This update from our friend Lega Medcalf popped up yesterday. What an amazing example of beaver advocacy!
Bridgton beavers’ saga continues
By Gail Geraghty
A CAGEY WAY — to prevent the beavers from plugging up the upstream end of the culvert was to erect this wire dome over it, held in place by rebar sunk deep into the stream bed.
A grand experiment in coexistence with beavers began last weekend when a few passionate folks waded knee-deep in muck to modify the dam the beavers created behind the Bridgton Post Office on Elm Street.
The dam was causing flooding in the post office’s parking lot, and raised water levels well above what’s typical for a large expanse of downtown wetland bounded by Elm, Park and Nulty Streets and the town’s Wayside Avenue leach field.
Regional Wildlife Biologist Scott Lindsay of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife believes it’s one or two young beavers at work, possibly the same ones that built the lodge and dam just a short distance away at Shorey Park, where Highland Lake meets Stevens Brook. Resident Lega Medcalf, who’s been championing the beavers’ cause, called Lindsay for advice about the problem, and he put her in contact with Richard Hesslein of Brownfield, who has worked on beaver modification efforts for years. Together, they walked the perimeter of the wetland around Corn Shop Brook late last week.
Go read the entire fantastic article and remember what a powerful difference a passionate individual can make! Last night we had a very brief viewing of HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS the new kit at our own beaver dam. He dives faster than a camera can focus…sheesh! We did meet a fantastic family from Ireland (now Hercules) who stopped to become deeply entranced by the beavers and their story. I made sure to plug the festival lots of times.
Finally there’s a nice article about muskrats this morning from the St. Albert Gazette in Canada you might want to check out. Since we always enjoy their visits while we’re waiting for beavers, its good to get a little background.
Muskrats are the most commonly seen mammal on waterways in St. Albert, according to local naturalist Dan Stoker. You can find them anywhere along the Sturgeon River at this time of year, as well as at Grandin Pond.
“For every one observation that might be made of a beaver,” he says, “you are likely to make 10 to 20 or more sightings of muskrats locally.”
You’re telling us! The fun article made me think of these, which happen to span about 5 years as nearly the most complicated movie I ever made and the very third movie I ever made! How’ that for a learning curve?
