Before she was the featured speaker at the beaver Institute, before she co-chaired the Colorado beaver summit and worked for years as a watershed consultant for the parks departent, before starting her own successful ecological business, Jackie Corday was the graduate student of one Dr Ellen Wohl who coached her in every way and chaired her dissertation.
She’s the real deal ladies and gentlemen, listen up.
Lake George is in the Adirondacks of New York, about 150 miles below Montreal. Turns out it’s also a great place to celebrate beavers.
The hike was one in a series of themed Discovery Hikes presented by the Lake George Land Conservancy and Up Yonda Environmental Education Center.
The air was cool this early autumn morning, hints of fall color just beginning to show in the trees, as a dozen hikers gathered at the preserve’s main parking lot where Laundry introduced the hike’s subject. While evidence of beaver activity surrounds the ponds of Amy’s Park, he couldn’t promise the group would see a live beaver, but he pulled a mounted beaver from his vehicle to point out the characteristics of the large rodent (they can grow to 50 or 60 pounds, says Landry, “about the size of a medium dog”) that make it well suited for its environment. The color of its fur provides perfect camouflage, the webbed feet facilitate movement through water, and its fingers can grasp the sticks they use to build their structures.
A beaver hike is a great motivator! Whether you are going to see one or not. I mean people pay good money for bus tours that go past the homes of the stars and lord knows its not like they see anyone on the streets but the cleaning woman.
The group hiked the Yellow Trail, an easy-rated trail (the young children in the group easily galloped ahead) that loops past the lower pond in Amy’s Park and over Indian Brook. Along the way, Laundry pointed out signs of beaver activity and used a model of a beaver’s jaw, pulled from his backpack, to demonstrate how a beaver drops a tree.
At the pond, the group stopped to examine a beaver dam that slows the rush of Indian Brook. This beaver-built structure creates ponds and marshes above Lake George, which is why naturalists call beavers “ecosystem engineers.” These wetlands are vital to the lake’s health, slowing and capturing sediment that washes down the mountainside, helping to keep the waters of Lake George clear.
Using several sets of binoculars, also pulled from Landry’s pack, the hikers scanned the water looking for beaver movement through the pond. Although they spotted no beavers that morning, Landry said the beavers are busy this time of year gathering saplings, much in the way squirrels gather nuts, and burying them underwater in the mud surrounding their lodge. This is their winter food supply; the tender bark and leaves will sustain them as they spend the winter in the lodge.
The thing I miss most about the old beaver festivals in the scrubby park was being able to provide tours of the habitat of actual beavers. Jon had so much fun being the naturalist on the trail and talking beavers to appreciative folks. Seeing is important.
There is nothing better than being in nature to learn about nature. And if it has a special focus on beavers! Well that’s so much the better. Just remember what Enos Mills said in his closing words In beaver world.
“No boy or girl can become intimately acquainted with the ways and works of these primitive folk without having the eyes of observation opened, and acquiring a permanent interest in the wide world in which we live.”
This is a slightly less blame-filled report of beavers in the arctic. I like “Passengers” a little better than “Drivers”.
Sometimes it feels like things haven’t changed at all for beavers. I mean two probably unnatural beaver deaths were just found in St Helena last night for heavens sake, But sometimes it feels like we’re in a whole new world.
BULLITT COUNTY, Ky. — Bernheim Forest is working to create healthier waterways and habitats in the commonwealth.
The forest is teaming up with Louisville Metro’s sewage department and an engineering firm to help foster wildlife habitats.
Engineers with Gresham Smith civil engineering firm, like Kenneth Stewart, are taking their skills out into the wild.
“We design everything water and wastewater related,” Stewart said. “We design water and wastewater plants; we design the piping that goes from the plants to the houses and the subdivisions.”
Stewart and some of his colleagues are taking engineering inspiration from beavers. They are working to build structures similar to a beaver dam with the hopes of strengthening the beavers’ habitat.
Evan Patrick, natural areas manager, is overseeing the Beaver Dam Analog Project and guiding volunteers. He said Bernheim Research Forest advocates for animals who were persecuted, such as beavers.
“These are species that play really important ecological roles,” Patrick said. “They fill ecological niches, and they provide ecological services. And when these species are either hunted or trapped, out of these areas, those roles go unplayed and it can create these ripple effects that negatively impact habitats and ecologies.”
Let me just remind readers that Louisville KY is where the beaver animating youth Ian was from who worked so hard to save the beavers out his way and won six scholastic medals for his animating prowess.
Patrick said beavers build dams to stop moving water, which can benefit water quality by filtering out fertilizers and pesticides. The dams also create healthy habitats for many animals, including frogs, turtles and river otters.
Keeping water quality high is important, Patrick added, because Bernheim protects more than 90 miles of streams and is the headwaters of more than a dozen streams outside the area.
“If that rain falls coming down in Bernheim, if those headwaters are in Bernheim, flowing out of our forest and into communities, that impacts not just the wildlife and the folks that work and live here around Bernheim but the communities that live hundreds or even thousands of miles downstream from our forest,” he said.
Bernheim is home to more than 16,000 acres of land. The research forest works to educate people about nature and conservation.
It’s a new world baby. A new world. And we were here to see it dawn.
Hey, do you happen to remember those beaver singers at the festival this year? We’ll they’re taking their show on the road next month.
The Acorn MusEcology Project is a 22-voice choral ensemble based in Sonoma County, California, composing and performing original music that explores our collective role as caretakers in our relationship with our animal and plant brethren and living systems. Concert programs are created to advance the causes of environmental stewardship—toward the rediscovery, healing, and reimagining of a vibrant planet beyond our own time. Sarah Dupre is Music Director. Robin Eschner is Creative Director.
