My parents home in the mountains woke this. morning to the tiniest bit of snow, Not even a dusting really, More if a dusting that wilted during the night. Still it is kind if fun to know that just up the road they got a whole lot more. And up the highway still they had several inches last night./
There is a whopping headline from the Times today in the UK. It is almost horrific enough ti get pay to get past the firewall, but the first two paragraphs are bad enough Just look at this headline,
Shoot beavers if they spoil our fishing, urge anglers
Landowners and angling groups are demanding the right to shoot beavers if they cause too much damage after they were reintroduced to England’s prized chalk streams.
Last week Dorset Wildlife Trust released two beavers into an enclosure in a tributary of the River Frome, which is popular for trout and salmon fishing. Wildlife groups have ambitious plans to release dozens more to “rewild” many rivers.
It’s the photo that does it for me, Not only does it perfectly convey the exaggerate fears of anglers compared to the potential problems, by using image of a nursing mother with visible teats it means “Hey we deserve to kill mothers and babies because FISH!”
If anyway wants to spring for the account you can shoot me the rest of the article. I’m sure it only gets better from here. Although I like to imagine that somewhere in the staff of the times there is a graphic artist who knew exactly what he was doing with this photo and wanted to make the anglers look as bad as possible.
Richard Slocock, chair of the fisheries association, told The Times: “There are no apex predators for deer and there will be none for beavers so it’s up to mankind to cull them to keep them to sensible numbers.
He went on to argue that beaver dams would ruin fly fishing: “Instead of being a delightful, free flowing stream with lovely bright gravel and waving green weed and trout hanging around all over the place, you are left with a silty, semi-stagnant pond with minimal fishing interest.”
However, James Wallace, chief executive of the Beaver Trust, said damage caused by the animals could be managed without culling.
Hesalmon and trout had “evolved to jump over dams,” adding: “Beavers are native species, we have just forgotten about them. But salmon and trout haven’t forgotten about beavers. If they were in Norway they would expect to come across lots of beaver dams and once they have got over them there is a nice safe place for them to live.”
Slocock, chair of the fisheries association, told The Times: “There are no apex predators for deer and there will be none for beavers so it’s up to mankind to cull them to keep them to sensible numbers.
He went on to argue that beaver dams would ruin fly fishing: “Instead of being a delightful, free flowing stream with lovely bright gravel and waving green weed and trout hanging around all over the place, you are left with a silty, semi-stagnant pond with minimal fishing interest.”
However, James Wallace, chief executive of the Beaver Trust, said damage caused by the animals could be managed without culling.
He said salmon and trout had “evolved to jump over dams,” adding: “Beavers are native species, we have just forgotten about them. But salmon and trout haven’t forgotten about beavers. If they were in Norway they would expect to come across lots of beaver dams and once they have got over them there is a nice safe place for them to live.”
That means of course that places where the stream never freezes will freeze and beavers that have never needed to cache their food will find themselves without a way to eat. And for how long? I mean places that are usually frozen in winter will be colder, I get it. And beavers can manage. But what about the places like Dallas and Santa Fe?
New research published in the journal 
