Category: Beaver Behavior

Artfully done.

heidi08 Beaver Art, Beaver Chewing, Who's saving beavers now? July 12, 2017

Ohh my goodness, things are getting exciting around here. Last night the silent auction received a breathtaking donation from photographer Suzi Eszterhas, (which I’ll say more about on Sunday!), we found out we received a 1000 dollar grant from the city (hurray!!!) and our own amazingly talented Amelia Hunter sent me the first official draft of the brochure. The event looks sooo irresistible and fun! But I’m especially fond of our new back page:

This has been such a major commitment of focus and resources, it makes me awed at the beaver-worthy campaign that has been the better part of a year in the showing, and longer still in the formation. Our little festival looks feather lightweight by comparison to the momentous achievement that spanned at least four cities and several public showings of this uniquely valuable exhibit. It must have required the coordination of volunteers and experts from one end of Oregon to the other, and it was an undertaking that had (understandably) never been attempted before. I’m talking of course, about the art exhibit “Beaver Tales” which is in its final legs in the month of August with several dynamic tours and lectures.

The Wetlands Conservancy, LNWC council and NCRD present Beaver Tales Traveling Art Exhibit

The exhibit opens on July 31^st at the North County Recreation District (NCRD) in Nehalem, 36155 9^th Street. On August 4^th, local naturalist and photographer Neal Maine will give a special presentation on Beaver Ecology at 6:30 pm, followed by a reception and viewing of the works in the NCRD Art Gallery. The exhibit will be on display through August 30^th.

The exhibit will feature juried art for purchase, a portion of the sales will benefit The Wetlands Conservancy and Lower Nehalem Watershed Council. The traveling exhibit includes artwork of all kinds, from paintings to fiber, wood, stone, glass and ceramics. With regional and local artists displaying their work, this stop in Nehalem will bring together a multitude of styles and creativity.

Along with the month long display, there will be tours and other activities around Nehalem and Manzanita. Following the opening, join The Wetlands Conservancy for an Open House on August 5^th from 1- 3 pm at the Doris Davis Wetland Preserve in Manzanita, located off Nehalem Rd at Beach St. The beautiful preserve is right in the heart of Manzanita. TWC’s land steward will be on site to lead a tour of this great North coast wetland.

The goal of the Beaver Tales Art Exhibition and events is to recognize the aesthetic and ecological significance our state animal plays in the creation and maintenance of wetland habitats. Beavers, though woefully misunderstood, actually create and sustain wetlands that aid in resuscitating wetland and riparian stream habitats. They play a central role in shaping our future as we prepare for transformations that a warming and changing climate may bring. The sponsoring organizations are working together to learn more about how we can work with beaver to conserve and restore natural systems.

What an amazing thing you’ve done touching so many lives and getting so many eyes to view beavers in a new way. I am completely in awe of you; Sara Vickerman Gage and Ester Lev. The idea of adding even a second half a day to the beaver festival fills me with soul-collapsing horror, I cannot imagine even for a moment how you had the energy and commitment to pull this off. It’s true that you work for large successful nonprofits that do big things and have huge talented staffs that actually get paid salaries, and admittedly you live in a state that has 50 more beaver IQ points than California, and 100 more than Martinez, but I am fully humbled by this undertaking, ladies. Hats off to you. You are truly my heroes.

In the meantime this plucky little beaver festival is chugging right along like the little engine that could. We’ll do what we can with what we have.

SNF: Every Beaver Everywhere

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers and Birds, Beavers and climate change, Beavers and Forests, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and Ice, Beavers and Insects, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water July 8, 2017

I try to stay beaver-centric on this website, but once in a great while an article about general ecology grabs and holds my attention so much that I can’t entirely escape. Besides, this entire article might as be about beavers anyway. Every Single Beaver Everywhere.

The big ecological roles of small natural features

Ecologists and conservationists have long recognized that keystone species have major ecological importance disproportionate to their abundance or size. Think beavers, sea stars and prairie dogs—species that >Similarly across landscapes, the keystone concept of disproportionate importance extends to other ecological elements, such as salt marshes in estuaries. Now an international group of researchers is exploring the disproportionate ecological importance of small natural features—unique environmental elements that provide significant ecological and economic impacts.

Desert springs. Caves harboring bat colonies. Rocky outcrops. Strips of natural vegetation edging agricultural fields. Riparian zones. Small coral heads. Tiny islands. Large old trees.

These small natural features are often overlooked, relatively vulnerable yet environmentally mighty in their ecosystem. They also are at the opposite end of the spatial scale from the Earth’s large conservation superstars—the Serengeti, Yellowstone and the Great Barrier Reef.

Or hey, maybe an unexpected beaver pond in an city stream? Sustaining unique habitat even in the middle of town?

Small natural features have big ecological roles, according to the 37 researchers from 11 countries writing in a Special Issue of “Biological Conservation.” Sometimes they can provide resources that limit key populations or processes that influence a much larger area. Sometimes they support unusual diversity, abundance or productivity.

They also are small enough to efficiently maintain or restore, while traditional land-use activities continue in close proximity, such as forestry, fishing and grazing.

“Small natural features are an example of what can be termed ‘The Frodo Effect,'” writes Malcolm Hunter, University of Maine professor of wildlife resources and Libra Professor of Conservation Biology, in the journal introduction.

“In the ‘Lord of the Rings,’ the small and unassuming hobbit Frodo has more strength than any of his larger peers and saves Middle Earth with his brave actions,” says Hunter. “Gandalf and the rest of the fellowship of the ring go to great ends to protect him, because they know this.”

And you thought that only techs could be geeks. Apparently what Star Wars is to silicon valley, Tolkein is to biologists. They love thems some Frodo. We’ll let them have their fun, but that’s silly, because it’s not even the passage I would have chosen for this significant contribution played by very small things.

“For you little gardener and lover of trees,’ she said to Sam, ‘I have only a small gift.’ She put into his hand a little box of plain grey wood, unadorned save for a single silver rune upon the lid… ‘In this box there is earth from my orchard, and such blessing as Galadriel has still to bestow is upon it. It will not keep you on your road, nor defend you against any peril; but if you keep it and see your home again at last, then perhaps it may reward you. Though you should find all barren and laid waste, there will be few gardens in Middle-earth that will bloom like your garden, if you sprinkle this earth there. Then you may remember Galadriel, and catch a glimpse far off of Lórien….”

Isn’t that much better? Now let’s get back to the subject of this article. Small natural features (SNF) like a big oak tree, or a small rock outcropping, or even a drowned stump in the river, are often the nexus around which a collection of wildlife is gathered. And if it wasn’t there, the collection wouldn’t be either. More than this, the researchers argue that actually saving that frog pond or small stand of trees beside the field might have as important an impact as a large scale restoration project that costs hundreds of thousands more dollars.

Will someone PLEASE argue this case in court to save a beaver pond in the next 6 months?

Every time an individual city or landowner makes the decision NOT to rip out a beaver dam, they are allowing one of these important SNF’s to exist. And every time they trap a beaver they are destroying one. Don’t believe me? Here’s some of the biodiversity our friend Rusty Cohn photographed at the tulocay beaver pond between a hotel and a car dealership in downtown Napa last week.

Gem state beaver gems

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers and Birds, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers elsewhere, Educational, Environmental, Who's saving beavers now? July 7, 2017

Idaho is a mixed bag ecologically speaking. It is filled to the gills with hunters and trappers and folks who visit the state just because they want to hunt and trap, but it has more than its fair share of really study beaver advocates like Mike Settel brave enough to host an overnight beaver festival with camping and beer in the Beaver dam jam!

Then there are unexpected treasures like this, that seem to pop out of the rich Idaho soil like yellow flowers in the sidewalk.

Beaver ecology to be featured at Southwestern Idaho Birders Association meeting

NAMPA — Dirk Anderson will be featured at the Southwestern Idaho Birders Association’s July meeting to talk about the role of the North American beaver in western ecology.The presentation will look at beaver ecology through the lens of Anderson’s childhood. Growing up in Idaho City, he saw first-hand how beavers influenced the ecology of his back yard.

Anderson will also discuss the history of beavers in North America and how they were the driving force behind western exploration. The presentation will wrap up talking about restoration, conservation and beaver-related issues.

Anderson is the AmeriCorps environmental education instructor at the Boise Urban Garden School. He is a graduate of McCall Outdoor Science School where he received a Master’s of Science in Natural Resources with honors. He also has a bachelor’s degree in biology from Montana Tech of the University of Montana where he played basketball. Anderson is a modern day mountain man, raised in Idaho City, with a passion for the outdoors, art and music.

Mike Settell was stunned to learn about this, because it’s a big, long state and all the beaver players don’t always know what each other is doing. Hopefully he’ll find a way to get a friend to attend Anderson’s lecture, because I would love to know what he has to say. There are pockets of beaver advocacy all the way from Coeure d’Alene to Pocatello and lots of places in between. I just found out about another surprise in the state involving Trumpeter Swans. Seems some lovers of swans have decided that where they nest is so important there should be MORE of it, not less.

Guess where they nest. Go ahead. Guess.

Cygnus buccinator is our largest bird in North Americaso heavy it needs a wide open stretch of water to take off. It is ungainly on land and has short legs like its landlord. These swans nest on beaver (or muskrat lodges) and feed primarily on the rich aquatic plants that surround them. Since it’s the biggest bird we have, it wants the very best place to raise a family and is equipped to defend it handily. (I imagine every type of waterfowl would love to nest on the island of a beaver lodge. No predators to sneak up behind you, no neighbors during the day. But it can fight off anyone else who might want to share.) It’s prime reale state assures that year after year it’s children grow up safe.

Due to it’s size and fortune, it was avidly hunted in the last 200 years, and for a period of time believed to be extinct. Now it’s population has recovered but has suffered because of the damage to wetlands and all those important beavers that maintain them. Especially in Idaho. Swan people are beaver people, and want some wet places that beavers can be safe so that swans will be safe. There has even been a plan to reintroduce beaver so that the swan population could recover, which in a state like Idaho is fairly remarkable.

Trumpeter Swans continue to face a number of threats. In Teton Valley and across the globe, many wetlands have been drained or filled, negatively impacting countless wildlife species, including Trumpeters. In addition, declining beaver populations throughout the Greater Yellowstone region have furthered wetland resource losses. Currently, the Greater Yellowstone Trumpeter Swan nesting population is struggling due to lack of habitat. Biologists are seeing fewer nesting trumpeter swan pairs in our region and even fewer successful nests.

Teton Regional Land Trust has worked with families and other conservation groups over the past 25 years to conserve over 33,000 acres in East Idaho, including 11,000 acres in Teton Valley. The successes of our wetland protection and restoration program, combined with Teton Basin’s strategic location, have created a unique opportunity to reestablish Trumpeter Swan nesting in Teton Valley, and enhance Trumpeter nesting throughout the Greater Yellowstone region.

It’s wonderful to read about good works being done in other places, and fun to find beaver fans where you never even thought to look. You would think, that between the swan people, the frog people, and the salmon people beavers would stand a chance in this crazy concrete-driven world. But the deck is pretty much stacked against them. Turns out we really, really like culverts.

And we really hate the things that plug them. Go figure.

Urban Beaver Bonanza

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Educational, Environmental, Friends of Martinez Beavers, Shameless Self-promotion, Should I pet beavers?, Urban beavers, Who's blaming beavers now?, Who's saving beavers now? July 3, 2017

Sometimes the stars align and a great deal of good news comes to the forefront at once. Sure, days and weeks and sometimes years of hard work went into it. And sure it’s just random now that its finally coming together in sync. There isn’t really a reason for it, except folks want to tie up loose ends before the long weekend of celebrations. But let’s just celebrate the independence of some urban beavers and their founding fathers, shall we?

Beaver sightings reported in Los Gatos Creek in Campbell

Steve Holmes, executive director of the South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition, said he’s seen beavers along the creek stretch in Campbell—in person and on video shot with a camera stationed where they primarily reside.

Back in 2013, Holmes said he saw a small family of beavers in the Guadalupe River near the SAP Center in downtown San Jose. At the time he wasassessing the area for potential creek cleanups.

“We’re down there and looking down from a bridge in the downtown. I looked down and saw a tree had been chewed,” he said. “It looked like someone was chopping it down with an ax. We went down for a closer inspection, and it turned out it was a beaver. Not just one, but a whole family.”

Hurray for beavers in San Jose! And hurray for Steve for being happy about it! We’re not going to say hurray for this reporter because she’s a little lackluster on the subject and doesn’t talk to the right people or do nearly as good a job as the 2013 stories. Just look at this cartoon stick figure of a biologist from fish and game who is SO out of her element!

Terris Kasteen, a biologist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, confirmed that beavers were reintroduced into Lexington Reservoir and said some may have been pushed down from the reservoir during the heavy winter rains and subsequent flooding in the area.

“One wandering downstream is not surprising,” she said.

Navroop Jassal, a Santa Clara Valley Water District biologist, said beavers were introduced to the reservoir in the 1990s, and the ones seen in the creek could be from there or possibly from the family of beavers seen in 2013 that Holmes spotted as well.

“The history of beavers in the area isn’t well known,” Jassal said.

The water district monitors certain species in creeks, but does not have an active program for beavers and does not plan to start one, according to Jassal. Instead, it will keep an eye on the fallout from potentially destructive beaver behavior such as fallen and chewed trees or damming. The district would then alert the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“We would be concerned if it’s damming up areas and backing up the flow of the waterway,” Kasteen said.

Kasteen said a beaver presence in the creek over time could affect waterways and result in trees dying and not regrowing. People are advised to keep their distance from the animals and their habitat.

“More or less stay away from them,” Kasteen said.

I’m sorry but that’s HILARIOUS!!! Not only haven’t you read our articles published in your OWN journal Terris about the history of beaver in coastal rivers in including Campbell, but are ready to depredate them now before they do anything because they’re going to build a dam one day, and you warn folks not to approach them because beavers are like furry hand grenades with the pin pulled out.

They could go OFF at any moment.

Goodness gracious, Terris. I think you get a letter. And guess what else? Now that we’re all talking about URBAN BEAVERS I found out yesterday that our chapter on urban beavers was published in the restoration guidebook 2.0 yesterday. I know you will want to read every word but I’m not yet sure how to just publish that section, so check out the entire document and get ready to spend a great deal of time on chapter 7. I would just post what we wrote but of course the slasher editor fairy altered much (but not ALL) of my beautiful prose, and the original no longer relates entirelt. There is stuff in this chapter I’m not thrilled about – like the word MANAGEMENT for one, and a sentence that is so horrifying I’m still trying to get it shaved off. (Go find it yourself). But the fact that it exists at all is a Martinez miracle, and the sections by Dr. Wohl are breathtaking, the accounting of beaver solutions prodigious, my own humble tweaking of psychology and ecology is pretty darned effective, and the silly sheet is gone, so let’s look on the bright side, shall we?

The very first case study is MARTINEZ whooo whoo and makes us seem pretty dam plucky, and kind of adorable I must say. I do get the feeling that our story has changed the playing field forever, and that’s a pretty sweet legacy.

What are you still doing here? Go read it!

Beaver credit where credit is due

heidi08 Beaver Anatomy, Beaver Behavior, Beavers and Birds, Beavers and Insects, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere June 30, 2017

Ask and ye shall receive, that’s the way it works here at Beaver Central. Yesterday I posted the confusing photo of what appeared to be a beaver with two colors of teeth and friend Lisa Hodge, a wildlife rehabber who has raised beavers, commented that the white wasn’t teeth but a tongue (as Jon believed). She notes if you zoom in you can see a faint hint of orange upper teeth above that.

So mystery solved I guess, although why that particular beaver was sticking out his tongue will remain a question!

Maybe calling ourselves beaver central gives the wrong impression. On Wednesday I got an email from a magazine author in Canada bemoaning the allegations of beaver population explosion the region of Manitoba and wondering if I might I know any local experts to consult? So I spent an hour introducing her to the major players in her home country. And then I received a query from the Quebec Zoo saying they had just received an orphan beaver and how should they care for it?

Do you people do ANY of your own work, I thought?

Of course I sent our orphan care page with plenty of links. And made sure to mention that if they didn’t want more orphans they should stop killing the parents. But my words are a drop in the bucket, I’m sure.

Meanwhile we’ve been busily getting ready for all things festival. I finally have the map in place and I updated the festival page so it links to every exhibitor. Youcan check it out by clicking on the flyer on either margin.

We’ve also been finalizing the magnetic beaver pond, which kids can arrange however they like. We got the idea from the fun board at an International Bird Rescue display where we saw many children happily rearranging the magnets again and again. IBR used a flat metal display but I thought, hey we have that extra metal beaver made for us by Paul Craig when mom beaver died, why not use her? Hopefully it will work as a fun activity for kids to learn about the inhabitants of a beaver pond.

Speaking of inhabitants, there’s a nice little article about beaver and wood ducks from Seaside Oregon where the beaver tales very successful art exhibit has concluded.

Just in from Neal Maine. Lucky 13.

Wood Ducks live in wooded swamps, where they nest in holes in trees or in nest boxes put up near or over water. They are equipped with strong claws that can grip bark and perch on branches. These cavities are typically places where a branch has broken off and the tree’s heartwood has subsequently rotted. Wood Ducks cannot make their own cavities. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Wood_Duck/lifehistory

Beavers are responsible for creating the wetlands that the wood ducks call home. Beavers and wood ducks go hand in hand. Woodies are fond of waters with plenty of wooded cover — hence the name — and a new-built beaver pond offers habitat that attracts and keeps wood ducks in the vicinity.

Nice job giving credit where credit is due. I wish someone had filmed Neal’s talk on beavers because I would have liked to see it. Our local friend Brian Murphy has been watching over wood ducks and putting up boxes in walnut creek for a decade. After 10 years of labor he finally got a photo of the babies emerging and sent it excitedly last night. Sometimes good works take time. And sometimes very good works takes a lot of time.

Thanks Brian for your hard work and great photo!