Category: Beaver Chewing

SO MUCH LEARNING!

heidi08 Beaver Chewing, Beavers and Birds, Beavers and Forests, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, What's killing beavers now?, Who's blaming beavers now? December 9, 2015

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.

Sparks changes tactics with nuisance beavers

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.

New Beaver Dam in Roosevelt Forest teaches Lauralton Hall & Fairfield Prep students about beaver ecology

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.

Plant it, and they will come?

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beaver Chewing, Beavers, Beavers or Social Ambasadors, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Who's saving beavers now? November 15, 2015

Once upon a time, lo these many months ago, the SF waterboard decided to help Martinez with some tree planting for beavers. It invited me out to present in December and got so inspired about beavers it decided to share its Watershed Stewards Program Interns from Americorp to help.

(Stop me if you’ve heard this story before.)

So Corie and Rebecca came out for a meeting with Worth A Dam and the city engineer, then obtained a permit to take willow cuttings from wildcat canyon, then came to Martinez for a day of planting. Cheryl, Lory and Jon showed up for a day of hard work at the end of March. Is this ringing any bells?

So they spent a day planting and Jon spent the evening wrapping trees and the beavers gazed wistfully at the forbidden fruit like children eyeing their presents under the tree, and life was good. The planting was even on channel 7 news.

Then guess what? Funny story. (Not really).

Public works got a divine inspiration (or a phone call from you-know-who) and ripped every planted stake out. They piled them to one side by the road. Jon just happened to notice as he drove by. I called the engineer in a panic to ask WTF and he called the foot soldiers who had done the dirty work and by evening these poor stakes were all back in the ground. No kidding. Shades of Alice in Wonderland painting the roses red. Some of the trees were upside down, some barely planted, all looking the worse for wear.

It suppose it goes without saying that they all died.

Well, the SF Waterboard was not very happy with that. And our good friend Ann Riley swore that we would REPEAT the planting next year, this time before thanksgiving, when they’d get more water, using the help of their next intern. And these trees had better not get pulled up.

But in the meantime our beavers died or scattered to the four winds and the city launched its grand bank destabilization project, which Riley was super not happy about either, so she negotiated with the engineer that our replanting should happen exactly there, where they had pulled out all the other living things.

The new intern’s name is Brenden Martin. And he and Riley are coming friday with some helpers to replant. This time they are going to use willow cuttings from here. Meanwhile, oddly enough the film crew from Middlechild productions will be out from the UK and filming it for the part of their documentary about how cities can live with beavers. Then heading to Napa to follow up with some beaver footage.

Rusty Cohn has boldly volunteered to come help Jon and Lory with the effort, and Ron will kindly take some photos for us. Oliver Smith, the assistant producer i’ve been chatting with, is probably interviewing Lara or Mark as well as interviewing me that day. The crew arrives SFO tueday night and supposedly the gang is staying at the John Muir Lodge.

Honestly, two months ago I was feeling like if we didn’t have beavers we should cancel the planting and let the city be responsible for their own damn trees. But Jon persuaded me to be patient and now I feel differently. Besides it’s working out well for Urban Beavers everywhere, and that makes me happy. I ask myself, if I were a beaver living in exile and saw a bunch of tasty morsels planted in my absence, wouldn’t I think about coming home?

I certainly would.

beaver kit eats breakfast: Cheryl Reynolds

Painting the town – er trunk, in Fargo

heidi08 Beaver Chewing, Beavers and Birds, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Beavers or Social Ambasadors, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental, Who's saving beavers now? November 8, 2015

Beaver Backers paint trees in Fargo to protect furry friends

Thief River Falls resident Nina Berg, a member of the Beaver Backers organization that sprung up to defend the Fargo beavers, said the large-scale tree painting Saturday will hopefully spare the beavers.

The board voted to cull beavers after hearing concerns from residents and staff about the animals destroying trees and costing the city thousands of dollars. Park District officials said later they were open to non-leathal options.

The painting is a solution that will appease beaver backers and those concerned with the trees, Berg said.

“(The mixture) will be very unappealing to the beavers, and they will avoid those trees that we’re trying to protect,” Berg said.

The group spent several hours on Saturday painting more than 1,300 trees on the Fargo side of the river. The group will paint about 75 percent of the trees in the park and save 25 percent of the trees for the beavers to munch on and build dams

Hurray for the sensible, compassionate folks of Fargo who held a kickstarter to raise funds for the project and got 30 volunteers out in November to sand paint trees! 1300 is A LOT of trees. They are officially the tree-painting capital of the world now. I’m thrilled that this was able to happen, but still a little confused about the color choice.? Why not match the trunk? We’ve certainly marched into Home Depot with willow branches for them to match. But heck, maybe mint green was on sale.

Michelle Peterson said the painting will save beavers and the trees and hopefully sway the Park District to allow the beavers stays of execution. “If they come out here and see that it’s working, then hopefully they’ll let us keep coming out and doing this every year,” Berg said, adding that the group had permission from the Park District to paint the trees.

Nina and Michelle ROCK! They got tons of media for this project and volunteer support. Fingers crossed they used enough mason sand to really discourage those beavers. Jon always found that by the end he was using his hands to really get the sand to stick.

And because remarkable stories like this deserve a treat, I’m sharing the stunning photo found by Ann Cameron Siegal on Creative Commons. It was taken by Elizabeth Haslam and posted yesterday on the US Fish and Wildlife Facebook page. And some lovely human said, “I just saw this fantastic documentary on all the great things beavers do”.

Guess what the nation’s wildlife experts commented. Go ahead, guess.

great mother kit beaver — Elizabeth Haslam: Creative Commons

“Awesome! Do you remember what it’s called? In case folks are interested.”

That’s right, even though all of America and parts of Canada watched Jari Osborne’s incredible documentary in 2014, and all of Canada watched it in 2013, even though it had the highest ratings of any Nature program on Public television that year and was the one that PBS sent for Emmy consideration, the experts at fish and wildlife didn’t even know about it. Because, I guess, busman’s holiday. They already know it all. Why learn more?

If they wanted to learn more they should come to the beaver festival this year. I spent yesterday finishing the grant application for this year’s children’s activity. It details how Mike at Wildbryde will design charms shaped like rail cars to for children to fashion into a bracelet. I can’t help being a little proud of this.

Aerial Beaver Flinging

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beaver Chewing, Educational, Environmental October 25, 2015

You cannot imagine with what glee the media is joyfully spreading the beaver-flinging story. It is in every conceivable paper and news station including CBS, Time, the CBC and the Guardian. I am not very surprised that beaver-haters find it amusing. But I am a little disturbed by the sporty good humor of the beaver crowd themselves reacting to this tale with [boyish] thigh-slapping hoots. They see humor where I see horror. I can’t be the only one, surely? Their response suggests I’m an animal-hugging worrywart who never has any real fun. There have even been hinted arguments on the beaver management forum about what a noble beaver-centric act this was, by good people who genuinely understood the value of beaver on the landscape.

Okay. History in every state is full of fish and game wardens who recognized almost too late that beaver matter on the landscape. This does not surprise me. To be clear, I am not questioning their motivations. They may have had the very best dam motives on the planet. I am reacting to their implementation. Which was barbarically ruthless and wasteful. The report points cheerfully to only ONE death by the beaver that leaped out of his box in mid air. But we know full well that even the very responsible Methow project says beaver relocation by LAND is only 50% successful – so what are the realistic possible numbers for flinging?

Tell me honestly now, do you think this story of beaver reintroductions would have gotten HALF the media attention without the bizarre cruelty? Beaver reintroduction in the twenties and thirties was happening all over California, not to mention all over the country. Have you ever seen a single news story about it?

I don’t know about you, but I got very distinct strains of the Laika story in this feverish beaver-flinging glee. There was a lot of humor when Russians shot the dog into space too, and some alarm from the hopelessly compassionate Brits which was to be expected.

What if the newly recovered footage showed tossing wolves over Yellowstone? Or mountain lions over Yosemite? Then could you reasonably expect advocates to object? I’m going to guess that this footage was buried for a reason, and that even in Idaho people didn’t want to see beavers be flung from great heights and realize taxpayers paid for the trip.

Anyway they’re wrong about me not having a sense of humor. I have a robust one. Because I just found this very pastoral clip from Idaho public radio and even as I type I’m entertaining some most amusing ideas about what to do with the audio.

Bwahaha.

Long-Lost Parachuting Beaver Footage

Here’s an alternate reintroduction strategy that produces slightly less alarm.

With friends like these…

heidi08 Beaver Chewing, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Who's blaming beavers now? August 20, 2015

Humane Society to offer advice on Fargo beaver problem

FARGO (KFGO-AM) — The Fargo Park District will get some advice from the Humane Society of the United States on handling beavers chewing away at trees at city parks along the Red River.

The park district caused an uproar last spring among animal lovers when it announced plans to hire the USDA to trap and kill the beavers, which have caused thousands of dollars in damage to trees.

The society’s Dave Pauli says he has been working on similar problems for 30 years and may have some options when he comes to Fargo next week.

He says a solution is “always complicated”

Always complicated? The HUMANE society says that wrapping trees is always complicated? How complicated can it be? You cut the wire and wrap it loosely around the tree and close it up with a bread tie or something. Then you walk to the next tree and repeat the whole process.

Or go to home depot, buy a gallon of paint and a few lbs of mason sand. And throw a pizza party for all the boyscouts in Fargo if they spend half the morning painting trees. It’s not rocket science.

Honestly, maybe this is what progress in North Dakota looks like, but shouldn’t the representative from the HUMANE SOCIETY sound a little more hopeful? “You could try neutering your dog, but that’s pretty hard, and then he won’t have balls.”

I think I need to know what Mr. Pauli gets paid, because even in North Dakota they might do better.

I suppose it’s always possible that he was misquoted by some doubting reporter. Maybe he said “It’s never complicated” and they didn’t believe him? Of course the AP picked this story in all the world of beaver news to pick up so I’m seeing it run everywhere including the SF Gate. I guess it’s national news that it’s complicated protecting trees with wire. I’m sure it wasn’t national news when it worked all those times.

Hrmph.

Here’s a story to calm us down after all that excitement. It’s a sweet reflection on a half chewed beaver tree. Enjoy.