You’ve heard of penis envy? Freud said it was real and apparently we still suffer from it. But BEAVER – envy is a thing too. It’s getting especially serious in California, I can tell you.
We are headed for some happy beaver news, I can just feel it. Seems like whenever the news cycle starts to get bored with its usual topics of politics or covid, it entertains itself by writing about beavers. Don’t believe me?
SLO Beaver Brigade Sets the Stage for Academic Research
SAN LUIS OBISPO — Beaver Believers easily find each other in a national network of land managers, academic researchers, and community volunteers who value the role of beavers in our river ecosystems.
SLO Beaver Brigade is the catalyst that initiated a public discussion in San Luis Obispo County on the merits of beaver-made hydrologic conservation. The group formed in 2020 with a philosophy of collaboration, reverence for nature and biodiversity, and community service with a mission to raise awareness around beavers in SLO county and to educate communities on the benefits beavers provide — fire-resistance, drought-resistance, flood-resistance, and maintenance of riparian habitat for a host of other plant, animal, insect, and aquatic species.
Our friends at SLO are rapidly becoming the new movers and shakers in the beaver world. I say wonderful! Because there are still plenty in the area that aren’t sure beavers are native.
The 2020 Biodiversity First! Research Grant: “Beavers, Climate Change, and Ecosystem Resilience” will result in the first peer-reviewed study of beaver habitat in San Luis Obispo County and will be shared online and at academic conferences in 2021 and beyond.
The Brigade has inspired two new regional activist citizen groups that adopted the same moniker, Santa Barbara Beaver Brigade and Ojai Beaver Brigade. SLO Brigade members Kate Montgomery and Fred Frank organized major clean-ups of abandoned homeless camps along the Salinas River with volunteers who removed tons of litter from the riverbank.
Biodiversity First! is a sponsor for the Beaver Brigade’s educational activities. Ecologistics is SLO Beaver Brigade’s fiscal sponsor. Donations can be made at www.slobeaverbrigade.com. For more information, email Audrey Taub at slobeaverbrigade@gmail.com, visit online www.emilyfairfaxscience.com, and @slobeaverbrigade on Instagram.
Boom! A fiscal sponsor! A research grant! And a team of experts! Emily Fairfax is going to do research at SLO and move the beaver conversation even further. We are all lucky,
I was especially happy to see this recently from Wyoming Game and Fish:
Living with beavers – a quick guide
There are many solutions that can mitigate landowner concerns while also allowing beavers to provide their beneficial ecological services. Below are some common concerns about beavers and recommended options for landowners:
Live trapping is difficult, time-consuming, and often proves ineffective as a long-term solution for beaver-related issues. If they establish in a location once, that means it’s good beaver habitat and even if you remove one beaver, more will find that good habitat in the future. When possible, it is best to find ways to live with beaver, while mitigating potential conflicts, as outlined above.
Seriously? This is what the Game an Fish Department has to say about beavers in WYOMING? But in fricken California we can barely get them to admit they’re native? Now I’m jealous. Soo jealous. It’s not fair! Why can’t we have nice things?
Well if you’re mood needs lifting or beaver cheering, you might be just in time to join our friends in Idaho for the Beaver Dam Jam online. Go see the wonderful things Mike Settell and his team are doing in Idaho.
Topic: BeaverDamJam-Idaho-Home Edition
Time: Nov 21, 2020 03:50 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 927 0369 1020
