Category: Attitudes towards beavers

ONE MAN’S TRASH IS ANOTHER MAN’S TREASURE

I’ve been frustrated with Utah’s beaver relocation program in the past but this was very close to cheerful. The only missing piece is a discussion of how difficult and expensive relocation is for both humans and beavers and how flow devices can be used to coexist.

Utah program helping relocate beavers to restore environment

PARADISE, Cache County — Agencies from around the country are looking to Utah for a new program designed to help preserve our outdoor spaces, and it all has to do with the beaver.

“BEAVERS ARE HAVING A MOMENT”

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers November 23, 2024

This article made me smile. For obvious reasons I like the headline very much. It just gets better from there.

Beavers are having a moment!

In October, WildEarth Guardians’ Hop Hopkins (Executive Director), Lindsay Larris (Conservation Director), Chris Smith (Wildlife Program Director), and Joanna Zhang (Endangered Species Advocate) all attended BeaverCON in Boulder, Colorado.

Why? And what is BeaverCON? Read on to learn how beavers are “having a moment!”

Maybe this is a bit obvious, but I have to ask it first: what the heck is BeaverCON? When I mention it to my friends, most of them just look at me like I’m crazy. So what is it, and why did you go?

CS: I got a lot of funny looks when I told my friends about it. Someone asked if it was just a bunch of nerds who like beavers. And, that is kind of right, I guess. But, I’d say it’s a gathering of beaver nerds who are mostly interested in figuring out how to help this rodent help us.

Just so you know, Chris was one of two leaders of the New Mexico beaver summit that I plied with questions when he inspired me to try something like that in California.

HH: BeaverCON is a biennial International Conference organized by The Beaver Institute. The event is held every other year and this year’s event was held at the University of Colorado, Boulder. This was the third BeaverCON and my first time attending. It was attended by professionals, practitioners, researchers, and everyday people who are interested to learn from others and to celebrate beavers. Such a wonderfully conceived advocacy, educational, and social event.

Why are beavers important?

JZ: Brock Dolman, conservation biologist and permaculture teacher at the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center has this mantra, “Slow it, spread it, sink it,” when it comes to water management. Beavers do exactly that. By building dams, and by extension ponds and wetlands, beavers reduce flow rates, increase water storage, trap sediment, create still-water habitats, and a myriad of other effects. From flood mitigation to wildfires to drought resilience, beavers are incredibly important partners to work with.

I’m looking at the attendee list and I see an enormous diversity of professions and perspectives. What do you make of so many crosscutting groups coming together to celebrate and restore a rodent?

HH: I had such a great time meeting other conservationists interested in employing nature-based solutions utilizing beaver-related ecological and community restoration strategies. There were presentations, workshops, field outings, and social events – something for everyone and every learning style. One could see this as single issue advocacy, however, it is an intersectional conservation systems thinking approach to addressing an interconnected set of ecological issues. This is an example of what the “Bigger We” looks like in practice – unlikely allies in the form of organizations, disciplines, and tribal communities converging to collectively realize a future of ecological balance and coexistence with beavers.

At the time I thought beavers were such a whiff of mild curiosity in California that the Summit needed to be virtual and cover a lot of short introductory topics to get attendance.

That seems so quaint now.

What was your favorite panel, speaker, or side conversation at the conference? What did you learn?

CS: I got to chat with Mickki Garrity (Potawatomi Nation) who is studying the interplay between wild rice and beavers in the Upper Midwest from an ecological and cultural perspective. I would mess up some of the details of what Mickki is researching, but my basic understanding is that wild rice can survive and thrive in beaver-engineered waterways, but is losing ground where beaver populations have decreased. I am very much a west-of-the-Rockies person, so I know next-to-nothing about the Midwest or wild rice. It was fascinating and lent me a totally different angle for why beavers matter so much to so many. Mickki also wrote this amazing story.

JZ: My favorite speaker was Cristina Mormorruni (co-founder and executive director of INDIGENOUS LED), who gave a talk called, “Between two worlds: relational conservation and restoring relations.” She explained her group’s Indigenized approach to conservation, which focuses on holistic, science-based, community-centered social change. Cristina highlighted the sanitized language used in Westernized conservation – for example, referring to forests or wild animals as “natural resources.” In this framework, mitigating and reversing extinction trajectories isn’t just addressing a biodiversity crisis, but restoring relationships with relatives.

I like the idea of beavers and wildrice thriving side by side. Makes sense to me.

What’s a “beaver believer?” Do you think of yourself as one? Why?

CS: I think a beaver believer is basically someone who has learned just enough to put a lot of faith and hope in a smelly, awkward rodent. I’m definitely a beaver believer. I’m always looking for answers and reasons to keep working toward a world that doesn’t always seem like it wants to emerge. Beavers are a good ally in that search.

JZ: I saw the documentary, “The Beaver Believers,” when it was part of the Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival Tour in 2018, and that was the first time I heard the term. The documentary tells the story of a group of activists in the Mountain West who work with beavers to restore watersheds from the Cascades in Washington to an urban park in central California. I’d say a beaver believer is someone who sees the value in working with this unique species rather than trying to dominate nature with overengineered solutions.

Beavers are known as ecosystem engineers, and they can have far-reaching, sometimes surprising effects on the landscape and other species. What was the coolest beaver-related effect you heard about at the conference?

CS: It’s a little bit old hat to me now, but I’d be remiss to not spotlight the wildfire mitigation and refugia impacts that beavers can have. Dr. Emily Fairfax, who has been a friend of the New Mexico Beaver Project since our launch, has led the science on beavers and wildfires and seeing some of the photographic evidence of this relationship is always inspiring.

I’m so old I remember when beavers were just a punchline and you had to beat the bushes to fill 200 chairs at a conference.

CS: In New Mexico, Guardians is spearheading the New Mexico Beaver Project, advocating that the state invest in beaver coexistence and restoration on a broad scale.

When’s the next BeaverCON, and how can I get involved in helping beavers?

JZ: The dates for the next BeaverCon haven’t been announced yet, but I heard at the conference that it’s likely to be held at the University of Minnesota, where Dr. Emily Fairfax’s group is based. There are countless beaver-based projects happening across the country, so I’d recommend looking up your local restoration groups and environmental nonprofits and letting them know you’re interested in helping out.

Nowadays everybody and his brother wants to learn about or work for beavers. And its still only scratching the surface.

Things are better than they were but we all still have a lot of work to do.

MOTHER MAY I? NO YOU MAY NOT. BECAUSE OF BEAVERS!

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Beaver ecological impact September 24, 2024

I may be sentimental, but it always touches my heart to read about cities protecting wildlife corridors. Especially when the article has photos like this;

City staff recommend denial of Alpenrose land use permit

City of Portland staff recommended denial of the Land Use permit for the proposed 263-unit Raleigh Crest development on the Alpenrose site a week ago Friday, concluding that “all of the relevant standards and approval criteria have not been met.” Although the denial was based on several issues, the most complicated of them seemed to involve a wildlife corridor located on the southernmost edge of the property.

The pinch-point of the corridor is the area just north of the intersection of SW Shattuck Rd and Vermont St. Not only is this location tricky for wildlife, it’s also not a great place to be on a bicycle or walking—but wildlife has federal and state protection.

What’s this? Denying human use because wild critters need it more? Did I just read that aloud? Someone give me a glass of water. I can’t stop whooping.

Here’s an excerpt from the decision that talks about the wildlife issue:

… the site is a critical connection point for the movement of wildlife between the upstream habitat areas along Vermont Creek up to Gabriel Park and the extensive downstream habitat areas starting at Bauman Woods and the confluence with Fanno Creek and beyond into the Fanno Creek habitat corridor.

Thus, wildlife mobility is a key functional value of the site and the ability of wildlife to continue to move through this corridor should be preserved and carefully considered in any redesign of the SW Shattuck crossing. Any increased barriers to movement (e.g., proposed retaining wall, fall protection fencing, increased vehicular traffic, etc.) and reduction of wildlife mobility through this corridor must be mitigated, as they could have adverse long-term impacts on local wildlife species, particularly semi-aquatic mammals such as beaver, river otter, muskrat, and mink as well as the flightless ducklings of locally breeding waterfowl, such as mallard and wood duck.

Beaver are of particular concern because of their status as a keystone species in wetland ecosystems and the important role they play in creating and maintaining the habitat used by a wide variety of other species in this wetland complex.

BEAVER ARE OF PARTICULAR CONCERN? Am I dreaming? Did I just fall asleep without noticing because I must be dreaming. Either I’m hallucinating or they must hate the applicant a whole hell of a lot.

The applicant is Bike Portland which while I can imagine gets on folks nerves from time doesn’t have any dollar signs associated with. I’m sure if the request was to build a starbucks or a condo unit we’d be hearing less about wildlife.

But STILL.

BEAVERS SHOW CORN MAZES ARE FOR SISSIES

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Beaver Behavior September 22, 2024

Quebec Has A Sprawling Water Labyrinth With Over 6 km Of Canals For You To Explore

‘Tis the season to get lost in corn. As summer comes to an end and harvest season approaches, fields across Quebec have been carved up for your enjoyment. Several corn mazes have already popped up across the province. But Éco-Odyssée in Wakefield breaks the mold.

There, you can embark on a journey through a sprawling water labyrinth, wandering between marsh and forest.

The maze is actually inspired by the beaver.

“The concept of the water maze came to” founder and beaver specialist Michel Leclair “from the beavers that he worked alongside for 35 years,” the Éco-Odyssée website explains.

“The beaver, upon settling in a habitat, digs a network of underwater canals that are similar to a labyrinth. This network allows it to move around throughout the entire year in order to find food and wood to build dams.”

This looks entirely delightful. The only sentence that confuses me is “beavers dig a series of Underwater canals“.. Underwater? Were you expecting viaducts instead?

Michel LeClaire has been working with beavers since Reagan was president. Both Mike Callahan and Skip Lisle traveled to Canada once upon a time to learn from him. I do not think every single one of his ideas holds true today but he is page one on the story of human adaptions for coexistence.

His latest invention looks absolutely magical. So very much better than a corn maze.

MISSISSIPPI SEEING BEAVERS IN A NEW LIGHT

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Beaver Rehabilitation, Beavers August 26, 2024

Sometimes I read a murky article about beavers from someplace like Washington or Utah and I’m frustrated because they, of all places, should know better. And sometimes I see an article like this from MISSISSIPPI and am over the moon.

Because we’re grading on a beaver curve.

Are they a nuisance or key to our health? Coast scientist supports misunderstood species

During a torrential rainstorm in April, Stormy Rose was washed through Biloxi’s storm drainage. Eventually, she wandered under the shining lights of the Beau Rivage. A casino employee spotted her red fur coat and wide, dark tail and called Woodside Wildlife Rescue.

Soon after, Stormy arrived at the home of Holley Muraco, a marine mammal scientist and research professor at Mississippi State University. The beaver was in bad shape – her spine rose out of her fur in a sign of malnutrition.

“There was nothing specifically wrong with her that I could find from a veterinary perspective, but by studying her over time, I realized she actually had this incredibly rare, weird, protozoa parasite that she should not have had,” Muraco said. “… She got this parasite, because it’s in our environment, and most likely, was spread through wild hogs.

Muraco’s research takes a “One Health” approach, a relatively new scientific perspective that recognizes that the health of humans and animals is connected through our shared environment. Once Muraco confirms the presence of the parasite, she will publish papers asserting that beavers could be “sentinels” for human health. Essentially, if beavers are sick, it could act as a warning for similar diseases in people.

Now that’s interesting. I’m not sure beavers are a great indicator species for humans because they tolerate way more than we ever could. But they also, as we know in Martinez, are sensitive in ways we are not.

Across the past few months, Muraco has constructed a special needs enclosure for young and recovering beavers, complete with personal pools. When they are mature and strong enough, future beavers will be released into a fenced, three-acre area, where Muraco can encourage the development of healthy, wild behaviors. Muraco said beaver rehabilitation takes about two years.

“While I have them in my care, I’m learning about growth and development. I’m learning about diseases, parasites, and then once we are ready to release, and I’m going to look at how they change the environment, and then behavior. There’s a lot we still don’t know about behavior,” Muraco said. “I’ve been recording her vocalizations; they vocalize underwater too.”

Muraco said that Gulf Coast beavers are seemingly unique from beavers found elsewhere in North America. They are typically smaller and have been observed in saltwater environments, which is uncommon for beavers. Muraco said Stormy is a particularly unique beaver.

“Her coat is super short; she has red fur – she just has a very different appearance than the northern beavers. I’m going to do some DNA testing and see if we actually have a genetic subspecies on our hands on the Coast,” Muraco said. “No one has ever really looked at Coastal beavers. It’s low-hanging fruit; we’re gonna have so many cool opportunities.”

Okay. There’s a lot to unpack here. First of all I love how she’s really thinking about and observing the beavers in her care. And I always assumed they verbalized underwater but haven’t generated much interest in proving it. Even Bernie Krause told me that it probably didn’t happen because sounds travel so differently in water. But good for you. Keep going.

And second of all some beavers have red coats.Or black coats. Or even blonde coats. Before we killed them all there were as many colors of beaver fur as you can imagine. Even today I know of a piebald beaver. It happens

Third of all. coastal beavers aren’t a different subspecies. And they have been studied and written about extensively. Even in Martinez our beavers lived in brackish water. Check out this article about salt water.

Michael Niemeyer of Wildlife Solutions, Inc. has worked as a trapper in southern Alabama and Mississippi for 16 years. He works with beavers almost daily and said most conflicts he sees with beavers surround roads, where beavers clog drainage systems, or at levees, where beavers burrow holes to drain lakes and ponds. He sees more beaver activity today than he did 16 years ago.

Niemeyer said relocating live beavers is usually impossible. It is illegal to relocate beavers onto public land in Mississippi without permission, and few private landowners would willingly allow the relocation of a nuisance species onto their property. He said that, even if beavers were relocated to an area where beavers are already established, the resulting battle for territory would likely mean death for relocated beavers.

That’s because it is better to SOLVE a problem than MOVE a problem.

Neimeyer said that, in his experience, nonlethal mitigation efforts to control beaver damage are expensive and ineffective in the long term. He said that almost all landowners choose lethal mitigation methods and that if they continue to be significantly less expensive and more effective than non-lethal methods, Mississippi landowners are unlikely to change practices.

Gee that’s super surprising. There must not be ANY properly installed flow devices in the entire southern south. Hmm maybe we can change that.

“And that’s where my approach with the beavers is; I just want to try to understand. I want to understand, once I start releasing these animals into my environment, exactly what is the carrying capacity of our property, and if beavers are going to exceed that carrying capacity. For example, I think people believe if you see one beaver, you’re going to have 500 beavers, but they’re not like rats or rodents. They only have the number that fits the environment that they’re in, and I want to show that. I’m going to show it with statistics and studies and say, ‘Alright, I have a breeding population of beavers in this pond, they’re only maintaining this number and they’re not going beyond what their resources are,’ Muraco said.

“By just using science, I’m hoping that then I can share that with our state and with our regulators and say, ‘Let’s put a little bit of effort into non-lethal mitigation techniques for landowners who would like to keep beavers around,’ instead of just having them labeled: kill them on sight. Maybe, just maybe, we can give them a chance – once we know a little bit more information,” Muraco said.

Your instincts are SPOT on. You just need to have access to all the great work that’s already been done and exists about beaver populations. Maybe taking a look at Ben’s book will at least introduce you to a host of scientists doing this work and you can follow up with the resources he has gathered together to start.

You are well on your way. Let me know when you are ready to plan a beaver festival in Mississippi.