Because the beaver isn't just an animal; it's an ecosystem!

Category: Beaver Conference


Day 2 done at last. I never thought I could get tired of hearing all the good things beavers do, but making a short film where you have to hear it over and over and over again will do it to you.

Enjoy! And please share with all your super busy friends.

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The good news is that we managed to link up individual talks at the summit so if you click on any speakers name you go directly to their presentation. This should help get the information out there. Already both days have been viewed more than 100 times. That’s good news, right?

Day One – Individual Session Video Links

Day Two – Individual Session Video Links

Emily Fairfax, Cal State Channel Islands
Nina Hemphill, BLM
Bob Pagliuco, NOAA Fisheries
Bethany Johnson, Collins Pines Timber
Joe Wheaton, Utah State University
Susan Charnley, USFS
Betsy Stapleton, SVWA
Kate Lundquist
Audrey Taub & Cooper Lienhart

Meanwhile they’re still killing plenty of beavers out there. Take this headline from Quebec.

Flood-causing beavers must be ‘eradicated,’ says mayor of Quebec town

They might be a beloved Canadian symbol, but beavers are being anything but patriotic in Grenville-sur-la-Rouge, Que.

There are roughly 800 beavers and 200 dams in the small western Quebec municipality, located about 100 kilometres east of downtown Ottawa, according to Mayor Tom Arnold, who said all those dams are causing major damage.

“We’re talking about approximately 35 square kilometres of our municipality, right now, that’s under water because of the beaver,” he said. “The damages are extensive.”

Oh pulleeze. Do we even need to read this article to know what it says? I don’t think so. I’m fascinated by their numeric count of 800 beavers. How exactly did they come up with this number? I’m guessing by assuming that ever day has 4 beavers maintaining it. Of course the internet tells me that the entire area has only 127 square miles of water acreage, and since colonies need to live 2 miles apart that means the entire area can only have about 63 families living there, assuming it’s at full capacity. Which means there are about a quarter of the beavers the mayor says are there.

Which is a nice racket. Because when they calculate they need to get rid of 800 beavers and pay the trappers for that many, the fact that they’re overpaying by a factor of four probably never gets discussed.

According to the mayor, it’s also causing property values to drop, particularly if sections of land are deemed unusable due to flooding.

While the municipality already allocates an annual budget of $10,000 for both trapping and installing water level control devices, Arnold wants more flexibility from the province to manage the animals.

“It’s a problem that we have to get rid of,” he said. “The beavers have to be eradicated.”

He sounds like a nice man. Why can’t I ever meet a nice man like that?


Finally! Thanks to a great the sage advice of Stefhan Godon on the Beaver Management Forum I was able to get this trimmed and ready.Thanks to Bruce Mushrush who must be sick of hearing from me already and his help getting it on the website. Below each day are the chat notes for that session.

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BEAVER ESSENTIALS Chat notes from panel and participants

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BEAVER DYNAMICS Chat Notes Panel & Participants

Ultimately I want to have it so that you can click directly on a persons name or topic and go right to their presentation, but this will do for starters. Thanks everyone for making this happen!


It was the best of times and it was the worst of times.

Wednesday was the most amazing beaver summit ever but I’m still struggling to get the recording online. A total of one presentation is accessible – a good one – but still. I want it ALL. I am begging for tech support at the moment and we’ll see if I still have any compelling qualities left.

I was so tired yesterday after wednesday’s beaver extravaganza – and my eyes felt like they hadn’t blinked all wednesday. I guess that comes from paying too much attention. Must set a timer to remind myself to blink today. But at least we made the news,

Beavers can help fight drought and fire say Central Coast experts at CA Beaver Summit

Apr 7, 2021

 

April 7 is International Beaver Day and the San Luis Obispo Beaver Brigade is celebrating this year by participating in the first free, virtual California Beaver Summit.

Audrey Taub is the founder of the SLO Beaver Brigade, a beaver advocacy group that is participating in the California Beaver Summit April 7 and April 9.

The purpose of the summit is to educate the public about the benefits beavers bring to the environment.

Dr. Emily Fairfax is an assistant professor of environmental science and resource management at California State University (CSU) Channel Islands. She will speak at the summit on April 9.

Fairfax does research about how beaver activity can create drought-resistant and fire-resistant patches of wetland that help restore groundwater and combat the effects of climate change.

I’m thinking that of the thousand people who registered we should have most of them for Emily’s talk. God willing we can finally get the whole thing online.

So maybe you can see it too.

 


How’s your balance? Feeling dizzy?

Because I literally felt the earth SHIFT yesterday. Like when you’re on a boat and suddenly everything rolls across the table in one direction. We rolled towards beavers yesterday. Wow. Wow. Wow. What a great way to celebrate International Beaver Day. Tomorrow will be even better.

I will have the day on video soon I hope to share. And be able eventually to give you a run down with actually adjectives and everything about who did what, but for now I’m so exhausted and blown away I can just mutter a contented WOW,

It’s International Beaver Day — and dam time we celebrate it

Beavers could protect us from wildfires, but only if we better protect them.

April 7 is International Beaver Day, and lest you think these critters don’t deserve such an honor, you probably don’t know that they are, in fact, one of our best natural defenses against the warming effects of climate change.

As wildfire season approaches in the west, the North American beaver is an unlikely ally, one uniquely equipped to fight fires and store water.

The conference reached maximum enrollment at 1000 and although they didn’t all attend yesterday I do believe our numbers will be close to that tomorrow. For just this reason.

Restoring beavers isn’t a new idea; programs like the Tulalip Tribes’ Beaver Project, Methow Beaver Project, and the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife’s beaver relocation pilot project transfer “nuisance” beavers from urban or suburban areas to hydrologically impaired watersheds. Similar programs have successfully returned beavers to ecosystems across the United States and Europe.

It’s time to scale up this work.

Beavers are nature’s firefighters. They work tirelessly to cut trees, store wood in fire-resistant dams, and create ponds that act as natural fire breaks and provide refuge for wildlife during mega-fires. Federal land management agencies alone budget nearly $1 billion dollars for wildfire management each year to do much of the same: thin overgrown forests, dispose of cut trees (so they don’t add fuel to fires), and create open areas that slow fires down. Beavers do all this for free.

Preaching to the choir here honey. But I won’t disagree.

Beaver dams also help store water above and below ground, mitigating the impacts of climate change. As temperatures rise, more winter precipitation is falling as rain rather than snow. This results in diminished snowpack and glaciers, more extreme flooding and drought, and higher stream temperatures, especially in the summer. Beaver dams and wetlands release water slowly, helping to recharge groundwater. Not only does this increase the available water in increasingly hot, dry summer months, it helps filter water so that it’s cleaner and cooler.

Beavers also improve habitats for salmon, which rely on deep, cold pools of water, woody debris for cover from predators, and rest from fast currents. Salmon also need protected patches of gravel where they can lay their eggs. Beaver dams create pools of respite with plenty of wood cover for both juvenile and adult salmon. Dams also trap fine sediment, preventing it from smothering underwater nests of salmon eggs, while periodic dam breaches help maintain gravel patches. Ponds also provide nutrient- and insect-rich habitats where young salmon and other wildlife thrive.

Yes they do. We agree, And we like you very much. Are there any more like you at home?

To scale up beaver restoration, state and federal agencies first need to coordinate their beaver management efforts. For example, many state wildlife agencies allow beavers to be legally trapped on public lands in the exact places where state and federal agencies, nonprofits, scientists, and other partners are restoring them for ecological benefits. These goals are in direct conflict, especially when public funds pay for beaver restoration.

Private landowners and public land managers also need education: Beavers don’t always make the best neighbors — they sometimes flood roads, houses, or pastures, or they may chew infrastructure like trees or fences — so landowners will turn to lethal traps. States, counties, and towns that manage roads and culverts need guidance as well: Public road management is one of the leading causes of beaver deaths in the United States. The mission of the Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Service is to resolve wildlife conflicts to allow people and animals to coexist; they are under a directive to use non-lethal methods when “practical and effective,” yet the agency killed more than 25,000 beavers in 2020.

Now I like every thing she’s saying but I’m not going to share her stupid paragraph about “keeping trappers because they keep the population healthy”. That’s just ignorant. And based on some foolish idea that beavers are like bunnies or mice and will breed themself into oblivion.

Given the vast contributions that beavers freely offer, we should be able to co-exist. Public funds could be used to offset the costs for private landowners to install beaver-friendly devices. State and federal agencies and private organizations often do this when other species like wolves and grizzly bears damage private property, and some organizations do the same for beavers.

If you’re a beaver believer, consider connecting with your local beaver advocacy organization, like the Beaver Institute or Beavers Northwest (there are many similar organizations across the country). If you have suitable habitat on your property, you may be able to request a beaver from your state wildlife agency. If you’re having trouble with a beaver, there are professionals who can install beaver deceivers or relocate the animals.

The rest of us need to lift up this animal with state wildlife agencies, elected officials, and friends and family. Our watersheds need them. 

Or maybe Worth A Dam. Ya think?

Anna Santo is a Ph.D. student at the University of British Columbia who has studied private landowners’ attitudes toward beavers in South America. Kai Chan is a professor and interdisciplinary sustainability scientist at the University of British Columbia.

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