How’s your balance? Feeling dizzy?
Because I literally felt the earth SHIFT yesterday. Like when you’re on a boat and suddenly everything rolls across the table in one direction. We rolled towards beavers yesterday. Wow. Wow. Wow. What a great way to celebrate International Beaver Day. Tomorrow will be even better.
I will have the day on video soon I hope to share. And be able eventually to give you a run down with actually adjectives and everything about who did what, but for now I’m so exhausted and blown away I can just mutter a contented WOW,
Beavers could protect us from wildfires, but only if we better protect them.
April 7 is International Beaver Day, and lest you think these critters don’t deserve such an honor, you probably don’t know that they are, in fact, one of our best natural defenses against the warming effects of climate change.
As wildfire season approaches in the west, the North American beaver is an unlikely ally, one uniquely equipped to fight fires and store water.
The conference reached maximum enrollment at 1000 and although they didn’t all attend yesterday I do believe our numbers will be close to that tomorrow. For just this reason.
Restoring beavers isn’t a new idea; programs like the Tulalip Tribes’ Beaver Project, Methow Beaver Project, and the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife’s beaver relocation pilot project transfer “nuisance” beavers from urban or suburban areas to hydrologically impaired watersheds. Similar programs have successfully returned beavers to ecosystems across the United States and Europe.
It’s time to scale up this work.
Beavers are nature’s firefighters. They work tirelessly to cut trees, store wood in fire-resistant dams, and create ponds that act as natural fire breaks and provide refuge for wildlife during mega-fires. Federal land management agencies alone budget nearly $1 billion dollars for wildfire management each year to do much of the same: thin overgrown forests, dispose of cut trees (so they don’t add fuel to fires), and create open areas that slow fires down. Beavers do all this for free.
Preaching to the choir here honey. But I won’t disagree.
Beaver dams also help store water above and below ground, mitigating the impacts of climate change. As temperatures rise, more winter precipitation is falling as rain rather than snow. This results in diminished snowpack and glaciers, more extreme flooding and drought, and higher stream temperatures, especially in the summer. Beaver dams and wetlands release water slowly, helping to recharge groundwater. Not only does this increase the available water in increasingly hot, dry summer months, it helps filter water so that it’s cleaner and cooler.
Beavers also improve habitats for salmon, which rely on deep, cold pools of water, woody debris for cover from predators, and rest from fast currents. Salmon also need protected patches of gravel where they can lay their eggs. Beaver dams create pools of respite with plenty of wood cover for both juvenile and adult salmon. Dams also trap fine sediment, preventing it from smothering underwater nests of salmon eggs, while periodic dam breaches help maintain gravel patches. Ponds also provide nutrient- and insect-rich habitats where young salmon and other wildlife thrive.
Yes they do. We agree, And we like you very much. Are there any more like you at home?
To scale up beaver restoration, state and federal agencies first need to coordinate their beaver management efforts. For example, many state wildlife agencies allow beavers to be legally trapped on public lands in the exact places where state and federal agencies, nonprofits, scientists, and other partners are restoring them for ecological benefits. These goals are in direct conflict, especially when public funds pay for beaver restoration.
Private landowners and public land managers also need education: Beavers don’t always make the best neighbors — they sometimes flood roads, houses, or pastures, or they may chew infrastructure like trees or fences — so landowners will turn to lethal traps. States, counties, and towns that manage roads and culverts need guidance as well: Public road management is one of the leading causes of beaver deaths in the United States. The mission of the Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Service is to resolve wildlife conflicts to allow people and animals to coexist; they are under a directive to use non-lethal methods when “practical and effective,” yet the agency killed more than 25,000 beavers in 2020.
Now I like every thing she’s saying but I’m not going to share her stupid paragraph about “keeping trappers because they keep the population healthy”. That’s just ignorant. And based on some foolish idea that beavers are like bunnies or mice and will breed themself into oblivion.
Given the vast contributions that beavers freely offer, we should be able to co-exist. Public funds could be used to offset the costs for private landowners to install beaver-friendly devices. State and federal agencies and private organizations often do this when other species like wolves and grizzly bears damage private property, and some organizations do the same for beavers.
If you’re a beaver believer, consider connecting with your local beaver advocacy organization, like the Beaver Institute or Beavers Northwest (there are many similar organizations across the country). If you have suitable habitat on your property, you may be able to request a beaver from your state wildlife agency. If you’re having trouble with a beaver, there are professionals who can install beaver deceivers or relocate the animals.
The rest of us need to lift up this animal with state wildlife agencies, elected officials, and friends and family. Our watersheds need them.
Or maybe Worth A Dam. Ya think?
Anna Santo is a Ph.D. student at the University of British Columbia who has studied private landowners’ attitudes toward beavers in South America. Kai Chan is a professor and interdisciplinary sustainability scientist at the University of British Columbia.
