BEAVER BONUSES BRING BENEFITS – WENATCHEE

heidi08 Beaver ecological impact, Beavers and climate change, Beavers and trout April 16, 2022

There’s just nothing about this article that I don’t like. I guess that means we know its from Washington State.

Sarah Ortiz and Michael Dello Russo: Learning to live with beavers offers bonuses

These mammalian guests, named Scar and Chewy by project staff, may at first appear out of place at a fish hatchery, but the beavers are integral salmon conservation partners. Beavers perform a variety of ecosystem services, including fish habitat restoration and climate change mitigation; but when these animals build dams and forage on private property, conflict arises.

The relocation of Scar and Chewy is part of a collaboration between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Trout Unlimited.

The goal of the Wenatchee Beaver Project is to reduce conflict between beavers and landowners in Chelan and Douglas counties, while helping support the important environmental benefits this unique mammal can generate. This is accomplished through the installation of non-lethal beaver deterrents where needed and the relocation of nuisance beavers from private to public land. These measures can help this important species continue to shape riverine habitat without disturbing local property owners.

Reducing conflict to let beavers work their magic. Oh when when will California learn this?

Although the Wenatchee Beaver Project has had success with relocation, the project team aims for on-site management when possible. Solutions as simple as caging desirable trees or painting tree trunks with gritty paint can deter beavers from chewing. When flooding is an issue, “beaver deceivers” are installed. A beaver deceiver consists of a large pipe put through a beaver dam and caged at both ends. Like a culvert underneath a road, the pipe allows water to flow through, and the cages prevent beavers from plugging the ends. This device will keep the water level in a beaver pond from exceeding a desired depth. If these methods are impossible to apply, then trapping and relocation are used as a last resort.

That sounds like a lot of trouble. Why should we bother?

Beaver dams benefit a multitude of other species, including cold-water-loving trout and salmon. Beaver ponds store cool water in summer, creating habitat for the region’s important native fish species, like endangered steelhead and spring Chinook. This is especially important today with record high summer temperatures and longer periods of low flow conditions predicted to continue across the Pacific Northwest in coming years.

Additionally, beaver ponds store groundwater which fuels riverside vegetation. This vegetation, in turn, shades rivers and streams, further cooling the water for native fish. In many cases the stored groundwater also returns to surface flow in downstream reaches, providing important cool water to chill too-warm summer streams. This means that a healthy beaver population acts to conserve native fish species in the Wenatchee Valley, allowing future generations to witness iconic trout and salmon on this picturesque landscape.

Jaspers explains that beaver “affect our landscape on a big level when it comes to fire and climate resiliency.” Recent research suggests that beavers help to protect people and their property from wildfires. Riverside vegetation fed by beaver ponds acts as a fire break, stopping wildfires from advancing across the landscape. In 2021, 20 times more land was burned by wildfires in Washington and Oregon than in 2020. With increasing rates of wildfire in the region, beavers may be an important defense against fire-induced property damage and destruction.

GO Jaspers GO. Nothing makes me happier than seeing beaver benefits preached at a grand scale. Help fish? Check. Fight fires? Check. Raise groundwater? Check. We got this.

The whole thing would make an awesome Tshirt. What do you think for this year’s festival attire?

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TAHOE TELLS MARIN A THING OR TWO ABOUT BEAVERS

heidi08 Beavers and salmon April 15, 2022

Marin worries get answers from friends of ours.

Beavers, salmon thrive together in Tahoe creek

As co-founder of the Sierra Wildlife Coalition working with officials at the U.S. Forest Service’s Taylor Creek Center in South Lake Tahoe, I believe that Steve Eakle’s letter published April 2 misstated the situation with the beavers here. He is referencing out-of-date information.

Before the coalition got involved in 2014, it is true that staff was pulling out beaver dams almost every day over fears of flooding. Our group installed three flow devices (aka pond levelers) that worked to eliminate flooding, so there has been no need to remove dams since 2014. (more…)

MINNESOTA THINKS MAYBE NOAA FISHERIES MIGHT BE RIGHT

heidi08 Beaver ecological impact, Beavers and trout April 14, 2022

Minnesota is having a little ripple of realization moment. It feels almost like cavemen starting to notice that when they rub two sticks together really fast that yellow light starts burning and they get hotter. Let’s hope they catch up to the way science works in the rest of the states and that this is the start of something great.

Advocates to Minnesota DNR: Don’t Blame the Beavers!

Dams have never been a friend to steelhead. So, dam builders, including beavers, have been implicated in the demise of Great Lakes rainbow fisheries for over a century. But a new study from the University of Minnesota Duluth, focusing on the Knife River, offers evidence that beavers should perhaps not take the rap, especially on smaller streams where river systems emerge. In some cases, they may even deserve some credit for benefiting the trout.

The Knife River, just north of Duluth, on the far western end of Lake Superior, is a storied steelhead fishery. Legends recount spring runs of 10,000 lake rainbows during its heyday in the 1950s and ’60s. Kevin Bovee, 66, a 35-year member of the Lake Superior Steelhead Association, told the Duluth News Tribune, “People used to gather in huge groups to watch the fish go over the first falls. I got in on some of those good old days.” (more…)

NRDC IS INSPIRED BY CAROL EVANS BUT FORGETS HER NAME

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers and Culvert Protection, Beavers and water, Beavers and Wetlands April 13, 2022

Now this is what I’m talking about. I like everything about this article except for the huge sight around mentioning its inspiration.

Restoring Riverscapes and Beavers in the West

Lands managed by Bureau of Land Management (BLM) are often misunderstood, and their conservation values underestimated. However, as the single largest federal public land manager, BLM has a critical role to play in addressing two inter-related crises—biodiversity collapse and climate change. Key to fighting both challenges is the restoration and protection of freshwater resources. And, now, with the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, BLM has access to new funding it can use to invest in natural infrastructure, restoration, and building climate resilience. (more…)

THE CASE OF THE MISSING SALMON TAKES SHAPE

heidi08 Beaver Art, Beavers, Festival April 11, 2022

These arrived this weekend. Prompting me to ask the age old question: How much do you wish you were a child so you could solve this mystery?

As you’ll recall children will receive a TOP SECRET DOSSIER outlining the “Suspect List” and have to go to participating booths to collect all six “alibi cards” so they can solve the mystery.

Which if they solve correctly they will earn one of these generously donated ornamental magnifying glasses which they can make into a necklace if they wish and take with them.