Category: Beaver ecological impact

NEW MEXICO DEMONSTRATES HOW ITS DONE

Ooh spooky. When the universe is determined to give you what you want you better just sit back and take it, Didn’t I end my post yesterday with a plaintive whine for more flow devices mentioned in prominent articles? Why yes I did. I always do.

This headline dropped about an hour later.

The ‘Beaver Deceiver’ Protects the Taos Watershed, Wetland Habitat

A wildlife ecosystem can benefit from a beaver dam, but their location can cause headaches for humans when they produce flooding.

In Taos, New Mexico, conservationists think they’ve found a cohabitation solution. It is technically called a “Castor Master,” but is better known as a “Beaver Deceiver,” a device designed to allow an ecosystem habitat which can support otter, raccoons, skunk, coyote and a variety of bird species without mucking-up the town’s infrastructure.

Wow. Just wow. Do you mean to tell me that I not only get exactly what I want in an article with an actual photo of a beaver, I also get you to use the proper WORDS for it? I’m swooning. I’m weak in the knees. Even in Martinez where we had national attention on Skip’s installation I could never get a single reporter to write “Castor Master”. This is sooo beautiful. Sniff. Maybe you do care after all!

Stephen Fry, project and policy specialist and collaborative facilitator for the group Amigos Bravos, called the system to be installed today in Fred Baca Park a “win-win” for the Rio Fernando Watershed and a Keystone species previously plentiful in the state.

“And now, whenever beaver seem to appear back on the landscape, most people are concerned and annoyed,” Fry noted. “But it’s honestly quite easy to live on the landscape with beaver, and we just have to be more intentional and creative about it.”

Fry pointed out installation of the “Beaver Deceiver” should prevent the city from needing to use heavy machinery each spring to clear dams and other debris in order to control the water level.

Stephen Fry! You are my new best friend! The New Mexico Beaver Summit did a lot of good. On a lot of levels. Neither Stephen nor Skip presented at the summit but I’m sure they know about it. It changed the landscape. Maybe forever.

Beaver dams can reduce soil erosion and retain sediment, which absorb and filter pollutants such as heavy metals, pesticides and fertilizers, improving the quality of water downstream used by humans and other species.

Fry explained the project came about after the city of Taos agreed to purchase the materials needed, and volunteers, including youth in the community, agreed to do the installation.

“It’s a great example of a simple, simple technology that manages flooding and allows the beaver to stay on the landscape and provide all these great ecosystem services,” Fry stressed. “For not only themselves, but other species and humans.”

The effort is being led by the Rio Fernando de Taos Collaborative, working with individuals, elected leaders, organizations and government entities to restore the local watershed.

Maybe after attending the conference Amigos Bravos paid for Skip to come out and teach them how to install a Castor Master? I know he did a training way back before he came to Martinez out that way. I am so impressed.

Maybe I should end each post with speaking a wish out loud for what I want to happen tomorrow. Maybe I’m under a magic spell. Okay! Tomorrow I wish that there will be a fantastic report that beavers don’t live IN THE DAM.

BEAVERS IN THE WP: AND IT’S JUST RIGHT

heidi08 Beaver ecological impact, Beavers, Beavers and Fire Prevention October 6, 2022

Yes beavers have been getting a good news cycle for a while and yes it’s nice to finally read positive things about them after pushing this pony cart for sooo many years, but honestly the recent influx of news has left me a little unsatisfied. Whether it’s been saying beavers live in the dam or that they look like nutria or mixing up the story in Martinez, I’ve been like Goldilocks hopping from one bowl of cold oatmeal to one stiff chair and one short bed to the next. It’s all too little or too hard or too just too damn full of spiders.

Until Now.

Beavers offer natural solution to fighting wildfires

When Smokey Bear says, “Only YOU can prevent forest fires,” he’s talking to humans. But humans aren’t the only ones who can help. Beavers, North America’s largest rodents, are succeeding at fighting fires and reducing wildfire destruction.

It’s common sense. Water, soggy ground and well-hydrated vegetation reduce fire’s ability to spread.

Beavers create deep ponds by building dams, then dig fingerlike canals to slowly spread that water throughout the flood plain. The stream’s reduced speed allows collected water to seep into the ground where it encourages deep plant roots and an abundance of wildlife to thrive.

Beavers’ water highways are not for our benefit, but theirs. The canals allow them to quickly escape predators. The water also lets them float logs and branches needed for food and construction projects.

Of course, beavers don’t know they are also creating very effective firebreaks, or obstacles to the spreading of fire. But scientists are taking notice.

Oh my goodness. My favorite topic written by a true beaver friend and written about a true beaver friend! Of course I had to check the byline. Ann Cameron Siegal has been a beaver buddy since Obama was president. A long time ago I saw one of her photos in the post and was so enamored I tracked her down like a dog (as have done every other friend of this website) and we’ve cooresponded ever since. She donated to the festival. We’re friends on facebook. Where we’re are probably the only California liberal and tea party friends in the entire world. But beavers. It’s for BEAVERS. With beavers all things are possible.

Emily Fairfax is a California-based ecohydrologist, that’s someone who studies how water interacts with soil and living things. She wondered whether beaver-created wetlands could survive huge wildfires, reducing the devastating damage done to large areas of land.

Fighting wildfires is a greater test of endurance as season gets longer

Scientists need data to convince others to consider workable solutions to problems such as rising average temperatures and drought.

“We used Google Earth to identify and map beaver dams and channels within fire perimeters,” Fairfax said.

By studying years of aerial photographs from five Western states where major wildfires and droughts occurred, her team showed that beavers create broad underground irrigation systems, decreasing erosion and soil loss. Most important, large beaver wetlands were still green and healthy after a fire

I am beaming. This was published in the “Kids section” of the WP because the world isn’t totally sure whether to take beavers seriously or not. But that suits me just fine. Kids are smart. They know why beavers matter.

“Areas without beavers averaged three times more damage than those with beavers,” Fairfax said. “Where you don’t have beavers or rain, plants dry out and become crispy fuel for fires.” Where beavers were allowed to do their thing, the wetlands also became lifesaving oases for wildlife that couldn’t “out fly, out swim or out waddle the flames.”

But what if there are no beavers in an area?

Many places prohibit the relocation of beavers, so an alternative is to create a beaver-friendly habitat through basic stream restoration before an environmental crisis occurs. Using local, natural materials such as logs to build man-made starter dams can increase water depth, creating conditions that encourage beavers to move in and take over maintenance of the dams while expanding the wetland habitat.

Beavers aren’t always wanted in an area because humans want to adapt the landscape to fit their needs, draining wetlands and building houses in floodplains.

Fortunately, there are many tools for flood control and tree protection to make coexisting with beavers easier for landowners. After identifying fire-prone areas, communities can reduce a fire’s capacity to become an extreme event by taking advantage of beavers’ low-tech, natural and free engineering abilities.

Fairfax said her original hypothesis shifted from “where can this happen” to “is there anywhere where this cannot happen?”

“The more rivers and streams you have in healthy conditions,” she said, “the more fire resistant a region will be.

I’ll tell you what. If there are no beavers in the area that area is suffering. Worst than drought. Worst than biodiversity crisis. Beaver shortage is the worst kind of shortage the land suffers. And we made it ourselves. Many times. We nearly made it in Martinez. We are living through it now.

Many forest fires are inevitable and necessary to clear out overgrown vegetation and replenish soil nutrients. Beavers are protecting sensitive ecosystems that don’t need intense fire as much.
Beavers don’t kill all the trees in an area. They selectively use logs and branches to create the wetlands that increase biodiversity for wildlife and vegetation. When they chew their favorite trees — aspen, willow, cottonwood, among others — those trees usually grow back stronger and healthier afterward.
By slowing, spreading and storing water, beaver dams increase drought resistance and downstream water quality. Several research projects are underway to measure how effective beaver structures are in filtering out contaminants, ash and sediment, particularly after a wildfire.
Beavers are herbivores or plant eaters. Twigs, grasses, leaves, bark and aquatic plants are on their menu, as is the soft inner-layer of bark, called cambium. They don’t eat fish but create fish-friendly habitats. Otters eat fish, so that may account for some of the confusion as otters and beavers often share habitats.

And on the seventh day, she rested. Whatever wonders the world has given me in my 57 years this is going to stay near the top. That for one day in one major newspaper in one country that all the other papers read I got exactly what I wanted. There were no nutrias, no beavers eating fish, and no living in the dam.

Thanks to Ann, Emily and beavers.

Now can we talk about flow devices?

BEAVERS AND WOLVES ON FEDERAL LANDS

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Beaver ecological impact, Beavers October 4, 2022

The argument for more wolves and beavers on federal lands is picking up steam. I think we’re going to be hearing more of it, just like we had a chorus of hearing more and more about beavers and climate change. Works for me. There are lots of reasons beavers can help federal lands and I’m sure wolves can help them do it by keeping all those deer and elk away from the willow.

Wolves and beavers may be the key to restoring ecosystems in the American West

A beaver swims in the forest near Puerto Williams, Chile on February 05, 2020. (Photo by PABLO COZZAGLIO/AFP via Getty Images)

Scientists have a plan to help restore wildlife habitat in the American West by moving grazing livestock off public lands and reintroducing two controversial species: wolves and beavers.

In a recent study published in the journal Bioscience, ecologists and biologists focus on what they call the Western Rewilding Network — 500,000 acres of federal public lands spread across 11 Western states. The plan is a response to the Biden administration’s call to conserve 30% of American lands and waters by 2030.

Ecologist George Wuerthner, executive director of Public Lands Media, co-authored the study and says the plan aims to address a significant loss of biodiversity in the U.S. by protecting the species’ habitats. The plan also provides a cost-effective way to store carbon in soil that can address extreme weather events like wildfires in the West, hurricanes back East and melting ice in the Arctic.

Listen to the short report. This sounds like a real thing that might really happen. At least in some states. The spokesman George seems less than accustomed to banging the beaver drum. He doesn’t even mention fire. Or say anything about the fact that many ranchers rely on beavers to make forage for their herds. But he’s got the carbon part down and the biodiversity and water benefits. And that will do to start.

Oh and the photo (which looks a lot like ours) that is actually a beaver and not a nutria for a change. Obviously in close range because it was taken in CHILE. That’s kinda amusing and hints at the welcome these new beavers are likely to get along the way.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN PARK KNOWS WHY TO LOOK AFTER ITS BEAVERS

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Beaver ecological impact October 3, 2022

Now this is what I’m talking about! More like this, please.

Putting Beaver to work in Rocky Mountain National Park

By Patrick Cone

Centuries ago, nearly every stream in today’s Rocky Mountain National Park (and America) was home to Castor canadensis, the North American beaver. “If you go back thousands of years, this valley was a giant willow stand that supported lots of different animals,” said Professor David J. Cooper from the Warner College of Natural Resources at Colorado State University during a tour of beaver habitat on the western side of the park, in the Kawuneeche Valley. “They include beavers, amphibians and all kinds of animals. When I was here 30 years ago, there were beaver dams and active beavers here, and tall willows.”

But eventually, grazing, trapping, ranching, logging, and farming outside the park destroyed their habitat, while elk and moose inside the park devoured the willows and other woody vegetation beavers rely on, contributing to their downfall.

Despite their gangly presence inside and out of the park, moose are not native to Colorado. They were introduced from Yellowstone National Park by the state in 1978, and it didn’t take them long to move into the national park. But they, along with elk, in places have turned once-lush wetlands into somewhat of a savannah landscape, with close cropped grass beneath aspen groves.

“When the beavers disappear, and the hydrologic effects of the beaver go away, the landscape dries up from this wet area with willows to grasses,” noted Cooper. “Most of these grasses were introduced by hay crops, so this area is becoming a dry meadow.”

Isn’t that WONDERFUL! Don’t you just get suffused with good feeling as you prepare to read this article? Like you’ve just sat down at a new Indiana Jones Film and the first 30 seconds are soo good you can’t wait for the rest of the movie. Get comfortable, grab your popcorn and settle in. Something tells me this will be a joy ride.

Moose vs. Beaver

Over the top of Trail Ridge Road to the western side of the park lie the headwaters of the Colorado River, where it begins its 1,450-mile journey from the mountains to the ocean. In places it’s barely a dozen yards wide, a small, placid stream unrecognizeable from the rapid-strewn river that leaps and plunges through Canyonlands and Grand Canyon national parks. Here in the Kawuneeche Valley, moose and elk have found a vegetative bounty comprised of willows, aspen, and grasses. There are estimated to be 100-200 moose in the drainage, if not more, each eating about 50 pounds of dry forage a day.

“In the summer, 90 percent of their diet is willow,” Cooper explained as he led National Parks

To counter this, the National Park Service embarked on a program a dozen years ago to recreate habitat for beaver, protecting and nurturing willows by building a few dozen of these fenced areas – called exclosures, as they’re designed to keep ungulates out — covering more than 250 acres. And sure enough, by keeping ungulates from browsing on willows, the vegetation, and the indigenous beavers, have come back. “They don’t need a gigantic area of willows,” said Cooper. “Four acres of tall willow stands is enough to maintain a beaver population indefinitely.”

Inside the fenced areas in Kawuneechee Valley, the beavers do what beavers do: build dams, create ponds, flood meadows, and hold back precious water. By giving them a food source and a place to live, wildlife biologists hope to restore the landscape to what it once was. From just one big, main stem dam across a river, there might be another 20 or 30 dams supported by the slowly expanding floodplain of water.

Speaking to the success of the three exclosures in the Kawuneeche Valley, Cooper said, “When these were built, the idea was to keep them in place for 20 years, and then take them out. But people now realize that if you take them out, (the beavers) will go back to zero again.”

They just need a little room to grow all that willow they need to survive. Okay. Colorado will give them room. And voila! The beavers can be beavers again!

But beavers and their dams are not immune to natural forces. Forest fires can introduce mud and sediments into the streams, as happened two years ago during the East Troublesome and Cameron Peak fires, which scorched ten percent of the park. Flooding last spring along the Colorado River tore out dams, leaving broken twigs and logs scattered across the muddy sediments.

“Last summer the beavers were blown out with the snowmelt,” said Koren Nydick, the chief of resource stewardship for the national park who accompanied us into the exclosure in the Kawuneeche Valley. “We hope they’ll build again late fall.”

But nature will heal itself, given time, and beavers can hasten that healing with their dams that not only hold back water, but create sound footing for vegetation and quench the thirst of flora and fauna. Left to themselves, beavers can repair deep gullies cut by overgrazing, flood meadows to encourage willow growth, and provide habitats to dozens of other species. Their ponds not only hold back the spring snowmelt during an era of drought and climate change, but also act as firebreaks and, in general, repair an ecosystem back to its original state.

“Even during drought, the landscape keeps wet. [Beaver ponds] help contain wildfires, which is natural, you end up with these green islands,” Nydick said. “There are a lot of benefits to this restoration.”

Aboulezz agrees that things are going the right direction. “Slowly beavers are moving back into those fenced areas. Within these wetlands the birds are amazing and the fishing is phenomenal,” she said.

If all beavers had to contend with was a little bad weather now and then they’d be in heaven, Beavers are nothing if not persistent. People always ask how “smart” they are, but they’re missing the point. Smart is for cutting corners and getting it right the first time. Beavers are BETTER THAN SMART. They’re PERSISTENT.

And, as a changing climate intensifies the Western drought, rivers dry up, reservoirs shrink, and water managers are planning for the worst. But upstream in these mountains, along the Colorado River, a handful of organizations are planning for the future and taking action to restore a riparian landscape, and beavers are taking a starring role. The Kawuneeche Valley Ecosystem Restoration Collaborative is finding ways to work together with representatives from the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service, Grand County, (Colorado), the Town of Grand Lake, The Nature Conservancy, the Colorado River Water Conservation District, and Northern Water, a nonprofit.

KVERC is finding ways to rebuild wetlands, increase water storage, reduce erosion, support local agriculture and industry, and even help with fire protection. During the past two years, these groups realized that by working together they might be able to recreate a healthy and resilient watershed, which is important to everyone.

KVERC writes, “Without tall willows as food and building material, beavers are now uncommon, and their dams no longer encourage the overbank flooding along streams, which is needed to maintain wet meadows and healthy, diverse ecosystem.” This might entail building simulated beaver structures (also called beaver dam analogs) to create the right conditions for the animals to settle. A healthy watershed is essential for humans, animals, birds and the landscape itself, especially in these times of a changing climate. And a healthy beaver population ensures a healthy, natural environment.”

Yes it does. And a healthy human population will make space fpr a healthy beaver population. It’s the right thing to do. What a wonderful way to start the week. Thank you Patrick, promise me you won’t leave before watching the film, which is fantastic!

BEAVERS ARE GREAT BUT THEY CAN’T CURE CANCER

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Beaver ecological impact, Beavers, Beavers and climate change September 27, 2022

I’ve been waiting for this, and apparently so has most of the media because this morning it’s running on Yahoo news and a bunch of other recycling sites. Just remember beavers, you had a day in the sun, a week really. It was grand.

Beavers can do wonders for nature – but we should be realistic about these benefits extending to people

The beaver is a unique ecosystem engineer that can create a landscape that would otherwise not exist, thanks to the animal’s ability to build dams. As we experience more frequent heatwaves and drought, the potential role of beavers in safeguarding against these risks has captured widespread attention.

Beaver habitats are claimed to lower local stream and air temperatures, and by maintaining water supplies, provide insurance against drought. Greater water storage may also improve the resilience of a landscape towards wildfire.

However, it is important to consider the significance of beaver habitats as a solution to our changing climate from both human and wildlife perspectives. It’s not as simple as saying beavers can protect human society against the effects of extreme weather.

I don’t believe ANYONE is saying that, you silly person. Of course we need more solutions and tools than just beavers. The point is that beavers can HELP if we let them.

Beaver ponds and wetlands can cover wider areas and store more water than the stream that would flow without them. However, beavers are restricted to relatively small streams.

To achieve a water capacity large enough to supplement human supplies, beavers would have to construct an unrealistically large number of ponds across the same catchment. Even then, the water storage would be dispersed across many shallow ponds, making extraction for use in a water supply network unrealistic.

What an increase in beaver ponds can do is provide more refuges for wildlife at a local level, while allowing the slow release of water downstream during dry periods. Such refuges can be critical for wildlife during a drought, and so help preserve an area’s biodiversity.

Greater water storage will also increase an ecosystem’s resilience to climate change. This has been demonstrated during this summers drought. Beaver wetlands in Devon’s River Otter have irrigated the surrounding area and kept vegetation alive, preserving a habitat that many animals depend on.

Unrealistically large number of ponds? Unrealistic according to whom? Beavers aren’t daunted. They can take on plenty of unrealistic jobs. And used to handle much much more. What is UNREALISTIC you mean is the notion that humans could possibly share that much territory with beavers to allow them to MAKE those ponds. And I agree with your unwritten argument. “In order for beavers to make a meaningful contribution we’d need to start killing them less, and that’s unlikely to happen.”

Bodies of water can also reduce the air temperature surrounding them because their evaporation has a cooling effect. However, unless the water bodies are very large, or high in number, this easing tends to diminish rapidly with distance from the water. This would make it difficult to rely upon beaver ponds for cooling benefits for human settlements.

Beavers also tend to open up the canopies of nearby forests by felling trees during the construction of dams. This can reduce shading and allow more direct sun exposure, which complicates any potential cooling effects.

However, felling can also increase habitat complexity, supporting a mixture of meadows and wet woodland. The natural disturbance caused by beavers can create floodplain woodlands that are wilder and wetter, allowing greater biodiversity. In some cases, this can also slow the flow of water and improve water quality.

This same process of opening up the canopy can also increase local water temperatures. However, this can be heavily moderated by the interaction between surface water and groundwater.

This means the outcome for water temperatures will be highly river, dam, and pond dependent. For this reason, research into the thermal impact of beaver habitats has proved inconclusive.

No. No. No. The research has proved inconclusive because some researchers did it wrong and refuse to learn from their mistakes. Measuring the top inch of the pond temperature is the WRONG way to do this. And last time I checked the Climate change papers was in a published in a peer reviewed journal. Which your article certainly isn’t.

Wildfires have been extensive across Europe this summer. Research has shown how the preservation of beaver habitats can improve the fire-resistance of the landscape.

During wildfire, the area of vegetation density loss in beaver habitats was approximately three times smaller than in areas without beavers in the western USA.

However, questions remain as to whether this protection could ever expand to the scale necessary for human settlements. Even if this is not realistic, beaver habitats provide crucial protection for local habitat and wildlife against wildfire.

I do not think that question has ever been raised. The point isn’t that beaver scan FIX fires and droughts any more than wearing seat belts can prevent car accidents. The point is that they can HELP if we let them. Let them help.

This summer has also brought new climate extremes and a prolonged period of drought. With more of this predicted, the debate surrounding mitigation measures is growing. Beavers enjoy enthusiastic support in this regard.

However, it would be wise to temper expectations for the role of beavers as a drought solution for human settlements. Nevertheless, by offering a local buffer against the ravages of drought, heatwaves, and wildfire, beaver habitats carry the potential to help stimulate nature recovery and reverse biodiversity loss.

In the UK, beavers have recently received legal protection, but face a future of expansion into human landscapes. The decades ahead will require some nuanced landscape decisions that can incorporate beaver habitats into large-scale nature recovery and restoration schemes. Beavers are showing that their impacts can offer added levels of ecosystem resilience to a changing climate that we would be wise to embrace.

All we ever said. All that was ever argued. Beavers can help if we help them help. End of argument. Oh and your photo isn’t a beaver, which means you don’t actually have any information or knowledge about what you’re spouting about.