Looks like the Pittsburg zoo is doing a spring wildlife month, where every day in April they are releasing an educational film about an animal. Guess what gets top billing?

Out of the Wild: The American beaver

Welcome to “Out of the Wild,” a daily series from The Tribune-Democrat, working with the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium. Every day in April, we’ll introduce you to a different North American animal – with information about each species’ habitat, behavior, diet and unique or interesting features.

Not a bad choice for your first effort! I’m not sure you clarified the ‘debate’ about whether beavers harm or improve the environment. You made it sound exactly like the ‘debate’ on whether the glass is half empty or half full. Tell me a real reason people think beavers harm the environment and then we’ll have a ‘debate’, but let me warn you, beavers are excellent debaters!

There’s good news across the pacific coast, starting with the 30th Annual Salmon Restoration conference this week in Davis. Registration is closed but there will be a convergence of beaver friends making implicit and not so implicit arguments about the role of beaver dams. Oh and Chuck Bonham the new director of Fish & Game will be giving one of the opening addresses so you know this message is getting to the right ears.

Should Streams be Managed as Drainage Networks or Habitat Networks?

Michael M. Pollock, NOAA,

Northwest Fisheries Science Center

Ooh Ooh! I know! Call on me!  The whole thing will start off with a bang when Brock gives a talk focused on salmon and beaver…I’m apparently not supposed to say anything but since no one really pays that much attention to what I say I will pass along his description…

Also – SRF is gonna be fun – we have my beaver focused talk on Wed., we have Michael Pollock talking, Eli, OAEC WATER and Sanctuary Forest/Mattole will all be tabling together at Friday night’s poster session – so beaver-palooza will be in full swing that night – and for your ears only there is rumor that on Sat., night of the banquet there will be a skit featuring a face off debate between a human large woody engineer and a beaver all sizes of wood engineer!

Back story: creek people used to ‘clean up’ woody debris by hauling it away, and then found out that it was VERY important to the food chain and fish. So now they are busy ‘installing woody debris’ themselves. Of course we all know who would happilydo that for free, but there is a running argument whether it’s better to install debris or let beavers do it (because you know beavers are so icky!). Here’s Pollock’s slide on the issue. LWD stands for large woody debris and ‘smolt’ are baby salmon. Oh and Eli’s poster presentation will include my slide on the different types of flow devices so we can promote effective beaver management!

Hope someone films the skit I’m not supposed to have written about! I’ll make sure to tell you all about it!

Brock also let me know that he will be Keynote Speaker for the Eel River Symposium later this month. The lineup looks amazing and since we know their are beaver on the Eel it would be good to teach people why they’re useful.

Not to be outdone, I just heard from Leonard Houston of the Beaver Advocacy Committee in Oregon that he has been asked to be on a beaver panel this month for the Oregon Desert Association coming up in September in Bend. Preach Beavers to the Desert, Leonard!

What else? Oh the charming city of Nashua of the infamous beaver incident printed my letter to the paper today. Non-suscribers can’t read it, but I’ll give you the text.

It’s stunning to me that in the entire community of Nashua there is apparently not anyone who recognizes that a young, dispersing beaver is trying to get to the water and will likely be hit by traffic if not assisted. Exposing school children to this heartless failure is unfortunate. This could have been a powerful opportunity to show children what communities can accomplish when they work together and how good it feels to help each other or another species. Instead it was a flurry of morning activity ending with a pointless death. Dispersal of young beavers seeking their own territory happens every march, and Nashua should learn from this event and have a plan to deal better with it next time.