Category: Beaver Behavior

Checking in on old friends…

heidi08 Beaver Anatomy, Beaver Behavior, Beavers May 11, 2017

This morning Choppa is in the news again! You remember him. He was that little yearling that ‘escaped’ from the Kansas children’s zoo and created a stir in the community when he strove for freedom. He eventually was recapture and has returned to captive life, but a local artist and musician posted a picture on his face book page with a pleas for his safe release.

“He was desperately trying to claw and chew his way out of his cage, so much so that he was bleeding from his mouth,” Hickey wrote in the caption accompanying the photograph. “I’m not an activist or a political person, but it was unbearable to watch, so I have to say something. This animal hides all day because it doesn’t like humans gawking at it, then at night it injures itself in a frantic but futile attempt to escape from its prison.”

This of course prompted worry and outrage and upset calls to the zoo that did their best to soothe jangled nerves with an article in the Wichita Eagle. Apparently ‘rumors of his death had been greatly exaggerated’.

Despite what you may have heard, Chapa the beaver is fine, city says

Wichita officials on Wednesday moved to calm local concerns about the health of Chapa the beaver, whose wandering ways a few years ago turned him into a local celebrity and landed him on this year’s Riverfest poster.

Local writer, gamer, artist and musician Esper Jared Hickey posted a photograph of Chapa on his Facebook page Tuesday, taken at the Kansas Wildlife Exhibit in Central Riverside Park the night before.

Hickey’s post prompted a number of responses, including one from a woman who wrote “Why does that zoo even still exist? It’s so cruel to the animals.”

But Stacey Hamm, director of marketing and development for Wichita Park and Recreation, said in an e-mail response to questions Wednesday that Chapa and his cage are in normal condition.

“Beavers are nocturnal rodents that are seldom active during the day,” Hamm said. “Chapa spends a lot of time in his den during the day. Beavers have different tooth enamel than people. Their front incisors are large and visible. The outer enamel of those teeth is much harder than ours and has a brownish color.”

Chapa receives all proper veterinary care, Hamm said, and “gets all he wants to eat.” Staff weave and stack tree branches that Chapa labors to disassemble every night. What has changed recently, Hamm said, is that the waterfall at a small pond next to the exhibit has been turned on.

“Chapa hears the noise of rushing water and it makes him want to go dam it up,” she said.

Chapa gained fame two years ago when he broke out of his enclosure in Central Riverside Park and spent several days on the lam before he was spotted swimming in the Arkansas River. A couple of days later

, he was discovered trying to dig his way back into his cage.

His escapades landed him on this year’s Riverfest poster.

Now, I agree totally that a beaver is nocturnal and will likely stay in his hole all day and come out at night, and I agree that his teeth are continuing to grow so it’s likely he gnaws on the cage all night, but he must get lonely and bored sometimes. Honestly, is there anyway to read the zoo assurances and not hear echoes of the smarmy reassurance “the norwegian blue prefers sleeping on its back“?

I heard from Glynnis Hood yesterday that she uses similar observations to infer the age of the beaver based on its incisor size shown on wood gnawings as Peter Busher. And we studiously checked our chews, finding that marks weren’t all the same size, even on the same pieces of wood, which could mean the different beavers are helping but might also mean that tooth marks change depending on the angle of the head.

Jon had the excellent point, ‘If I chew an apple my teeth marks don’t look the same with every bite”. Which I pointed out to Glynnis and to which she admitted that it hasn’t actually ever been studied and is just an informed guess.

Well then!

Rusty went to Bill Leikam’s fox talk last night at the Napa Library and saw this on his way home. Lucky bastard. 🙂

Three States and Counting

heidi08 Beaver Anatomy, Beaver Chewing, Beavers, Beavers and climate change, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Educational, Environmental, Who's saving beavers now? May 10, 2017

There was a rickety bridge I used to cross when I walked across the creek to my volunteer job back in the long-agoes. Every time I did so I began by carefully considering whether the rotten old thing would be strong enough to hold me one more time. In the back of my mind I knew I should give up and go the long way – but the long way was very long. And the parts of the bridge without holes were pretty sturdy looking. Eventually I would pick my way across the strongest bits surprised that the thing which looked so worn out still had strength left in it. In all those years I never fell 25 feet to my death and it never failed me.

I’m hoping that our democracy is like that bridge this morning. Meanwhile, let’s talk about beavers.

Beaver Phys.org has a very nice story about climate change and our favorite topic, so this article about the Wildlife Conservation Society is exactly the right place to start. I especially love the title:

The latest weapons against climate change: The beaver, the oyster, cold water and more…

Beavers, high elevation streams, and oyster reefs are just three of the weapons in the fight against climate change discussed in 14 Solutions to Problems Climate Change Poses for Conservation, a new report released today by WCS.

From re-introduced beavers restoring the water storage capacity of ecosystems in Utah and Washington, to redesigned culverts that accommodate flooding in Upstate New York, the report showcases 14 inventive “real-world” solutions to a warming climate threatening wildlife and ecosystems worldwide.

Solutions profiled include traditional and innovative conservation tools applied strategically to address climate change impacts such as decreasing water availability, increasing risk of flooding and wildfires, rising sea levels, direct effects on species and habitats, and changing land use and human behaviors.

WCS Climate Adaptation Fund Program Director Darren Long said, “We are thrilled to share our ’14 Solutions’ report, and for others to learn from the adaptation work of those whose projects are showcased here. These solutions are on the leading edge of a field where traditional conservation work is no longer sustainable or strategic in light of climate change.”

One of those fourteen solutions was a grant to the Methow Project in Washington, another was building pretend beaver dams in Montana. Go read the report here, and just be grateful there are little steps we can make to help ourselves, and organizations like WCS to help us do it.

Time to visit Boston College where Beaver researcher Peter Busher has some interesting desk-o-rations. HDr. Busher hasn’t always been what I call a beaver believer, but he’s always been interested in the animal. Go to the website where you can see an interactive page that allows you to click on specific items and learn why they’re on his desk. I am currently wondering if this intriguing fact is true:

You know I’m already off to examine ALL the beaver chews in our house and compare incisor width. I asked a few experts whether they agree, because it’s nothing I ever head before. Oooh interesting.

Now onto Nebraska where their Ground water festival is in full swing. It’s been going on since 1988 so okay, they have us beat. But I’m not exactly impressed with the activity or the teaching about beavers! (Troubling statements will appear in red!)

Fourth-graders learn of key role of beavers and wetlands in nature

Build, Beaver, Build was a new activity presented by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission at the Children’s Groundwater Festival on Tuesday at Central Community College in Grand Island.Monica Macoubrie, wildlife education assistant, quizzed Boone Central fourth-graders about beavers and why they are critical to groundwater.

After her instruction, the kids enjoyed making an edible beaver lodge out of pretzels and chocolate frosting.

“We talk about why beaver dams are so important for groundwater and all the other species that use the wetland areas,” Macoubrie said. “Then they make their own beaver lodges. Lodges are different than dams, and we want to show the kids the difference.”

Macoubrie passed a couple of props, including a beaver skull, around to the students. She told them that beavers are members of the rodent family and that the unique orange coloring of their teeth is characteristic of rodents.

Really? Are rabbit teeth orange? Prairie dog?

Scientists classify beavers as keystone creatures because the ponds and wetlands created by their lodges are also used by many other animals and plants. Macoubrie quizzed the students about what kinds of creatures depend on the wetlands created by beavers.

“Keystone species are anything that affects other animals,” she said. “Without our keystone species, those other animals would not be as abundant as they are.”

Another reason beavers are a keystone species is the fact that half of all threatened and endangered animals in North America rely on wetlands.

“Without those beavers, we would not have half of those animals,” Macoubrie said.

Which half, the front half?

She said beaver populations are doing well in Nebraska.

“They are considered a least concerned species, so we have a lot of them,” Macoubrie said.In fact, Nebraska Game and Parks officials are sometimes called to help relocate beavers when their dams present a flooding problem for property, she said.

Okay, in a metaphysical way, death IS a kind of relocation. The last relocation.

Marcia Lee, festival coordinator, said Cedar Hollow teachers Ashley Dvorak and Lola Hoover attended the festival with 44 students. Dodge Elementary teachers Michelle Carter, Alma Gutierrez, Amy Mingus and Nikki Stevens brought 67 students. Knickrehm Elementary teachers Sydney Gartner and Diane Meyer attended with 32 students. Trinity Lutheran teacher Wendy Heider brought 11 students.

Overall, 744 students attended this year’s festival with 43 teachers from 19 schools. More than 30,000 students have been educated at the festival since 1988. The Nebraska Children‘s Groundwater Festival has been replicated in 41 states in the U.S., Mexico, Canada, India and the United Kingdom.

The Groundwater festival is a big big deal with a big foundation and financial backers. In Platte Nebraska it is focused on regional issues and makes a huge difference. I can’t exactly argue with that and I’m glad they teach about beavers. Fracking pressures are driving water protections down in the region, and for people to learn more about what sustains them seems necessary. I can’t help be curious how much money fracking donates to these festivals. I’m sure its some respectable amount designed to influence and make things appear rosy.

But let’s face it, the ground water festival needs some better beaver education and activity. I think I’ll just drop them a note.

Beaver Deceivers Meet The Press

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Creative Solutions, Environmental, Urban beavers, Who's saving beavers now? May 6, 2017

Remember that Mill Creek beaver project in Washington? I heard from Ben about this yesterday, clarifying that it was a single walled pipe that went over the dam, not under. (Also he’ll make changes to link to our site soon, thank you very much.) Looks like they’re getting a lot more press this week, which is great.

Mill Creek tries new tactic to prevent beaver dams from flooding nearby roads

MILL CREEK, Wash. – Beavers in Penny Creek are in for a surprise.

In an attempt to solve a perpetual flooding issue that causes traffic delays, the City of Mill Creek has commissioned Beavers Northwest to build a “beaver deceiver.” The system of pipes has no formal name but the idea is to let beavers co-exist with humans and end the flooding issue.

This is a great story, and will someone please pinch me because I’m obviously dreaming at the public works quote? Great work by our friends at Beavers NorthWest. This is really good coverage and fun to see. The reporter was obviously having a delightful time getting to use new tools that day, he even filmed the install with a go pro and tweeted about it, but you have to go to the article to see that, because I can’t embed it here.

Meanwhile, we’re off to the Mother’s day event at Wild Birds Unlimited in Pleasant hill. Always a fun day, and it will be a great chance for you to meet Gary Bogue and Joan Morris who inherited his column! (And for some unknown reason Chuck Todd is listed as a guest…I don’t exactly understand, will birds be on Meet the Press this sunday?) Jon and I are there the first half of the day, and Cheryl and Lory will see it close. Come see the bald eagle, stock up on bird seed and stop by and say Hi!

Beaver Fireside Chats

heidi08 Beaver Anatomy, Beaver Chewing, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Dispersal, stupid solutions, What's killing beavers now?, Who's blaming beavers now?, Who's saving beavers now? May 2, 2017

Three beaver stories you don’t see every day…from places you truly expect to know better. The first is from Maine where a man believes he saw castoroides in person. Yes, really. He doesn’t want to give the location to make sure no people want go hunting for him.

Maine Man Claims to Have Witnessed Giant Beaver

A man from Maine claims to have seen a gigantic beaver. His estimations of size were about 14 feet long and weighing over 350 pounds. The man didn’t want to give away the exact location, for fear someone would try to harm the giant rodent.

“It was about 30 years ago,” he told Crypto Crew researcher Thomas Marcum. “It was a very general geographic area,” he added.

The anonymous eyewitness says he doesn’t want to give too much information about the area of the alleged sighting in order to protect this “rare animal” from “unwanted” human activity.

The man believes the rodent was about 14 feet long with an estimated weight of 350 pounds. It is believed that giant beavers, also known as Castoroides, went extinct about 10,000 years ago.

You saw a giant beaver 30 years ago? That’s nothing, a mere 47 years ago I could fly down stairs! I carefully explained to my disbelieving sister that I could only do it when no one was watching, because mysteries must be protected you know. Which I think makes my story more believable. To be fair, people were certain the ivory billed woodpecker was extinct until someone found one lurking in the back woods. I guess it’s theoretically possible castorides could be hiding in Maine.

Well, maybe not Maine.

Onto Montana where a wastewater staffer who has been told to protect the precious levys by killing beavers. A lot of beavers.

Pat Brook has nothing against beavers, but Hurricane Katrina forced his hand

Up until six years ago, though, Brook says, he’d never given beaver a second thought.

“Why would I?”

The answer is Hurricane Katrina. After New Orleans’ levees failed in 2005, FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began reevaluating other levees across the country, identifying deficiencies and tasking local officials with fixing them. When Missoula’s time came in 2011, the feds found that beavers were burrowing into a portion of the levee stretching from California Street to Russell. Their directive: Get rid of the beavers. And so, over the past six years, Brook has trapped 21 beavers near the California Street footbridge with the help of Dave Wallace, a Kila-based private contractor who specializes in wildlife control and removal.

“Let’s face it, you’re right on a primary corridor there,” Wallace says. “Basically, trapping is just preventative maintenance.”

Even so, Brook hates to call what they do trapping. It’s a practice he doesn’t support. “I mean, what’s the word I’m looking for? Barbaric?” From day one, he’s bucked the advice he says he received from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks to simply kill the critters. Instead, he’s insisted on releasing the captured beavers at either Kelly Island or Fort Missoula, the two sites that FWP, which issues his permits, instructed him to use for relocation. Keeping the beavers alive carries an additional $50-per-beaver charge, and Wallace says Missoula is “the only place [in the state] where that’s carried out.” Brook sees it as money well spent.

“It sucks, but I gotta do it,” he says. “There’s a reason I’m here doing it, but I’d rather leave them alone.” According to Brook, the city’s bill for beaver relocation since 2011 totals $15,023.03.

City officials haven’t exactly been keen to discuss their approach to the beaver problem, fearful of how the trapping might play with the public. In fact, Brook found himself at the center of a dust-up in early April after two women confronted Wallace while he was setting cages. Brook says the situation escalated rapidly, drawing in both Missoula police and FWP.

The April incident has made increased public awareness inevitable. So Brook is now crafting a new plan, one that calls for installing large beaver-resistant rocks, or rip-rap, along the threatened stretch of levee. The project will have “a hefty price-tag,” he says, and would have to get the OK not just from city administrators, but from the feds as well.

I don’t know about you, but I’m still scratching my head about this article even though there not a word I disagree with. The waterway would be full of beavers using it as a freeway on their way to disperse, and killing every single one and throwing away the skin isn’t ‘trapping’ by any stretch of the word.

But the odds of him getting approval for the rip rap plan are pretty slim. Just like the odds of relocated beavers dumped in a neighboring lake surviving are also pretty slim. The army corps of Engineers were always crazy about their levies, and since Katrina they’ve become downright levy nazi’s. Remember a couple years back when they told California that if vegetation was left standing on a levy it wouldn’t be treated as their responsibility in a flood?

Sure, more erosion. That’s what levy’s need.

Well I wish Mr. Brooks all the luck in the world on his quest, and wrote him some advice about cost saving arguments to wield. In the meantime we should just all appreciate the fact that there is at least ONE wastewater operator in Montana that thinks endless depredation of beavers is cruel and pointless, and that’s something.

Finally, CBC radio is fondly remembering one of their most famous stories today. Apparently this story was listened to and shared more than any other. The narrator is a mild-mannered canadian man who apparently wished the beaver no harm, and holds no grudges. I found the whole thing grizzly in the extreme, but I was somewhat touched by his comments at the end. Listen if you dare.

The Art of Beavers

heidi08 Beaver Anatomy, Beaver Art, Beaver Behavior, Beaver-themed merchandise April 30, 2017

I think this might be your last chance to see the Beaver Tales Exhibit in Oregon. It opens in Seaside next weekend and has been making a very big impression. This site has a wonderful slide show of every artist and since I can’t share it you really should go look for yourself. But come right back, because there’s lots to talk about.

The art of BEAVER TALES, Seaside sale and exhibition, opening May 6th, 2017.

The traveling exhibit includes artwork of al kinds, from paintings to fiber, wood, stone, glass and ceramics. With regional and local artists displaying their work, this stop in Seaside will bring together a multitude of styles and creativity.

Along with the month-long display, there will be workshops, tours, and other activities around Seaside. The exhibit will feature juried art for purchase, benefitting the three nonprofit sponsoring organizations listed above.

The goal of the exhibition 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.

Seeing the slide show makes me want to take a field trip myself. Seaside Oregon is just 681 miles from Martinez, I think we could manage. I want to stand outside with a big bag and tell everyone if their art didn’t sell it should come to Martinez where it certainly will. At least I’ve been assured that we’re getting one of the items donated to the silent auction, a hand saw beautifully showing a beaver chopping a tree by Jen Richmond.

In the meantime, we have some fine art of our own to share on this pleasant sunday. These pewter beaver pendants were donated by Steve Blom of Boise Idaho from his wonderful shop Treasure Cast on etsy. Both are delightfully detailed and have a lovely weighted feel to them. One is a necklace and the other is a broach, but they’re both lovely. Thanks Steve! If you can’t wait visit his shop and find a lovely creation of your own.

Local artist and hard working beaver friend Erika Goldstein sent this yesterday that she created in her ceramic studios. Something tells me this is going to be snapped up quickly. I especially like the tail.

Meanwhile local artist Amelia Hunter has been slaving away on our 10th beaver festival design. This is what she has so far, but she’s still adding more color, I’m not crazy about the font and she’s thinking about swapping out the bottom text for our traditional ribbon. I love the bridge and the sense of place it communicates. It’s truly a wonderful first edition. Doesn’t this make you want to come to the festival?