Month: November 2020

I GUESS ‘PUBLIC LANDS’ DOESN’T MEAN THEY BELONG TO THE PUBLIC?

heidi08 Beavers November 15, 2020

Good lord. The ridiculous Voyageurs study made the East Bay Times and even my 86 year old mother called me to say it sounded questionable. What can a girl do? Sometimes stupid have the best publicists and smart people never get listened to.

Take Oregon for instance. On friday their fish an wildlife department revisited the issue of beaver trapping on public land. And you can guess what happened.

On split vote, ODFW denies petition to consider halt to beaver trapping

After hearing testimony from about 30 people, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission denied a petition on a 3-3 tie vote Friday that would have initiated rulemaking to consider ending beaver hunting and trapping on federal lands.

Commissioners had discussed this issue back in June, during adoption of trapping regulations, and out of those discussions came the creation of a new Beaver Management Working Group.

I’m sorry the petition didn’t work. But a vote of 3-3 ain’t bad for beavers. Oregon is one retirement or Covid case away form knowing better.

During Friday’s meeting, commissioners indicated their continued commitment to beaver conservation by directing ODFW staff to analyze and provide guidance on beaver management in the context of climate change, habitat, benefits to fish and other species, and water flow retention and temperature.

ODFW staff were directed to work in collaboration with commission liaison Vice-Chair Greg Wolley on the issue and use the newly formed Beaver Management Working Group as a key part of public engagement.

Yeah that. I want so many things in this life but I’ll settle for that. Can I please have that? I honestly don’t understand because the news reports the vote was 3-3 and the press release from Center from Biological Diversity says it was 5-1 so somebody is confused or wants us to be. I don’t understand why the 135 trappers who buy licenses every year matter so much that they get to device what happens on land that supposedly belongs to EVERYBODY, but sure, for a beaver working group. And keep us posted on how that changes things.

Yesterday I made my own fun and am fairly pleased with the results. Of course we need a REAL filmaker to take this on and a real artist to develop the logo, but for now, this will do.

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I GUESS TRAPPERS SHAPE STREAMS TOO. WHO KNEW?

And the award for the most credit given to ridiculous helpers goes not, as you may have thought to Rudy Guiliani, but to everyones favorite pack-hunting predator: Wolves. Apparently when wolves kill beavers they make more streams.

Didn’t you know?

Wolves alter wetland creation and recolonization by killing ecosystem engineers

Beavers are some of the world’s most prolific ecosystem engineers, creating, maintaining and radically altering wetlands almost everywhere they live. But what, if anything, might control this engineering by beavers and influence the formation of North America’s wetlands?

In a paper to be published Friday in the journal Science Advances, researchers with the University of Minnesota’s Voyageurs Wolf Project and Voyageurs National Park observed and demonstrated that wolves affect wetland ecosystems by killing beavers leaving their colonies to create new ponds.

Beavers are important ecosystem engineers that create wetlands around the world, storing water and creating habitat for numerous other species. This study documents that wolves alter wetland creation when they kill beavers that have left home and created their own dams and ponds.

Juvenile beavers disperse alone and often create new ponds or fix up and recolonize existing, old ponds. By studying pond creation and recolonization patterns along with wolf predation on beavers, project biologists and co-authors Tom Gable and Austin Homkes found that 84% of newly-created and recolonized beaver ponds remained occupied by beavers for more than one year. But when a wolf kills the beaver that settles in a pond, no such ponds remain active.

This relationship between wolves and dispersing beavers shows how wolves are intimately connected to wetland creation across the boreal ecosystem and all the ecological processes that come from wetlands.

So the idea is that when wolves kill beavers who are making a new pond that pond doesn’t happen, and the new pond made by some lucky beaver who wasn’t killed by beavers will survive. See how wolves shape the streams?

Puleeze….that is like saying that a car hitting squirrels determines the rate of acorn production in the forest that year.

Of course the news is bouncing around the entire internet this morning. It even appeared on ABC. Because nothing says “Fun story” more than a beaver meal making streams.

Wolves preying on beavers in Minnesota reshape wetlands

Wolves preying on beavers profoundly affect northern Minnesota’s wetland ecosystems because dams built by individual beavers — those not associated with beaver colonies — quickly fall apart. The new research doesn’t show wolves reduced the total beaver population in Voyageurs National Park, but that they influenced where beavers were able to build and maintain dams and ponds

Hey, you know what else reshapes wetlands? A beaver Trapper! Depredation! Same logic. Different theme music. Not just in Minnesota but everyfuckingwhere.

Sheesh.

As predicted in my little red hen retelling a month ago the very smart voices who were too busy to take on the beaver summit have indicated they very much want to be part of the first planning meeting. Wonderful. Maybe we’ll get to eat some bread when all this is over! I spent yesterday working on this, which is much harder to do than it looks. At least for me. What do you think? Something like this but better.

THE CAL-BEAVER SUMMIT BECOMES A REALITY

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Beaver ecological impact November 13, 2020

My my my. I thought when the fire story broke in National Geographic that was a good day for beavers. I thought when the Washington Post praised Ben Goldfarb’s book that was a good day for beavers. I thought that when the beaver festival got praised in the congressional that was a good day.

But this? This is a superCalibeaverfragileecosystemsave the planet kind of day.

First the staggering news. Guess what IS going to happen because I just found out Sonoma State is going to be the host. Apparently the answer to the question is California ready for its own beaver summit is YES because Professor Jeff Baldwin took the idea to his friends at Sonoma State and as of yesterday at 3:30 in the afternoon a beaver summit was officially approved!

The first planning meeting is scheduled for a couple weeks and more details will soon be forthcoming like when and who and where to register. At the moment I’m surrying around with a clipboard like a stage manager saying we need a logo, a website, a short film maybe to announce it, and everyone’s feet marching in the same direction for about a day. Is that so much to ask?

It’s a long way from happening, but it’s a lot closer to actually happening than it was when it was just a crazy idea in my head so HURRAY! Bring on the Cal-beaver Summit!

In an unrelated by very appropriate burst of good news the beavers without borders film is being released this weekend and you can sign up to see it for free!

Beaver Trust launches film to promote beavers as friend not foe

Beavers can play an important role in flood prevention and as such deserve our support and care, says the Beaver Trust, which is launching a short documentary film to enlighten us as to their many skills

Beavers Without Borders explores the benefits and challenges of reintroducing beavers to our landscapes. ‘It’s a critical time for beavers, with the UK Government deciding on their future in England, and calls for the Scottish Government to allow their relocation in Scotland. We hope our film evokes the buzz of life in beaver wetlands, inspires people to welcome beavers back, and helps nurture a reconnection between people and the rest of nature,’ says trust chief executive James Wallace.

A free live YouTube premiere of the film takes place on Sunday from 7pm-8pm. To register visit https://bit.ly/366N2Zg.

That’s 11 to 12 my time so completely watchable if you want to register. I don’t know tight space will be and whether there’s room for many Americans to hop aboard, but they let me in an now it’s they win an entry on this tiny website.

Just remember how good the trailer was. Bring your own popcorn and handkerchies just in case.

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BEAVER MOON AND FOLDED PAPER MOON

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Beaver ecological impact November 12, 2020

Of course we can’t forget that November’s full moon is known as the BEAVER MOON, and this usually generates some fun press and events as well. Take this from the Stonybrook Wildlife Sanctuary in Walpole Massachusetts.

A Twilight Walk Exploring the Wonderful World of Beavers at Stony

Sat, Nov 21, 2020 at 4:00 PM

It is so exciting to be at Stony Brook around sunset and during twilight. The fading light signals the start of the ‘day’ for many animals. Creatures such as beavers, foxes, raccoons and many others will become active, foraging and moving about. During this walk, you will learn more about beaver family life, lodge and dam maintenance, home range, and how they contribute to the biodiversity of open space. Bring your flashlight and we’ll cover the lens in red to preserve our night vision before we head out on the trails. Registration is required.

That sounds like a fun shivery walk. I guess Covid means you can’t gather around a fire with some hot chocolate afterwards, but gosh dress warm everyone!

This is the other film The Beaver Trust dropped the other day, and engaging stop motion by filmmaker Lauren Cook.

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Wonderful! They are so many arrows in their quiver I am biting my keyboard in envy. But it’s all good. And it helps beavers everywhere so bring on the full force of the beaver trust!

Now let me just close by saying that as a Buffy Believer even before I was a beaver believer, this makes me very happy. Now I owe Stacy two drinks.

To be fair, Angel was the right boyfriend for Buffy coming into her power. Spike was the right man to be with as she became the power.

— Stacey Abrams (@staceyabrams) November 9, 2020

THE STORIES THAT BEAVERS TELL EACH OTHER

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Beaver Book, Beavers and groundwater November 11, 2020

Yesterday was a cultural explosion for beavers. Two excellent films were uploaded by the Beaver Trust and a fine op-ed was published in the Oregon Register-Guard. I am spoiled for choice. But I’ll start with this:

Keep keystone beavers safe

Chuck Erickson Special to Eugene Register-Guard USA TODAY NETWORK At 8 a.m. Friday, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife will hold another commission hearing to ban trapping beavers in our national forests. This action is part of 21st century science and the importance of keystone species and our imperiled fisheries.

The official definition of a keystone species is ‘a species on which other species in an ecosystem largely depend, such that if it were removed the ecosystem would change drastically.’

Beavers fit this definition, and the fact that they do is important for wetland conservation efforts.

Isn’t that wonderful? Every now and then I appreciate the dangers beavers face in Scotland and Oregon and Montana because motivates people to write such wonderful articles and letters about them.

There is more happening with beaver ponding colonies than we can see with our eyes. As ponds form in areas where trees have been cut, all that is left are stumps that have become flooded by the ponded waters. If given enough time, the root systems of these stumps rot away and the ponded water connects to the sub-waters in alluvial soils (sand and rock).

These sub-surface waters are cooled, filtered and flow downstream as springs and seeps. This reduces water temperature and enhances streambed environments. Over and over this process happens. Trees drill into the ground and the beavers cut them down connecting warmer surface water with colder ground waters. Remember the rule: Water seeks the same level as it enters.

Without the beavers’ intervention, our silted-in stream banks act as a cap trapping the water from entering and exiting the alluvial soils. This is one of the reasons we have warmer river temperatures. Without active beaver colonies, the cooling cycle is broken with diminished water storage.

Wow this author knows his beaver facts. Who is it? Chuck Erickson of Coos Bay. I can find lots of letters in protest. but not any official title. Call it a hunch but I don’t think he works for fish and game.

Recent research shows that beavers have a positive effect in areas prone to large fires. The wetlands beavers create recover quicker and help support wildlife. The firebreaks these animals create is needed especially during drought conditions. Beaver colonies trap large amounts of sediments and help improve spawning habitat for fish.

Besides storing and cooling waters, beaver dams may provide a physical barrier to spawning fish during drought years. Though well-intentioned biologists have opened these blocked areas in the past, they may be doing more harm than good. It is more likely nature is holding the fish back for a reason. The blocked fish are forced to spawn in areas with sufficient water instead of upriver where there may not survive or successfully reproduce.

Science and researchers have developed new methods that limit the damages that sometimes happen when culverts become blocked. Sometimes called beaver deceivers, these devices fool these animals so they don’t plug areas that need to drain. They also are used to control water levels behind beaver impounded water areas.

Let’s give our fisheries the boost they deserve.

Very well said. Thank you Chuck! You would think that with so many people defending them some of this might sink in?

I’m going to share my favorite film dropped by the Beaver Trust now. It’s not a visual experience but an auditory one. Close your eyes and listen to this amazing author paint a picture and pay especial attention to the “BIG STORY” scene inside the lodge. The one that happened “Before Scent or Sound“.

It captured all my imagination and gave me chills for a day.

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