“Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.”
Not Mark Twain (Charles Dudly Warner)
In Germany they have had so much drought this year that the shipping freight can barely make it down stream. I can imagine if beavers talked that would be a subject they repeated again and again at beaver cocktail parties.
Cry me a river: Low water levels causing chaos in Germany
BERLIN (AP) — A new island in Lake Constance. A river in Berlin flowing backward. Dead fish on the banks of lakes and ponds. Barges barely loaded so they don’t run aground.
A hot, dry summer has left German rivers and lakes at record low water levels, causing chaos for the inland shipping industry, environmental damage and billions of euros (dollars) in losses — a scenario that experts warn could portend the future as global temperatures rise.
The drought-like conditions have hit nearly 90 percent of the country this year.
Wow, that’s one lost looking ship. Germany must be suffering. Much of their industry depends on shipping and with fewer rivers still passable it must be chaos. I wonder how the beavers are doing?
A family of beavers living in the German capital’s central Tiergarten park has attracted a lot of attention for taking matters into their own paws. They built a new dam about six weeks ago to keep the area wet — but that just dried other areas up.
“They wanted their old water level back,” Ehlert said.
Other wildlife has been less able than the beavers to cope. Hundreds of tons of fish and countless freshwater mussels have been dying as waters have receded, said Magnus Wessel, head of nature conservation policy for the environmental group BUND.
Causes for the die-offs include greater concentrations of pesticides and other toxins due to the lower volume of water, boat traffic riding closer to the riverbeds, the increased number of boats on the rivers and less oxygen in the water, Wessel said.
I wish them rain, rain and rain. The summer I spent in Germany (where I met the Jon, lo these many years ago), had the most wonderful rainstorms. Only at night when you were home safely in bed the sky would burst open and drench the earth. I wish them those.
Meanwhile our friends in Port Moody B.C. are facing a different kind of calamity. Even though the election swung the right way the decisions have not and the DFO fishery folks have been charging ahead with ripping out the beaver dams to nurture what they worry are lazy, handicapped chum. Judy was so upset when she posted this, and I don’t blame her, It’s hard to watch. I told her to bring wilow branches. Beavers are hardy, they will figure out a way to stay around when there is food. Just like ours did when the sheetpile split their home in two.
Ouch. That kit is so little for the end of October. I imagine they’re going to stick around just for him. I remember watching our beavers ‘walk upstream’ after a dam washout. It’s a horrible, suspenseful feeling.
Been there. Done that.
I have to believe beavers are uniquely equipped to figure out how to cope with the watery problems in their own lives. I’m sure they are less upset by this than we are.
