I listened last night to an interview with WP weather editor Kasha Patel who talked about the impact of these moonsoony rains on California. Really listened. And I heard her say something that made a lot of sense. Namely that the strange pattern of long dry spells and flash rain has changed our soil. Really changed the way it works. Made it harder and less likely to absorb water. Made it more like places of flash floods and cracked soil. And then I remembered this:
In 1950,governmentagentsproposedtogetridofprairiedogsonsomepartsoftheNavajoReservationinordertoprotecttherootsofsparsedesertgrassesandtherebymaintainsomemarginalgrazingforsheep.
In California there is now no one left to cry for the rain.
Our many years of drought has made our soil impervious to water. The ground is hard and cracked with heat, Jon says on his walk in the hills the mud is barely sticking to his shoes. Even now with everything that is pouring from the sky. The very earth beneath us has changed. Nothing from the sky comes all year to to make our soil receptive and remind it why to hold onto the water that falls.
Only it’s not just climate change that’s to blame. And not our faltering snow pack. We killed the prairie dogs, and we just as righteously exterminated and continue to kill off the handiwork of their fellow keystone species who could help:
Take a picture of this day and mark it on your calendar: Utah has just realized that even when beavers are relocated at incredible cost and effort NEW beavers can still move in! This must come as a huge shock for some.
ST. GEORGE — Last year, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources relocated several beavers from the popular recreation area known as Grandpa’s Pond to remote places of Utah for wetlands restoration projects.
St. George News made a recent trip to the public park, known for a level half-mile trail that loops a pond filled with birds of multiple species, located five miles southwest of Hurricane. At least two new trees are gone, the stumps showing large teeth marks and several more trees are wrapped in chicken wire fencing after being damaged. It seems the beavers didn’t want to leave.
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Wildlife Program Manager Teresa Griffin confirmed state officials are working with Hurricane City Parks and Recreation staff on a solution for the current problem of beavers at Grandpa’s Pond. Beavers are often trapped and relocated by wildlife officials in Utah. When this happens, the animals receive a small antenna implant for tracking purposes, if they are large enough, Griffin said.
Did I know this? I didn’t know they got transmitter but I suppose it makes sense. I’ve never been wildly comfortable with anything about the beaver relocation program in Utah.
“None of these beavers are ones we have trapped in the past,” she said said of the beavers at Grandpa’s Pond. “We moved most of the beavers up near Bryce Canyon to a remote area near the Sevier River, or another site where they were horse-packed into the Pine Valley wilderness to help repair the damaged watershed after a fire that occurred about four years ago.”
Ohh you mean you got NEW ones even after all that work? It’s almost like all that trouble wasn’t worth it. I mean compared to wrapping trees and installing a flow device which would have allowed the old beavers to stay and keep away those NEW ones.
“Grandpa’s Pond has some complicated issues since it frequently has people and dogs nearby,” she said. “So if we did set a live trap in the area, it would be somewhat dangerous because of the spring-loaded nature of the live traps.”
Yeah we wouldn’t to catch a child or a dog. That might interfere with our whole funding stream.
Thomas Biebighauser, a wildlife biologist and wetland ecologist for Wetland Restoration and Training, completed more than 6,000 wetland restoration projects in many states, including Utah, during his career spanning four decades. From his home in Kentucky, he said that while beavers present problems for many landowners, they are also great for the surrounding habitat.
Many times he was watched as owners buy a secluded property with a stream, then spend both time and money lining the stream with expensive trees. The beavers love this, the property owners are usually “not so happy with the end result.”
“But if you love to fish, beaver ponds are great places for trout to reproduce,” Biebighauser said. “If you love to watch birds, you will see ducks, geese, herons, and many new species you have probably never seen. These ponds also reduce the chances of severe flooding and they restore groundwater by recharging the aquifer. I know many ranchers who have grown to love them once they realize the benefits.”
Thomas! I’m liking you! Let’s have less ‘musical beavers‘ and more letting people like you talk to the crowds. I think it’s a better investment.
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Griffin said property owners can wrap a tree’s base in chicken wire to stop beavers from chomping on them, but if problems persist they can apply for a removal permit. In rare cases, a lethal permit may be issued.
“With the proximity of the Virgin River, it may be an on-going problem,” she said. “It seems wildlife really enjoy the nice parks we intend for humans.”
Both Griffin and Biebighauser said those hoping to see a beaver at Grandpa’s Pond would have the best opportunity at sundown, and walk quietly. Those who get spooked by a loud sound may have lost their chance.
“It will sound like a gunshot — it will be loud,” Biebighauser said. “That is the sound of a beaver’s tail slapping the water to warn others of danger.”
Yes. Exactly like a gun shot. Except nothing dies. Instead things spring to life and reproduce on an unbelievable scale. It’s funny how that happens.
Sometimes the universe feels badly about all the many depressing stories it spreads over the year and just reaches into its pocket like Santa and gives us a present. 12 people emailed to make sure I saw this yesterday and you can bet I smiled every time. As I’m sure you will now.
Kyiv is bracing for the possibility of Russia opening a new front via the border with Belarus. But the area is tough to penetrate due to its swampy conditions, Reuters reported.
This is in part because of beavers building dams, with nobody stopping them due to the war.
This morning its front page news in the Telegraph:
Local beavers are helping Ukraine defend itself from a potential new front in Russia’s invasion, Reuters reported on Thursday.
The animals are unwittingly helping Kyiv by building dams that keep the ground marshy and impassable, a military spokesman told the agency.
This helps Ukraine by making it less likely that an attack could come via Belarus, which borders Ukraine not far north of the capital Kyiv.
Ukrainian officials had warned that Russia may wage an offensive through its ally Belarus into a region of Ukraine called Volyn.
Defense forces there, however, have been reassured by conditions on the ground, left impassable by miles of burst river banks, thick mud, and waterlogged fields.
Just you wait. Some day even our cursed skills will be appreciated!
The swampy conditions have given Ukrainians an advantage, and time to prepare: a local military unit called the Volyn territorial defense has been conducting daily training exercises in the area, according to Reuters.
Its spokesman, Serhiy Khominskyi, praised the beavers, which he told Reuters were more working unimpeded, unlike in other years.
“When [the beavers] build their dams normally people destroy them, but they didn’t this year because of the war, so now there is water everywhere,” he said.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand Scene!
Hows that for the vest beaver news ever? Wow the Ukrainians are really brilliant at sharing credit, I guess it’s the mark of a good leader. Make everyone feel personally invested in their victory. They sure have got it down.
Viktor Rokun, one of the brigade’s deputy commanders, told Reuters: “On your own land, everything will help you to defend it — the landscape, lots of rivers, which have burst their banks this year.”
Beavers are known to be remarkable builders, using tree branches, vegetation, rocks, and mud to create dams that protect them from predators.
The unusually mild winter has created ideal conditions for Ukrainians to defend their country.
Analyst Konrad Muzyka, who runs the defense consultancy Rochan Consulting, told Reuters that Volyn would be a “horrible place to conduct an offensive operation.”
Things are moving in the right direction for beaver festival 2o23. June 24th. Mark those calendars. This week I had conversations with Amelia Hunter our talented artist who is going to paint the cover again. And with FRo Schmidt the lionhearted artist who is going to watercolor with children again. And with Laurie Rindell who has agreed to do our bid sheets for the silent auction assuming I get anything donated to it, The bookmarks are beautiful and the stamps are on their way so now its just down to tweaking things into place and starting the invitations.
For an art project this year we are going to invite children to paint their vision of the inside of the beaver lodge and give them each a big paper with a dome drawn into it. Doesn’t that sound fun? Kids are going to create such delightful things!
The grant application submitted and I have declared our intention to the city. That’s something like a good start right? Every year I am stunned to think how many little details I manage to see to the previous year and think I could never do it all again, but we’ll see what happens. It will certainly be the biggest beaver festival ever dedicated to their climate changing super powers.
Despite all the good news about beavers they still aren’t winning any popularity contests any time soon. Today is a mixed bag of beaver news. A county in Iowa is launch a bounty to get rid of beavers. A beaver believer in Utah has a beaver he wants removed in the winter and may need to trap it offered with a photo of you know what. And all of this comes with a new look at the 15 year old beaver story in Martinez from a lost interview with sub-committee member Julian Frazer suddenly turning up in my feed. I guess you should never say you’ve seen it all.
I would embed the charming bounty video for you to watch but I can’t figure it out. I’m sure you get the idea and if you want to see more click on the headline,
“Beavers can place a lot of stress on many areas of our infrastructure, with dams preventing water to flow to designated areas,” Board of Supervisors Chairman Brian Shea said in a statement. “Pottawattamie County is responsible for maintaining many roadways and drainage ditches in our area, and some of these dams can end up causing a lot of damage, costing our county a considerable amount of money to repair. We hope this program helps in minimizing the possibility of that happening.”
I hardly know what to say. I guess Iowa doesn’t need clean water for farms or fields and I guess Iowa doesn’t need fish or birds or otters or ducks. I wonder how they’ll feel when all the dead beavers increases the forage for the next crop and they end up with a population rebound?
Let’s move onto Utah where this short report from a self described beaver believer is featured with a fine photo of a nutria. Because why the hell not?
I won’t post the photo of the nutria because it will just show up as another photo of a beaver one day. You can trust me or follow the link your self. I’m glad they said they wouldn’t relocate the beaver in winter, but I’m dreading what’s going to happen next.
I’m now waiting to hear from my neighbor for the rest of the story. May it be favorable for this remarkable aquatic mammal, so essential for creating healthy watersheds, which equals abundant, high quality water!
Nice interview with Julian, the part about the beavers starts around the 6 minute mark. i can’t believe I never saw this before, but it starts with a mention of this website!
The amused officials assured the Navajo that there was no correlation between rain and prairie dogs and carried out their plan. The outcome was surprising only to the federal officials. The desert near Chilchinbito, Arizona, became a virtual wasteland. Without the ground‐turning process of the burrowing animals, the soil became solidly packed, unable to accept rain. Hard pan. The result: fierce runoff whenever it rained. What little vegetation remained was carried away by flash floods and a legacy of
