DOORSTEP SAFARIS AND URBAN BEAVERS IN IDAHO

This is a FANTASTIC story from Idaho of all places. I know there have been some major inroads with the work of Jay Wilde but even urban beavers are really starting to get noticed. Let’s all say it together: It’s about DAM time!

A Hidden Family Of Beavers Is Helping Dozens Of Species Thrive In East Boise

Four years after he left the Zoo, Burns has a new passion — helping people find nature and learn how to conserve it.While the scene in front of me is quite pretty, I’m not seeing a beaver.

“Now, is there a beaver in the beaver house?” I ask.

Burns assures me there really is a beaver in there.

“The other night I came out here and the beaver was sitting right there and kind of looked at me and then had this look like, ‘well time to go to work,’ and dove in and off he swam. Or her. I’m not sure which one,” Burns laughs.

In April, Burns co-founded a new nonprofit called Wildlife Conservation Enterprises with Liz Littman, who also worked at Zoo Boise. They take people on “Backyard Safaris” which are sort of super-charged nature walks.

This is a wonderful report and Backyard Safaris are doing FANTASTIC work. I’m writing Steve and Liz right now. Make sure you listen to the entire report. Urban wildlife is about more than education. It’s about community engagement and social cohesion.

I especially love this quote at the end;“And you don’t have to be Jane Goodall to be a wildlife conservationist. You have to know just enough and then pick one piece. You’re not going to save the entire world but we ask people to pick one piece”.

Um I pick beavers. That’s okay, right?

BEAVERS ‘CLEAN UP’ IN FAIRFIELD

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Who's living with beavers now? August 5, 2021

One of the very smart things our friend Virginia Holsworth in Fairfield has done in an effort to protect the beavers in Laurel creek was to sign up the laurel creek beaver community for the creek “Cleanups”. This means they get city recognition, an official sign, improved community , a great opportunity for education, a better sense of ownership in keeping the beavers home clean, and at the end of it all a cleaner creek.

Research says that urban wildlife increases a sense of Community Cohesion, and this is exactly what should happen. Recently her very talented husband Kyle just drew this for the next clean up. Isn’t it perfect?

ANOTHER DAMN BEAVER DAM CAM

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Beaver ecological impact, Beavers and Bears, Beavers and Birds, Beavers and Bobcats, beavers and wolves August 4, 2021

I’ll be completely honest. I don’t love all the footage and studies from Voyageurs about wolves stalking beavers or doing everything they can to eat beaver mcnuggets. But they do some amazing trailcam work. And this is one of the best I’ve seen.

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A Beaver Dam: Fall to Winter

Here it is, the sequel to “A Beaver Dam: Summer to Fall.” It features more footage from a trail camera on a beaver dam at Kabetogama Peninsula in Voyageurs National Park.

The purpose of the camera was to confirm the area was a border for the territories of two wolf packs — the Nashata Pack and the Shoepack Lake Pack. The Nashata Pack is seen most frequently in this video. The pack has a distinctive breeding female who is seen bedding down in front of the camera toward the end of the video. She can also be seen “slipping” on the ice in another clip.

The Voyageurs Wolf Project, focused on understanding the summer ecology of wolves in the park, notes that there was a “very cold stretch last fall for several weeks in October during which all the ponds and lake edges froze,” so “some of the ‘wintry’ scenes in the video are actually from October and November.”

Kabetogama Peninsula is about 115 miles northwest of Duluth.

The interesting part is that with the exception of the wolves and the bobcat we got the exact same images from a beaver dam in downtown Martinez. But you knew that, didn’t you?

THE VALLEY OF THE BEAVER MOON

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers August 3, 2021

Martinez used to have multiple service clubs, the Lions and the Soroptimists, Elk and Moose, but as our population grew and our sense of civic duty receded it devolved into only two. Kiwanis and Rotary. In our Rotary club you will find our city leaders, the business execs and the principals and the least patient people in the town – and in Kiwanis are all the nice people. It’s a simple rule of thumb, but it probably still holds true for our very odd town. At least it was true when I was talking to both about the beavers. And since we have received multiple grants from Kiwanis and I received nothing but thorns from the rotary club, I’m guessing it’s still true today.

It’s not true in every city. I’ve given lovely and well received beaver talks in Pinole Rotary and Pleasant Hill Rotary and even Lafayette Rotary. So I’m not Rotar-adverse.

Which we must remember this month as I venture into Sonoma – what Jack London lovingly made famous as the Valley Of the Moon. But which I will now officially dub “the Valley of the Beaver Moon”.

So apparently I will talk the 19th during their chapter meeting and breakfast. Apparently a member attended the Oakmont Symposium in February and thought it was just what they needed to hear. Okay. The heart-winning story of saving beavers in a cooky refinery town, learning about why they matter, educating Sonoma about their own beavers. I can do that. It;’s been such a weird two years that I can barely remember what it’s like to give a presentation, but sure. I was invited to come for breakfast or Zoom it. And honestly, I’m fine zooming and not ready to surround myself with humans, even for beavers.

So get ready Sonoma to be soon bestowed with beaver knowledge.

CHESAPEAKE ECOSYSTEM BEAVER

heidi08 Beaver ecological impact, Beavers August 2, 2021

It seems to me, that if you were the National Park service putting out a glossy brochure for the many ecosystems in the Chesapeake with such a stunning painting of how they all work together, you’d actually mention the name of the artist behind such a piece of work. Wouldn’t you? But I have been up one side of the internet and down the other looking for the credit and I am finding zippo.

It’s pretty though. don’t you think?

Astute reader alert! The artist is Greg Harlin of Wood Rosaville Harlin, Inc. Thanks Christine!