Ben Goldfarb is in Colorado this week, and in Idaho last week. You would think that if a book was doing well enough to hock copies all across the beavered United States that the author would at least make it to Martinez for the festival, wouldn’t you?
But no, Capybaras and South America await. Too bad for beavers. Benny’s got a brand new rodent.
In his book “Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter”, author Ben Goldfarb reveals that our modern idea of what a healthy landscape looks like and how it functions is wrong – distorted by the fur trade that once trapped out millions of beavers from North America’s lakes and rivers. The consequences were profound: Streams eroded, wetlands dried and species lost vital habitat.
Today, a growing coalition of “Beaver Believers,” including scientists, ranchers and passionate citizens, recognizes that ecosystems with beavers are often far healthier for humans and nonhumans alike than those without them.
Ben Goldfarb will present, “Beavers: Their Landscapes Our Future” on Thursday, April 11, 6:30 p.m. at the Salida SteamPlant. In his presentation he will describe beaver biology, ecology and history; detail the many environmental benefits provided by beavers, including habitat creation, water storage and pollution filtration and discuss how landowners and municipalities around the country are learning to coexist with these keystone rodents.
That presentation was last night, I wonder how it went. I’m going to imagine their are tens of new beaver believers walking around Central Colorado. As I’m sure there are in California, I keep get letters from them, Like this one from Wyoming.
Letters like these make me feel like I accidentally slid into something very important, although I’m still not sure what happened or how to tread this particular water. No matter how many ‘Ellens” there are, we could always use more.
Another savory dish Rob Rich sent my way was this essay by author Ginny Battson. It is a splendid, thoughtful and thought-provoking read perfectly designed for a sunday afternoon by the seaside or a cup of coffee and the first snow in your uncle’s cabin. Which means it deserves much broader thinking than I can summon, but the beaver parts are really, really good so I’m going to share them.
I learn from rivers, as do the beavers. I spend time in and around them, observing and sensing. Two and a half thousand years ago, the ancient philosopher Heraclitus also wrote on the profound things he learned from rivers. In an age before science, he looked for guiding principles in nature. What he found in rivers was a permanence in a reality of apparent change. All is flux, a matrix of matter and movement. The river is an analogy for an elemental cosmos, yet materially effervescent. Rivers are also life systems ~ complex and dynamic.
Beavers, the river keepers, have evolved to be more than the sum of themselves. Beavers live in the life-flow, interrupt and send it in multiple directions. Known to ecologists as ‘keystone,’ First Nationers instead call them ‘sacred centres’ of the land. For they are whirling hubs of life-diffluence and life-confluence, integral to the flow just as mind cannot be separated from body. They are dam and bridge builders, storing water at times of plenty for times of drought. They sequester carbon by trapping it in fluvial muds that eventually become rich soils. They are coppicers; the trees they fell to feed upon and rear their young will regenerate, beaver-cuts catalysing a diversity of plant and animal life. They are also wildlife protectors ~ during winter, woody debris left trapped behind dams are buried beneath deep snow, and provide shelter for a host of smaller mammals and reptiles during the bitter cold. And then, when the northern hemisphere tips nearer to the Sun, melt water forms reservoirs and a rising water table, creating habitat for amphibians and a plethora of bird species, including waterfowl ~ wood duck and heron, migratory waders and passerines. New lentic deeps amongst woody debris provide fish fry safe passage to grow to adulthood. Majestic osprey take the adults. In lotic flows downstream, clouds of black fly larvae lay submerged, attached to substrate with silk, to emerge in spring and breed, then feed the bats that hunt on the wing above the beaver-cuts. The dams may eventually blow-out by flood, and the beavers will find new territory. Upstream, moose rear youngon regenerating meadow grasses years after dams are abandoned. This really is rich habitat; the smell of river, wood and beaver is intoxicating.
If beavers could speak human, they may also say: Into the same rivers we step and do not step, we are and are not.
(Heraclitus Homericus B49a)
Ginny introduces the word Fluminism to explain the interconnected dynamics of the universe flowing forwards, connecting and enriching and says it’s what beavers do best. She even goes so far as to call it a kind of love, or the doing and caring parts of loving. Her essay is filled with the richest imagery and most fluid prose. You should really tuck away the link and read it sometime when you have time to reflect. For now I will just say that she GETS beavers. I remember Skip Lisle similarly said the principal of beavers is dynamism, meaning change. They change things, things change them, the things that are changed by them change other things. Maybe after 10 years of watching beavers I can see how they changed me, how my life has rearranged itself because of their work.
Back to the Maine woods, and it’s getting late. I’m a little bit edgy because the light is falling. As I hurry back with my baby over the bridge towards Gilbert, we hear the slap of a scaly, flat tail hitting the water ~ splash. I stop and turn us around to follow the sound. My eyes adjust to the watery scene. And there is the beaver, Fluminist, swimming, with a wet, brown head visible for a moment and shiny eyes, before diving beneath the inky reflections of a darkening sky. She’s warning others we are here. Though we’d never harm her, others might. I feel at peace knowing she is here, knowing she has a rich intrinsically valuable life, full of love for this world in the river she understands so intimately. I point her out to my baby who instinctively feels both the joy and excitement. Formative moments, for sure. There is so much yet to learn from Ahmik, Fluminist, and I walk us home full of awe and gratitude.
North American Beaver Castor canadensis Martinez, CA
Here at beaver central we don’t ask for much. A little appreciation for the ecosystem engineers and a little creativity by officials who encounter problems. Medicine Hat comes almost close to meeting our very reasonable demands. Solve problems FIRST before you kill beavers, is that so difficult?
Beavers are felling large trees in several areas of the city this year, and Medicine Hat Parks and Recreation staff are now actively engaged in a trapping program to prevent more damage, says David Genio, superintendent of parks maintenance at Medicine Hat parks and recreation.
“In some places we have had to use these control measures but we only use them as a last-resort option,” states Genio. “What parks and recreation normally does is try to protect the trees before it gets to a control-type of situation.
“We try to make them less appealing to the beavers. We are going out and actually putting metal wire around the trees to deter the beavers. And then anytime we plant new trees in the river valley, we attempt to plant less desirable trees for beavers, such as evergreens, oak, elm and ash, to reduce the beaver activity in that area.
“When there is significant damage like we are seeing now, once all other options to prevent this damage have been exhausted, then we will proceed with permissible control methods for beavers as outlined in the Wildlife Act.”
I’m really torn about this strategy. I certainly like when parks departments say trapping beavers is a “last resort”. And I like when they say they protect trees with wire instead of trapping. But I’m not really happy about planting new kinds of trees beavers won’t like. Oak and Elm won’t be very hardy when waters rise which obviously will happen. And why, oh why, are you “trying” to protect trees with wire? Why isn’t it succeeding?
Either the beavers of Alberta have learned how to use wire cutters or you’re doing it WRONG.
According to Genio, most of the beaver damage to date has occurred in the Harlow area, the Northwest Riverside trail area and around Strathcona Island and Lions Park. Genio says he hasn’t heard any reports of significant structural damage or personal injury as a result of the heightened beaver activity. He also says some beaver activity is normal and expected in the river valley area, but this year the beaver population has boomed, leading to the destruction seen in some areas of the city.
“Medicine Hat is an inviting destination for beavers with the South Saskatchewan River and its tributaries,” confirms Genio. “We have seen some more beaver activity this year than in recent years. It’s a very delicate balance between saving our urban forest and considering the well-being of the beavers.”
Okay that officially bugs me. No one is asking for you to “consider the well being of the beavers”, you condescending little pratt. What we’re asking you to do is weigh the considerable value that beavers add to your watershed and biodiversity and make reasonable responsible adjustments when you can. Not pretend you tried and it didn’t work just to pacify the protestors. Back in 2014 some very smart beaver advocates scared the spit out of Mr. Genio and he has learned to sound like he’s doing the right things. I would call this a necessary, but not sufficient step.
Apparently MH learned to wrap trees just enough to protect themselves from protestors. They still have zero idea how to keep beavers out.
Anyway, you’re going to plant trees that beavers don’t like so they stay away? You do realize that medicine Hat is surrounded by a long beaver highway, right? You are ALWAYS going to have them passing through.
After 10 years on the beaver beat you think you’ve seen it all. You get a little jaded. There’s nothing new under the sun you say to yourself. But sometimes you have to admit that it’s time to admit the truth. It’s time to quote Lily Tomlin again.
“No matter how cynical you get, it is impossible to keep up.”
Take this article from Massachusetts for example, where a forest manager has been explaining his continual removal of beaver dams because the property should be classified as agriculture. You know, I grow trees! The headline says it all. It means I’m going to keep looking for information until someone tells me what I want to hear.
A request by John Mirick to continue to work to maintain existing water levels and flow on his Chapter 61 property, and clean, clear and restore existing manmade and natural management system for ongoing agricultural commodities, raised lengthy discussion among conservation commission members at their June 20 meeting.
The DEP advised the commission of a beaver dam breaching on the property. Commissioners visited the site in April and learned that sticks had been taken out of the spillway and were piled up in a field and eventually burned to maintain the natural flow of the brook. Beavers have constructed two additional dams on the brook.
“We have to come to a determination about what activities are permissible in the stream within the Wetlands Act,” said commission chairman Brian Keevan.
The property has been in the Forestry Program since the 1970s. The beavers moved into the stream in 2008 and property owner John Mirick has kept the spillway open since then by removing some of the sticks. An enforcement action was issued to put a time frame on the project and give Mirick time to file a notice of intent to manage the water levels or ask for a request for determination.
Mirick said he’d talked with Peter Mirick from Mass Fish & Wildlife and was told that forestry is agriculture and he could maintain the water channel to keep it open. About once a week we pull out sticks and once a year burn them, he said. It seems to me it falls under the regulations to maintain the area for agricultural use, to restore or maintain a man-made water system, and to maintain the flow on existing waterways, he said. “So it appeared to me to be exempt under the regulations. We’re just trying to maintain the water level, not lower it,” said Mirick. “If the water backs up it saturates the soil and kills the trees.”
“Breaching a beaver dam isn’t allowed,” said Commissioner John Vieira. He said there are devices that can be used to control water level when beavers are present. “We’ve been asked to look into this and render a decision,” said Vieira. When beaver activity has created a public safety problem there is a process you have to go through, he added. They can be trapped and the board of health is usually contacted and they work with the commission, said Vieira. Breaching a dam changes the hydrology of the surrounding area so it’s considered an alteration, he said.
I didn’t destroy the building your honor, I just took out some of the concrete and a few of the girders, the rest fell down on it’s own! At least Commissioner Vieira has hear of flow devices before and knows this problem has a solution. I believe this particular forest is a whopping 2 hour drive from Mike Callahan and beaver solutions. You would think the word had trickled down by now. Apparently Mirick will keep right on searching for answers until he finds the one that tells him to keep doing exactly the same thing over and over.
I realize I’m not being very patient here. But this man is arguably in the best place for solving beaver problems in the entire country, if not the world. And not only has he not gone to see Mike or bought the DVD or talked to a neighbor, he hasn’t even cracked open a website to read about it. Just a reminder the the city of Martinez brought in an expert from Vermont because everyone in our town 3000 miles away had done their homework and read about the solutions in 2007.
And we’re not exactly a university town, if you take my meaning.
More confusion from this article posted yesterday about famed photographer Rick Price of Canada. It’s quite a nice article about how he captures wildlife in their element, but it has one photo of a beaver I cannot comprehend. Maybe you can help me?
This is a busy time of year for Alberta’s wild animals as they emerge after the long winter — even if we don’t get to see most of the action. But with skill, patience and some long lenses, nature photographer Rick Price recently snapped these great shots of beavers in Hinton and bears in the mountain parks.
“The trick to beaver sightings is that they are only out at extreme dawn and dusk, and the other 95 per cent of the day you won’t see them,” he said.
Okay, there are lots of photos like the one above that we totally recognize and understand but then there’s the one I can’t get my head around. It honestly doesn’t even really look real. The caption says “don’t be fooled by this the fuzzy appearance, this is a ferocious rodent”. But honestly what puzzles me isn’t the ferocious part, or the larger bottom teeth, it’s the fact that those sets of teeth are two different colors.
Now we are taught that beaver teeth turn orange from the iron in their diet, and kit teeth are white until they eat enough solid food. But does this mean that all beavers only eat with their bottom teeth? Or that this particular beaver only eats with his bottom teeth? Jon doesn’t think the top incisors even look like teeth.
Has the evil hand of photoshop has played a part?
You, tell me. I don’t know. I just am well aware that it’s not what anyone would expect. Remember we have one shot of upper and lower teeth from our good friend Sylvie, and I believe they were all the same color. So is this a fake? Or a freak?
Steve Holmes is a creek-loving water steward of the South Bay, and is the tireless and driving force behind friends of Los Gatos creeks and the Clean Creeks Coalition of the South Bay. I met him at our 2010 talk in San Jose, and he has been watching anxiously to see if beavers come back to Las Gatos creek now that things are getting wetter. Last weekend he got his wish and posted this on facebook.
Since 2013, we have seen the return of Beaver into our urban waterways after a 170 year absence. Originally, a family of beaver were located near the Confluence and over time they have spread out across the Guadalupe Watershed. Today after seeing signs of beaver activity and a sighting from one of our Facebook followers, we visited Los Gatos Creek and the beaver was more than happy to swim by and let us catch this video, makes all the sweat equity worth the effort! Santa Clara Valley Water DistrictSJEnvironmentCity of CampbellSave The Bay (San Francisco)Guadalupe-Coyote Resource Conservation District
Now because of this unexpected siting and some chewing clues Steve felt he might have more the one in the area. He put up a tail cam at the suspected location, and kept close watch.
Last night he sent me this.
I’m sure all you beaver experts will know exactly what I soberly exclaimed when you watch that footage. And what our VP Cheryl Reynolds typed back when I forwarded it to her for confirmation.
Baby Baby Baby, Oh!
So it’s happy vicarious beaver day thursday! You should all do something nice for yourself. Remember to keep your creeks clean, and let’s be happy San Jose has a little beaver family again!
Ben Goldfarb is in Colorado this week, and in Idaho last week. You would think that if a book was doing well enough to hock copies all across the beavered United States that the author would at least make it to Martinez for the festival, wouldn’t you?
Learn all about beavers April 11
his is a busy time of year for Alberta’s wild animals as they emerge after the long winter — even if we don’t get to see most of the action. But with skill, patience and some long lenses, nature 
