BEAVERS ARE GOOD EATING, BLESS THEIR HEARTS

You have to love Alaska. Everyone rushing to say nice things about beavers and they’re like frowning and being your southern great aunt Bessie saying “Bless their little hearts”. We know what they really mean don’t we? The headline really gives it away doesn’t it?

They can be destructive, but beavers and their habitat play a key role in a prosperous natural world

Everyone is familiar with beavers. Some recognize them as industrious dam builders, others see them as nuisances that block culverts and cut down valuable trees. No matter how one feels about this large rodent, they must be granted the distinction of being one of our most valuable species of wildlife.

Mountain men explored the West in part by pursuing valuable beaver pelts. The fashionable sheared beaver-top hats passed from the scene with the advent of the felt hat. Beaver soon lost its value as the driving force in the North American fur market. The market for beaver pelts has surged and waned since, but the animal itself has retained significance in folklore and in our modern lives.

“Busy as a beaver” is still a catchphrase. The sight of a massive beaver dam inspires interest and awe. Beaver dams can cause damaging floods in urban areas. However, in the woods they provide valuable habitat for many species of birds and other mammals.

Everyone is familiar with beavers. Some recognize them as industrious dam builders, others see them as nuisances that block culverts and cut down valuable trees. No matter how one feels about this large rodent, they must be granted the distinction of being one of our most valuable species of wildlife.

Mountain men explored the West in part by pursuing valuable beaver pelts. The fashionable sheared beaver-top hats passed from the scene with the advent of the felt hat. Beaver soon lost its value as the driving force in the North American fur market. The market for beaver pelts has surged and waned since, but the animal itself has retained significance in folklore and in our modern lives.

“Busy as a beaver” is still a catchphrase. The sight of a massive beaver dam inspires interest and awe. Beaver dams can cause damaging floods in urban areas. However, in the woods they provide valuable habitat for many species of birds and other mammals.

Ohhhh, In the woods they are useful! Like compasses that destroy things when you[‘re not in the woods. I get it. What about in the city? What about in Martinez? Oh then they;re just little buzz saws of destruction.

Beaver build ponds for several reasons. The overriding purpose for ponds in Alaska is to provide a safe, stable location for a winter abode. A pond must be created that is deep enough to provide adequate water for a house to have entries that will not freeze shut. Also, since beaver must store large caches of food to survive the winter, this food cache must remain in the water, not frozen in ice. Fall food stores will look like a pile of brush in the water anchored next to the conical beaver lodge. The vast portion of the feed pile will be underwater, out of view.

Stateside, where winters are relatively short, food storage for beavers is not quite the ordeal as it is for their Alaska counterparts. In many parts of the state, ponds will be ice-covered from late September through mid-May. Nine months of life under the ice requires a terrific amount of food. Beaver put on fat reserves during the summer months to help prepare for the lean times to come.

The type of feed generally depends on the location. Cottonwood, poplar and willow are the preferred foods. The Denali Highway lodges have a preponderance of willow. Occasionally there will be poplar, should they be available. A few ponds will have some dwarf birch in the feed pile. One pond I used to trap relied entirely on lily pad stems; their house was built completely with lilies and mud.

In many areas, especially in Alaska, trappers benefit winter survival by taking one or two adult animals from the lodge, thus providing more available feed for the remaining animals. Otherwise the entire group may starve during the tough winter months.

Location and habitat determine the size of an overwintering beaver family. While there may be a dozen or so residents in easy climes, the Denali country usually has a half-dozen members. A typical lodge will have a couple breeding adults, young from the previous year, and the two spring kits. Predation may take a beaver or two, but a wintering family usually consists of no less than four individuals.

Some houses are bachelor houses. These are composed of adult males that lost their mate or have not yet mated. These ponds may have three to five beaver overwintering. No matter how the population of a pond is structured results are similar. The beaver pond is an oasis of activity in the outlands.

Ponds are formed in what otherwise may be just a wandering trickle through the willows. Ponds provide for bountiful insect life. Water bugs, striders and, of course, mosquitoes provide excellent food sources for fish and birds. Every fisherman knows the largest grayling reside in beaver ponds. Duck hunters look for teal, widgeon and pintails that feed on small invertebrates and vegetation in the shallows. Otter and mink also come to hunt. Moose feed on pond weeds and the constantly renewing willow growth.

The beaver pond may be the only safe haven in areas hit hard by wildfires. A look from the air may show the only stretch green for many miles is a well-maintained stream choked with beaver dams.

Now that didn’t hurt so very much did it? Suck it up Alaska and say nice things about beavers. You can do it. Take a deep breath and keep going. Everyone else is doing it.

Beaver can also be an important food source. Past generations of Indigenous people found them easy to catch. A large male may weigh 60 pounds or more. Thirty pounds of rich meat, high in calories, is an extremely valuable addition to a winter diet.

Beaver is a dark meat with a distinct flavor not unlike bison or elk. Beaver taken during the winter months are best with the fat removed — at least for the western palate.

The next time you see a beaver damming up a roadside culvert or cutting your favorite poplar at the weekend cabin, stop and think before damning him for his seemingly destructive industry. The animal who is as busy as a beaver is just an overflow from one of our most important resources hidden deeper in the woods.

WOW. just WOW. I sincerely hope that the next wildfire that destroys your rotten town isn’t sustained by crispy vegetation that would have soaked up moisture if it had been next to that beaver pond you destroyed.

Just don’t do us any favors anchorage, okay? We’ll handle this ourselves.

THE WETLAND CREATOR AND THE OTHER CREATOR HAVE A ‘COME TO BEAVERS’ MEETING

heidi08 Beaver ecological impact September 24, 2022

Wel that’s a sure sign that the beaver story is approaching critical mass. It is finally showing up in religious commentary. Yes that’s right, I don’t know if it’s going to make it to every pulpit but this is definitely a start.

Beaver Dams and the Glory of God: Some Farmers and Ranchers Change Their Minds About Beavers

But just before I turn to your questions and just before we go into the weekend, I want to turn to other headline news. And this has to do with beavers building dams. It turns out that ranchers and farmers once thought that the beavers were the enemy, but all of a sudden they’ve discovered the beavers are their friends. And this is a story, by the way, coming in headline form from both sides of the Atlantic. A recent article in The New York Times points out that the warfare between human farmers and ranchers on the one hand and beavers on the other has been furious for a very long time.

At least in more recent years and decades, this has meant that farmers and ranchers, particularly in the American west, have been blowing up the beaver dams with dynamite. And frankly, it has been a battle that is sometimes won by the beavers and sometimes won by the ranchers. But they have cross purposes, or at least they have. The beavers are trying to dam up the water and the ranchers and farmers are trying to let the water flow. So, what has changed? A shortage of water is what has changed. And all of a sudden, it turns out that some of the ranchers and farmers, but particularly ranchers, are discovering that their cattle will now have access to water precisely because the beavers have built dams.

And thus, there are ponds and there are bodies of water that exist precisely because of the industrious engineering of the beavers. And you might put it this way, although The New York Times doesn’t, it is almost as if God intended it that way. I love the way the reporters for The New York Times describe the beavers, “Beavers can be complicated partners. They’re wild, swimming rodents, the size of basset hounds with an obsession for building dams. When conflicts arise, and they probably will, you can’t talk it out.”

All of a sudden they discovered this? They’ve been praying for rain or relief from floods for how many years and this realization just came ALL OF A SUDDEN?

But then we’re told, “Beavers also store lots of water for free, which is increasingly crucial in the parched west. And they don’t just help with drought, their engineering subdues torrential floods from heavy rains or snowmelt by slowing water. It reduces erosion and recharges groundwater. And the wetlands beavers create may have the extra benefit of stashing carbon out of the atmosphere.”

Then we’re told that the rodents, that means the beavers, are actually doing environmental double duty “because they also tackle another crisis unleashed by humans, rampant biodiversity loss. The wetlands are increasingly recognized for creating habitat for myriad species, from salmon to sage grouse.” And the Times then goes on to say, “Beavers, you might say are having a moment.”

As a matter of fact, in the state of California, the secretary of natural resources said recently, “We need to get beavers back to work. Full employment for beavers is a new state policy.” And again, it’s not just that there are animals able to drink and biodiversity that is being enriched by the beavers’ ponds, and that of course is the result of their building of dams, but it is also that the beaver dams and their systems actually help to prevent damage from floods and to retain water so that the flood water is not destructive but actually it turns out to be productive.

The mind reels. The jaw drops.

Now, again, there are complications. The beavers are decidedly single-minded. They will carry their twigs and branches that they have nod from trees right past the ranchers trying to light their dynamite. And there’s also something else and I find this worth noting. It turns out that the beavers apparently don’t know the difference between a fence post and a tree.

Now, I hope that story made you happy. And I think a part of the happiness for us is understanding that what is being portrayed here is just an indication of God’s glory in creation from the first. God made beavers and all creation for His glory. The beavers don’t know it, but we do. And sometimes, it’s just good and spiritually healthy for us to talk about it.

You think this story is about the glory of God and I think it’s about the glory of beavers. but well, okay. However you get there I guess. Just get there.

SHH, MOLLY ALVES IS TALKING

heidi08 Beavers and salmon September 23, 2022

Molly Alves is a Wildlife Biologist for the Tulalip Tribes of Washington, where she has worked for over eight years to protect and restore treaty-reserved subsistence resources. Unfortunately for her other job responsibilities, she dedicates most of her time and passion to salmon recovery via beaver relocation as manager of The Tulalip Beaver Project. Beginning this August, she will build on this work as a Masters student at Utah State University, where she will be studying the global policies and practices surrounding beaver relocation and management.

UNDER COVER BEAVER BELIEVERS

heidi08 Beavers and docks September 22, 2022

The most convincing arguments always come from nonbelievers. The newly converted always understand the minds of the old sinners, so I guess we shouldn’t be surprised that this fine pro-beaver article comes from someone who has spent a life at battle with the animal.

Living with beaver

By Jim Poling Sr.

Thinking about putting the dock away for winter brings painful memories. And, nasty thoughts about Canada’s favourite rodent – Castor canadensis, commonly known as the beaver.

Every fall I tow my dock to a quiet bay away from the lake’s natural ice flow. It stays there until spring, safe from crushing ice movements.

This past spring, as reported earlier, I towed the dock back to its summer place, I noticed it was not floating normally. A closer look revealed two floats were missing. An even closer look revealed the boards holding the floats in place had been chewed away. The chew marks were distinctly beaver.

Beaver had decided that my dock, sitting quiet in a frozen bay, would make a good home. Some renovations were required, which is no problem for these industrious wilderness engineers. It certainly was a problem for me. I had to rip the decking off, rebuild some framing, install new floats and then nail the deck boards into place. I was furious and thinking about revenge and punishment.

Well that sounds like a fairly normal “kill the rodent” article. I’m expecting to be horrified any moment now aren’t you?

My anger cooled when I began reading how others who have suffered property damage from beavers are trying to live with them despite the problems they can cause.

Beaver are being reintroduced in Britain where they were hunted to extinction more than two centuries ago. There is a campaign to ‘build back beaver’ because they repair damaged ecosystems and create more natural and diverse habitats.

Attitudes about beavers also are changing in the United States. Some states believe beavers can be important partners in the fight against the effects of climate change. California has designated $1.5 million a year to restoring beaver populations that it believes will improve climate resiliency and biodiversity. “We need to get beavers back to work,” California’s natural resources secretary said during a webinar this year. “Full employment for beavers.”

Beavers store water – lots of it with their cleverly engineered dams – which is crucial in western states parched by drought. Some ranchers in the American west report that during severe drought their cattle have been kept alive with water from beaver pools.

Also, studies have found that beaver dams increase the amount of dissolved organic carbon in rivers and in trapped sediments. Carbon is an essential element for all forms of life.

Well that certainly took a turn for the better. You’ve got my attention now. Jim. Go on.

Beavers are only one of two mammals who can alter their habitat to suit themselves and protect their interests. The other mammal is us humans. However, humans and beavers have different ideas about how to engineer their environments. Those different ideas often create conflicts that usually do not turn out well for the beaver.

Beavers create conflicts when they damage our stuff. They topple trees that we don’t want toppled and flood areas that we want to remain dry. The human response usually has been to dynamite their dams and kill off their populations.

The conflicts between us and the beavers do not have to be addressed with violence. Paint and fencing will protect trees and other chewables from beaver gnawing.

There also are systems that use pipes to drain beaver ponds, encouraging beavers to move to other areas that might benefit from their engineering.

“We cannot afford to work against them any longer,” two scientists wrote this year in the research journal WIREs Water. “We need to work with them.”

The trend to working with beaver is being seen in various places around the world but is still in its infancy. Beaver colonies are increasing, however, and the world beaver population now is estimated at six to 12 million.

Well the pipes aren’t so much for DRAINING the pond as for COMPROMISING with the beaver. If you can live with this much water, I can too. Deal?

There are no accurate estimates of how many beaver now exist in Canada, where the fur trade trapped them to near extinction by the mid-1800s. All we know is that their numbers are increasing, certainly in Ontario.

I can understand how working with the beaver can be beneficial. Their dams help to sustain important wetlands and create healthy environments for birds, fish and insects. Ontario reports that where beaver numbers have grown, so has biodiversity.

I am willing to forgive and forget and to accept that working with beavers is better than working against them. My change of heart does have one condition – leave my dock alone this winter.

Well Jim I wish beavers could make that promise. You certainly have earned a free pass among them. But things happen, dispersers need shelter in winter or a family loses their lodge. You know how it is. Try attaching the floats with unchewable stuff, and maybe putting wire or other metal fencing under the doc. You can at least improve the odds.

WISCONSIN IS STARTING TO THINK TWICE ABOUT BEAVERS

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Beavers and trout September 21, 2022

Well, maybe thinking once would be an improvement. Yesterday’s outrageous burst of lying was fun, but Ben Goldfarb and I agree we’ve seen worse from the actual news in our day. Just this morning I got an email from Rocklin where they are planning to rip out a beaver dam and the report to CDFW said this:

Types of materials to be removed, displaced, or added: Remove sediment from Beaver Dams Evasive trees Tully’s Evasive Plants Pompous Grass

God I hate that pomous grass. It’s soo full of itself! And the evasive trees are so hard to corner! Always changing the subject and growing in the opposite direction!

Ignorance abounds. Apparently it is a renewable resource. Just look at Wisconsin where they are spending many dollars to restore streams for trout and getting rid of any beaver that horns his way into the conversation. At least things are getting controversial.

Wisconsin wildlife officials say controlling the state’s beaver population is key to healthy trout streams. But some conservation advocates are pushing back.

Wisconsin is home to more than 13,000 miles of trout streams. Every year, the state Department of Natural Resources works on habitat restoration projects to help trout populations thrive, both on public lands and on private property where the state has an easement to allow fishing access.

Wildlife officials say part of this work involves keeping another native species from undoing their efforts: the beaver. But some conservationists are pushing back on the idea that beavers are a threat to trout populations.

David Rowe is head of the DNR’s fisheries team in southwestern Wisconsin. He said beavers are a part of the native wildlife along these waterways, but the work his team does to create the ideal habitat for trout often attracts beavers to the area.

He said the rodents love the shrubby plants like willow and box elder that grow along the streams and the rocks used to stabilize the banks are an ideal foundation.

“It looks very attractive to a beaver to lock his dam in with a hard spot and his dam will persist longer. So the beavers you know that are going up and down these streams are like, ‘Oh, wait a second. This is a great place now to build a dam now,'” Rowe said. “So we do make it more attractive for them.”

“There’s an expectation with the landowner that if a beaver shows up on these places that we fixed up … and now starts flooding out their cornfield, starts flooding out their pasture, starts flooding out their driveway, we have to manage that beaver,” Rowe said. “We don’t want to create a situation where we invite a beaver in and now there’s a giant pond on their property instead of a trout stream.”

He said the DNR mostly does beaver culling on a case-by-case basis, but officials do some surveillance for problems in areas that have seen repeated beaver damage.

He said a beaver building a dam can undo the DNR’s habitat work on a stream, which is paid for through the $10 trout stamps purchased by Wisconsin anglers.

“There’s an expectation with the landowner that if a beaver shows up on these places that we fixed up … and now starts flooding out their cornfield, starts flooding out their pasture, starts flooding out their driveway, we have to manage that beaver,” Rowe said. “We don’t want to create a situation where we invite a beaver in and now there’s a giant pond on their property instead of a trout stream.”

He said a beaver building a dam can undo the DNR’s habitat work on a stream, which is paid for through the $10 trout stamps purchased by Wisconsin anglers.

Hey how many beaver stamps do you have to sell to get a beaver to do the same work? Um, that would be none. The nice thing is that when you read a horrific report like this at LEAST you are getting some push back. That never used to happen.

But as the state sees more frequent heavy rainfalls and resulting flooding due to climate change, some conservationists say the practice of culling beavers is harming trout streams and the surrounding area.

Bob Boucher studies beavers and how they affect hydrology and is the founder of Milwaukee Riverkeeper, an environmental advocacy group focused on the Milwaukee River basin. He said wildlife officials started culling beavers based on faulty science that beaver dams block fish migration and cause harmful warming of waters in trout streams.

“Actually what they do is they stabilize stream temperatures to be cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter,” Boucher said. “When you stabilize the thermal climate stream, you also have more productivity from it because there’s more bugs being grown.”

He said those insects are key to helping trout populations thrive. So while fish may prefer to live in cooler sections of the water, they need the warmer parts for food.

Beyond trout populations, Boucher said beavers’ dams reconnect rivers and streams to their natural floodplain. In the last two decades, Wisconsin has seen a growing number of severe storms with heavy rainfall that led to flash floods, especially in northern and southwestern Wisconsin. Boucher said allowing beavers to make their dams on these waterways would help waterways better manage the influx of water and keep it from rushing through the system.

He said wildlife officials are also killing otters on these waterways because they continue to use lethal traps for beavers. The USDA Wild Services accidentally killed 146 otters last year as part of beaver removal efforts.

“They could go to non-lethal techniques by using flow devices and things like that,” Boucher said. “The (state) Department of Natural Resources is really damaging the wildlife of Wisconsin and I would say the waters of the United States by doing this.”

Rowe said the DNR recognizes the need for more research to better understand the actual impact of beaver dams on local trout populations.

He said the department has a research scientist currently working on this topic. He also said the DNR has worked to improve their habitat restoration process so that they don’t accidentally attract beavers to an area that will later have to be removed. And he said the agency tries to reconnect trout streams to the natural floodplain in every habitat process because it has been shown to help the projects be more successful and long-lasting.

I’m so old that I remember when you’d read an article like this and the benefits of beaver dams wouldn’t even come up. It would just be BLOW THEM UP all the way. Now with Bob Boucher on the case we are really starting to see some changes. Nothing happens over night. But read through the comment section. Attitudes are shirting in the right direction.

Just remember what Gandhi said: