Because the beaver isn't just an animal; it's an ecosystem!

Month: February 2022


Some cheer this morning from Tacoma on the “Beaver Housing Market”. I guess things have really gotten cut-throat in the home buyer market. If all else fails look for beavers!

The market is hot and the water is cold.

Dreaming of that getaway lodge? The Port’s Upper Clear Creek Mitigation Site has everything a giant aquatic rodent could ever need.

A grove of delicious willows? Check. Nonstop flowing water to dam? Check. An endless supply of mud to push around? Check. If you’re a beaver in the market for some new digs, check out these current listings.

Hahaha. Get it? The article practically writes itself. Of course beavers would never buy a house. They just  make their own.

The starter home

First-time builder. Last year’s kit (baby beaver!) is all grown up and has its own hip new pad to show for it.

Hmm I don’t about bragging about a underwater entrance. It’s like a car bragging about having tires, Or an airplane ad boasting about flying off the ground.

They all do.

 

The rambler

Good, solid, family-friendly, as evidenced by a tiny kit swimming by during inspection. Easy access to nearby ongoing dam construction. Current residents are constantly remodeling though

Well they would be. I assume that would actually be a plus to a beaver buyer. Materials and mud constantly on the move. What could attract more interest from a beaver?

The lodge

Don’t let the skunk cabbage discourage you! This lodge was abandoned but can be made shiny and new again with a little elbow grease and some sharp incisors.

Why would that discourage us? We can nibble it away. If we aren’t interested in the laxative properties we can always spit it out after we chew it down.

The fixer-upper

 

Stockpiled construction materials. Can also double as a food source. A real fixer-upper project for the ultimate (hungry) DIY-er.

Are you kidding? Everything beavers DO is a fixer upper! Fixing and refinishing are what beavers like best? If it can’t be changed it’s not worth building, amIrite?

The palatial estate

Beaver palatial estate

Private entrance (accessible by water only) and possible split level (the lodge is almost 6 feet tall – above the water!). Showing is by appointment only. Current residents are rather territorial. Previous encounters have included disgruntled tail slaps.

Well now that’s worth getting excited about. There are so many members of our city council in the real estate market I think they need to see this article. Heh heh.

Home Sweet Home.


Some days this is the very best you can hope for.

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Wednesday’s have always had a special place in my heart ever since Nov 7, 2007 when I tremulously attended the very first city council meeting on beavers I believe Martinez has ever held. It definitely changed the fate of this city and it certainly changed my life. It may have been the first meeting about beavers but it apparently will not be the last. Tonight the city moves to approve the plan for the Lower Alhambra Creek Watershed Management, which discusses guess WHAT?


(more…)


Felicia!

Back in March I read about these smart scientists at Stanford working to understand groundwater recharge. I commented then how they neglected to mention beavers and wrote several of them privately about the upcoming beaver conference. One of them even enrolled.

I was told by beaver buddy Ann Riley that Felicia Marcus was an old friend and someone good to have on our side. Now I see why.

Confronting Drought With the Tools of Nature

There are successful models for leveraging natural systems to improve water quality and supplies, enhance biodiversity and blunt the ravages of wildfires. There’s even something we can learn from beavers.

The ongoing drought in the West has dramatically impacted the health, well-being and livelihoods of millions of the region’s residents, from farmers in Colorado struggling to sustain their crops to Californians who have lost their homes to wildfire. The new federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act provides substantial funding, including $8.3 billion for water-related programs in the West, to begin to mitigate and adapt to our drying climate. But achieving the scale of impact needed requires a willingness to prioritize investments in nature-based solutions that protect, restore and sustainably manage existing water systems. (more…)


FINALLY! When this report caught my eye I nearly wept with joy! My very heart leaped like a young salmon over a beaver dam! Thank the Gods for Ben Goldfarb. Thank everyone who made this happen. I am soo soo sick of negative news about beaver gangs raving the arctic I could  just about burst.

Beavers Move Into the Arctic

The Arctic is warming roughly twice as fast as much of the globe and some species are already moving toward the poles in search of new habitat. And as beavers move north into the Arctic these big rodents known as “ecosystem engineers” are bringing big changes to the landscape. Ben Goldfarb is the author of Eager: the Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter and joins Living on Earth’s Jenni Doering to discuss the concerns and benefits of beavers in the Arctic.

 

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