STILL LAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS

heidi08 Beavers May 11, 2024

I’m so old I remember the first time I posted about the beaver problems in Milford. And the last. Funny how they don’t seem to be getting any smarter or more accurate.

Milford’s Complicated Beaver Dam Removal Plan Moves Ahead

MILFORD, MA — A group of large and industrious semiaquatic rodents have touched off a complicated legal and environmental project in Milford.

A group of beavers recently constructed a large dam across a culvert that passes under Alder Street in Medway just west of I-495. The dam caused Stall Brook to overflow, flooding Maple Street in Milford, which is about a 1/2-mile from the dam as the crow flies.

Milford Town Engineer Elizabeth Mainini went to the Select Board Monday seeking permission to approach the Medway Conservation Commission about removing the dam. Medway is requiring Milford to take responsibility for any damage to either Alder Street or the culvert while performing the work. Milford previously received an emergency beaver/muskrat removal permit from its neighbor to the east.

Yes those darn beavers making homes for themselves in your culverts. Boy I bet if you installed protection for your culverts in 2011 when I first reported about this you’d be fine and safe now. Too bad.

Although small — typically about 3 feet long, and can weight up to 65 pounds — compared to the size of municipal government, beavers routinely cause headaches in communities across the state. In 2021, a beaver dam broke near Warren, flooding the entire downtown.

Yes beavers are smaller than city planners. Good point. They are also distinguished from engineers by their work ethic.

They have one.

Massachusetts has strict beaver laws (yes, that’s what they’re called) that spell out how and when beavers can be captured, and where they can be moved to. Local boards of health are the only entities authorized to issue emergency removal permits outside the annual trapping season between November and April

Trapping and removal is often the best solution for a beaver problem, according to state wildlife experts. Destroying a dam can trigger beavers to simply rebuild, and they can do it in a few hours.

Um. You do understand that when they say REMOVAL they mean killing right? Beaver relocation is illegal in Massachusetts.

Those beavers were “removed” in exactly the same way as Cricket went to live on a farm

According to Mainini, the town has already captured and removed the beavers, leaving their empty dam in place. The structure, which is about as high as the roadway, can still cause flooding in its vacant state, she said.

She sounds so knowledgeable doesn’t the? Even without beavers living IN the dam it can still cause flooding. I bet your concerns are as valid as your information about where beavers live. No wonder you got permission to kill some already.

The town will also have to hire an environmental consultant to oversee the dam deconstruction. If removed too fast, pooled water behind the dam could cause more flooding, Mainini said.

“If you remove too much too quickly, that can absolutely cause a great deal of damage,” she told the select board.

Here’s the thing. Are we really talking about a culvert here? I have never read about blockage removal in a culvert causing a washout. But I suppose in theory its possible. I think you are just making things up and the reporter is copying them down because why confuse the issue with ACTUAL INFORMATION.

LOVE YOUR TERRA MATER

heidi08 Beavers May 10, 2024

Wow this new film from Terra Mater is almost perfect. I was pleased to see our famous photo featured but stunned to hear my own language clarifying that beavers don’t live in the dam, the dam is where they WORK.

I’m sure I’m not the only human to come up with that particular phrase but you would be startled to learn how RARE it is to hear.

I can’t find single thing to disagree with except for the sentence at the end that says now we know better and reintroduce beavers by horseback. Actually horses are notoriously spooked by beavers. That’s why the parachutes were used in the first place.

Enjoy:

A YEAR AT A BEAVER POND

heidi08 Beavers May 9, 2024

A Year at a Beaver Pond Observations from One Little Dynamic Ecosystem

If you, like me, spent any time at all (or rather a lot of time over a decade) agog staring at the magical transformations of a beaver pond this is the book for you.

Al Cornell is a retired Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Technician who spent said year photographing behind a blind at the beaver pond near his home and documenting the many species that relied on its waters. A stunning look at the trickle-down economy that a beaver sustains.

Here he is describing the book in a talk at the local Kickapoo Valley Nature Reserve, The incredible photographs will dazzle you, the intelligent writing will susstain you and the smart questions from the audience at the end will soothe your soul.

Al kindly donated a copy to the silent auction but if you aren’t lucky enough to cast the winning bid you can pick up your copy on Amazon.

I am still pouring through the pages transfixed,

FORMER TRAPPER SEES THE LIGHT

heidi08 Beavers May 8, 2024

The journey that someone takes from the starting position of “KILL BEAVERS” to “PROTECT BEAVERS” is one of my very favorite “Rags-to-Riches story“. When ever I hear it I get misty eyed. Don’t you?

How one Colorado mountain man became a beaver believer

The body grip trap was invented in the 20th century, and for decades, trappers used devices like these to catch and kill beavers. But in 1996, Colorado outlawed lethal and harmful traps.

Beavers and humans have a history of not getting along well, and that’s partly because of our similarities. Like humans, beavers terraform the landscape to create an ideal habitat for their preferred way of life. But unlike humans, these mammals have evolved to live around water.

Well if folks insist on finding trappers interesting and doing romantic stories about them I prefer THIS kind of story. The newly converted and reformed.

“They’re just fascinating animals,” says Dan. “When they hear water running, they can’t help themselves. They’ve got to do everything they can to stop (the water) or slow it down.”

Beavers cut down trees with sharp front teeth, dragging trunks, branches, and sticks into place to dams waterways. Once they have a pond in place, they build an island of sticks, lumber, and mud that protrudes above the surface with a hollowed-out interior only accessible through tunnels that run beneath the water line. By slowing down creeks and streams, beavers allow water to seep into the ground, nourishing habitat for other animals and replenishing the water table.

It’s this unique biology that puts beavers at odds with human beings. Left to their own devices, beavers will plug up culverts, flood roads, and destroy irrigation systems.

Yeah it’s pretty amazing. Every now and then I get a moment of true awe at how enormously cool beavers are to do this.

As a young trapper, Dan learned the secret lives of beavers: how and where to find the animals, how to outwit them, and even how to track them in the middle of winter below frozen lakes and streams by tracing the air bubbles that beavers leave behind when they swim under the ice.

“You can scrape the snow off the ice and see these paths of bubbles, so you know that’s where that beaver is swimming,” he said.

Okay that’s slightly interesting but I’m more interested in your conversion story. Did you have a road to Damascus moment?

Now, Dan Zadra uses all of this trapping know-how to save beavers rather than kill them. When local ranchers have problems with a beaver disrupting an irrigation system, they call Dan.

“People aren’t near as quick to kill them or get rid of them as they used to,” said Zadra.

This is starting to get good. Why do they call you, Dan, What do you do to help?

Eventually, humans (or at least some humans) realized that beavers are virtuous. The presence of beavers means more water in the ground and better habitat for other animals.

“These animals provide all kinds of crucial ecological benefits and services, from drought mitigation to flood control to carbon sequestration, to the creation of habitat for endangered species,” said Goldfarb. “We’re starting to recognize that these are animals we want back on the landscape.”

Dan Zadra: Beaver Believ

Well it’s about bloody time, Dan. Welcome to the home team.

It may seem unlikely that a man who spent a good part of his childhood trapping and killing beavers would have genuine affection for them. But just an afternoon with Dan Zadra reveals his compassionate side. When he’s relocating a beaver, he lines the transport container with material to make sure the animals are comfortable.

“I don’t want them walking on hard stuff,” he said. “So I put….a bunch of vegetation, wet grass, and willows in there because they’re soft-footed.”

Well that’s nice. I’d sure like you to spend a little time with the good folks at the beaver institute because it would be great for you to learn to install a flow device.

“I was ahead of the game. I was a big beaver fan before it became a thing,” he said.

Dan Zadra learned how to trap and kill from the last of the Colorado mountain men. Now he’s a beaver conservationist, which is good for the wildlands of Colorado. Especially for the beaver.

“I think I always appreciated them,” he said. “But now I think I appreciate them living more than dead. They not a dollar sign to me anymore, or something that I feel I need to conquer.”

Good for you Dan. Just remember you are in good company. 110 years ago Enos Mills wrote this about beavers:

A live beaver is more valuable to mankind than a dead one. These remaining beaver may be exterminated; but if protected they would multiply and colonize stream-sources. Here they would practise conservation. Their presence would reduce river and harbor appropriations and make rivers more manageable, useful, and attractive. It would pay us to keep beaver colonies in the heights. Beaver would help keep America beautiful.

Enos Mills “In Beaver World” 2013

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

PRECIOUS BEAVERS PRECIOUS FROG?

heidi08 Beavers May 7, 2024

Isn’t that funny? It turns out that in addition to fighting fires and reducing flooding and raising the water table, beavers also provide essential habitat for the endangered Oregon spotted frog.

Trout, Beavers, Drought and a ‘Precious’ Frog

An adult Oregon spotted frog basking in the sun in wetland habitat in the Klamath Basin of Oregon.

Historically, the range of the Oregon spotted frog overlapped with that of the North American beaver. Beaver numbers in the Pacific Northwest declined dramatically due to the fur trade in the late 1700s and early 1800’s, as did the ecosystem services they provide. Beaver dams and associated ponds retain water in landscapes that otherwise would not hold it. Warmer water along pond edges promotes development of frog eggs and tadpoles and provides adult frogs with feeding and basking areas. Radio telemetry studies suggest Oregon spotted frogs use other beaver-created features like channels and dams as shelter during the winter. Mimicking these features, or enhancing remnant channels and dams, are possible solutions for improving water retention, increasing shelter opportunities and providing additional habitat.

Isn’t that weird. Its honestly like we are making things up that beavers save. Like we’re just pulling crazy threatened species from out of a hat and saying BEAVERS can help that!

But it’s real. So real that USGS is hoping that acting like beavers will bring them back.

The Oregon spotted frog’s scientific name is Rana pretiosa, which translates to “precious frog” in Latin. Precious things are often rare, which is the case with the Oregon spotted frog across parts of its range. It was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 2014. Although several threats are responsible for the Oregon spotted frog’s decline, loss of the wetland habitat it needs to survive is at the top of the list. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s national report on wetlands status and trends reveals nationwide losses. In the Klamath Basin of Oregon and California, it’s estimated that 50-90% of the Oregon spotted frog’s wetland habitat has been lost due to habitat modification and prolonged drought.

Thirteen years of annual sampling revealed that survival of adult Oregon spotted frogs was almost 20% higher at reaches with excavated remnant beaver ponds compared to reference sites. Satellite images revealed that vegetation at restored sites stayed green later into the summer- an indicator of improved water retention. One promising clue that restoration of this type can work was the fact that breeding was concentrated in two excavated beaver ponds relative to other site

That’s so weird. It’s almost like saying these annoying beavers really matter. We can hardly believe it so we have to keep researching it over and over.

But we keep getting the same results. Go Figure.