Maybe you remember the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. Stephen Colbert sponsored a skating team and Lindsey Vonn became the first American woman to ever win the downhill Gold for a ski run that broke every record. Of course there was the usual Olympic Village built in an old industrial park which had once been a parking lot- it boasted wonders named FALSE CREEK and FALSE SEAWALL.
A beaver, perhaps even two, have been spotted in Vancouver’s Olympic Village. The iconic rodents have built a large dam in the man-made wetlands of False Creek.
“There’s two,” said Jeremy Murphy who lives in the area. “They hang out in the middle of the pond usually, back-to-back or cuddling a little bit, gnawing on everything they can find.”
It’s not the first time a beaver has called the area home. Two years ago, residents came across another beaver — possibly the same animal as the one seen recently.
A beaver was also seen in the summer of 2015.
I’m not so surprised that beavers are there. They really don’t care whether they’re living in a false creek with planted trees or an actual creek with generated trees. They’ll make do. Aside from the very foolish people trying to feed them bread, this story makes me smile. And lead me to something that made me smile VERY wide indeed.
Photos of lodges on city trails, beavers walking over concrete, I’m a kid in a candy store. Here is the one that terrified me though. Look to the far right front. Well, we can’t know the fate of that brave little beaver, but I’m grateful that this Olympic beaver pointed me in his direction. I will definitely try to keep an eye on this now.
Sometimes the last few lines of a poem write everything else for you. I was happy to put this together yesterday. It started with the ‘how the west was watered’ line. And of course there’s only one word that rhymes with ‘watered’.
It’s christmas day, and just in case our puddings and cakes make us feel too lazy and indulged to believe the world needs us to pay attention to beavers, here are two prime examples that should remind us what we’re fighting for. The first is from the heart of the drylands where anything that saves even a drop of water should be regarded as a national treasure. Seems like these school girls know what they’re about, but their neighbor, the beaver grinch, has other ideas. Merry Christmas.
For nearly a decade, the Santa Fe Girls’ School has taught students about the environment through restoration projects and science experiments on a nearly 9-acre swath of land south of the city that includes a portion of the Santa Fe River. Principal Lee Lewin says the parcel in La Cieneguilla is a crucial part of the curriculum for the school’s 40-plus middle school students.
But an ongoing dispute between the private school and a neighboring landowner has heated up in recent months, and the girls’ work at the site has been halted.
The neighbor — hunter, businessman and self-proclaimed conservationist Ed Sceery — contends the girls’ efforts have attracted beavers that are damaging land and trees, and he warns that they are working in contaminated water. School officials say Sceery has endangered the girls by placing a metal contraption in a pond on the property where they often roam. The device’s function is unclear, but school staff said they think it’s intended to break up beaver dams.
Sceery, who earned a doctorate in animal sciences at New Mexico State University, lives downstream from the Girls’ School property. He owns and operates Sceery Outdoors, a company that makes and sells game calls for elk, deer, turkey and other animals. His wares are sold in specialty hunting markets, such as Cabela’s, and general stores, including Wal-Mart.
Okay, first of all that device doesn’t break up beaver dams, it breaks up BEAVERS. Mind you his trees have already been protected by a deal with Wild Earth Guardians. But if Dr. Sceery says that the water’s contaminated, I myself believe him. He should know, because I bet he poured the lighter fluid in himself. I’m relieved to hear he’s also a “conservationist” because that means he has deep abiding respect for the animal that Enos Mills called “the original conservationists“. Right?
Honestly, this whole story should be written by Charles Dickens. The trap-setting hunter who sells decoys to walmart doesn’t want the beavers near his property happens to be named Dr. Sceery? Am I on candid camera? Is he just pretending that’s his name because Dr. Eevil was taken? Was he assigned that name by the department of ruthless irony? Did he really believe it was a good idea to set a trap on school property without permission where lovely eco-minded young girls walk every day?
And just in case you think I’m making this up, here’s another headline worthy of a Christmas tree.
WENATCHEE — Otters and beavers may have discovered it’s easier to capture a nice fish dinner by congregating at the fish ladder at Rocky Reach Dam and entering the current to pursue their prey. Either that, or they’re just chasing fish and having fun.
Video recordings at the dam show one or more of the aquatic critters swimming past the fish-counting window between May and October.
One otter was chasing a small fish. Another is latched onto a carp not much smaller than itself. In another shot, a beaver appears to be engaged in some good-natured exploring.
That’s right. It’s YAKIMA in Washington, which I have foolishly considered the state with the highest beaver IQ in the country. And the biologists watching the salmon counter think that the beavers are there for supper. Here is an actual headline about BEAVERS EATING FISH.
“We’re not sure how many salmon they’ve actually taken,” Von Pope, the PUD’s Wildlife Program manager, said Wednesday. “Maybe some smaller ones.”
When salmon are migrating past the dam, the video camera operates around the clock. Human fish counters come in and review the video to tally the numbers of each species of fish.
Thad Mosey, the PUD’s senior fish biologist, says no fish counter has ever seen an otter or beaver in the fish-counting window in real time. But they occasionally appear in the video recordings.
I have nothing to say but this.
You deserve a dose of cheer after all that beaver-stupid. Here’s a little something I hope you sing along with your family by the fire. Merry Christmas from Worth A Dam!
Just in time for Christmas! I received several beaver gifts yesterday that deserve sharing. The first was a headline from Romania that ran Cheryl’s own photo. Who says Martinez is a small town? Even better the article is about an airport project that might end of being postponed because of protected beavers. Hohoho!
The building of the Ghimbav airport near Brasov, in central Romania, could be blocked again after the local environment authorities have discovered that a community of beavers lives in a perimeter near the future airport. It should be declared a protected area, according to the Brasov Environment Protection Agency. However, not all authorities agree.
Just for kicks, how far is it from Martinez to Romania? I’m curious. 6501 miles, a 15 hour flight takes you to the capital city of Bucharest. Hmm. I am sure they’ll eventually work around (or over) those beavers, but it’s always nice to see a speed bump along the way.
More cheer came with the delivery of our complimentary copy of the legend in english/innui-aimun by the Labrador Institute. “The man who married a beaver”. It was beautifully illustrated by Cynthia Colosimo and Jolene Ashini. It tells the fanciful tale of a man who considers marrying many other species but finally settles on the beaver (for obvious reasons). They have many children and are very happy until the man’s brother comes and decides to club the family memories (because beavers!) The hero struggles in vain to protect his family, but is eventually widowed and dragged back to live with the humans. In the end the man decides he likes being a beaver better, and has his clueless brother change him back to the aquatic furbearer by drinking some some broth made from a beaver.
You will, of course, understand right away why this is my favorite moment.
Kauitamishkuma: Defending his beaver family.
You can pick up your copy directly from Li or wait until summer and bid at the silent auction.
More Christmas eve cheer, yesterday I was sent this photo which is making its way on instagram for the season. I like his guilty little eye very much.But obviously thought it needed a few improvements.
Have a cozy day, pour your self some eggnog by the fire and remember to sing our favorite carol!
In November the BBC reported the concerns of some local people that they had not had sightings of beavers on the River Otter for some weeks. This ‘disappearance’ was then reported by national newspapers. However, Devon Wildlife Trust has now come forward with evidence which shows that the beavers are still there, although they may have relocated their homes, known as lodges, along the river.
Devon Wildlife Trust is leading the River Otter Beaver Trial – a five year study of what is believed to be the first population of breeding beavers living wild in the English countryside for several centuries. The charity has said that it is currently monitoring four ‘active areas’ along the river where it has seen fresh evidence of the beavers’ presence.
Mark Elliott is the Trial’s manager and said:
“We knew the beavers had not ‘disappeared’ but it’s good to be able to report recent evidence showing that they are still active on the river. Beavers are mobile animals and it’s quite common for them to shift their lodges and feeding grounds. There’s lots of room for beavers on this river so it’s unsurprising that they have relocated from the places that we saw them last spring and summer.”
Whooo hoo! I’m a sucker for any story that has a chapter about missing beavers that suddenly show themselves to be doing just fine, thank you very much. Winter is a notoriously hard time to see beavers, whether they’re in Martinez or Napa or Devon. But it’s good to see sign, and it’s not very often that the media prints a photo of a beaver chewed tree with such joy. What a pleasure!
“As we move into the New Year and the daylight hours lengthen beavers will be active at dusk and dawn. If people do see them then it’s important they let us know so that we can get a clearer picture of the beavers’ numbers and locations.”
People with information can let the charity know if they see a beaver via email on beavers@devonwildlifetrust.org with details of the date, time, exact location and whether the beaver has a coloured ear tag.
The River Otter Beaver Trial receives no government funding. Devon Wildlife Trust is urging people to offer their support via its website
I’m pretty sure it’s good luck to drop a little coin in their beaver fountain and make a wish for Martinez beavers to show up too. In the mean time let’s just remember that beavers show themselves in mysterious ways and have a merry christmas!
Meanwhile the New Jersey whiners are still complaining about beavers. Apparently the free help they received from BWW and Beaver Solutions just wasn’t help-y enough. And they need more deadly assistance right away.
“Killing animals because we find them inconvenient should not be an option. Beavers are clever, industrious, family-oriented animals and necessary to the ecosystem and we now know it is possible to live beside them without conflict,” said Veronica Van Hof, executive director of Unexpected Wildlife Refuge.
The two most widely-used trapping methods are inefficient and inhuman, she said. As a result of the meeting with officials, she learned the township will likely use a trap that drowns the beaver or another that crushes the animal, snapping its neck.
Politicians Discussing Climate Change: Isaac Cordal
Sometimes when you throw the drowning man a rope he says, no not THAT rope. I want the other one. To tell the truth, I’m not really hopeful for Tom’s River. They’re just going to keep pushing headlines that say “beavers are flooding us” until the day after Christmas when they can start trapping. But it’s good that Veronica is cutting her teeth so to speak. Now she needs to learn to stop saying nice things and start saying THIS WILL SAVE YOU MONEY. Which is also true and slightly harder to ignore.
Not that cities can’t choose to ignore anything they wish, of course.
This new short film will answer a lot of questions about what’s been going on near highway 37, it’s 5 days old and nicely made. We’re hoping they’re kind to beavers that show up. But the SLT has lots of beaver friends in their ranks. So I’m optimistic.
The bright sparks of dimly lit Nevada are continuing to process ground-breaking research and expert advice using their intricate circular filing method. They have received consultation from the Sierra Wildlife Coalition, the Human Society, the Sierra Club, Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, and Worth A Dam, so of course they are paying the most careful attention.
Nuisance beavers have been gnawing their way through trees and building dams along the North Truckee Drain in Sparks, causing damage and increasing the risk of residential flooding.
After spending city resources focusing on the dams to little long-term effect, the city of Sparks recently tried to shift its focus to the beaver population itself. In order to mitigate the problems caused by the dam-building beavers, the city was advised by the Nevada Department of Wildlife to seek a special permit last month to catch and kill the animals. As of last week, however, the city decided to put that strategy on hold, concerned about the inhumane nature of the process.
The permit, which was issued Nov. 10 and is good for a full year, gave the city permission to remove the animals through trapping and/or shooting them, which they decided to do through a third party contractor. Captured animals are not allowed to be moved or relocated due to the potential spread of disease, such as the infectious bacterial illness tularemia, and the territoriality that occurs between beaver populations.
The beavers in Sparks were being trapped underwater to avoid potentially capturing domestic animals, or even small children, above ground. The beavers were drowning to death, which the city now feels is not the most humane way to take care of the problem. Five beavers were killed in total.
Well at least they finally got the beaver deaths reported, even if they didn’t admit that it was an entire family. Sherry and Ted Guzzi have been hard at work offering solutions to problems at hand, and we had a long discussion about how to wriggle maximum support out of their lying, opportunistic mouths. But obviously there has been little real change. Just look at what Mr. Healy is saying even after I specifically sent him three research articles on beavers and birds.
“This is part of the ongoing drought,” said Chris Healy, spokesman for NDOW. “When we have troubles with drought, water sources are limited, and so instead of the beavers taking out willows and creating dams, they go up drains and start taking out trees.”
Nevada law allows for the aggressive removal of beavers that are obstructing the free flow of water. Beavers can also cause significant damage to a river’s ecosystem, Healy said, in that they remove the limited number of trees that provide nesting for local birds and contribute to healthy fish habitats.
“Trees take decades to grow, whereas beavers only take a season to grow,” Healy said. “Nobody wants to kill an animal, but in some circumstances we have to do that. There are logical reasons for why we do what we do.”
Apparently trees in Nevada don’t coppice and Mr. Healy has never heard of the work beavers are doing to restore streams just up the road in his very own state. His is also unaware that beavers don’t respond to drought by moving into city drains. He feels no need to trouble himself with the research saying that beavers help birds, because he obviously knows better. Five years ago I’m sure he’d be saying beavers don’t belong because they’re not native. So that progress of a kind. And hey, beavers DO take less time to grow than trees. He’s got me there.
I guess what this all proves is that you can lead the NDOW to information about water, but you can’t make them THINK.
We need a good story to get that taste out of our mouths. This will do nicely.
On November 24, Lauralton Hall students and Fairfield prep students met up with Christina Batoh, Stratford’s Conservation Officer, to learn about beaver ecology at the site of a recently constructed beaver dam in Roosevelt Forest. Students set out to answer the question, “Does the presence of the beaver dam impact stream water quality?” To do this they tested water samples from an upstream site.
Lauralton Hall students instructed their Fairfield Prep counterparts in how to conduct tests for dissolved oxygen, carbon dioxide, turbidity (sediment load), and pH. Students then analyzed their test results and concluded that the presence of the beaver dam does indeed impact stream water quality with water downstream having better quality than the water upstream or at the dam site.
Got that? Did the high school student go to fast for you Mr. Healy? Let me know and I can slow them down. There’s more to talk about in the Ecologist this morning, but I have a conference call for the paper this morning, and am going to have to stop for now. For some reason, I’m thinking this video might be helpful to our new BFF in his scientific quest for the ecologic advancement.
Well, we can’t know the fate of that brave little beaver, but I’m grateful that this Olympic beaver pointed me in his direction. I will definitely try to keep an eye on this now.
WENATCHEE — Otters and beavers may have discovered it’s easier to capture a nice fish dinner by congregating at the fish ladder at Rocky Reach Dam and entering the current to pursue their prey. Either that, or they’re just chasing fish and having fun.
More cheer came with the delivery of our complimentary copy of the legend in english/innui-aimun by the
