More great news from Washington state of course
Beaver expert advocates for coexistence in Stanwood-Camano
Camano Wildlife Habitat Project kicked off the new year with its first program of 2024: Living with Beavers.
Ariana Winkler, habitat restoration project coordinator for Snohomish Conservation District, gave a presentation to Camano Islanders interested in learning more about beavers.
“They can be a little bit of a nuisance if you want to call them that,” she said. “But we want to live with them.”
Yes we do. Something tells me Ariana and I ARE Going to be beaver buddies soon. Camano is an island north of Seattle in Washington State very near where my niece got married which is neither here nor there.
Winkler also heads the Conservation District’s Living with Beavers program and devotes much of her free time to beaver research.
Though there are many similar-looking animals, there are some characteristics that set beavers apart, Winkler said.
One primary way to tell whether or not a beaver has been spotted is their size.
“I like to think about them as like a medium or large dog,” Winkler said. “They can get up to 70 pounds as grown adults.”
We occasionally see them even bigger, but no need
Beavers also have large, flat tails — unlike muskrats and nutria which have rat-like tails.
There are ways to tell if beavers have been in the area without actually seeing one, too, Winkler said.
“A telltale sign of beavers is when a stick is denuded, so all of that bark is gone and you can see the little teeth marks,” she said.
Winkler described beavers as choosy herbivores. They love willow trees, and in the summer months, will also eat lily pads and spatter docks.
“(Dams) can vary in size and shape,” Winkler said. “A lot of times they’ll build them in series. So they’ll build a large dam and then downstream of it, they’ll build a smaller dam.”
“That’s to support the larger dam but also just to increase that habitat,” she said.
Form and function. I believe it was beavers that gave him that idea in the first place.
Winkler’s goal of hosting the presentation and being involved with beaver education is to promote tolerance and appreciation for beavers, she said.
“Some people call beavers ecosystem engineers,” she said. “But also farmers, because they’re changing that environment to increase their favorite foods, which is pretty cool.”
Beavers add complexity to a landscape — taking a simple stream and turning it into an intricate waterway.
“They take a streamside or a ditch and then create a wetland, which is very unique and very important,” Winkler said.
Doing so increases aquatic habitat which can be beneficial for many different species.
“Amphibians love beaver ponds,” Winkler said. “Other predators, like great blue herons, also hang around these ponds because there’s more food, there’s more habitat, there’s more refuge for them to live.”
Frogs and fish love them some beaver benefactors that’s for sure.
Beaver habitats and dams also help recharge groundwater — something especially important on Camano since all houses are on a single-source aquifer.
The aquifers on Camano fully run on and can only be recharged by the rain and snow that physically falls on the islands. So, by allowing beaver dams, more water can be absorbed into the ground.
“Beaver ponds can help improve water quantity and improve stream flow all year round,” Winkler said.
Do you like it in July when your well doesn’t go dry? Well thank a beaver.
Coexistence is key
Sometimes, Winkler said, beavers can get on people’s nerves.
“They’ll chew down trees, they may chew down fruit trees, or they may chew down those really large old grove trees or they may just chew down trees that landowners like and want to keep,” she said.
One solution to tree chewing is tree wrapping.
“I’ve seen people put chicken wire on trees and staple it to the tree — that’s not something I recommend because the tree is gonna outgrow that and it’s gonna hurt the tree,” Winkler said.
Instead, Winkler recommends tall wire fencing sturdy enough to keep out even a 70-pound beaver.
Guess which is bigger. A beaver or a chicken? Go ahead I’ll wait…
Another issue people often run into is culvert blockage, which can lead to flooding.
The solution here, Winkler said, is sometimes called a beaver deceiver.
“I call it an exclusion fence,” she said.
After cutting away a small section of the dam — called “notching” — the exclusion fence is installed. Essentially, the fence is a wire cage that keeps beavers from clogging the culvert with mud, rocks or sticks.
As a last resort, after coexistence has been attempted, Winkler said relocation can be an option.
“They have to be a nuisance,” she said. “It has to be causing a problem to your infrastructure or safety.”
The Tulalip Beaver Project helps relocate nuisance beavers to hydraulically impaired streams and rivers in the upper watershed.
“It’s kind of a restoration technique that they’re using to get beavers back in the places that beavers maybe can’t get to because it’s too high up in the watershed right now,” Winkler said.
I like where this appears in the conversation. Beavers are good. There are ways to solve problems. and if you really try but still can’t solve the the Tulalip tribe can use relocation.
Resources available
Those in need of assistance managing beavers on their property in the Stanwood-Camano area can reach out to the Snohomish Conservation District.
The district can install beaver management devices on properties, and help landowners identify management options.
More information can be found at snohomishcd.org/living-with-beavers or by reaching out to Winkler at awinkler@snohomishcd.org.
See THIS is all I’m asking for. A training that anyone can attend about why beavers are good news on your property and a county that will install a flow device of you need one.
It’s good for the county if you coexist. Less fires. Less droughts. Better stream quality. Whats not to love?
