Month: July 2021

URBAN BEAVERS ON THE C.U.S.P.

heidi08 Urban beavers July 31, 2021

It’s a pleasure to be reminded that SOME organizations and stream groups like beavers, especially the California Urban Stream Partnership. which just released their newsletter yesterday. It has a fine shoutout to the Beaver Summit AND a nice reminder about urban beavers. Enjoy and sign up for their next newsletter here.

Cusp is one of the few nonprofits that INCREASED their contracts and donations during Covid and was able to renew contracts with Contra Costa County as well. They also had the wisdom to co-sponsor the California Beaver Summit.

Hmm now what about that update on urban beavers?

Urban Beaver Update

BY HEIDI PERRYMAN, WORTH A DAM

Around the country, urban beavers are gaining recognition as important aides to stream health and biodiversity in the greenbelt. As climate change worsens folks are slowly starting to take beavers more
seriously: Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewage District just released a major study documenting how beaver dams can reduce flooding, and research into the benefit of beaver dams to water quality in retention ponds at NC just received funding from National Sciences. Recently beaver effect on fire received its own Op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle.!
Still in California, beavers continue to be seen mostly seen as a nuisance. A recent review of depredation permits found that in 2020 found more than 170 permits were given to kill beavers in 29 counties: authorizing the take of more than 2500 beavers. While beavers in Washington can be relocated to benefit salmon or streams, California is the only one of the 11 contiguous Western states where this is never allowed (except on tribal land) Our state seems slower than most to learn why these water-saving animals matter to our landscapes.

Once upon a time Martinez was the only city known to have urban beavers – but those days are long gone. Now there are beavers living happily in Napa, Sonoma, Oakley and Fairfield. Some of them are even welcomed by neighbors and city leaders, or close to it. While depredation still happens almost reflexively in Contra Costa and Solano Counties, I like to think the 16 famous yearlings that grew up and launched “
their beaver careers from our historic downtown had something to do with their numbers increasing and their reception improving!

RBAN BEAVER LODGE IN LAUREL CREEK, FAIRFIELD: PHOTO BY E.C. WINSTEAD

Around the country, urban beavers are gaining recognition as important aides to stream health and biodiversity in the greenbelt. As climate change worsens folks are slowly starting to take beavers more seriously: Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewage District just released a major study documenting how beaver dams can reduce flooding, and research into the benefit of beaver dams to water quality in retention ponds at UNC just received funding from National Sciences. Recently beaver effect on fire received its own Op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle! Still in California, beavers continue to be seen mostly seen as a nuisance. A recent review of depredation permits found that in 2020 found more than 170 permits were given to kill beavers in 29 counties: authorizing the take of more than 2500 beavers. While beavers in Washington can be relocated to benefit salmon or streams, California is the only one of the 11 contiguous Western states where this is never allowed (except on tribal land).

Our state seems slower than most to learn why these water-saving animals matter to our landscapes. To challenge this, Sonoma State undertook the first ever “California Beaver Summit” this year, showcasing benefit beaver can have to salmon, streams, amphibians, birds and fire resilience. The virtual event drew more than 1000 registrants, a quarter of them state employees who wanted to learn more about their ecosystem services, in addition to interested registrants from 23 states and four countries. Keynote Speakers included the acclaimed Michael Pollock of NOAA Fisheries (known for his pivotal work on the relationship between beavers and salmon habitat) Joe Wheaton of Utah State (Napa reared fluvial geomorphologist known for process based stream restoration) and researcher Emily Fairfax of CSU Channel Islands (who’s work effect on fire prevention made National Geographic last year).

A focus on beaver benefits was punctuated with practical strategies for coexistence – the how and why of living with beavers – from Massachusetts expert Mike Callahan of the Beaver Institute, and Kevin Swift of Swiftwater Design. With fast-paced and wide ranging presentations by experts from CDFW, BLM, USFS and NMFS in two dynamic half day sessions, the summit made quite an impression on attendees.

Inspired by a similar event held in New Mexico earlier in the year, the California Beaver Summit stimulated another event to be held in Colorado in October. Hopefully as the beaver message makes its way across the states these kind of events will become more and more common. Improving water quality, restoring fish habitat, removing nitrogen and reducing the damage of flooding and drought, beavers continue to offer more than they ‘cost’ in terms of management. Since the tools of living with beaver are well understood, and the benefits of allowing them to occupy our urban creeks becoming more familiar, it is high time California “Makes way for beaver”!

Lovely to see beavers on the radar of urban stream folks. Hopefully this will get more, not less common, as events and groups like these continue their good work. Thanks Riley for making Cusp come to fruition and thanks beavers for reminding us that urban creeks are part of our neighborhoods.

SCALY FOOTED MONSTERS

heidi08 Beavers July 30, 2021

Beavers have shown up a lot in the Estuary News Magazine. In fact it’s how I first met Lisa Owens Viani who used to be the editor and now runs the nonprofit Rats. It’s how I met Ann Riley and Joe Eaton and probably how I met many of the major estuary players. I asked her recently whether the magazine had ever written about beavers BEFORE Martinez, and she sent me to the archives because she couldn’t remember.

Turns out they did. Two very negative stories first in 2003 about how they destroy levees and another in 2004 about how they spread arundo. No mention of ecosystem services at all. Good thing Martinez came along to set the record straight!.

NOCTURNAL ENGINEERS
A century ago, wildlife officials proclaimed
that the Delta’s beavers had been trapped to
extinction. Most farmers responded with a
cry of “Good riddance!” Charismatic as they
are from a distance, beavers can be a major
nuisance: they weaken levees, in which they
love to build their lodges, cut down trees,
and (being obsessive dam builders) attempt
to inhibit the source flow of any water that
makes a sound, including irrigation and
drainage canals.
But the pronouncement was premature:
beaver numbers were on the rise again by
the 1920s. Today, there are probably more
than 27,000 of the long-toothed critters in
the Delta, according to Bill Grenfell, a retired
Fish & Game biologist, once responsible for
monitoring trapping in the state. That’s the
highest concentration in California and prob-
ably the highest ever in the Delta, which pro-
vides abundant human-made beaver habitat,
with no natural beaver predators.
These furry engineers try hard. Their
dens take a lot of work to build and main-
tain, but gusto is one thing they have more
than enough of. “If your average Joe Blow
worked as hard as a beaver, you could fire
half your crew,” says Nick Catrina, a profes-
sional trapper. “There are farmers on some
of the islands who have guys working all
day long taking apart the dams the beavers
just come and build again each night.”
Beaver dens range from the size of a
wheelbarrow to a pickup truck. The bigger
ones can cause levee failure, a serious mat-
ter in the Delta where flooding is a con-
stant and—as islands continue to subside—
growing threat. The cumulative weakening
of Delta levees could make a difference one
day if an earthquake shakes the levee sys-
tem hard enough to cause a chain reaction
of failures, according to Kent Nelson with
the Department of Water Resources.
When observed during the day, Delta
beavers belie their midnight industrious-
ness. Propelled by large scaly feet with
webbed toes, and steered by a rudder-like
tail, they cause almost no disturbance in the water. Unless, that is, they are fright-ened, in which case they smack a loudwarning “Pop!” with their tails and vanishunderwater, where they can remain for 10 minutes without taking a breath. GS

The scaly footed monsters lurk all across the delta just waiting to rip out levees and bother farmers. Gosh it’s a good thing we eradicated them once. I sure hope we can again.

Dam Arundo!

California’s early Spanish settlers and its
contemporary beavers have something in
common—both discovered that Arundo
donax, an invasive bamboo-like reed, makes
fine construction material. In Shasta
County’s Stillwater Creek, beavers have
started using Arundo, as well as the usual
natives like willow, to build their dams.
But in so doing, the ecologically friendly
beavers are spreading the ecologically
damaging reed.
In Southern California, Arundo now dom-
inates many riparian habitats, and it is rap-
idly becoming established in and along
Northern California creeks. In dense stands
that can grow up to four inches per day
and reach heights of 30 feet, this
“reed-on-steroids” crowds out
native plants. It sucks up vast
amounts of water, yet after it dies,
its dry stalks create a fire hazard.
Once touted as an erosion-control
plant, Arundo is now known to pro-
mote erosion. And during high-
water events, fallen clumps of
Arundo the size of school buses
sometimes clog river channels,
causing floods.
The problem with beavers and
Arundo mixing it up is that as the
industrious rodents drag the reed
to their dams, stem fragments are
released into creeks, then float
downstream and plant themselves
along the banks. The other prob-
lem is that beaver dams create shal-
low, slow-flowing water conditions
conducive to Arundo infestations.
Says Western Shasta Resource
Conservation District’s Valerie
Shaffer, “Arundo is found through-
out Stillwater Creek, but we always
find heavy concentrations near
beaver dams.”
Shaffer emphasizes that she
doesn’t want anyone to blame the
beavers. “Arundo would still spread
rapidly without the beavers’ help.
I’m more concerned about Arundo
impacting the beavers. Beavers
don’t eat Arundo, and it crowds out
the plants they do eat.”
Shaffer wants to raise public
awareness, so that landowners
know to remove Arundo right away.
She hopes to eliminate the plant
from the beavers’ habitat, so the
long-toothed critters can find plen-
ty of their favorite native plants to
chomp on—and build with.

Just to clarify. There was a single stand of arundo over the beavers lodge. In ten years I never saw a single beaver touch the stuff.

THE ILLINOIS BEAVER ALLIANCE

This year the beavers in Illinois got a whole lot luckier. Rachel Siegel stepped up to advocate for her beavers in Glenview and thought, sheesh why just protect the beavers in my condominium? Why not educate people about all the good beavers can do for the state?

So she did.

Meet the Illinois Beaver Alliance,

In addition to getting the people of Glenview to care about beavers and starting a nonprofit to protect them, she has met with the local representative AND Fish and game to put beavers on the radar if everyone involved. She even adapted our handout about urban beavers for the state, complete with articles by a local expert. Rachel is full of power moves. If I were a beaver in Illinois I’d be feeling pretty confident right about now.

Partnering with Beavers in Illinois 6 1 2021

EMILY, BEAVERS AND CLIMATE CHANGE

heidi08 Beavers and climate change July 28, 2021

The question is really getting to be, how long can you wait for another Emily Fairfax beaver update? Obviously the answer is “hardly any time at all.” And that’s good, because it’s summer vacation and we might as well keep her busy on the airways. This dropped last night.

Beavers aid in climate battle, local experts fight to protect species in California

Wild beavers play a critical role in the fight against climate change by creating wetlands that combat drought and wildfire.

Lovely! Hmm… the narrator has me a little puzzled…”Wild beavers? Do you mean “Beavers in the wild”? That epithet sounds a little like a spring break movie. Also. just to clarify, beavers do get trapped in Oregon and Washington but never mind. Oh and nobody knows how many beavers in California are depredated because no one counts. We can only count how many PERMITS are issued. Which was more than 2500 last year. Hold onto the narrative as long as you possibly can because someone eventually is going to bungle it up and blame you anyway. That’s my motto.

Anyway it’s nice to see a reminder that beavers matter to climate change and stream temperature. We need lots more of these reports every day. Thanks Emily!

Rusty Cohn, Napa beavers Mother and child

Rusty shared this photo this week and I loved it at once. Aside from being the sweetest dam moment I’ve seen on film. it also looks EXACTLY like our beavers. Sometimes beaver coloring and shading looks so different, but these are clearly kindred to our own. Enjoy!

ILLINOIS MARCHES FOR BEAVERS

heidi08 Who's saving beavers now? July 27, 2021

Mystery surrounds the deaths of 3 beavers on Northwestern University campus

When the beavers were found dead recently, their bodies were too decomposed for veterinarians to test for a cause of death, Northwestern University spokesman Jon Yates said in an emailed statement.
It’s unclear if there were any surviving beavers. They reportedly began living on campus in 2018. “We plan to work with the county in the future should this unfortunate situation occur again,” Yates said.

The beavers had likely migrated from the Chicago River and settled around the Lakefill on campus, according to Frisbie. She said beavers are making a comeback in the Chicago area.

“There’s some real enthusiasm about beavers. Beavers can have real impact on their environments, particularly in rivers,” she said.

Beavers can help shore up water levels in drought-prone areas out west. And wetlands created by beavers can help fight wildfires. In the Midwest, beavers can be most helpful by creating wetlands to combat flooding.

“They’re extraordinary. And there’s good reason to leave beavers alone,” she said.

But despite their importance in the ecosystem, beavers are considered a nuisance by some because they chew on trees and dam up running water, Frisbie said.

In nearby Glenview, one of the community’s beavers was recently found dead – and some feared it was been killed.

“There was speculation they were poisoned,” Rachel Siegel, a founder of Glenview Beavers Fan Club and the president of the Illinois Beaver Alliance.

The beavers had made enemies with a nearby homeowner association after chewing on the local vegetation, Siegel said. Someone had even made a group on social media calling for the killing of the beavers, she said.

“They are controversial and the homeowner association wished they would go away. But if they had just wrapped their trees, the beavers would be harmless,” Siegel said.

Beavers are an “urban success story” and a key to combating the effects of climate change, Siegel said.

“Pre-settlement, North America was teeming with beavers – with ten times what he have today. Because of that, rivers were different then, a complex river wetland corridor. But we’ve lost 80% or 90% of our wetlands since then,” she said. And then hunters nearly trapped beavers out of existence, followed by farmers who pumped away water from the wetlands, she said.

“And here we are in Illinois, we want everything to be predictable so we don’t tolerate the ecosystem engineers [i.e. beavers]. But with climate change we’re getting more rainwater in shorter and more intense bursts. And our water infrastructure isn’t made for it,” she said.

Although beaver dams create a level of uncertainty in our water infrastructure, they slow the flow of water and lessen the risk of flooding, she said.

“Our river system is designed to remove water from the area as fast as possible, but a slower system (created with the help of beavers) with many channels and wetlands would be healthier,” she said.

Providing spaces for beavers to thrive would go a long way toward restoring that ecosystem, Siegel said. “If humans learned to live with beavers, we’d solve our problems.”

Go Rachel. Illinois is changing because of you.

I’d write lots more but I’m listening to testimony. And you should be too.