The San Francisco Estuary Partnership does remarkable work coordinating and educating partners around the East Bay. They were the first significant friend our beavers made in the real world and they are how I met Lisa Viani who was then the editor of their magazine and eventually reporter Joe Eaton and the famous Ann Riley who was special consultant of the SF Waterboard. Ann eventually brought me to Oakland for a very important talk to other board members. which introduced us to the watershed stewards of Americorp who helped our festival for years and worked to replant trees at the creek.

Well the SFEP started a creative artwork award this year to honor the creeks and raise awareness and I thought, HEY who on earth deserves an award more than the VERY HARDWORKING ARTIST Amy Hall who flies in for 24 hours ever year without pay and creates an unbelievable beaver mural in the middle of a crowded public event that washes away afterwards.

Creative Environmental Award

The Friends of the San Francisco Estuary announced a call for artists to submit work for the State of the San Francisco Estuary Conference, a local conference showcasing the science and need for action to protect the San Francisco Estuary. 

So I nominated her.

And we were notified this week that she WON! 2nd prize with a cool 200 dollars and a mention at their big upcoming conference. Amy  said she can’t make that date work but arranged for her very sweet father to come accept it in her honor. Amy is very pleased and even though 2nd prize kind of reminds me of this and  she deserves WAY more its a nice symbol both of how hard she’s worked and how important beavers are to creeks.

So HURRAY for Amy and HURRAY for the SFEP and thanks Rusty Cohn for noticing that her and her husband sometimes came to the Napa creek to see the beavers which gave me the nerve to ask her in the first place!

Well, this is a fun study published in Norway.  Seems they set up camera traps at beaver l0dges on both sides of the creek: where beavers were and where beavers weren’t. Guess side had more wildlife? Go ahead, guess.

It’s not just beavers that live in beaver lodges

Beaver lodges are built mainly for beavers and their families, but they often receive visits from other animals.Along streams, rivers, ponds, and lakes, beavers builds their lodges. They may look like a pile of twigs.

But they are in fac sophisticated structures that beavers use all year round.“The entrances are below the surface of the water. Beavers dive straight into a large chamber that functions both as a swimming pool for the young and a dining area for the family,” says Frank Rosell, a researcher at the University of South-Eastern Norway.

Together with colleague Hanna Kavli Lodberg-Holm, he is part of the Norwegian beaver project.

I’m so interested to see what they found. Aren’t you?

The researchers found six species that regularly spent time around the beaver lodges.

These were otters, American mink, wood mice, field voles, and the birds robin and reed bunting. All of these were found in far greater numbers near the lodges than on the opposite side of the river.

But what were they doing there? And where were the beavers?

It turned out that these animals were most active around the same time as the beavers – during the evening and at night.

You know that’s wrong, correct? Beavers aren’t IN their lodges at night. They are AWAY from their lodges at night. This study has basically used expensive camera equipment and a team of scientists to find out burglars are most likely to visit your home while you’re at work. Isn’t that amazing?

Previous research has shown that insects and fish also tend to stay near beaver lodges. Perhaps that’s why the small rodents and birds gather there, to hunt or feed on fish and insects?

Ya think?

Or maybe they’re drawn to the leftovers – bits of branches, twigs, and grains colleced by the beavers in autumn.

Another possibility is warmth: Inside the beaver lodges, temperatures stay pleasantly warm through the cold winter months.

Since the wildlife cameras captured only still images, not video, the researchers couldn’t say for sure why so many other animals visit the lodges. They plan to explore this further in a new research project starting soon.

Anyway the article finished with the coolest stock photo I have ever seen. I hesitate to re-post because I’ve already been sued once for this crime. But you need to see it. Look to the right of the beaver because I believe that’s a lodge entrance with a big old fish swimming along.

Another amazing trailcam from Western Beavers Cooperative in Oregon.

I can hardly trust myself to describe what is happening because I usually strive to be so even-handed and equanimous  on this website. I mean I certainly don’t want to use initials like WATB or say something immature like “Beavers Rule Otters Drool” and gloat about which one making that pitiful whine.

I’ll just let it you think it all for yourself.

Well it IS called the beaver state after all. Raise your hand if you wish there were more ranch owning pilots like him around.

Ranch owner highlights surprising benefits of so-called ‘pest’ on his property: ‘They’re doing me a favor’

A ranch owner thanked his neighbors for being wild animals — and that’s because the beavers have helped keep his plants under control.

Lawmakers hope the introduction of new beaver protections in Oregon will help the environment in multiple ways, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting. From providing habitats for other animals to preserving drinking water, beavers have a significant impact on their surroundings.

Having beavers around has been particularly beneficial for Ron Jackson, a retired pilot and ranch owner who lives near Princeville, Oregon. Jackson told OPB that beaver dams help maintain the foliage on his 23-acre property.

“Some of this stuff grows so wild, they’re doing me a favor,” Jackson said. “I don’t want to run them off, unless they become a huge pest. And they’re not.”

Well yeah, they sure do that. Lots of other stuff to.

The beaver effect goes much further than foliage. Their dams raise the water table, which keeps water on the landscape and preserves wetlands, per the U.S. Forest Service. In fact, the Forest Service linked the lack of beavers to increasingly intense wildfires on the West Coast.

Beaver dams provide many benefits for other animal species, too. Some studies found that dams help clean polluted waters. Other research has shown that beavers have a strong impact on the salmon populations, as their dams also create habitats for juvenile salmon.

Gosh I’m liking this Rancher. And the author of this article.

It was reported that about 1,100 beavers in Oregon were killed every year between 2020 and 2023 for their fur. The state recently passed two bills to increase protection for beavers.

According to OPB, House Bill 3464 will reclassify the animals as “furbearing” rather than “predatory.” House Bill 3932 is designed to restrict trapping along “impaired” waterways.

Fran Recht, a retired habitat manager, told OPB that she is in favor of beaver protection laws because the animals continue to provide various protections for humans and the environment.

“With the climate crisis and fires and droughts, we’ve got to get beavers back on the landscape,” Recht said. “And one of the big tools is restricting hunting and trapping.”

One year at the state of the beaver meeting I sat next to Fran and we swapped stories and emails. I believe she was working for the Marine Fisheries Commission then. We have been keeping in touch since then so I’m thrilled to see her in this article newly retired and speaking her beaver truth.

Retired people are so cool. Come join us!