Well you have a happy little Heidi this morning, Yesterday Georgia covered America in blue paint, the beaver summit conference found out Michael Pollock will be the keynote speaker and the schedule of both days fell into place. Let’s celebrate with some fucking great beaver news shall we?
At Asylum Lake Preserve in Kalamazoo, humans work to outsmart beavers — a welcome nuisance
Acro
ss Parkview Avenue from Western Michigan University’s college of engineering, a group of industrious engineers is hard at work in the university’s Asylum Lake Preserve. Their ingenious creations have left some observers in awe. Others cringe at the litter of felled trees the workers already have created around the pristine lake.
But Tom Sauber, WMU Natural Areas Manager, says he’s supportive of the work of the family of beavers who have decided to move in, even as he works to outsmart them and limit the conflict between the animals and people who enjoy the quiet beauty of the preserve.
Oh I can already tell I’m going to LOVE this story, let me just settle in and appreciate it.
But Sauber says the family of beavers on a small bay along the lake’s south shore has left a small footprint — a few trees down, and their lodge hasn’t created any flooding damage, often associated with their dam-building habits.
“They are the most amazing ecosystem engineers,” Sauber says, “and I marvel at their building skills. We need to live in harmony with them and understand that this is their home.”
Lauri Holmes, co-chair of the Asylum Lake Preservation Association, agrees.
She recently walked the Preserve with Bill Schneider, owner of Wildtypes, the company out of Lansing that has been working to remove invasive plant species in the preserve.
“Bill is really an expert about plant ecology, and he was especially interested in the relationship of the downed trees, the work of the beavers, and the eliminating of the invasives that Wildtypes had been doing for so long,” Holmes says. “Bill was very pleased that the beavers have elected to live here. It means that the environment is healthy. He said that we should ‘revere’ them.”
Oh believe me Bill, I do! And now that we’re on the subject, you’re not so bad yourself.
“In order to alter their behavior of wanting to build dams, we have placed a beaver deceiver at the culvert that connects Asylum Lake with little Asylum Lake, the area they would most likely pick to build a dam,” Sauber explains.
The rectangular device allows water to easily flow through but its presence at the juncture tricks the beaver into thinking there is already a dam in place, so they refrain from building there.
Okay, well it’s not a rectangle and that’s not how it works but hey. Points for effort. And if it means beavers get to stick around a little longer you have won my vote.
To learn more about these amazing animals, Sauber recommends reading “Eager Beavers Matter” by Ben Goldfarb.
“If we don’t educate ourselves on the beavers we will never understand their rightful place in the environment.”
Oh I agree. Michigan beaver summit soon? Well done Kalamazoo. You have brightened an already translucent day. In fact, I feel a song coming on.
