Category: Attitudes towards beavers

BEAVERS TO RESTORE PARADISE

Bob Kobres Attitudes towards beavers, Beaver News, Beavers, beavers and community, Beavers and Wetlands, In the News, Urban beavers March 22, 2023

London’s New Rewilding Project Includes Plans To Reintroduce Beavers To The Capital

London soon may soon be the place to be for those hoping to catch sight of beavers working at Paradise Fields in Greenford.

By JACK SADDLER, SECRET LONDON

Should you ever wish to travel back to the times of the Tudors in London, you’ll probably notice significantly more folks on horseback and rows of half-timbered houses. It also will beam you to a time where beavers could be seen scuttling around riverbanks, doing their dam thing.

Sadly, the rodents were eventually hunted to extinction for their fur and meat, but after more than 400 years, it looks like the ~~boys~~ beavers are back in town.

Come this Autumn, London will have its first beaver habitat that’s accessible to the public, when Paradise Fields in Greenford welcomes a breeding pair, who will arrive alongside their kits (infants).

It comes—handily, on World Rewilding Day!—as part of major plans to rewild London, with conservation groups receiving nearly £40,000 in funding from City Hall to create this habitat for beavers.

Canal boots and footbridge near Paradise Fields in Greenford (Image: PawelByl, Shutterstock)

Eventually, this area will become a ‘beaver safari’ for visitors to view the rodents, who are known for their vegetarian diet and their dam-building prowess. It is hoped that this skill will be useful to quell flooding in England made worse by climate change.

Beaver enthusiasts may recall some talk of beavers arriving in London last year as part of rewilding plans, and they were, in fact, introduced in Enfield. Sadly, the male beaver – who was named Justin Beaver (!) and arrived alongside his partner, Sigourney (!!) – passed away due to natural causes three months into the rewilding scheme.

A second beaver is said to have been welcomed at Forty Hall farm in north London, though Paradise Fields in Greenford will welcome more beavers as part of this first ‘beaver safari’ later this year. This safari is part of a new wetland planned in Ealing by Citizen Zoo, Ealing Wildlife Group, Ealing Council and Friends of Horsenden Hill.

In a press release, Nick Swallow, Citizen Zoo Fundraising Operations Officer, said: “Across Europe and North America, beavers are known to thrive alongside urban communities.

“…We hope to challenge the perceptions of Londoners and demonstrate how London too, can embrace these ecosystem engineers as we strive for a healthier, wilder future in which our Capital can become a leader in urban rewilding, which will greatly benefit not only wildlife populations but local communities too.”

“We’re cleaning up our city, re-establishing lost species and reconnecting people and nature as we build a greener, fairer city for all Londoners.”

Read the whole piece

Property owners in Muskoka responsible for beaver dam damages

Beavers can have positive impacts — and negatives ones — on your land

By Brent Cooper, Gravenhurst Banner

Cliff Samson has a love-hate relationship with his “neighbours” along Pigeon Creek.

“Behind my property here, I’ve got a nice pond creek that’s running all year, and I’ve got all kinds of animals and whatnot for the past, probably seven years.”

Then one day in the past few years, his “neighbours” moved in … or more precisely, beavers began to build homes and dams on the creek, and according to Samson, there are some good points of having these industrious critters nearby.

“What ends up happening is that there’s a natural waterfall down at the other end and in the summer months, when it’s dry, there’s no water coming over that. Without the beaver dam at this end, all my water would drain out, and I would basically have a marsh behind my house with no water in it. But because of the beaver dam, it keeps water here all the time. And as a result, I’ve got wildlife here all the time.”

While the beavers do allow Samson and his family to enjoy regular visits by various wildlife caused by the flowing water, the situation does come with some overflow issues.

According to the Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry, it is illegal to damage or destroy a beaver dam unless specifically exempted through the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act, such as for the removal of dams to protect private property.

“When a landowner elects to remove a beaver dam, the landowner or agent must exercise extreme caution to prevent downstream flooding, damage to natural habitats and property damage,” said Amanda Vincent, resource management co-ordinator for the ministry.

So what should a property owner do if they spot a beaver dam on their property that could cause infrastructure damage?

The ministry said property owners can make the area uninviting for beavers by planting vegetation that beavers don’t like, such as elderberry, ninebark and twinberry; wrapping individual trees in metre-high, galvanized welded wire fencing, hardware cloth or multiple layers of chicken wire; or painting tree trunks with a sand and paint mix to protect trees from beaver damage.

One can also hire an experienced trapper or wildlife technician to properly remove the beavers from the region. [But we’ll be back!]

In cases of flooding due to a blocked waterway or culvert, some experts recommend using a beaver deceiver, a structure that utilizes a plastic culvert and heavy-duty fencing installed in the beaver dam, allowing water to drain to a lower level.

Read the whole piece

Bob

Learning from Beaver

Bob Kobres Attitudes towards beavers, Beavers, Educational, Environmental, History March 20, 2023

Introduction to Ecology: Draw a Beaver Pond Inquiry **Activity + STEM project**

LOCAL COLUMN: Beavers are the original stormwater engineers

By Joe Carter, DVM | For The Transcript

Are you looking for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education, storm water management and a role model?

I offer you the beaver!

Within sight of the lights of Owen Field lies a beaver’s dam. What a learning opportunity for Norman’s children.

You want more engineers? I can’t think of a better teacher than a beaver. They are one of the smartest animals we know. Construction management is no problem for them. They are the original “design and build” construction company.

You want a role model?

Beavers mate for life and are fiercely loyal to their families along with being very protective. “Tail slapping” against the water’s surface is an indication to their family that danger is approaching.

You want a hard worker?

“Busy as a beaver” as the old saying goes. A harder worker hasn’t been made. They start early and finish late.

A grand park along the Canadian River with a nature center and an outdoor classroom would give students a unique learning environment.

So how does a beaver build a dam?

Phase 1: They drop trees in a stream resulting in the water slowing down.

Phase 2: Then they gather branches, sticks and rocks in their mouths and swim out to the felled trees. Using their front paws, they start plugging holes constructing a dam that slows the flow of the stream. It creates a pond behind the dam.

They build their houses, called lodges, in the water. The dams create ponds that slow the water down (this is the central theme of todays column #payattention) so it doesn’t wash away their house. Good idea, eager beaver.

Here’s another good idea of the beaver. They build their lodges with underwater entrances. Predators have a tougher time getting to them this way i.e., they have to hold their breath and swim underwater. There aren’t many beaver predators that are snorkelers. I can only think of one. Us!

Beavers are always thinking ahead.

They manipulate their environment in order to survive. Again, very cleaver eager beaver.

Beavers love willow branches and will store them at the bottom of their pond for winter eating. Beavers don’t want to venture far in the winter to gather food since they are targets for all those hungry predators.

Beavers are herbivores, meaning they only eat plants.

Beavers are the original stormwater engineers. Shawn O’Leary, Norman’s public works director, gave a lecture once about stormwater. He said, “the number one principle to remember about stormwater/rain runoff management is — SLOW IT DOWN.” Fast water erodes the land, floods our streets and muddies our drinking water.

Beavers were designed for stormwater management. They are nature’s stormwater mitigator. Beaver dams are like speed bumps in creeks. They improve water quality by allowing pollutants to settle purifying dirty runoff water.

Beaver ponds also lessen the damage from droughts. They hold water for thirsty animals to drink. They are a natural filtration system, slowing down the water as it moves down stream.

Beaver dams create wetlands that are critical habitats for thousands of other species of animals. Birds, amphibians, fish and aquatic insects all benefit from the hard-working beaver.

Read the whole piece.

Some more building history:

LaVO: Historic dam builders on the comeback trail

Carl LaVO Special to Bucks County Courier Times

My youngest sister, Deb, and I were hiking remote trails in the Dolly Sods region of West Virginia’s Allegheny Mountains when we happened upon something we’d never seen before. A massive wooden dam the length of a football field and intricately laced with twigs and small logs. It was so sturdy we explored it. It was the work of nature’s busiest mammals. Beavers.

Nature’s engineers are no strangers to Bucks County. They helped define its early history until hunted to extinction. Lenape Indians named streams for them — “amochkhannes”. That’s “amoch” for beaver and “khannes” for creeks. Tongue-tangled English settlers figured out the meaning. “Oh, beaver . . . beaver creek!” they declared. The translation endured for the longest at 11 miles in Nockamixon and Tinicum townships.

Amochkhannes were just about everywhere. On tributaries draining the Great Swamp below Quakertown, the plateau between Ottsville and the Delaware River in Upper Bucks and lowland streams of Central and Lower Bucks. Beaver ponds provided drinking water for livestock, places to fish and a natural means of flood control. It seemed the perfect symbiosis between humans and beavers. What’s more, the critters love working the dreadful night shift.

By the 1700s, a beaver holocaust was underway. European tailors couldn’t keep up with demand for the soft, furry pelts to make top hats and felt-trimmed haute couture.

Photo taken in 1886 of beaver fur top hats in North Dakota (public domain)

Discovery of “castoreum” from beaver sex glands also became a key ingredient in perfume.

An 1811 beaver derived French perfume (public domain)

When the source of beavers dried up in Russia, furriers turned to an endless supply in North America. Indians and immigrant trappers raced to feed the market. Slaughter of beavers was relentless.

Hunters earned $4 a pelt. In today’s currency, that would be $80. A hunter could earn $4,000 for the typical 50-pelt haul.

Uncontrolled harvesting exterminated beavers from Pennsylvania and most Eastern states. A miracle saved those left in North America when beaver fur fell out of fashion. The hunts subsided. The hunts subsided. By the 20th century, citizens began realizing the animals’ environmental benefits. “Today this aquatic fur bearer is back,” declared the Pennsylvania Game Commission last year.

I’d say “Hurray! The best dam engineers are back! Don’t damn them for their fur ever again!”

Read the whole piece.

Bob

Beavers Present Challenges, Get Shot, and Inspire a New Job Description

Bob Kobres Attitudes towards beavers, Beaver ecological impact, Beaver Rehabilitation, Beavers, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and Scotland March 18, 2023

Busy Beavers Present Challenges Close to Areas with Human Activity

By Wendy Greenberg, Town Topics

A volunteer at **Friends of Princeton Open Space** (FOPOS) paints a latex paint and sand mixture on trees to prevent damage at Pettoranello Gardens.

A robust area beaver population provides an ecological benefit, but also presents challenges to open spaces, as the beavers’ sharp teeth can fell a variety of trees, sometimes causing flooding in urbanized areas.

While damming streams to create ponds for building away from human activity can result in more ecological growth by providing a healthier riparian buffer and bird habitat, chewing on softwood and hardwood tree species where human activity and infrastructure are present has been problematic, according to Friends of Princeton Open Space (FOPOS), a longtime nonprofit group that supports space for preservation and protecting natural resources. This activity has occurred in Pettoranello Gardens, and more recently in adjoining Mountain Lakes Preserve.

A solution may have been found, balancing the interests of the beavers, the habitat, and humans. That solution — a pond leveler and tree protection — has seemed to deter the beavers, said Cindy Taylor, open space manager for the municipality.

“We’ve had some success,” Taylor said of a pond leveling project. “It seems to deter them [the beavers], but not 100 percent. We’re still testing and experimenting with the paint/sand ratio (as a tree protector) and we’re observing and learning as we go. We’ll continue to observe and take a population count when possible.”

The tree damage seems to have decreased as well. “We saw a lot less tree damage during fall/winter 2022-2023 as compared to fall/winter 2021-2022,” she said. “I do visit in the late afternoons to look for activity, but haven’t seen active individuals recently to get an idea of a population count.”

While beavers nearly disappeared from New Jersey in the early 1900s, their population has increased due to legislative protections and trapping limitations, according to FOPOS.

. . .

FOPOS became involved when the staffs in the municipal departments of Animal Control, Public Health, Recreation, Public Works, Open Space, and Engineering reviewed possible options for managing the situation. Trapping and humanely killing or trapping and relocating the beaver were rejected, said Taylor. Taylor was familiar with pond levelers — devices designed to prevent pond flooding — and identified companies that provide and install them. “It offered the possibility of allowing the beavers to live their lives without causing further flood damage,” she said.

The pond leveler that was installed is designed to prevent beavers from disrupting the flow of water over the spillway at Pettoranello Pond, and will result in the pond controlled at a safe level.

In addition to the flooding, Taylor noted that the other concern that needed to be addressed was the felling of trees along the edge of the pond that anchor the shoreline and help maintain water quality by serving as a barrier against runoff, a concern which had spread to the lake shore in adjoining Mountain Lakes Preserve as well. Taylor said she was most concerned with maintaining trees around the edge of the pond for shade, with an approach that protects the trees rather than removing the beavers.

Anna Corichi, FOPOS’ director of natural resources and stewardship, said that FOPOS volunteers have painted trees with a mixture of latex paint and sand, a recommended technique. Caging the trees with wire fencing is also an option, but takes away from the aesthetic.

“We did start mitigating the trees that surround Pettoranello Pond and Mountain Lake to discourage the beaver from felling trees,” Corichi said in a press release. “The painting started at Pettoranello last spring, and at Mountain Lake when beaver activity was observed last fall. We’ve also caged some larger trees at Mountain Lake that are too labor-intensive to paint.”

“Whether in the riparian zone or not, our interest is in preserving trees and their ability to store carbon, and as much forested habitat with as much connectivity as possible,” Corichi continued. “We’re a nature preserve and our mission is to support wildlife and preserve their habitat, and if not here, where is there a better place for beaver to make a home?”

Read the whole article here

Fig the beaver fights back to health after botched shooting

By Richard Baynes, The Ferret

A beaver named Fig is recovering after a member of the public found him on a Scottish roadside with bullet wounds from a botched shooting.

The distressed animal had been shot in the face, damaging his vital upper incisors – which beavers use to gnaw down the tree stems they eat – and peppering him with shrapnel.

Fresh calls have been made by conservationists to tighten up the rules around the culling of beavers, as a result of Fig’s injuries.

The SSPCA has not revealed exactly where Fig was found, but said they found the dazed animal wandering on a Perthshire roadside. The River Tay area has a growing population of beavers descended from animals unlawfully released or escaped, and more than 1,000 of them live in the wild in Scotland.

Fig has been recovering at the SSPCA’s National Wildlife Centre near Alloa in Clackmannanshire, and his teeth have grown back as their roots were undamaged – beaver teeth continually renew as they are worn down. A new home in the wild is being organised for him in an area where there are no licences to shoot beavers in place.

Read the whole article here

Finally, a position focused on Beaver!:

Amphibian and Beaver Field Technician; Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, Wyoming

Background: Beavers are ecosystem engineers capable of creating habitat for many other organisms, including amphibians. After being extensively hunted and trapped in the 1800s, beaver populations are increasing, and land managers are interested in the role of beaver reintroduction as a tool for stream and wetland restoration. Long-term amphibian monitoring programs in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem have identified positive relationships between beaver activity and amphibian occupancy and colonization rates. This technician will work with a University of Wyoming graduate student to survey beaver and non-beaver wetlands in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park for amphibians, collect environmental DNA samples, and collect tissue samples for DNA extraction.

Location: This position is based out of Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming. Housing will be provided for the field technician at the UW-NPS Research Station. The technician can expect regular days off to explore the parks and surrounding areas. Occasional camping may be required.

But it’s not for the timid:

Qualified applicants will have the willingness and ability to work long hours (including weekends and holidays) and be flexible with their schedule, as work hours will be determined by weather and collaborators’ schedules. Applicants must also be able to tolerate harsh field conditions (heat/cold, wind, rain, biting insects, mud, etc.), pay extreme attention to detail, and meet high standards of animal care. Interest in the research, a strong work ethic, and the ability to conduct meticulous data collection are most important. Priority will be given to individuals currently enrolled in or recently graduated from an ecology, wildlife biology, or related program with past field experience. Qualified applicants need a valid driver’s license with a clean driving record. The ideal candidate will have experience working long days outdoors and possess Wilderness First Aid, or Wilderness First Responder certification. Experience working in bear country is also beneficial.

Full details here.

Bob

Heidi & Mitch tell the tale of the Martinez Beavers!

Bob Kobres Attitudes towards beavers, Beaver Behavior, Beaver News, Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, Friends of Martinez Beavers, History, In the News, Urban beavers March 16, 2023

Linksploration – Bay Area

Exploring the many paths to a greener future

Beavers! They’re baaack! Beavers are amazing animals. Hear about their incredible physiology, Heidi Perryman and Mitch Avalon relate the story of the Martinez beavers, and what’s next for them in the Bay Area.

Click to listen in a new tab.

Show notes

Moving in on Motor City.

Beavers reclaim land in southeast Michigan

Marina Johnson, Detroit Free Press

Over the past decade, beaver populations have returned to southeast Michigan in places such as Belle Isle, Stony Island, the Conner Creek Power Plant and other places along the Detroit River.

Why did beaver populations decline?
When settlers moved into metro Detroit, beaver trapping for the fur trade was plentiful, eliminating much of the population. The existence of this species was almost wiped out due to 300 years of trapping and trading. Along with trapping, industrialization and habitat loss pushed beavers out of the area and they were last reported in 1877 as a result, said Great Lakes Now.

When did beavers return to the area?
Beavers were first reported back in the area in 2008, according to Friends of the Rouge. For the first time in over 100 years, beavers gnawed away at trees and built damns near Conners Creek Power Plant. Since then, beaver sightings in the Detroit and Rouge Rivers aren’t uncommon and continues to increase.

But not necessarily welcome throughout.

Are beavers good for urbanized areas?
The DNR has beavers categorized as nuisance wildlife due to damage caused in urban and industrialized areas. They often gnaw on trees and their damns cause flooding and problems for homeowners. The DNR does offer trapping services and permits for those impacted in certain areas.

Cooley wrote the DNR is given a difficult hand because they want beavers around but not at the expense of someone’s property.

“Beaver in residential areas typically lead to problems, it’s their nature to back up and flood a waterway to create a pond,” he wrote. “Up North or out in the country, they can do that and it doesn’t impact anyone, most people would never even know it happened. However, down here in southeast Michigan if they back up a drain or a river, it is eventually going to flood someone’s yard and possibly impact their house.”

Read the whole article here.

Better acceptance in Cropton:

Cropton Forest beaver project by Forestry England proving successful

A trial project that’s re-introduced beavers to a forest in North Yorkshire is going from strength to strength as it enters its final year.

By Leigh Jones, The Northern Echo

The Cropton Forest beaver project, which saw two beavers released on enclosed land upstream of Sinnington in April 2019, has been credited with helping to reduce the flood risk for the village and for transforming the ecology of the area for the good.

The five year project, which is overseen by Forestry England, hopes to examine the impact of re-introducing beavers to the wild in England after they were hunted to extinction in the sixteenth century. It’s one of a number of pilots across the UK which have support from a number of organisations including the RSPB.

Ecologist Cath Bashforth next to a beaver dam at Cropton Forest in North Yorkshire. The beavers in the pilot scheme at the enclosure have “far exceeded” her expectations. (Image: Forestry England)

At the centre of the North Yorkshire beavers’ habitat is an enormous 70m long dam that the original beavers have built over the years alongside the kits that they’ve had since being re-introduced to the area four years ago.

Ecologist Cath Bashforth, who leads the project, said that the pilot has “far exceeded what we expected.

“We never expected such a dramatic impact in such a short space of time.”

In terms of the dramatic impact, the slowing of water flow through the site helps protect downstream areas from flooding, however the beavers’ presence has a knock on effect in many areas surrounding their habitat.

“At the start of the trial we had some fantastic volunteers who helped us take a baseline biodiversity survey to examine what impact the beavers would have,” says Cath.

The view of the enormous beaver dam in Cropton Forest from above. (Image: Forestry England)

Having built their enormous dam along with five or six smaller ones Cath is optimistic that the beavers will be able to stay in North Yorkshire on conclusion of the pilot scheme.

As the project looks to reach its conclusion in a little over a year, the fate of the beavers presently on site remains undecided.

Read the whole article here.

And you might want to add this to your calendar:

Posted on The Ukiah Daily Journal

Peregrine Audubon Society to present The Beaver Believers program

Peregrine Audubon Society Program will be hosting a zoom presentation on Tuesday, March 21 at 7 p.m. featuring The Beaver Believers hosted by Sarah Koenigsberg of the Beaver Coalition.

In this film, we follow our Beaver Believers out into some truly spectacular landscapes of the interior West, from the east slopes of the Cascade mountains in Washington to the Rockies in Colorado, from the parched red rock deserts of southern Utah to an urban park in central California.

We take you to places where beaver have already begun to transform damaged watersheds, and we learn of the many challenges that stand in the way of larger scale efforts to use beaver as a restoration tool, including trapping, which is tragically still legal in most states.

Perhaps most importantly, we meet incredible people who, undaunted by climate change, are working tirelessly to protect and restore beaver out on the landscape, who embody the spirit and joy that comes from “thinking like a beaver,” who show us that collaboration and watershed restoration truly are possible. All we have to do is let the beaver come home.

The coalition is dedicated to strategically advancing a paradigm shift in society’s relationship with beaver. Learn more at beavercoalition.org

Lastly, from Unofficial Networks:

The cute video that the image above is taken from is by nature photographer Nick Sulzer.

Bob

Not surprisingly, Beavers shown to preserve biodiversity in Poland as well! Plus a new annual Beaver Festival!

Bob Kobres Attitudes towards beavers, Beaver Art, Beaver economics, Beaver News, Beavers, Beavers and climate change, Beavers and Culvert Protection, Beavers and Flooding, Eager: book review, Festival March 14, 2023

From: The Revelator

Nature’s Supermarket: How Beavers Help Birds — And Other Species

New research shows that these ecosystem engineers can be an “ally in stopping the decline of biodiversity.”

by Tara Lohan

Researchers in Poland have found another reason to love beavers: They benefit wintering birds.

The rodents, once maligned as destructive pests, have been getting a lot of positive press lately. And for good reason. Beavers are ecosystem engineers. As they gather trees and dam waterways, they create wetlands, increase soil moisture, and allow more light to reach the ground. That drives the growth of herbaceous and shrubby vegetation, which benefits numerous animals.

Bats, who enjoy the buffet of insects found along beaver ponds, are among the beneficiaries. So too are butterflies who come for the diversity of flowering plants in the meadows beavers create.

Some previous research has found that this helping hand also extends to birds. For example, a 2008 study in the western United States showed that the vegetation that grows along beaver-influenced streams provided needed habitat for migratory songbirds, many of whom are in decline.

Pile of branches of beaver dam in green wetland. — A beaver dam in Bierbza Marshes, Poland. Photo: Francesco Veronesi (CC BY-SA 2.0)

The new study published in the journal Forest Ecology and Management found further evidence by focusing on birds in winter. The researchers looked at assemblages of wintering birds on 65 beaver sites and 65 reference sites in a range of temperate forest habitat across Poland. Winter can be a challenging time for birds in that environment, as they need to reduce energy expenditures in the cold weather and find habitat that has high-quality food and roosting sites.

Wintering birds, it turns out, find those qualities near beaver habitat.

The researchers found a greater abundance of birds and more species richness near areas where beavers had modified waterways. Both were highest closest to the shores of beaver ponds.

“All beaver-induced modifications of the existing habitat may have influence on bird assemblage,” says Michal Ciach, a study co-author and a professor in the department of Forest Biodiversity at the University of Agriculture in Krakow, Poland. “But different bird species may rely on different habitat traits that emerge due to beaver activity. It’s like a supermarket.”

Beaver crouched by water's edge. — The Eurasian beaver. Photo: Per Harald Olsen/NTNU (CC BY 2.0)

The growing research about beavers suggests a greater need to protect their habitat and understand their important role in the ecosystem.

“Beaver sites should be treated as small nature reserves,” says Ciach. “The beaver, like no other species, is our ally in stopping the decline of biodiversity.”

Read the whole article here.

A more practical and peaceful strategy emerging in the land know for beaver!/?

Dam nuisance: St. Albert explores beaver-habitat flood mitigation

The City of St. Albert is upping its engineering-ante in an ongoing duel with the local beaver population by installing some new water infrastructure safeguards over the next few years.

By Jack Farrell at the St. Albert Gazette

The City of St. Albert plans to add a couple of new tools to its water-management tool belt over the next few years to counteract problems caused by the local beaver population.

Melissa Logan, the city’s environmental coordinator, said staff will install pond levellers in high-priority spots throughout Carrot Creek and the Sturgeon River, starting this summer.

Unbeknownst to the estimated 16 individual beavers who call these rivers home, pond levellers allow water to flow through dams to prevent flooding, Logan said.

“The pond levellers you can put right in the middle of a dam and it will keep the water flowing through so that we don’t get flooding, but still allow the beaver to create some of the habitat that it needs,” she said.

“It’s just a method of coexisting with beavers on the landscape instead of getting rid of them entirely.”

0903-beaver-management — City staff are getting some new tools to counteract regular infrastructure damage caused by the estimated 16 local beavers. FILE/Photo

“Best-case scenario is that beavers are still able to be active on the landscape and do their natural water management,” Logan said of what she hopes the new tools will accomplish.

“Protection of our infrastructure in the long term is really what we’re looking for.”

Logan said staff will install the tools in high-priority areas this summer, and in lower priority areas over the next few years.

Major cost savings

Glynnis Hood, an environmental biology and ecology professor at the University of Alberta’s Augustana campus in Camrose and author of The Beaver Manifesto (2011), told The Gazette she has seen pond levellers save municipalities thousands of dollars.

“There’s cost savings, there’s ecological advantages, (and) there’s infrastructure advantages for reducing maintenance needs,” said Hood.

“For instance, in Cooking Lake-Blackfoot, we installed about 13 (pond levellers) and then we monitored them over seven years. The maintenance that was required … was maybe pull a few sticks out here and there and they worked really well,” she said.

“The cost savings was in the tens of thousands of dollars, and if we added on some other economic drivers … it could even be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars of cost savings just for those 13 sites that otherwise have been chronically flooded for over 10 years.”

Hood said pond levellers, culvert protectors, and other beaver-damage mitigation can improve how people in the community view their neighbourhood beavers.

Beavers as extreme-weather mitigators

As part of an ongoing five-year project, Hood and Dr. Cherie Westbrook from the University of Saskatchewan are studying how beavers and their dams might help mitigate extreme climate events, such as floods and droughts.

“Over 60 per cent of the beaver dams actually held even in the 2013 flood that devastated Calgary and downstream areas,” she said. “Many of the beaver dams were only partially breached or didn’t breach at all.”

“They actually played a role in holding back some of that floodwater or at least delayed or slowed its downstream flow.”

Hood said it’s too early to say definitively if beaver dams could be a significant tool during extreme-weather events in Alberta, but current data and modelling looks promising.

“In climate change, you’re going to get more extreme-weather events, like these big rainfall events, but you’re also going to get drought, and beavers (might) play a role in a natural and nature-based solution for some of these things.”

To learn more about beavers and, as Logan described, their unmatched water management engineering ability, Hood was recently featured in a TED-Talk YouTube video.

Read the whole article here.

Sadly, sometimes beaver fall victim to flooding as well:

Winter storms hurt Central Coast beaver populations

KCBX | By Gabriela Fernandez, Benjamin Purper

The recent winter storms on the Central Coast didn’t just affect humans — they’ve also damaged the habitat of the local beaver population.

Audrey Taub is the Executive Director of the SLO Beaver Brigade, who describe themselves as “beaver advocates.” It’s a group of local biologists, science enthusiasts and community members who educate people about the rodents and the role they play in our ecosystem.

While talking and teaching about beavers is often a joyful experience, Taub said there has been some sad news recently about local beaver populations.

“The big rains pretty much washed everything out. This particular storm definitely displaced them,” Taub said.

“We found one dead juvenile. So they really can’t live on their own until they’re at least two. So these one-year-olds just didn’t have a chance.”

The SLO Beaver Brigade helped paint, “The Beaver Mural” on a local coffee shop they meet at once a week.

Taub said after the heavy rain, local beavers will have to rebuild their dams in places like streams and ponds. She said it’s not clear how long that will take, but she’s “excited for the whole community to watch the ponds develop,” Taub said.

Beavers play a major role in fighting climate change by building dams, which helps create and restore wetlands.

That’s important, because it’s estimated that globally, wetlands can store about 190 million cars’ worth of emissions every year.

Cooper Lienhart is the SLO Beaver Brigade’s Restorations Director.

“I used to think we would engineer our way out of the problem and make synthetic trees to suck CO2 back out of the atmosphere. But yeah, I learned that wetlands are [the] most efficient land ecosystem at absorbing and storing CO2,” Lienhart said.

Last week the SLO Beaver Brigade received the California Coastal Commission’s WHALE TAIL grant. Taub and Lienhart said the money will be used to offer educational tours, river cleanups, and translations for Spanish-speakers interested in learning about beavers.

More information on the emissions-fighting rodents is online at slobeaverbrigade.com.

Read the whole article here.
And there is more news from the SLO Beaver Brigade: The First Annual SLO County Beaver Festival!

Beaver Festival Info:
The SLO Beaver Brigade invites eager beavers of all ages to the First Annual SLO County Beaver Festival on Saturday April 1 in SLO Mission Plaza from 10 am to 3 pm. Kids are welcome and encouraged to come learn about beavers with us! The festival will be a celebration of our local beavers with live music, speakers, food and drink, educational displays, crafts and games, and local booths
Why do we celebrate beavers? Because we see them as climate change superheroes! Beavers build dams in our creeks and rivers, turning them into lush wetlands. This SLOWS the water down, allowing it to SPREAD out and SINK into our aquifers (slow it, spread it, sink it)! Not only does this help us in droughts, but their wetlands also create refuge from wildfires. Come join us on April 1st to learn about all this and more at our first ever SLO Beaver Festival.

And for the last bit of news, there is a very lively and informative interview with Ben Goldfarb by Taya Jae at The Pen and The Sword.