We worked yesterday on the map fragments for the children’s treasure at the beaver festival, cutting the segments and separating each part into a little bundle that children will get from each participating exhibit. The little bundles contain a map fragment and a ‘clue card’ held together with a tiny wooden clothespin. After collecting all 8 pieces the child can go to the map-making station, put them all together and find the secret message on the back that will tell them where to find the lost key to the waters.

Here’s an example of a clue card. Collect all 8!

This means that there are 8 piece bundles times 100 kids which makes a lot of bundles. So far we’re half way done. Fingers crossed we can finish the other half today.

Just because we’re working hard doesn’t mean you should miss out on beaver stories. Today there’s a nice follow up to the article a while back about Woodland lawn Preserve in New York. I gave them a little bit of grief for saying that it was necessary to trap beavers to save trees, and for arguing that people went to the park to find peace, not see beavers. Remember? I wrote the chair about flow devices and biodiversity and she wrote back that she felt the article had misquoted her and she was interested in other solutions. I’m still not sure she makes that clear,

Beaver problem in Preserve is complex

The beavers in the Woodlawn Preserve have generated concern over the past few weeks. We’ve heard from beaver supporters from as far away as California and local folks as well.

Gee, I wonder who that can be?

The pond in the Preserve is a municipal retention pond designed in the 1970s to control flooding in the Woodlawn neighborhood. The last few years were very problematic, with the city expending quite a bit of time, effort and money to keep the culvert that drains the pond clear due to increased beaver activity.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation was consulted, and its suggestions included breaching the dams on the Rotterdam side of the culvert, trapping to reduce the population, and replacing the current drainage grate with a different type of baffle.

The decision to reduce the population was made by the city (not the Friends of the Woodlawn Preserve) following recommendations and permits from the DEC. But a new flow-control device isn’t the only solution to the problems the beavers are causing.

Trees are a beaver’s food source, and besides chewing down a tree, they also strip it of its bark, resulting in tree death. Solutions include wrapping trees with wire or fencing off areas of trees to prevent them from being targeted by the beavers.

Knowing that the beaver population will again increase, the city is continuing to explore more options under the guidance of the DEC, and we will continue to advocate for a different type of flow device to better control the water level.

If you really care about the beavers and the Preserve, please join us in our efforts.

Janet Chen
The writer is the chair of the Friends of the Woodlawn Preserve.

Hmm. I wouldn’t say that’s the most open invitation to cooperating with beavers. (It’s a few rungs up from saying in second grade “if you love beavers so much why don’t you go marry them“.) But I guess if I lived nearby I would take her up on the invitation. It’s funny to me that people always think their situation is exceptional – sure you might have saved beavers in Martinez but our pond protects homes from flooding! Sure you might have wrapped trees in the past but beavers strip their bark and the trees die!

The problem we have is special and especially tricky to solve. We had no choice!

I’m sure with the right help and sufficient motivation woodlawn preserve could become friendly towards a family of beavers. Stranger things have happened.

The next story is a radio interview with Kate Lunduist and Taisha McKee on KMUD about beavers. Seems the host just finished Ben Goldfarb’s book and wanted to bring in some voices to help him understand more. The interview is very nice to hear, but the audio isn’t great. They were in the middle if a pledge drive so the interview starts around minutes in. I had to upload it to this site because there was a gateway error, but its a nice listen.