One of the most exciting parts of watching our beavers in Alhambra Creek is seeing the introduction of the new wildlife they have drawn to the area. Whether its mink or woodpecker or the frog chorus we are expecting back next month, seeing the connections that beavers make in the habitat is rewarding and reminds us how much of our wildlife is interwoven.
But the connections don’t stop there.
Case in point? Let’s talk about Juneau. Our VP of wildlife Cheryl Reynolds sent me an article a couple of weeks ago about beavers near the mendenhall glacier and a volunteer group trying to manage them. I tracked down the spokesperson, Bob Armstrong, through the wonders of the internet, and started a dialogue. He was primarily interested in how to (a) keep beavers (b) manage culverts and (c) still allow passage of fairly large coho salmon.
Here’s some connections for you.
Back when Sharon Brown of Beavers Wetlands and Wildlife wrote about the Martinez Beavers in her newsletter, beaver fan William Hughes Gaines of New Zealand got interested and we started writing. He was especially interested in salmon, and actually toured all the salmon fisheries along the Canadian coast this summer. I sent Bob’s questions to William and he wrote back some very sound advice and suggested they document the salmon activity with volunteer effort to verify first that there is a problem. He’s interested in that documentation because he’s working on another project with the beavers being reintroduced in Scotland, where they have been gripping their fainting couches over worries that beaver dams will ruin their fishing industry. I also sent Bob’s email to Skip Lisle and Mike Callahan so they could weigh in on salmon solutions.
This single example of “beaver connections” across three continents might end up helping the Juneau beavers, the Scotland beavers, and the general research linking beavers and salmon. When I can’t be at the dam site watching the story unfold, this is another dynamic place to be.
Need more connections? Worth A Dam joined the Nature Blog Network earlier in the week under category of “mammals” and I think this lead to our inclusion here and a host of new visitors. It’s all about making connections.
If Skip or Mike win an all expense paid vacation to Juneau, does Worth A Dam get a finders fee?
