Every now and then I am overwhelmed by the wisdom and problem-solving skills folks around the country use when facing beaver challenges. I think of how informed and creative they are and I am dazzled by their beaver-brillance as they struggle to implement long term solutions in their creeks and streams that will benefit the entire habitat. How did they get so amazingly smart, I wonder? With such respect for wildlife and delicate understandings of trophic cascades?
Just kidding. That never happens. Mostly this happens.
Hopkinton board to weigh support for expanded trapping bill
Residents bugged by beavers in their backyards should share their stories directly with Beacon Hill legislators, selectmen Chairman John Mosher said Monday.
Selectmen tonight are set to hear from residents in the neighborhood around North Mill and South Mill streets, where beaver dams have caused water to creep onto residents’ property and in some cases threaten outbuildings, pools or septic systems.
The residents have asked selectmen to write a letter to Rep. Carolyn Dykema, D-Holliston, supporting one of many bills before the legislature that would ease trapping laws, especially those that prohibit lethal traps in most cases.
Never mind that we can use whatever traps we please when one of 9 exceptions are met. Never mind that we are an hour away from Beaver Solutions who could fix this problem permanently. Never mind that these wealthy homeowners bought a house on the creek so they could enjoy nature. Never mind that hundreds of thousands of voters went to the polls to outlaw kill traps in most situations in 96.
Hopkinton: Where democracy doesn’t matter and neither does nature.
I would love to be at that meeting tonight to hear what the forlorn homeowners complain to the board about why their exceptional needs this minute matter more than the will of the voters. I would love them to explain why flow devices wouldn’t work and actually be a longer term solution than trapping anyway. But I am stuck here in Martinez where we understand Beaver-stubborn very well. I have sent my advice to the powers that be and can only wish that a bat-squeak of hope and light can eventually pierce the thick abyss of their fear and ignorance.
Good luck with that. On to Texas…
The evidence against BEAVERS is DAMMING!!
Beavers are controversial animals – both admired and despised for their exceptional digging and building abilities. Beaver dams offer protection against coyotes, wolves, bears and other predators.
“People often disagree about the beaver,” a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department spokesman said in a post. “Some think this master dam builder is the smartest thing in fur pants, and they use such words as ‘intelligent, energetic,’ and ‘helpful’ when speaking of it. Others claim the paddle-tailed engineer is ‘dumb, stubborn,’ and ‘destructive.'”
A paper written for the University of Arkansas by Rebecca McPeake characterizes beavers as “our largest North American rodent … nature’s equivalent of a habitat engineer.”
Some experts contend legal trapping efforts help keep the number of beavers under control, but the Humane Society suggests trapping be abandoned altogether as a practice because beavers play much too important of a role in establishing and maintaining wetlands.
“Beaver dams enhance their environment by providing habitat for many sensitive plant and animal species, improving water quality, and controlling floods by slowing water movement,” according to the humanesociety.org spokesman.
I’m scratching my head about why on earth an article from Texas is mentioning the benefits of beavers and an article from Massachusetts is not. Any ideas? Maybe its opposite day. Did the sun come up this morning or go down? Mind you, this is hardly the most valiant defence of beaver benefits I ever read in my life, but from the Lone Star State it’s a blasted miracle. An emancipation proclamation of sorts.
Beavers build dams to create ponds that give them protection from predators and increase the water level to encourage new growth of the trees they like to eat, reports show.
Beavers are ultimately important because the wetlands they create become habitat to many other species, according to reports. ((As a species, the structures left behind by beavers modifies the natural environment so well that the rest of the ecosystem incorporates it into a change.))
Hmm, I know that Texas tries to do the opposite of what Massachusetts does as a general rule, so maybe that’s what’s happening here? Since the state is a LOT bigger, (near 300,000 square miles) with 3700 named streams and 15 major rivers, beavers would be a lot better off if Texas had a change of heart than if Massachusetts did. Come to think of it FEMA would be too. Maybe they realize that beavers are independent thinkers who do their own thing and reject city ideas. Maybe they could be on the new flag?
