Vermont is getting what we call in the biz a very deep beaver bench. We’ve already read some great letters from the state prompting pushback from trappers. Check out this one:

Rohit Sharma: We should encourage beaver habitats, not trap and kill beavers

River systems with beaver dams and beaver meadows vastly increase their water storage capacity, by as much as up to nine times, compared to river systems where there are no beaver dams and beaver meadows.

He does not take beaver ecology into account. He assumes, falsely, that a river system with manmade dams is entirely comparable to a river system with beaver dams and beaver meadows.

Two key researchers — Bob Boucher, who studied the Milwaukee River watershed, and Denise Burchsted, who has studied river systems in the Northeast — and other researchers like Glynnis Hood from the University of Alberta have shown that river systems with beaver dams and beaver meadows vastly increase their water storage capacity, by as much as up to nine times, compared to river systems where there are no beaver dams and beaver meadows. 

This remarkable water storage capacity of beaver meadows, which Boucher’s 2021 study shows to be 100 times cheaper than any engineering project, works both against flooding (by storing vast amounts of water that would otherwise flow downstream) and against drought (by making stored water available to that ecosystem in times of scarcity). In fact, the Bureau of Land Management is trying to attract beavers back in at least 10 states, as reported in The New York Times: 

“Beavers, you might say, are having a moment. In Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming, the Bureau of Land Management is working with partners to build beaver-like dams that they hope real beavers will claim and expand. In California, the new state budget designates about $1.5 million a year to restoring the animals for climate resiliency and biodiversity benefits.” 

Yeah well I for one won’t  go to the bank with that promise until I see something actually HAPPEN in California. But what do I know?

If we want to build a more resilient community and ecosystem, we should be encouraging beaver habitats, not trapping and killing beavers.

It makes no economic sense either to trap beavers. In a study conducted between 2004 and 2007, and  published in 2008-29, Boyles and Savitzky concluded that installing flow devices and NOT trapping was the most efficacious and economic way to deal with chronic beaver damage. “The costs to install and maintain flow devices were significantly lower than preventative road maintenance, damage repairs, and/or population control costs at these sites prior to flow device installations.” (Boyles and Savitzky study)

It makes no scientific sense to continue to trap beavers. It makes no ethical or moral sense to keep doing so. And it makes no economic sense to keep trapping beavers.

I urge all readers of the Digger to listen to our very own Vermont Edition on beavers or the Science Friday episode on beavers, in case they missed either or both of them. Also published just this past December is Leila Philip’s remarkable book “Beaverland: How One Weird Rodent Made America.” 

Well if Vermont is going to fight to stand on their beaver soapbox I a not going to complain.  They already have Skip Lisle, Patti Smith, and a fish and wildlife department that literally installs flow devices. Keep beating this drum and let’s see what else you can do.

Once upon a time these stories were few and far between, and almost never from the likes of Calgary. I was happy to be reminded that times are changing.

Bragg Creek beaver problem be damned! Groups turn flood risk into coexistence opportunity

‘We want to be able to live alongside of the beavers,’ says head of Elbow River Watershed Partnership From the gravel on

Mountain Road you can see the beaver’s work. There’s pools of water held back by stacks of twigs and branches. And headed into the thick of the woods, more of these animal-made dams.

It’s a pretty sight cast against the West Bragg Creek scenery.

The beavers really settled into the region after the 2013 flood. When these well-meaning engineers move in, they start working. Beavers are a bit compulsive: they hear flowing water, and have to block it up. 

And while it’s great for wildlife and fish — fire, flood and drought resilience — it can be a bit of a headache. 

“They created one dam which really threatened to flood our Mountain Road,” said Bragg Creek Trails crew lead Michele White. 

“The beavers were really industrious. Their families were growing so they were creating more dams,” she said. 

At this point, typically the beavers would be relocated, their dams destroyed. It’s a common practice for land owners who see them as pests, easy to remove and difficult to live with. 

Well actually no. They would not normally be “relocated”. They would have been drowned. There is nothing in Calgary that allows legally for moving beavers. Why do people keep saying that there is?

But White said Bragg Creek Trails wanted to find another way. 

Meetings between Alberta Parks, The Alberta Riparian Habitat Management Society, also known as “Cows and Fish”, and the Elbow River Watershed Partnership started. Together these experts had ideas about how to coexist with the beavers.

They settled on a pond-leveller: a pipe that’s installed upstream, shrouded with metal grate fencing, and wedged into the top of the dam. 

“We want to be able to live alongside of the beavers, let them continue with their good work and then we can still enjoy the landscape from whatever perspective it is,” said the Elbow River Watershed Partnership’s executive director, Flora Giesbrecht.

“From this lens, it’s for recreation and then access for some of the infrastructure and especially in the winter, this road is very popular.”

Giesbrecht has seen some land owners embrace coexistence. Something she and all the groups helping today want to see more of.

Approvals for this kind of thing take time, several years in this case.

I’m so very glad that Cows and Fish is on the scene. They understand in a very deep way why beavers matter on the landscape and will direct you to the right tools for coexistence.

Grant money helped buy supplies, but the labour — that’s all volunteer work.

Riparian specialist Kerri O’Shaughnessy with Cows and Fish used the opportunity to teach the volunteers how it’s done.

As an added bonus, her crash-course will help get the Bragg Creek pond-leveller installed

“We’re doing it as a workshop and a learning opportunity for some interested like-minded organizations that are looking to do similar things in coexisting with beavers wherever they’re working,” she said.

They bend the fence into shape, cut sharp ends off, more bending. Once all the pieces are ready, the contraption is walked to the water, and waded into place.

“So once it’s in, if all goes well, we’re not going to see it at all, it’s gonna be underwater and it’ll be sort of like a permanent leak through the dam,” she said. “That is going to be good for beaver habitat, fish habitat as well as help mitigate the road issue.”

Hurray for long term solutions and hurray for Cows and Fish.  I remember being impressed with them from the very start and they do not dissappoint

One last thing to get us in the mood for tomorrow;s women’s world cup. The country of Jon’s birth will be playing Spain and it will by all accounts be an astounding game. Spain is a dynamo, but when I watch the stately England Lioness back line dominate the ball I am reminded of the word “regal” so I was very delighted to see this:

Holnicote beaver named after England Lioness Mary Earps