COPING WITH CLIMATE CHANGE REQUIRES BEAVERS

There are news outlets and there are NEWS OUTLETS. The Conversation is a very powerful website that is paid for by academic institutions and allows professors to publish under a media commons license which means that any news agency is free to reprint it without any credit or payment. That makes it very very popular. So you can imagine how happy I was to see this yesterday. It has literally spawned headlines from Alamo to St Ives.

Beavers offer lessons about managing water in a changing climate, whether the challenge is drought or floods

As climate change causes extreme storms in some areas and intense drought in others, scientists are finding that beavers’ small-scale natural interventions are valuable. In dry areas, beaver ponds restore moisture to the soil; in wet zones, their dams and ponds can help to slow floodwaters. These ecological services are so useful that land managers are translocating beavers in the U.S. and the United Kingdom to help restore ecosystems and make them more resilient to climate change. (more…)

MAYBE LET THE RODENT DO THE WORK?

Well despite the stupid senator, they are getting smarter about beavers.

West Virginia (kinda) Enlists Beavers To Help Ducks

Natural methods used to improve wetlands.

Despite rugged mountains dominating most of its landscape, West Virginia hosts a small but diverse number of waterfowl during migration and breeding seasons. Keeping the states scarce wetlands intact and healthy is crucial for these ducks.

Ducks Unlimited in 2021 helped the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources fund new restoration projects on a portion of Pleasant Creek Wildlife Management Area. The 3,000-acre complex is in the northern part of West Virginia, about 80 miles south of Pittsburgh. (more…)

THIS IS HOW IT STARTS

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Beaver Behavior January 20, 2022

This is the way it begins. You and some friends form an innocent walking group to be outside and enjoy some fresh air and exercise. You stroll to the creek because it’s interesting and not as many cars and spot what you think is an otter in swimming by. It all snow balls from there, Sandi. You’ve been warned,

Busy beaver captured on camera along Maple Ridge dike

A Maple Ridge resident out for a walk along the dikes got some quick pics of a busy beaver paddling in the water.

Sandi Thiessen, who started a weekly walking group on the site of a local Facebook group called Ridge Meadows 55+ Social, was walking with several members of the group last week when they heard the beaver jump into the water. They were along the stretch of dike that begins along 216 Street and ends at Neaves Road, said Thiessen. (more…)

BEAVERS HELP RIVERS – WHO KNEW?

heidi08 Beaver ecological impact, Beavers and water January 19, 2022

Well, I have to admit I felt a little better after my letter to NPR was heartily approved by both Ben Goldfarb and Rick Lanman. Of course I got no response from NPR itself but I live in hope they get the message. Anyway the day just got better from there because this was the headline that showed up on Phys.org in the afternoon. Apparently beavers are very busy indeed because after they are finished causing global warming in the Artic they will still find time to save all the rivers in Scotland.

Major new study shows role beavers could play in restoring Scotland’s rivers

Beavers could make an important contribution to improving the condition of Scotland’s rivers, including helping to improve water quality and limiting the effects of drought. (more…)

BEAVERS ARE MAD AS HELL, AND WE’RE NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!

heidi08 Beaver ecological impact, Beavers and climate change January 18, 2022

Have you see that new movie on netflix where beavers destroy the earth by hitting it with a comet? You missed it? Trust me it’s coming soon. Apparently the ever-loving world cannot get enough of the beavers causing climate change meme. NPR had to get in on the fun. Of course since they’re very ivy league and intellectual they brought in a top beaver scientist who knew all about how salmon couldn’t get over dams and stuff.

FROM ENGLAND.

Beavers have been moving into the Arctic, accelerating the effects of climate change

NPR’s Sacha Pfeiffer speaks with Helen Wheeler, a wildlife ecologist from Anglia Ruskin University in the U.K., on the impacts beavers are having as they move into the Arctic tundra.

For years now, scientists have been documenting the somewhat mysterious spread of a new species into the Arctic, beavers. They’re sometimes called nature’s engineers for the way they change the shape of streams and rivers and ponds. Those changes can accelerate the effects of climate change, since the warmth of the ponds the beavers create with their dams can thaw the frozen ground below. They may also be affecting the environment in other ways. Helen Wheeler is a wildlife ecologist at Anglia Ruskin University in the U.K. She’s researching the impact of beavers on indigenous communities and local ecosystems in Canada. She joins us from Cambridge, England. Hi and welcome. (more…)