The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step, right? And the first step might not be from a ballerina or member of cirque de soleil either. Sometimes just starting the conversation is enough. Like this letter from Renelle Braaten of the park board of Beaver Creek Park in Havre, Montana.
Time to look at changing beaver management in Beaver Creek Park
As you may have read in the paper, as a park board member, I have brought up to the Hill County Park Board that maybe we can look at other options besides trapping for beaver control in the park.
What brought this on is that we had lost our trapper — we have been using trappers for approximately 70 years — so we needed to do something. Of course, the first thought of the board was to “find another trapper.” I suggested that maybe this would be a good time to look at other alternatives, which it appears there are quite a few. There are things like flow devices, beaver deceivers, tree wraps, just to name a few, that could help solve some of our “problems.” These devices/options have been used all around the country with great success. They are not only more humane, but many times they solve the problems better and for longer. And even more good news is that the individual I have been working with on this has some very viable options/possibilities for grant money to accomplish this. If you want to see what a beaver deceiver is for example, this is just one pretty informative YouTube video you can watch:
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Okay, this isn’t what I expected. It’s actually a video I’ve never seen showing Skip Hilliker install a flow device. That Skip worked for the Humane Society in Maine and did many installations there for years. But I’ve heard over the years from Callahan and the other Skip that some of these were problematic.
Installing a flow device may not be rocket science but it’s not baby science either.
When I watch this I notice a few problems right away, first with the cage to protect the open end, which is far more important than the video emphasizes. In addition to getting triggered into action by the sound of running water, beaver react to the feel of suction and flow and know where a submerged leak is coming from. They can feel it with their stiff guard hairs and vibrasae. Heck. maybe they even feel it in their bones. It’s what they do.
I’m predicting an unprotected cage will be mudded solid in a few nights. Especially if there’s an opening. I think I’ll refer this nice counselor to a someone a little more reliable.
Just killing beaver will often make them breed more, and you just end up with more beavers. It can be a vicious cycle. I strongly feel this is the time to explore our options. I feel working “with” the beavers would be a better way to go than working against them. I do not agree with making trapping our first and only choice. Please feel free to share your thoughts with the park board members if you are so inclined or come join our meeting, the first Monday of each month at the Hill County Courthouse in the Timmons Room at 5:30 p.m.
What I have also learned is that other resource management effects, such as watershed protection, water quality, weed control, ecosystem balance, etc., should be looked at as well. They are all connected. There are lots of ways to make our park as healthy as possible and preserve it for many years to come.
See this argument is so close it’s like when your daughter walks down the hall in your high heels playing office. It’s so plucky and adorable you can’t help but smile. But the stern advocate in me isn’t mollified. I don’t just want to offer solutions, I want to offer solutions that work!f you’re going to march into Montana and tell them to try a flow device then you MUST NOT FAIL. You have to get everything right.
Otherwise, when it doesn’t work the entire community will say forever that flow devices don’t work and trapping is the only thing that does. It’s like a woman running for office. You have to be a million times as good as the male candidate because if you fail they will say its because women can’t do this job and never give another one a chance.
Get it right the first time.
I also think it is important to open our minds to change and try something new. I know that is hard sometimes, but I feel very necessary if we want to grow. I think working with nature is much better than working against her. As Harrison Ford said, “Mother Nature doesn’t need humans, humans need Mother Nature.”
Um…hurray?
