Category: Beaver Art

Ohio 1, Minnesota 0

heidi08 Beaver Art, Beaver-themed merchandise, Beavers, Beavers and Birds, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Environmental, Who's blaming beavers now?, Who's saving beavers now? November 22, 2022

Sharon Brown of Beavers: Wetlands and Wildlife sends this excellent story, which will be further reported in the next issue of Beaversprite.

Columbus, Ohio Metro Parks Installs a Beaver Flow Device

Using BWW’s “Coexisting…” DVD Staff at Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks, Ohio in December installed a beaver pipe system in a beaver dam to manage the water level and save some wetlands. When beavers moved into Glacier Ridge Park last year their dam restored valuable wetlands, but it also affected a drainage ditch that served private properties bordering the park. The new flexpipe system, based on plans from Beavers: Wetlands & Wildlife’s (BWW) “Coexisting with Beavers” DVD, allows a compromise that benefits both the beavers and the park’s neighbors. Now the water level can be managed—allowing the beaver dam and wetlands to remain.

Beaver activity is the major natural method of creating and maintaining freshwater wetlands,recently valued at $49,000/acre/year in terms of natural services.* About 90% of Ohio’s original wetlands had been drained by the 1980s, according to the U.S. EPA. In past decades, when beaver dams caused flooding of farms or roads, the animal engineers were eliminated. As beavers return to western Ohio, using flow devices to manage their ponds can help save newly restored wetlands.

Carrie Morrow, Assistant Resource Manager for Metro Parks who coordinated the pond leveler d project said, “many of the parts were available at our park maintenance shops. She added, “Our volunteer Richard Tuttle graciously shared the DVD with us and Andrew Boose, our Forest Ecologist and talented handyman, assembled and built the structure.” Boose was assisted by park technician Mike Bosworth. The dedicated men worked in cold, chest-deep water in December to complete the installation. Later, Andrew Boose’s wife ordered a BWW cap for him, “because the project was a success.”

Richard Tuttle, who gave the “Coexisting…” DVD to the park staff, is an expert on conservation of Eastern Bluebirds. In the early 1990s, he created the “Beaver Hypothesis”— that beaver activity produces the habitat required by many wetland species. Photo by Carrie Wakeman Morrow Andrew Boose and Mike Bosworth install a flexpipe with a cage to protect the pipe inlet in a beaver dam at Glacier Ridge Park. Photo by Annette Boose. Andrew Boose, Forest Ecologist at Columbus Metro Parks, photographs a young beaver.

Costanza, R. et al. 2014. Changes in the global value of ecosystem
services. Global Environmental Change 26: 152-158.

Nice to read about Ohio doing the right thing, and I just got an update this morning from Karen of Mt. Healthy that ODOT might be bringing in Mike or Skip to follow suit. That’s a major improvement in a state that has a very tarnished beaver reputation. We’re going to have to make sure everyone knows how much that’s changing.

A quick bit of HUH? from Crosslake Minnesota where apparently they are unaware that pressure treated wood survives better in water. Hmm metal survives better yet.

Crosslake will make capital purchases, beaver-damaged bridge repairs

The Crosslake City Council chose to move forward with plans to repair the Dream Island bridge, which recently sustained damage when a beaver chewed entirely through one of the pylons.

I guess in winter it’s theoretically possible that a unprepared beaver could exhaust it’s food cache and nibble on a board instead. But honestly do you really think this is beaver blame-worthy? And not the work of some drunk fisherman’s motorboat taking a chunk out of the piling with a side swipe?

Let’s leave MN to their conundrum and get ready for the unbearable gasp of cuteness. Jeannine Schafer of The Neenerbot, an enchanting artist and illustrator in San Francisco, has most graciously agreed to donate one of these for our silent auction. Honestly, that might be the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. Especially the curling feet of the kit on the end. (I think we can officially retire that kitten poster. I would ‘hang in there’ much longer for beavers, wouldn’t you?) Thank you Jeannine for your generosity and remarkable creative vision. If admirers can’t wait until August for the bidding war go here to buy your own:

Now THAT’S a giant beaver!

heidi08 Beaver Anatomy, Beaver Art, History January 18, 2015

MCCD worker finds prehistoric giant beaver tooth outside Marengo

The McHenry County Conservation District maintenance worker was out with a crew not long before Christmas, walking through a field in the nearly 3,000-acre Kishwaukee Corridor near Marengo and looking for concrete foundations of long-gone buildings.

Parpart’s unexpected discovery sat in the maintenance shop for a few days, everyone taking a stab at guessing what it could be. A tusk – maybe from a mammoth? A Tyrannosaurus rex bone? A cow bone?

Eventually, it made its way to the Illinois State Museum where JJ Saunders, a curator and chairman of the museum’s geology department, identified it as a fossilized giant beaver incisor, a prehistoric beaver that was about 8 feet long from tail to snout.

The incisor likely came from the right side of the beaver’s lower jaw, Saunders said in a news release.

“The giant beaver was the largest Pleistocene rodent in North America,” Saunders said. “It was an animal the size of a black bear inhabiting lakes and ponds bordered by swamps. We know from its teeth that the giant beaver did not fell trees, and thus did not construct dams to modify stream courses.”

What a beautiful find! You can’t help but think that this AP story and the bogus Arizona AP story of the giant beaver got merged in some key folks minds. I’m still getting headlines of GIANT BEAVER found as joggers watched in awe. A beaver the size of a bear is giant. This tusk makes me think of that old beaver family crest from Germany, which we always thought of as more artistic than correct. Now I realize it’s no more wrong than our cartoons of their huge top buck teeth, and given this discovery, actually fairly representative.

Is it just me? Or is this medieval crest beautiful?

crest boar-beaver — Southern Germany 1450

MMXV

heidi08 Beaver Art, Beaver Behavior, Beavers and water, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Who's saving beavers now? January 1, 2015

Happy 2015! We can celebrate the new year with some great beaver stories and two fantastic images. The first is from Alberta and made me smile.

Broken beaver dam in Ont. leads to fines for Alberta company

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry says it has fined an Alberta mining company for breaking a beaver dam near Savant Lake, in northwestern Ontario.

Pacific Iron Ore Corporation of Calgary pleaded guilty in court on Dec. 9 and was fined $1,500 for unlawfully destroying a beaver dam, according to a news release issued by the ministry on Wednesday.

The incident happened in 2013.

That’s when the ministry said Pacific Iron Ore contracted an excavation company to remove a beaver dam near Six Mile Lake Road so it could drill in the area. Breaking the dam caused the road to flood.

Ahh I love it when people get fined for removing beaver dams! Especially when they’re mininng companies! Apparently you can just send a contractor to rip out a dam and call it a day. It wasn’t a very big fine though. I’m sure the company made lots more than 1500 dollars after they got rid of the obstacle.

Goal for 2015? Bigger fines!

This story from Devon was even better:

OTTERY: Community rallies to back beaver appeal

The creatures’ plight has stirred residents into action and the Devon Wildlife Trust says it has received overwhelming support from local people in its efforts to ensure the family of rare animals is returned safe and sound after testing.

In recent weeks a renowned local wildlife artist has donated proceeds from the sale of a unique portrait to the trust, and youngsters across the parish have been learning about the animals and in school lessons.

The fundraising appeal was also given a high profile boost by TV wildlife presenter Chris Packham, who took to Twitter to highlight the appeal to his 112,000 followers.

Artist Emma Bowring, who was named among the finalists in the BBC’s Wildlife Artist of the Year in 2012, produced a one-off oil painting of one of the animals.

The portrait, titled ‘Eager Beaver’, was developed from a photograph taken at Escot, near Ottery St Mary.

Whoo Whoo! Go Devon! There isn’t anything better than a city protecting its beavers. We should know. I’m really starting to think those Devon beavers have a fighting chance. Oh and that Emma Bowring donation discussed at the end of the article is the SAME Emma who just donated to our festival. (Thanks Emma) Her painting drew 700 pounds, which is almost 1000 dollars which will be used for the court case to keep beavers. Great work Devon, and Emma. I’m sure her stunning sketch at the festival will be popular too!

As will this, just donated yesterday by Gene Sherrill. It’s called “Sunset at beaver pond” Check out those fallen trees in the center. What a heavenly view!

Gene is a talented photographer from Indiana. He’s sending it as a 24 x 36 canvas ready for hanging.Thank you Gene! And now we know there’s at least one beaver supporter in Indiana!

Finally, I happened to be hunting down someone who stole Cheryl’s photo without permission yesterday, and came across this which I found literally years ago but never saved and didn’t know how to find again. It is a stunning uncredited photo, and I’m going to guess its European in origin.

How could anyone NOT love an animal that does this with its young?

Blame the Beaver Bombers!

heidi08 Beaver Art, Beaver Behavior, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Dispersal, Who's saving beavers now? December 11, 2014

Back from the brink: See European beavers at work

Their destructive reputation seems to belie them, but beavers are now recognised as significant resources for carbon sequestration – the wood locked up in their dams and ponds accounts for a surprising amount of carbon.

This may or may not influence a shadowy group of people known as “beaver bombers”. These, apparently, are eco-vigilantes who release beavers back into Britain.

Believe it or not, that phrase was used earlier in the year in a National Geographic article. Apparently no amount of mocking and derision can discourage it because here it is again in NewScientist, a global service housed in the UK. This, along with beaver raising temperatures for fish and beavers causing beaver-fever, and “You can’t get pregnant the first time” is the kind of totally inaccurate falsehood that we at Worth A Dam recognize as sadly incurable. We are never going to eliminate the rumor that fans have carpeted the land with beavers. We just aren’t.

How do I know it’s not true anyway?

In all the world, on all the continents, in all the cities, in all the land, have you EVER met any single human more insane about beavers than I am? Go ahead, I’ll wait while you think about that. Finished? Now I know for a fact that I haven’t ‘bombed’ or reintroduced beavers anywhere. So if the craziest beaver fan on the entire planet hasn’t done it, who could have?

Community support builds for wild beavers

As community support builds for Devon’s wild beavers, an oil painting of a Devon beaver has raised £700 for Devon Wildlife Trust’s work to keep the animals on the River Otter.

The canvas, by renowned east Devon wildlife artist Emma Bowring, was donated to the charity’s Devon’s Wild Beavers fundraising appeal. Support has also been forthcoming from Ottery St Mary schools, Exeter businesses – and even TV presenter Chris Packham.

The aim of the appeal is to keep the wild beaver population on the River Otter by securing a licence from the government for a five- year monitoring project to assess the beavers’ impact on local landscapes, wildlife and communities.

That really is a nice painting, very luxurious fur. I was thinking last night about where beavers groom themselves when it’s pouring rain. Obviously there isn’t enough room in their lodges or holes for everyone to do it there. I was happy to remember that our beavers have plenty of bridges they can groom under which will give them cover for a few minutes. There’s something to be said about urban life.

The presence of these animals might even influence artistic tastes. Dan added: “Emma Bowring told us that the most popular British animal for her commissions is the otter. If the government grants Devon Wildlife Trust the licence to keep Devon’s beavers in the wild, perhaps Emma will begin receiving requests for beaver paintings.”

Well, duh. Come look at the artwork in my dining room?

The agenda is out for 2015 Salmonid Restoration Conference in Santa Rosa. You should check it out. Just look at this workshop on restoring urban streams?! Maybe you want to come?

Beavers busting out all over!

heidi08 Beaver Art, Beavers and Birds, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental, Friends of Martinez Beavers June 30, 2014

Our ad in Bay Nature’s August issue just came out. We’re nicely placed in the upper right hand corner of page 17. Thanks Bay Nature for promoting our beavers! And Amelia for the awesome artwork.

And just in case the nature crowd misses the ad in BN, check out the article in this month’s newsletter for the Mt. Diablo Audubon. The editor kindly allotted me 300 word to convince bird lovers to come to a beaver festival. I am very proud of this particular work. In addition to being one of the most carefully crafted and pithy things I think I ever wrote, it is also exactly 300 words.

Except for the last sentence about MDAS having a booth. Ellis added that.There’s a new chapter of meet the characters for the Beaver Believers film, and it’s not me, but it should be someone you know. In case you don’t recognize her right away, this is the beaver magician Mary O’brien who attended our festival in 2010. She has, along the way inspired me, delighted me, encouraged me, exasperated me and terrified me. Not necessarily in that order.