Yesterday saw the successful completion of the very first beaver conference on the Eastern seaboard. Congratulations to Mike Callahan and Scott McGill for having the courage and fortitude to make it happen. And congratulations to all the incredible speakers and participants. By all accounts this was an event that deserves repeating, and it made a big difference to a big section of the country.
Our correspondent Doug Noble will have an summary to share soon but sent a slide show in the meantime we can just say HURRAY for a job well done! I know right about this time at the Oregon conference I’m starting to feel a little sick of beavers, so I hope they all have some great hikes or netflix to unwind with. The English folks are visiting the Smithsonian today, so that will be an excellent way to de-beaver.
On the western front we were very excited also to receive our souvenir ‘towels’ for the festival. They came out so lovely and are a very sturdy vintage look fabric., Amazingly, the company that made them is in Nashville, Tennessee ‘Canvastry’ – the very city that was hit by the horrible Tornado the morning the towels arrived! The man I worked with assured me that everyone in the company and their business was safe but many had lost power due to the event. He said it was a small price to pay when 24 of their neighbors were killed!
You can pick yours up at the festival. No kitchen is complete without one. Or two.
Now for the column out of Mississippi today that deserves a little bit of our attention. I would complain that it takes such a long time to consider anything positive about beaver but given where its from I think we have to cut Brad a lot of slack. I don’t think I’ve ever ready any good news about beavers from Mississippi. This is a first,
The road covers roughly one mile from the gate to the field. Familiar, yet ever-changing, the stretch of land that I have walked hundreds of times contains a beaver pond that is a small ecosystem in itself. To me, the tract is more than part of a tree farm or hunting land. It is a living place where decisions can have lasting impact.
My immediate thought was that these pests needed to be removed. After all, their recent industrious engineering efforts had led to the water that was now flowing over the road, thus eroding it in several spots.
The mission was clear–get the water off the road before more damage occurred. However, standing atop one of the dams I found myself wondering what positive impact these bucktoothed ecosystem engineers were having on the land? What role did they play?
Lets get this in contect: 150 people were meeting at that very moment and had flown for thousands of miles specifically to talk about the many, many, many, answers to that very question. Couldn’t Brad know something about that? We all start somewhere. He was inspired by watching “The Biggest Little Farm”
In the documentary the Chesters discovered that the coyotes were actually keeping the gopher and rabbit population in check which benefitted their orchards and crops. What benefit, other than the wood ducks, were the beavers having?
Back home, I began my beaver research in an effort to “seek to understand.” According to Dr. Jessica Tegt of the Mississippi State University Extension Service, “Beaver ponds supply feeding and breeding areas for many species of waterfowl, reptiles, bats, birds, and insects. They provide essential edges and forest openings, create productive bottomland forest and supply moist-soil habitats for vegetation and wildlife.”
Isn’t this exciting? He’s on the actual CUSP of starting to understand something profound about beavers. We’ve all been there. I remember my own cusp lo these many years ago. Can I just say, too bad he’s in the Magnolia State? Not to be dismissive but that is one hard place to find answers.
Clearly, beavers provide benefits, but they also cause damage. Jim Miller of the MSU Extension Service recommends trapping as the most effective method of reducing beaver damage. However, again it seems balance is key.
According to Miller, “Diligence and persistence is necessary for landowners to keep beaver damage at a tolerable level.” To me, that says strike a balance, find a way to live with them and limit the damage they cause.
So, what to do? I found several options to keep the beavers from clogging the culvert. I will start there. Will we trap again?
Brad needs us. Brad needs answers, If he keeps watching the pond he’ll find out ‘why’ to save beavers. But he’ll needs some help with the ‘how’. You can email Brad and tell him all about what we learned about how and why to live with beavers at: braddye@comcast.net.
Perhaps, however, we will do it with a goal of maintaining balance and limiting damage, not elimination . I’ll keep you updated on how these coexistence efforts work out. I look forward to seeing you out there in our great outdoors.
This brilliant animal essay is from artist Ricardo Levin Morales. You can access his work here. The entire series is wonderfully helpful and reassuring.
Russian artist 
n’t you see these women at the beaver festival? They’re all there, men too. I don’t think I know a better way to spend a life.
UPDATE: Four fishers were released Thursday afternoon and “ran away really well” into habitat around Bedal Campground, about 15 miles southeast of Darrington, said Jeff Lewis, lead biologist on the program with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. 
