Our friends in Tahoe (Now calling themselves the “Sierra Wildlife Coalition”) have their work cut out for them. Now Truckee is gunning for beavers and they are leaping into the fray. I thought you might enjoy their first EVER newsletter. Can a website and book deal be far behind?
Happy New Year to all –
We thought winter would be a quiet time for our Sierra beavers and friends, but not so – here are a few updates:
A friend of the beavers, Richard Lanman, MD, has updated several Wikipedia pages with references proving beaver were indeed native to the Sierra – or as he says: “Of course they were. How could an animal that lives from the Sonoran desert in Mexico to the Arctic tundra, and every mountain range from the Atlantic to the Pacific somehow not live in the Sierra?” interesting reads here and here and if you go to ‘Griff Creek’ in Wikipedia, our group’s activities and articles are there!
In Truckee, the Town currently has out for comments a “Proposed Mitigated Negative Declaration” for their proposed Trout Creek Restoration that repeatedly says they plan on removing beavers to “protect creek function” – but their goals sound like an ad for beavers…. A great deal of the plant and animal habitat restoration the Town of Truckee’s engineers are proposing IS done by beavers. If you have time, go to the Town of Truckee website (under ‘engineering’) and send in comments before the Jan. 18 deadline. We will forward Sherry’s summary and comments for reference, as soon as she gets them organized 🙂 The upcoming Truckee Town Council meeting at which Trout Creek will be discussed is scheduled for Thursday, January 20 – we will send an agenda as soon as available.
Better news in Tahoe Donner, where Elaine and Patrick McDonough have contacted the Tahoe Donner Association Forester and Board. They have agreed to install a flow control device in a beaver dam at the intersection of Fjord and Alder Creek Road that often threatens to flood a home and roads during heavy rains and run-off. This is a very visible dam (and lodge, check it out!) and we are very excited that it will make a great demonstration site for officials and citizens from our entire area to view! This is also especially important because there are approximately another 20 beaver dams along Alder Creek alone, and more could become flooding concerns.
Lately in Reno, the Gazette Journal published a one-sided article reporting on the damage done to the cottonwoods along Reno’s Truckee River corridor. Although wire-wrapping trunks was reported to work, the names of three exterminators were also provided as an alternative. On December 26 Mary wrote the reporter, Susan Voyles, introducing Sierra Wildlife Coalition and some of the background we have had with beaver. She offered the services of the Beaver Brigade (that’s us) to consult with homeowners on tree wrapping, while also explaining the method of tree protection using latex paint mixed with mason sand. As of January 6 there has been no reply from Ms. Voyles so another, let’s say more attention-getting, letter is on its way.
Lastly, Mary and Sherry are planning to attend the “State of the Beaver 2011” Conference in Oregon, February 2-4. They have a great line-up of speakers, including Heidi Perryman, our friend from Worth a Dam in Martinez, and Mike Callahan of Beaver Solutions, who’s on the video we saw demonstrating how to build flow control devices. The more the merrier – check it out and join us if you can.
Hope you’re all enjoying winter, and have recovered from the holidays – we’ll try to keep up and keep everyone posted –
Mary and Sherry
