Category: Beaver Chewing

WHAT DO YOU CALL A MAN WITH BEAVERS IN HIS YARD?

heidi08 Beaver Chewing September 14, 2021

One LUCKY BASTARD!

That’s what I’d call him, Problem is he’s in Maine and all the smart people are on jury duty this week, or something. He simply can’t find a SOUL who know’s what he should do except kill em,

Battle with the yard-wrecking beavers takes an unexpected turn

Nobody really wants a family of beavers to take up residence in their backyard. At least, that’s what I’m coming to understand after just such a thing happened to me. The responses I’ve received since sharing my tale of woe a week ago have largely fallen into the vein of “trap ’em,” “whack ’em” or “hire someone to trap ’em and whack ’em.”

Of course, most of those responses came from a group of my friends who are a bit more unforgiving toward unwanted wildlife invasions than your group of pals might be.

A couple of others reached out to tell me that they had other ideas. The basic flavor of those responses: When life gives you beavers, make — well — arts and crafts, I suppose.

The article is written by John Holyoke of the Bangor daily news. He’s a sports and outdoor columnist so you would think he would appreciate having better fishing and duck hunting on his property, not to mention clean water and fire protection. But what do I know?

But back to my current beaver issue. Since my tree didn’t fall on the house, I’m reluctant to call the situation a “problem.” Yet.

After noticing the fallen tree and its beaver-chewed neighbor, I deployed a trail camera recently and have been eagerly waiting for more evidence of beaver activity that I could share with you. Unfortunately, according to my less-than-scientific beaver-o-meter, it doesn’t appear that the still-standing tree has taken any more mega-bites over the past eight days.

Or, I guess, I meant to say “fortunately.” Not that this tree is long for the world, mind you — Bucky has already reduced it to a leaning tower of birch that (again, fortunately) is tilted away from the house.

Still, I knew you’d love to see a video of my (current) nemesis (see also: red squirrels, moose, deer, et al.), so I had hoped to have had better luck.

That’s not to say that I had no luck at all, mind you.

I did get a great video of another critter visiting the scene of the beaver’s property crime. And when I first watched the video on a small thumbnail screen, I was quite certain that I’d captured footage of the world’s most acrobatic and agile beaver.

Unfortunately (or is it fortunately?), my visitor was only a gray squirrel. And fortunately (or is it unfortunately?), the squirrel showed no interest in helping the beaver chew down the rest of my tree.

Poor man doesn’t even know where to put a camera, Do you have any water on your property? maybe a dam or a lodge? If all you have is a single tree that got chewed I’d say too bad, all you have is a beaver drive-by which gives you time to read up on how lucky you’ll be if they ever come back. i have just the book.

BEAVER AND MOOSE ARE FRIENDS…

heidi08 Beaver Chewing, Beaver ecological impact September 8, 2021

You know beavers must be like those kids that everyone knows and everyone counts among their their closest friends. I’m sure they get invited to all the birthday parties. But whether any of us will be on their guest list remains to be seen.

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Wyoming Beaver and Moose Chow Down Together in Grand Teton

It’s not exactly breaking news that wildlife in Wyoming has to compete for food sources. However, a recent video share proves that at least moose and beaver can peacefully coexist as that’s exactly what happened in Grand Teton National Park.

One of the tour groups that takes visitors through Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks shared this quaint moment recently.

Nice to hear a tour guide saying the right thing about beavers.

Their video share was more than just a neat wildlife moment. They added a key mention about why beavers are key to many types of animals that I didn’t realize:

Beaver dams Stop, Slow, and Spread water to the benefit of numerous plant and animal species.

In effect, beavers in Wyoming create a wetland habitat that helps with the growth of plants and other edible sources that help wildlife like moose and deer which in turn helps bears and wolves.

One YouTube comment asked if this was captured near Schwabacher Landing in Grand Teton National Park. There’s no way to tell for certain, but that is one the locations where you can get an iconic pic of Grand Teton.

If nothing else, this moose and beaver moment shows that wildlife can and do get along as one animals manipulation of the habitat helps many.

Yes, And that animal is called a BEAVER, and whenever you trap them or hunt them or depredate them you ruin the habitat for many.

Just sayin’.

PROTECTING TREES CONFOUNDS STUPID OFFICIALS

heidi08 Beaver Chewing, Beavers April 19, 2021

It must be spring. I woke up with a tick crawling down my arm.

Jon of course brought her back on the dog with his daily tick collecting-walk on the Franklin ridge trail. but it does worry me to find want walking about in the morning. Was I so unappetizing all night? Do i have some rare blood disorder that ticks find repulsive? Was it that second shot of Moderna? Or am I just lucky?

There are plenty of unlucky beavers out there that’s for darn sure. Like these in Idaho where they can’t possibly be bothered to ‘wrap’ the trees.

Pullman, beavers not getting along

The city of Pullman is planning to work with trappers to prevent beavers from causing more damage to trees at a local park.

The city received calls from residents about trees being chewed up and damaged at the City Playfield next to the South Fork Palouse River in early spring, said Pullman Parks and Facilities Director Alan Davis.

The damage presents a safety issue at the park as damaged trees hang near a walking path and hover over the river.

However, Davis said the signs of beaver damage are not always obvious.

No. They are. Really they are. First the tree is upright. An then it’s knocked over. You’ll notice right away I’m pretty sure. If that little bark damage is what’s making you think you have beavers then I’d think again.

To prevent further destruction, Pullman Parks and Recreation staff and code enforcement officers from the Pullman Police Department plan to enter into a service agreement with licensed trappers to set live traps for the beavers.

In order to keep costs down, Pullman staff will monitor those traps so the trappers do not have to do so regularly.

It’s too much of a burden for them to actually FINISH their job. It’s enough that they just start it I guess. Never mind any harm to that otter or labrador who was caught by mistake. Staff will just give you a call if we see a body. If we remember.

Unlike Washington, where they have slightly more of a clue.

Longview parks, recreation officials plan to trap beavers damaging trees at Lake Sacajawea

People walking, biking, boating or fishing at Lake Sacajawea recently may have noticed more trees missing bark, sporting bite marks or fallen into the water.

It’s unlikely folks will spot the culprits — beavers — but the Longview Parks and Recreation Department has received several reports about the damage, said Parks and Urban Forestry Manager Joanna Martin.

“There’s always wildlife at the lake. It’s not abnormal to have beavers,” she said.

Well yes. It is normal to have beavers. Nice lake, Tasty trees. Quiet park setting. I think you should expect beavers. In fact I think you should PLAN on them.

Beavers begin to cause problems when they damage too many trees and when the trees could fall onto the heavily trafficked path, Martin said.

“If a tree is looking like it’s going to fall into the lake, we will leave that alone and let the beaver do that,” she said. “But if it’s going to fall into the park or onto the pathway, we will cut it down and remove it.”

Okay. That’s generally good. But the ‘remove it’ philosophy only gets you so far.

The department has managed the beavers by trapping and relocating them outside the park, Martin said. In the last few months, the department hasn’t been able to trap beavers because the staff member with the license to do so did not want to renew it, she said.

Martin said she began looking into the potential beaver problem when the department started receiving reports about damaged trees in February.

So it’s washington and you have the ability to MOVE the offending beaver. Of course its are coming soon so you probably can’t do it now anyway. Hey you know what happens when you move tenants out of a nice apartment and leave the door open? YOU GET MORE TENANTS.

Why not fix the problem by protecting those trees an let the beavers stay? Maybe get some help from the local high school planting willow along the edges of the lake that beavers can harvest?

The state department issues relocation permits when efforts to limit beaver damage are unsuccessful, when beavers pose a health and safety risk or other “irresolvable factors” exist, according to the state website.

Some how this does not strike me as UNRESOLVABLE.

Let’s watch something fun to get the stupid taste out of our mouths. This shows the wildlife crossing a beaver dam. From Voyageurs national park.

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BEAVERS DRAG BRANCHES, WHO KNEW?

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beaver Chewing April 1, 2021

The news world is agog with a yahoo story of a beaver at Oregon zoo trying to drag a HUGE branch into her lodge. Uh, duh? Apparently the story was such a shocker it even made the telegraph!

Oregon Zoo Beaver Tries to Drag Enormous Tree Limb Into Lodge

Maple the beaver, one of the Oregon Zoo’s “branch managers,” was filmed on an “aquatic woodventure” recently. The zoo released the footage on March 30.

Maple ventured through the Portland facility’s office and into a pond to collect branches, deciding to bring back a comically large one

The three-year-old North American beaver arrived at the zoo a year ago and became close friends with her fellow branch manager, Filbert, Oregon Zoo said.

I can tell you it’s plenty surprising when beavers try to bring branches to their bedrooms. Almost like they want to snack during the night! Who would have guessed?

“:Beavers are very social animals, so it’s wonderful to welcome a new member to the family,” senior North American animal keeper Julie Christie said in the statement. “Filbert and Maple are getting along really well, and it’s great for both of them to have a friend to play with.” Credit: Oregon Zoo via Storyful”

I do like seeing how they made it possible for her to climb back to bed all by herself. That’s an office space I wouldn’t mind commuting too.

Finished this yesterday, Now I’m officially ready for next week.

BEAVERS: FREAKS OF NATURE

heidi08 Beaver Chewing March 5, 2021

Once in a while it’s fun to visit an article about beavers written by someone who is surprised to find themselves writing about beavers. Kind of like “Oh I missed the moose this morning so I might as well write about beavers.. It’s not how they expected to spend their day, but it’s nothing new to us. Joan Herrmann is so surprised by their adaptions she never gets around to their true gifts.

Where I Wander – Extraordinary Rodent

Whereiwander – perhaps when you hear the word rodent the mammal which may come to mind first might be mouse or rat or even squirrel. Today’s column is about one of my favorite rodents which is one of the largest too. A memorable encounter with one was first hearing then seeing, the flat-tailed rodent (Castor canadensis) known as an American Beaver.

I have learned that the beaver’s body is ideal for both underwater and land maneuvering. Beavers have very dense, soft, waterproof “under fur” that traps air, insulates, and also keeps them buoyant. Their broad scaly tail in addition to sounding alarms; works as a rudder in the water and as a prop, for balancing them on their hind legs, when cutting down a tree or standing. In the summer heat, their tail works as a heat exchanger allowing them to eliminate as much as twenty-five percent of their body heat. Their hind feet are webbed helping them to swim. They have a split toenail which aids in grooming their fur acting like a comb. The split toenail also assists them when they apply waterproofing oil from their oil gland and when they need to remove parasites and other debris from their fur. The forefeet are not webbed and are kept “balled up” against their chest when they swim. The forefeet are able to carry mud and sticks and are also used to dig, handle food, and for grooming. Beavers have an excellent sense of smell and can easily identify their favorite food tree just by its smell.

I can identify a favorite food by smell too. Not such a big deal.

Beaver are engineers extraordinaire; they dam up streams that are too shallow to hide them from predators and to make their lodges and routes of travel safe as they move to and from feeding areas. Most active from dusk to dawn a beaver is able to take down a three-inch diameter tree in less than ten minutes and a five-inch tree in about a half-hour. One beaver will fell the tree and the rest of the family will help with the removal of twigs and branches. In climates like ours where the water freezes, caching food begins in the fall. Tree branches of their favorite foods are secured in the mud below the water near their lodge entrance. The caches may be extremely large since a family of seven can consume about one ton of food over the winter.

Uh huh. What’s surprising about articles like this is that they spend so much time marveling at beaver attributes “ooh orange teeth! Oooh third eyelid” but they never get around too the frigging most impressive things about beavers. “ooh climate change! “Ooh waterstorage” “Ooh biodiversity!”

They just like writing about the part where they’re freaks of nature,

I hope that this column may have sparked an interest in learning more about these intriguing rodents.

I hope when they do they actually find out the truth.