LIFE IS BETTER WITH BEAVERS

This was a fine study to emerge yesterday. No one at all should be surprised, but we can all bask in the glow of having it prove exactly what we all knew it would.

Study shows beavers had a big influence on how people in the Stone Age lived

For thousands of years, beavers had a big influence on the Dutch ecosystem and the people that lived there. This is the conclusion of research by archaeologist Nathalie Brusgaard. The rodents were used for food, clothing and tools, and created a landscape hospitable to many other species.

Together with fellow archaeologist Shumon Hussain (Aarhus University), Brusgaard analyzed previous excavations in the Netherlands, southern Scandinavia, the Baltic region and Russia. These showed that beavers were a much larger part of the human diet and landscape of northern Europe than had previously been thought.

Hunter-gatherers hunted beavers in the Middle and Late Stone Age for their meat, fur and castoreum, and used their bones and teeth to make tools. Beavers were one of the most common mammals at some archaeological sites in the Netherlands according to research recently published in The Holocene.

According to Brusgaard, the beavers created a diverse ecosystem. They change the water level in their habitat so the entrance to their lodge is flooded but they can sleep in the dry. To achieve this, they need the water at a certain level, which they control by building dams.

Other organisms, such as fish, waterfowl and certain plants, benefit from the resulting landscape. “Beavers create a lot of dynamism in a forest, which is good for biodiversity. At archaeological sites where there were many beaver traces, there were also many traces of otters, wild boar, pike, perch and carp. These species thrive in the ecosystem that beavers create.”

Do get that? For thousands of years primitive man found life better and more comfortable and more rewarding when they were beavers around, not just to dress up in their furs or carve things with their teeth but because they were actively making the world better for a million other species which they were going to use later.

Life is better with beavers. Say it with me now.

The research suggests that people liked to live in these “beaver landscapes” because of the presence of food and resources. “We suspect that hunter-gatherers benefited from the rich biodiversity that beavers created.” It is clear from traces on bone remains that people ate beavers. Research on beaver skulls shows that hunters killed them with a blow to the head, presumably to avoid damaging the fur to ensure it could still be used. Beaver jaws and teeth were used to make woodworking tools.

Brusgaard’s research shows that humans benefitted from beavers for thousands of years. “We can learn lessons from the past. And we all benefit from a healthy ecosystem. We have to learn once again to live with beavers.”

Annnnd scene! I could not have said that better myself Nathalie…you have all my full endorsement. So by the time that we completely destroyed the population for greed, we already knew how important they were for thousands of years and decided to do it anyway,

Not a surprise.

THE RETURN OF THE BEAVERS

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Beaver Art October 15, 2023

I was thrilled to come across this yesterday. Make sure to watch it and share with all of your contacts. Then explain to me how it is this came out in May and I never saw it until now?

SONOMA WOULD LIKE BDAs – NOT Bs

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, BDA's October 14, 2023

We received word yesterday from the city of Martinez that we were awarded a grant for our next beaver festival, which is always nice to know. It’s like a legitimacy stamp on our forehead and gives us the courage to march forth another year. This article from Sonoma by Bill Lynch seems to imply their considering beaver wisdom as well.

Musings: Sonoma Valley beaver analogs coming?

I was happy to read in a recent edition of the Index-Tribune that the Sonoma Ecology Center and those concerned with Sonoma Valley’s groundwater sustainability are considering the merit of creating man-made beaver dams on Sonoma Creek as a way to help boost groundwater supplies and other benefits that come from having more water in our creeks.

I first wrote about this idea in May of 2017 after returning from Scott Valley, where the Scott River, a relatively small tributary of the Klamath River, meanders through an area that was once heavily mined for gold and is now mostly devoted to cattle ranching.

Of course you’re aware that having a discussion of the value of BDAs means that you’re quite naturally going to provoke a discussion of the actual BEAVERS themselves right? According to my records Sonoma has killed beavers about 12 times in the past decade and I’m not entirely sure you deserve BDAs until you fully commit yourself to the animals they might encourage.

While we were there for the fishing in the ponds, the property owners told us that they were working with a local organization to restore fishing in the nearby Scott River. They said that the river is slowly being brought back to life thanks to a small, but determined, group of local residents who formed the Scott River Watershed Council (SRWC) in 1992.

The river, which dried up during most summers like Sonoma Valley’s creeks do now, was no longer suitable for trout and salmon fry (nor are our creeks.)

The more I heard about the project, the more I wanted to learn.

Fortunately, Dottie and I were able to meet with Betsy Stapleton, local chairman of the SRWC. She told us that several years ago, the group began constructing “beaver dam analogs,” which are human-made structures that mimic natural beaver dams, store water and create habitat for all kinds of local species, including steelhead trout and Coho salmon. Over time, these natural-looking dams create pools where fish can survive.

I agree Betsy is admirable. She has done years of hard work trying to coaxe her neighbors to see the value of saving water by saving it’s stewards. In fact there’s even a movie about her…

Betsy took us to the river and showed us some of the work her group has done on the creek, including putting in dams. The results are impressive. The beaver analog dams are actually working. There’s lots of water and all that it supports, including fish in places that were once bone dry all summer.

Betsy said that she and the SRWC committee receive a lot of support from local residents, including the ranchers, who see the benefit of having a healthy watershed in their area.

They understand that these man-made virtual beaver dams are able to preserve large areas of fresh, clean water in which Coho and trout fry are surviving. Every season, the fish count goes up.

Just remember that there is just one thing that builds perfect BDAs over and over without grant money or fundraisers. And it has a flat tail.

It seems to me that our local grape growers would feel the same way about Sonoma Valley’s watershed. Fortunately, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Beaver analog dams have already been built in other places like Scott Valley, with measurable success. I hope this idea turns into real action here.

TED WILLIAMS DOESN’T LIKE BEAVERS

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers October 10, 2023

Some days it seems like we are racing to keep up with all the good beaver news and some days. well, are more like this: scarred by negative articles in which smart people say stupid things about beavers to a very gullible audience. Brace yourself…

OPINION: Are beavers always the answer? Not really.

Beavers, through their assiduous dam building, can recharge groundwater and provide habitat for fish and wildlife. In the Pacific Northwest, for example, managers are bringing back beaver as part of trout and salmon management.

“God bless beavers and their industrious nature,” writes Trout Unlimited’s Idaho-based Chris Hunt in Hatch magazine. “They make habitat for the fish we love, and opportunities to catch them.” True enough, in Idaho.

But the notion, ubiquitous in America, that all beavers everywhere are a panacea for what ails an ecosystem is misinformed. Yes, beavers are beneficial — in the right places.

For those of you playing along at home you should already be guessing who wrote this article and what comes next. Ted Williams is a revered writer about fly fishing and audubon and all things water. If you search for his name on this website you will find that he has given his opinions on beavers many times before…

Consider the debacle in Nevada. This from Kim Toulouse, the Nevada Department of Wildlife’s former conservation educator: “Historically, virtually every stream in the northern half of Nevada held some form of cutthroat trout. Additionally, many small-order streams also held native redband and bull trout. When the push started (for trout recovery) we discovered that many single-order streams were infested with heavy populations of beavers.

Infested? Great use of objective scientific language there Kim. How do you really feel about beavers? I’m not sure I can tell…

“Extremely high numbers of beaver dams on these systems led to loss of gene flow and precluded the ability of fish to move up and down these systems. Additionally, fish found it difficult to find suitable spawning grounds due to heavy siltation caused by the dams. The loss of riparian habitat led to erosion, more siltation, less shade, higher water temperatures, loss of native riparian vegetation, and establishment of noxious invasive plants.” So Nevada initiated major beaver control. But politicians, incited by the Humane Society of the U.S., shut it down.

Because you know what a crazy strong force THE HUMANE SOCIETY is in NEVADA for god sakes. They practically write the laws. I mean that’s the story we tell ourselves in my state of Massachusetts so Nevada must be exactly the same, right?

Beaver damage to Minnesota and Wisconsin trout streams is even worse. Fisheries managers have to hire Wildlife Services, a federal agency, to trap beavers and blow up dams. It’s expensive, so only a small percentage of streams can be salvaged.

And Trout Unlimited reports that in Minnesota’s Knife River watershed, “artificially high beaver numbers…threaten the survival of coldwater fisheries, as well as the health of the watershed and Lake Superior.” But an outfit ironically called “Advocates for the Knife River Watershed” is fighting to nix beaver control, circulating junk science and such fictions as “beaver have been totally eradicated in the whole Knife River valley — over 200 square miles.”

Oh my goodness. Those crazy beaver lovers are taking over the world. And how exactly are the high numbers of beavers artificial? Are you implying they were introduced?

California’s Silver King Creek watershed is the only refuge for threatened Paiute cutthroat trout, yet overpopulated beavers block migration and destroy habitat. It got so bad in Four-Mile Creek that Trout Unlimited volunteers had to reroute the stream.

If you were to look this up you’d find an article from trout unlimited which says that beavers are NOT NATIVE to the sierras and were INTRODUCED so they blocked all those cutthroat from getting around…NEVER MIND research…

“The biggest problem I see is that beavers move into an area that doesn’t have enough forage, and they abandon their dams,” said retired state fisheries biologist Bill Sommer. “When beavers leave, the dams blow out and that causes erosion.”

You mean the biggest problem is when beavers leave? Is that what you’re saying?

Aldo Leopold could grasp two realities about deer simultaneously. Were he still alive, he’d applaud Phil Monahan, who wrote this in Trout Unlimited’s Trout Magazine: “Many anglers see the beavers’ work as predominately destructive — turning a babbling trout stream into a slow-moving wetland, for instance. Wildlife biologists recognize that each of these ‘destructive’ effects has a flip side: situations in which that very same effect is beneficial to trout.

“After looking at all the data, then, the question, ‘Are beavers good or bad for trout streams?’ can be answered only with a definitive: ‘It depends.’”

It depends? Are you sure you want to leave it so open ended Ted? You haven’t said a single good thing about beavers yet so how exactly does it “Depend”? Of course never mind that deep pools made by the beavers don’t dry up in the summer or freeze in the winter. Just leave all that water business aside. Beavers are bad. You know it and only the supreme power of the humane society makes people like them.

Best part is that this article runs along side a photo of a nutria. Which I believe is fully illustrative of how much Ted Williams understands about this subject.