the historical range of beavers in the Sierra Nevada in California, where they were not believed to have lived before. This is huge for the future of the animal in these areas. Beavers can now be considered a native species where they were presumed to have never lived.

What started as a crusade to save a little family of beavers has grown exponentially to save so many more. In turn, that has supported ecosystems and wildlife of all kinds. Heidi has been busy as a ….well, you know, championing these animals and has helped re-frame the perception of them and their place in our rural and urban communities.

The beavers in Martinez created a better ecosystem, with a much greater diversity of fish, birds, reptiles and mammals. Heidi also helped create a community of people who care about the environment and the wildlife it supports.

Not only have the beavers created a better ecosystem in Martinez, but so has Heidi. Her ongoing efforts most notably the Beaver Festival have offered not only aeducation on our beavers, but also a venue for many other local environmental and community groups.

With all Heidi has done for Martinez and continues to do for our community, the Thousand Friends of Martinez is proud to present her the Citizen of the Year award for 2019.

Gosh. Thanks guys.

MARTINEZ GOT OFF SO CHEAPLY!

heidi08 Who's blaming beavers now?, Who's Killing Beavers Now?, Who's saving beavers now? November 16, 2019

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.