Category: Beaver Chewing

There but for the grace of beavers

heidi08 Beaver Chewing, Beavers, Beavers and Insects, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Who's blaming beavers now? December 29, 2016

It was such a big story yesterday they sent their news cameras to the scene of the crime. Mostly cries if vandalism, but you gotta’ love that resident who suggest “PROTECTING THE IMPORTANT TREES”. For some reason late December-early January has always been a tree chewing time. I remember our beavers gnawing several trees every new year’s without taking anything down. It seemed so wasteful and I thought their ‘forest’ looked a like most people’s living rooms the day after new years – Empty bottles piled up like dead soldiers.

Apparently it happens all over at this time of year. I guess they just get restless and need something toothy to gnaw. Or they need to sharpen their teeth before mating. Here’s a similar report from Brampton, Ontario.

Beavers become gnawing problem for Brampton residents

Call it an epic struggle between man and beast. The man is Giuseppe (Joe) Vommaro on behalf of his Mountainberry Road neighbours.

The beast?

A colony of beavers that has gnawed down trees, built dams and, according to residents, exposed homeowners living along Stephen Llewellyn Trail in Springdale to the risk of flooding.

“We have a big, big problem here,” said Vommaro, one of several residents at odds with the City of Brampton on what to do with these unwanted neighbours.

Residents want the dam destroyed and the beavers evicted. But the wildlife and dam are protected. Rather than euthanize or toss the beavers out, the city’s animal services department has taken several measures to encourage the beavers to move out on their own like wrapping trees with mesh wire.

“That’s not good enough,” said Vommaro, complaining city officials have been slow to react to residents’ concerns. He argued the city has left homeowners to deal with the wildlife problem it helped create.

Beavers moved into the neighbourhood in 2011 after the city moved to “re-naturalize” the stormwater channel that runs between Mountainberry Road and Sandalwood Parkway, just west of Airport Road.

It was soon after city crews planted trees and made other changes that neighbours say beavers moved in and made quick work of the landscape.

Dammed off by wood and brush, the once flowing channel has transformed into a wetland and presented homeowners with some unique challenges.

Oh no! They made a wetland? You mean to say those beavers have created one of the most important environment’s on earth in just a few short months? No wonder you’re outraged. Let me just say one thing to Mr. Vommaro. Wrapping trees isn’t supposed to make the beavers “leave”, or the trees leave, or you leave even It’s just supposed to make them less accessible. Did any of your wrapped trees get chewed? Just asking.

Mr, Vommaro and his neighbors are now complaining the flooded vegetation stinks like excrement and no one wants to barbecue anymore. Plus all that water will bring more mosquitoes! Something must be done right away.

Animal services crews are scheduled to return in the spring to get a better handle on whether these measures are enough to encourage the beavers to move on.

Vommaro said without a lasting solution to the problem —reverting the trail to its pre-2011 state — beavers will continue to be a gnawing problem for residents of this Springdale neighbourhood.

Ahhh a true ecologist! Return the area to its prenaturalized state by adding more concrete and maybe the beavers will stay out. Or you know you could just install a flow device and drain some of that water away. But that would be actually solving the problem. You obviously don’t want to do anything like that.

Let me tell you a little story I heard about a city very far away. Their creek and Marina were damaged with chemicals and riprap. And some people worked very, very hard for half a century to get it restored. As soon as they finished some beavers moved in. Just like that. People were very surprised. But a very wise man said to me that it was a stamp of approval for all their hard work. He knew the beavers were a reward for a job well done. But some curmudgeons like you said it was icky and the beavers needed to be gotten rid of.

If you want to know what happened next read ‘our story’. And if you want to know who the very wise man was click here.

Forget the Lion in Winter – What about the Beaver?

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beaver Chewing, Beavers, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Who's saving beavers now? December 16, 2016

It rained and rained
For forty daysies daysies
It rained and rained
For forty daysies daysies
Nearly drove those animals crazy crazies
Children of the Lord

The hard rain yesterday reminded me of all those worried days we would go down with umbrellas to check on the beavers and their dams. It reminded me of when the filter cage washed away and when their lodge was flattened. It worried our Napa friends too, and they did an admirable job checking on the beavers they know and care about. Here are Robin’s pictures from the Pearl Street Dam:

And here are Rusty’s photos from the Tulocay pond. The big beautiful lodge was nearly covered and the anxious yearlings took sheltered together on the roof, like Katrina victims.

onthehouse — Juvenile beavers hunker on flooded lodge – Rusty Cohn

It’s so human to me to think of your home as safety even when it stops acting safe. I remember seeing the little beaver footprints the morning after our second lodge washed out when our kits tried to come home and said “Where is home?”

As much as we worry about our beavers in these flooding conditions, I shudder to think what its like in the snow, where getting flooded out could mean freezing to death. Come to think of it, I guess if its freezing they just get massive snow, and if its flooding its not freezing. So stop worrying Heidi. Beavers have done this a long time. they know the drill.

It’s nice to read articles like this about their snowy habitats though.

Off the Trails: Snow-walkers

By MARY F. WILLSON

FOR THE JUNEAU EMPIRE

Snow was falling, snow on snow, as the song goes, and another four inches fell on the thick snow blankets already on the ground. Splendid! We strapped on our snowshoes and took off. No adventures in the high country, but the Dredge Lakes area offered plenty to see.

There was still a little open water in some of the ponds and channels, despite several days of freezing and single-digit temperatures. So it was Watch Your Step, if we crossed the dicey spots.

Then down the lake beach to the lake’s outlet, still breaking our own trail, with a couple of short side excursions to check some beaver lodges. Ice continued to clump up on the ‘shoes, making hard work. Along the river, there are a couple of spots where it is best to duck up into the woods for a little way, before dropping back down to the river edge. By now, this is getting old, all that clambering over and under the sagging branches. Then one more stretch of open beach and another alder crawl back up to the dike by Moose Lake. Now it’s a piece of cake, on well-packed trail back to the bridge, with just a few drooping branches to dodge.

The big beaver empoundment was marked by some critters that crossed the wide open space and others that had ventured out only to retreat quickly. In addition to the numerous hare and porcupine tracks, we found signs of many other critters too. A shrew had scuttled briefly out into the open and right back, ducking into a hole only a shrew could fit into. Nearby was a bigger hole with signs of traffic in and out; one clear footprint let us guess that an ermine used this place. A deer had wandered out of the woods onto the river beach, and a mink visited a pond. Squirrels hadn’t done much traveling on the ground, but here and there a vole had made a beautiful trackway in and out of cover. Ravens had landed and taken off, leaving marks of wingtips etched in the snow. Before the last snow, a coyote (or wolf perhaps) had crossed a pond; its tracks were now just dimples in the snow, but the pattern suggested a running carnivore. Lots of activity, and for most of this walk, few signs of humans.

Sunlight on the mountains, with wind-whipped snow streaming off the peaks. All the trees and shrubs and tussocks draped in many inches of gorgeous snow. Back home, the aching feet and weary muscles were resuscitated by cups of tea and a pile of cookies. Once again, we claim that this is one of the best backyards in the world!

If Mary’s name sounds familiar it should. She’s the ecology professor who authored the mendenhall glacier beaver book. She may be retired now but boy she sure gets around and sees what’s happening! I always thought of beavers in the bay area having an easy life, but maybe the flooding is a different set of problems. True, they don’t need to do a food cache which must be hard work, but they also don’t get three months down time in the lodge just chilling out and waiting for spring. I guess both locations have their benefits and drawbacks. Just like they do for people.

In Minnesota they were surprised to find a beaver-chewed power pole.They think he mistook it for a tree, while we are pretty certain he just needed to sharpen his teeth.

Confused beaver chews power pole instead of tree

GRAND RAPIDS, Minn. – Maybe he needs glasses.

A beaver near Grand Rapids apparently needed to exercise his teeth recently, and instead of chewing on a tree, which is routine behavior for beavers, the semiaquatic rodent decided to get after a power pole near the shores of Boy Lake.

Lake Country Power posted a picture of the chewy beaver’s handiwork on its Facebook page, which is drawing plenty of attention and laughs. As one person posted, “Worked for power company 39 years, never seen a beaver chew a pole.”

Pshaw, if you had read this website you would have seen it a month ago! It must be a winter thing, but it’s strange we’ve seen it twice this year and never before. Hmm.

Save

Here comes Beaver Claws!

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beaver Chewing, Beaver Rehabilitation, Beaver-themed merchandise, Beavers and Birds, Beavers and water, Who's saving beavers now? December 1, 2016

A beaver battle: Conservation Commission keeps the floods at bay

NORTH SMITHFIELD – Trudging neck-deep through muddy water, a representative from Beaver Solutions Inc. made room for a large tube amid a massive pile of branches in the wetlands at Cedar Swamp earlier this month.

It was the company’s second visit to the 69-acre North Smithfield property, and one deemed necessary by members of the town’s Conservation Commission.

Beavers had built another dam, blocking water flow – a nuisance that could not only ruin a nearby access road used by National Grid, but eventually flood a highway ramp and the back yards of residents abutting the property, affecting their septic systems.

“We’re not trying to kick the beavers out,” explained Commission Chairman Paul Soares. “But we can have some affect on controlling flooding.”

Located right by the Greenville Road exit off of Route 146, the massive plot of land was gifted to the commission in 2010, and has been in their care since. It has a 20-acre pond, and is home to “just about every type of wildlife you can think of,” according to Soares including deer, turkeys, ducks, fisher cats and raccoons.

The group has built a dozen duck boxes, nesting spots for the birds, which, due to deforestation across North America, have been hard-pressed to find the proper spots. The boxes must be installed when ponds are frozen by cutting a hole with an ice chisel and driving a pole down 10 feet. Every winter Soares goes out pulling a sled full of equipment, cleans the boxes, then counts the eggs and reports them to DEM.

Of the birds, Ayala noted “They’re really striking. They’re beautiful.” The beavers, meanwhile, have been an ongoing problem. “We’re continually working there and making sure the road stays open,” said Ayala.

The commission researched a humane way to deal with the problem and came up with the water diversion system: essentially a pipe through the dam to allow water to flow past. The first was installed in 2014, and a second one was brought in this month.

“It’s working,” Soares said. “Beavers are hard to stop.”

Yes they are. And don’t you just love when conservation commissions actually conserve things? I’m so pleased with this article and news that they’re rehiring Mike to do a second install 2 years later. What an awesome habitat for these beavers, who are clearly using every inch!

I woke up horrified to see that the calendar said it’s DECEMBER. I have squandered my three months off post beaver festival and now it’s time to get to work! Grant applications, silent auction items, wooing volunteers. Not to mention Christmas presents and decorations. Good lord. I think that horrible election stole my November and I want it back!

Apparently I’m not the only one panicked by the season.

*The beaver that caused property damage to a dollar store in Maryland.*

This beaver declared its own war on Christmas

This beaver doesn’t give a dam about your no shoe policy!

A curious Maryland beaver left its life in the wild to shop for Christmas decorations this week — perusing the shelves of its local dollar store in search of the perfect holiday item.

The critter-turned-customer was caught on camera Monday night causing property damage at a store in Charlotte Hall, which is about an hour south of Washington, D.C.

As an law enforcement officer, you just never know what you’re next call might be,” the sheriff’s office wrote on its Facebook page Wednesday.

Officers eventually “apprehended” the beaver and brought it to a wildlife rehabilitation center unharmed, cops said.

The photos of the creature rummaging through the Christmas goods have since gone viral — sparking a slew of jokes on Facebook.

“He’s going to be in trouble with the wife when he goes home without the Christmas tree,” wrote one user.

“This would be a great advertisement for that tree company,” another added. “Our trees look so real even the beavers go after them.”

OHHH! I love those photos of that poor little beaver scrounging through all that CRAP in a dollar store trying to find something of value. It’s the wrong time of year for a dispersal so I can’t imagine what he’s doing. I expected it to be freezing but the weather for Charlotte is listed as 54 degrees today – 12 degrees warmer than here. Maybe global warming has confused him? Maybe something happened to his lodge or family and he’s lost?

Or maybe he was looking for a Christmas tree after all?

A treasure box of beaver stories

heidi08 Beaver Chewing, Beaver Chewing, Beavers, Beavers and Birds, Beavers and climate change, Beavers and Forests, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and Insects, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Who's saving beavers now? August 26, 2016

There are quite a few beaver treats to enjoy today. I guess we should start out with the ‘day off’ I gave myself after Placer. I had been waiting to try this and just needed the space between deadlines. From now on I’m officially working on the beaver mania clock, but this was pure enjoyment. Alert readers might recognize the audio from earlier in the year’s Scientific American podcast. But the graphics are all mine.

I sent this to Nick myself and Michael Pollock did told me he did too, but the champagne and thank you bouquet hasn’t arrived yet. I’ll let you know when it does.

Here’s another remarkable treat that arrived yesterday, this one completely without Heidi’s fingerprints. The funny thing is that my father worked for PGE all his life from the lowest oiler in Oakland to the coporate office on the 35th flood in San Francisco as General Manager of Operations. This is how he found a job for his shiftless immigrant son-in-law 30 years ago when the green card finally landed. Both men went on to retire from the company with generous pensions and mostly fond memories but maybe a little beaver intelligence survives in their absence?

Shasta County: PG&E Moves Gas Line to Prevent Beaver-Caused Leaks

ANDERSON — PG&E crews responded to a seemingly routine report of a gas odor on a rural residential road outside this Shasta County city. But what they found surprised them. PG&E crews recently relocated a gas line in Shasta County because of beavers chewing the line. They located the leak and dug to expose the gas line for repairs, revealing a void around the plastic line and chew marks on the pipe.

The void was a beaver den, which had likely been abandoned as the beaver came across the gas line and perhaps thinking it was a tree root, chewed away. As soon as the rodent punctured the line releasing gas, the beaver apparently gave up and left the unfinished den.

We knew the first time it happened it was a beaver,” said David Ferguson, a gas maintenance and construction supervisor in Redding. “We made the repair and thought it was an isolated incident,” he added. “But after it happened a few more times, about once every one or two years, we realized we needed to find a solution.”

Cherokee Drive on the road in southern Shasta County. The gas line lay next to the banks of Anderson Creek Overflow, which in recent years has had an incursion of beavers as the industrious rodent reclaims developed areas. On Wednesday (Aug. 24), PG&E crews finished the relocation job and began serving the four residential customers with the new gas line at a safe distance away from the beaver habitat.

And no I’m NOT making this up. I guess the explosions in San Bruno a few gave them so much trouble they are bending over backwards to show they’re nice guys? Maybe the decision was purely fiscal since sending someone out year year after year to fix the chewed pipe cost money. Whatever the reason I’m dam proud of PGE this morning!

Now, if you regretted not being a fly on the wall for the Placer presentation you’re in luck. I think this should be cued up right to watch on your own. There are only a few places where I flubbed up, but I’m still quite sure its the BEST beaver presentation Placer County as ever had.

(And I’m looking at you, Mary Tappel.)

From the sublime to the ridiculous!

heidi08 Beaver Chewing, Beaver News, Beavers, Beavers and climate change, Beavers or Social Ambasadors, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Who's blaming beavers now?, Who's saving beavers now? July 6, 2016

Global beaver citizens that we are, I woke up with an email from the Edinbugh professor and regular reader of this website J. Suilin Lavelle, who said she just ran into Roisin Campbell at the mammal conference on the weekend! Roisin told her she had a lot of fun on her visit to Vermont meeting Patti and Skip. (Which I wrote about a few days ago because, honestly that’s how small the beaver world is.) The beaver champions of that nation are currently in a Brexit-induced panic because the Scottish government had dragged their beaver decision out for so long, and now the insanity over the EU vote might delay or derail everything.

You probably didn’t realize that Brexit was bad news for beavers too, did you?

Meanwhile, there’s a nice bit of news from the Mendenhall Glacier beaver cam this year, which I was recently alerted to by a US Forestry friend here in Vallejo.

Thousands Around the World Tune In to Snoop on a Beaver Den

Watching the beavers sleep has kept thousands of viewers occupied since June 28, when the US Forest Service installed an infrared camera in the den to record in real time the beavers’ activities. As nocturnal creatures, that means sleeping most of the day and getting up periodically to stretch, eat, or relieve themselves. Recommended viewing is between 7 AM and 7 PM Alaska Standard Time.

Natural resource specialist Peter Schneider and fisheries biologist Don Martin initially set up a beaver camera in 2004 to satiate their curiosities about a collection of food outside the beaver lodge on Steep Creek. To monitor the beavers’ activities, they set up a camera outside the lodge and even had it insulated throughout the winter.

Are you keeping track of the mileage with your atlas at home here? The beaver story has gone from Scotland to Vermont to Juneau to Vallejo to Martinez so far. Some 2500+miles and counting. Not bad for a morning’s work!

And just so we don’t feel too smugly accomplished, here’s a glimpse of how far we have yet to go courtesy of the silliest research ever published.

13614929_10207072161388714_3577635218269275857_n — **Yes. that photo is what you suspect it is; because you, dear reader are smart and this article is stoo-pid.**

As more beaver colonies form, the rodents have an adverse effect on the climate by changing levels of methane gas. This happens because beaver colonies are formed in ponds constructed by the beaver dams. These tend to be pockets of shallow water (no more than 1.5 meters high.) Within this oxygen-poor standing water, methane gas levels build up and the gas, because it cannot dissolve in the water, is eventually released into the atmosphere.

According to Professor Colin J. Whitfield (University of Saskatchewan in Canada), compared with 100 years ago, 200 times more of greenhouse gas is released into the atmosphere from beaver colonies. This has come from a study into beaver colonies in Eurasia (the Castor fiber species) and North America (the Castor Canadensis species.)

The model suggests beavers currently contribute 0.80 teragrams (or 800 million kilograms) of methane into the atmosphere. Interviewed by International Business Times, Professor Whitfield suggest this problem not going away anytime soon unless action is taken: “Continued range expansion, coupled with changes in population and pond densities, may dramatically increase the amount of water impounded by the beaver…[this] suggests that the contribution of beaver activity to global methane emissions may continue to grow.

Truly the reporter selected the IDEAL photo to accompany this groundbreaking research, it really communicates the level of intelligence of those involved. (Nutria) See Dr. Whitfield is from the university of Saskatchewan which is famous for the kill contest they held this year. He teamed up with Dr. Cherie Westbrook of Alberta who was probably just happy to publish something without the name Glynnis Hood on it, and I’ve been told that she regrets how this study has been misused. But I spare her no mercy and want this supposedly seminal research to be the beaver albatross around her educated neck. She should have known that folks would be only too happy for another bogus reason to blame beavers.

Let me explain this again for those who are mislead, yes beaver dams release methane, which is one of the green house gasses we are not really worried about. It dissolves in 2-3 years, unlike carbon, which we are VERY worried about, which lasts for decades. (When you drive to work your car doesn’t release methane.) Along the way beavers increase the water supply which we are going to need as carbon numbers keep rising. Beavers also aid biodiversity, which we need in on a planet that is rapidly losing species. (I of course tried to write the editor yesterday about the photo, but it appears they are obviously not overly concerned with accuracy.)

Oh and did you know that we successfully entered Jupiter’s orbit after the fireworks on independence day? We’re on a 20 month rotation studying a planet at 540,000,000 miles away. And the five year mission predictions were accurate to within 1 second.

Welcome to Jupiter!