What a great day for beavers this is turning out to be. This was on Radio 4 yesterday in the UK.
For an update on the ill-fated Oakley beavers we had this photo taken a few days ago at Creekside Park by Rich Walkling. Sure looks like someone’s trying to make a beaver dam to me. What do you think?
Rumor has it that Joe Wheaton is staying with family nearby so the beaver worlds must feel a great disturbance in the force. This photo was snapped last night by Dennis Morrow in Fairfield.
Sometimes in order to get folks to really pay attention you have to talk like a scientist. Good thing for beavers Zane Eddy’s thesis defense is now available online to tell the story of the Martinez Beavers from an academic’s point of view. This is so well done with lots of explanation on the expanding nature of “Cultural Carrying Capacity” and even has video from the actual November 7th meeting I hope you’ll watch and share.
Thank you Zane for all your hard work and congratulations!
[wonderplugin_video iframe=”https://youtu.be/QGbk4QvbSAU” lightbox=0 lightboxsize=1 lightboxwidth=960 lightboxheight=540 autoopen=0 autoopendelay=0 autoclose=0 lightboxtitle=”” lightboxgroup=”” lightboxshownavigation=0 showimage=”” lightboxoptions=”” videowidth=600 videoheight=400 keepaspectratio=1 autoplay=0 loop=0 videocss=”position:relative;display:block;background-color:#000;overflow:hidden;max-width:100%;margin:0 auto;” playbutton=”https://www.martinezbeavers.org/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/wonderplugin-video-embed/engine/playvideo-64-64-0.png”]
Afterwards if you have change burning a hole in your pocket this morning I know just what you should spend it on, as a very rare castoroides skull is up for auction at Bonham’s today. Thanks Rickipedia for the tip. I can imagine him with something like this on his wall. How about you, are you tempted?
25 May 2021, 10:00 PDT
Castoroides ohioensis
Pleistocene
Florida
One of the main anatomical differences between the Giant Beaver and modern beaver species, besides its massive size, is tooth structure. Modern beavers have chisel-like incisor teeth for gnawing on wood. The teeth of the Giant Beaver were bigger and broader, growing to about six 3 inches in length. Also, proportionate to its size, the tail of the Giant Beaver was longer and narrower, and its hind legs shorter. The first Giant Beaver fossils were discovered in 1837 in a peat bog in Ohio, hence the species name ohioensis. The present specimen displays excellent preservation and expert preparation. The upper incisors are original. Specimens of this size and quality are very rare. Offered on a custom base. Measuring 14 x 11 x 9 in
Now I can remember when I thought I was insane for buying the copy for 350 way back in 2008. It just struck me as hilarious to show up at a city council meeting with this on my lap. But the real thing would have been wayyyy more funny.
It’s the old story. Girl meets beaver pond. Girl loses beaver pond. You know the rest. This time it’s told from New York with trains.
SARANAC LAKE — When the state removed train tracks for its rail trail project earlier this month it also removed a beaver dam that was creating a pond near where McKenzie Brook flows into Lake Flower.
Locals in the neighborhood who frequently walk along the tracks were shocked and upset. They say draining the pond of water is harming the wildlife living there. The state departments of Transportation and Environmental Conservation say the dam removal was permitted to prevent it from flooding and eroding the corridor, and that impacts to wildlife will be minimal.
“Two beaver dams were partially blocking water flow at a culvert and action was taken to mitigate potential for flooding,” DEC spokesperson JoMo Miller wrote in an email. “This is a common and necessary action for mitigating what can be a significant, costly and sometimes dangerous failure of infrastructure.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. You know the railway explaining that it had to tie beavers to the tracks to prevent THE FLOODING. Everyone does it. You know how it is.
Barbara Kent has lived within a mile of the pond her entire life. Every day, several times a day, she walks her two dogs “Maisie” and “Marigold” on the train-track trails passing the pond, where she takes in the sylvan sights.
Turtles sun themselves on logs, herons swoop low to stand in the water, loons and mergansers feed on the water and frogs belch noisily. Kent said the beavers dammed up the water generations ago and their work has lasted decades.
“It was always there, always,” Kent said. “Everybody just loved it up there.”
Well you know how it is. You and some turtles live your life near a beaver pond. And the beavers get killed them the pond gets destroyed. It’s a dog’s life.
The water body on McKenzie Brook is known colloquially as “Toxic Pond” because the old landfill, now greened over, can be seen through the trees.
Kent was “mortified” when on May 7 she walked down and saw excavator tracks leading off the rails to the dam. The middle of the dam was torn out. Water that used to trickle through the dam underneath now poured over the top. The water level in the pond was dropping and mud could be seen all along the perimeter.
On May 18 the water had dropped low enough to expose tires, logs and beaver huts out in the pond.
The water flowed over the busted dam and through a culvert, to a pond between the Sara Placid Inn and Suites and the Best Western hotel, under another culvert on state Route 86 and into Lake Flower.
“I fell apart over it,” Kent said with a sad chuckle. “I’m 73 years old. It doesn’t take much to rattle me.”
Well, you gotta break eggs to make an omelette and destroy some ponds to keep the trains tracks nice and dry. You know how it is.
Kent said she has no problem with the rail trail project, a controversial topic in town. She just hopes it will be accessible to people of all abilities. But she also said work has been done on the train tracks before without needing to rip the dam out and she doesn’t think it was necessary now.
“Am I being unreasonable?” Kent asked. “This was breeding grounds for so much wildlife.”
The DEC claims the environmental impact will be small.
“While there may be local and short-lived impacts to wildlife, these impacts are not expected to be significant,” Miller wrote. “Some local wildlife species using this wetland may move to other wetland areas and riparian corridors within the immediate area, whereas other species may continue to use the area.”
Adirondack Park Agency Spokesperson Keith McKeever said his agency would defer to the DEC’s judgement in commenting on this issue, because it has jurisdiction.
Kent said she’s worried the now-dry edges of the pond pose a wildfire risk.
Come on, it’s just a little destruction. The turtles and the frogs and the fish gotta be used to that by now. Be reasonable. It’s for the trains!
Kent wondered if the beavers would rebuild their dam and if the state would return to remove it again.
Some don’t want to leave it to beavers. Kent said she’s seen other frequenters of the trail throwing branches back into the water to dam it up again. She’s not sure if this is illegal or will just be ripped out again.
Kent said this feels like it’s a “losing battle.”
She was even hesitant to tell the Enterprise at first.
“But I kind of felt I owed it to the turtles,” she said.
Kent loves the area and has many happy memories there. Her dogs know the trail by heart. Kent was ecstatic on Tuesday when she saw a heron — whom she’s named “Harry” — still flying around. But she’s concerned for the turtles, ducks, eagles and geese. She was worried that she didn’t see any loons.
She hopes they’ll all find another place to live and expects some of the turtles have taken up residence downstream in Lake Flower.
Sure the wildlife has had their home destroyed and the beavers are gone, but just look the tracks are super dry, isn’t that great? The problem with you is that you don’t appreciate the right things.
I believe this seminal reporting in the Amador Ledger in 1905 will tell you everything you need to know about the accuracy of beaver reporting in the media. You’re welcome.
So the first Indian tale is cute and unoffensive, A bit of anthropomorphism where the idea is that only males must disperse and find a wife or be cast out. Banished. Sweet and romantic even, It’s the second tale that really seals the deal for me.,
Not only are beavers divided into MASTERS and SLAVES mind you, but the slaves are required to mash wood for their masters with their HEADS. And this custom so wears out their pelts that you can tell them apart in the market. Obviously beavers couldn’t use their teeth to chew the wood. Or fetch their own suppers. Why do you ask?
For hundreds of years beavers have been so very much better than anything we write about them.
The Colorado beaver summit is moving along a great pace. Jerry and I talked last about how they want to start out with an over view of beaver policy in all 10 western states. I’ll be presenting on California as the whole thing will be virtual this time around.. He also said his team is meeting with Senator Hickenloop[er’s staff about federal policy addressing beavers, climate change and drought. Finger crossed we’re getting closer,
Articles like this certainly help,
Known for work ethic, tenacity, and sometimes destructive instincts, Beaver is looking for natural ways for researchers to restore rivers and wetlands and improve the health of drought-stricken aquifers. , Returning to the world of science and water.
“The concept of beavers and the ability to restore streams is not new,” said Sarah Marshall, an ecological hydrologist at Colorado State University’s Colorado Natural Heritage Program, who has been studying these semi-aquatic rodents for many years. Told. “Now there is a series of studies on groundwater and sediment capture, which resonates with water managers, especially on the complications of drought and early snowmelt.”
This fall, it is sponsored by Colorado Headwaters, a non-profit organization advocating the protection and restoration of the state’s headwaters. Beaver SummitA conference aimed at presenting some of the latest ecological studies on living things that were once valued solely on shiny fur.
Jerry Mallet, founder and president of Colorado Headwaters, said:
Beaver supporters want more funding for new programs such as research, Beaver census, and better integration of wetland restoration efforts in the headwaters.
Destructive instincts? What even IS a destructive instinct? Like be just beavers are born with the running command in their heads “Kill Crush Destroy” ? Well I like the article, Just not crazy about th at opening line.
But Marshall hopes that upcoming summits and events such as ongoing education for policy makers and the general public on the benefits of water-related working beavers will help improve their reputation.
“One of the most important things about how beavers support streams is that they are very dynamic. They don’t just build dams. They move around in the basin and are constantly Create a changing system.
“By building a series of dams, we do everything from replenishing alluvial aquifers to physically capturing sediments to creating physical habitats for rare species such as northern toads and trout.” She said.
Carlyle Curia, president of the Colorado Agriculture Department, said beavers remain a painful topic in the agricultural world, as beaver dams often harm expensive irrigation systems and cause floods.
Yes beavers and rainy days can be very very inconvenient. They can ruin a perfectly good Saturday picnic and require to plan ahead and problem solve, But we REALLY REALLY need them.
Researchers and others are reassessing how wetlands and rivers have evolved, as drought and climate change cause widespread reductions in river flow and aquifer levels. According to Marshall, he hopes that the furry architects and general contractors who originally helped shape them will be restored and able to work again in a way that helps everyone.
“We built all this infrastructure and managed the land without the beavers. We have the opportunity to co-exist because we are changing the way we look at them culturally,” says Marshall. I did.
“People are beginning to notice that when there is a beaver in the stream, nice green grass grows along the banks for the cows. That’s the fascinating path we’re on. We are starting to look at them from a new perspective, “Marshall said.
And…. Scene. Good work Jerry. More like this, please.
