What do you know? While I’ve been cocooned in a bubble of festival details the world has continued to turn and find it’s own truths to say about beavers! Whether it’s the IFLS article that notices that beaver kits are, in fact, the cutest rodents in the world or this fine article from Binngham county Idaho.
CONNELLY: The beaver pond: Nature’s landscape remodeling program
Nature likes to remodel. Hurricanes, floods, fire, and so on can change the environmental landscape quickly and over large areas.
Nature uses another tool to affect change in relatively small areas, the beaver pond. Beavers are a “keystone” species, meaning their wetland-creating activities support many other species. In lakes and rivers with deep water, beavers may use bank burrows and lodges, otherwise beavers build dams to provide ponds as protection against predators and access to food during winter. Beavers normally work at night and are prolific builders, carrying mud and stones with their fore-paws and wood between their teeth.
Cute idea. The beaver pond “Remodeling program” could be reality TV that catches on. I like where this is going.
Beaver ponds can provide nurseries for trout and salmon. They are also beneficial to frog and toad populations, likely because they provide areas for larvae to mature in warmer, well-oxygenated water. A study in Alberta, Canada, showed that beaver ponds supported almost six times more newly metamorphosed wood frogs, 29 times more western toads and 24 times more boreal chorus frogs than on nearby free-flowing streams.
Beaver dams also help songbird populations by stimulating the growth of plant species important to songbirds and generally enhancing habitat. The presence of beaver dams has been shown to be associated with an increased diversity of songbirds.
Beaver ponds help build and restore wetlands which improve downstream flood control, plant and animal biodiversity, water quality, and erosion control. A recent study of beaver pond hydrology reported increased groundwater storage and regional water balance which can certainly be beneficial during drought.
Wow that’s a lot of good things to say about beavers in IDAHO. Have you checked your state laws? Are you sure that’s legal? I couldn’t not be happier with this article.
Many ranchers value beaver ponds because they enhance water and forage for livestock. After restoring beaver, one Idaho rancher reported that his ranch and surrounding public lands experienced an increase in wet meadows, healthy riparian habitat, and floodplains that are more resilient to fire, drought, and erosion. Lew Pence, who worked for the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service, said “I think beavers, in conjunction with proper grazing management, are the most economical way to bring these badly eroded riparian areas back to health”.
Additionally, a recent study concluded that increased vegetation productivity resulting from conservation-oriented grazing or exclosures and high amounts of beaver activity is equivalent to moving conventionally-grazed, low-gradient sites without beaver up at least 850 feet in elevation or increasing annual precipitation by almost 10 inches.
Wow. Jay Inslee you have made such an impression in Idaho that it’s starting to sink in. I am fully impressed. You should be very proud. Get ready for the classic “your mileage may vary” statement to make cover the lawsuits that follow.
Beaver ponds may not always be a good thing and do present some challenges. Ponds can be disruptive; flooding may cause property damage and can wash out railroad tracks and roads. When a beaver dam bursts the resulting flash flood may overwhelm a culvert.
In his book “Journal of a Trapper,” Osborne Russell reported much of his beaver trapping occurred east of the Snake River Plain. That was prime beaver country in the 1830s, and many areas still provide good beaver habitat today. If you want to view beaver ponds, the higher country stretching from Mink Creek to the South Fork of the Snake offers plenty of opportunity.
Okay nothing about solving problems or flow device but STILL. That was the best paragraphs I have read about beavers from Idaho EVER. I think that deserves a celebration. I don’t even know who wrote it. The article is titled “Connelly” but it doesn’t even say anything about the author. I did find this bio however. He’s the real deal.
Jack Connelly has lived in Bingham County for over 40 years. He is an avid outdoorsman and has hiked, camped, hunted, and fished over much of the U.S. as well as parts of Europe and Asia. Connelly worked as a biologist for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game for over 30 years. He now enjoys retirement with his wife Cheryl raising chickens and bird dogs at their home in Blackfoot.
Alright Idaho. You’ve been officially summoned to the beaver table. I can’t wait to see what happens next.
