(06:18) Chapter Two: Can we move beavers for the better?
This episode was produced by Disha Bhagat, with help from Michelle Dang, Meryl Horn, Rose Rimler and R.E. Natowicz. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Wendy Zukerman is our Executive Producer. Gimlet’s managing director is Nicole Beemsterboer. Fact checking by Eva Dasher. Mix and sound design by Catherine Anderson. Music written by Bumi Hidaka, Emma Munger, and Bobby Lord.
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Well there are a few states I’m not holding my breath waiting for them to say nice things about beavers but as of today Alabama officially isn’t one of them. This was a nice surprise. I believe we had seven participants for the beaver summit from Alabama, so I am not completely shocked.
Q. Whenever the subject of beavers comes up when I’m talking with my neighbors near Aiken, South Carolina, they insist that beavers are pests. I claim they do more environmental good than harm. What is your opinion about beavers?
A. I am on your side — and the beavers’. Years ago I wrote a column about beavers after a walk in the woods gave me the opportunity to witness one of nature’s marvels — the construction of a beaver dam. My first evidence of something unusual happening came in autumn after a monthlong drought. When I measured the water level of the stream, I was surprised to find that instead of having dropped, it had actually risen 2 inches in a week’s time. I attributed the anomaly to mismeasurement, until I took my walk.
Beavers are unquestionably keystone species in regions with small to moderate-size streams. They can not only modify the appearance of an environment but also alter it in ways that dramatically affect nearby plants.
Beaver activity can result in small trees being debarked for food or cut down for dam construction and big trees dying because of flooding. Upstream from where I stood, an abandoned beaver dam had covered several acres in water, leaving tall, barren sweetgum and pine trees that had begun life in a terrestrial habitat and could not survive in an aquatic one.
Ya see that beaver grooming alongside that wood duck? If those Alabama duckhunters want the duck they should try their luck with BEAVERS. Remember the Oklahoma article that said “Beavers are the cure we don’t want to take”. Yep. That was the truth.
Beaver behavior also affects animals. Large aquatic salamanders called sirens thrive in pools created by beaver dams. Frogs and wading birds frequent the margins. Cottonmouths, watersnakes and turtles are more apparent around beaver dams, which create areas for basking on sunny days.
Waterfowl, such as wood ducks, visit ponds that form above beaver dams. Clearly, beavers have earned their environmental engineering cred, and their dams set the tone of the neighborhood for many wildlife species.
Okay. we like that paragraph so much that I didn’t even read the next one until it made me spit out my iced tea. Seriously.
Beavers live 35 to 50 years in zoos and more than 20 years in the wild. The longest beaver dams, reported from Montana and from Alberta, Canada, are over 2,000 feet long. No doubt beavers across the continent are working feverishly to break that record. Beavers are usually nocturnal, but I have occasionally seen them during the day.
35 to FIFTY years? Where does that stat come from? I remember years ago the false prophet consultant Martinez hired to tell us beavers were bad told the editor that beaver breed for 50 years. I called the editor in horror and asked politely. is that a typo? Which made him call back the prophet again and question her stats which prompted her to not come to the subcommittee meeting because we were too HOSTILE.
Just so you know: There is a recorded account of a beaver in captivity living 19 years. In the wild 10-12 is about the limit.
One problem that excessive dam-building causes on our stream is to make it more difficult to navigate up and down in a canoe or kayak. As with virtually all native wildlife, my preference is to learn to live with them. Portaging a small boat around the end of a beaver dam to get to the other side of the stream is a minor inconvenience in return for getting to experience a natural phenomenon that can change the character of the habitat and its wildlife. That is, as long as I don’t see part of our cabin being used to build a dam.
Oh okay, It’s Alabama and South Carolina so we’re officially grading on a curve. Your list of what beavers are good for is far far too short. And your list of helpful facts about how long beavers live is far far too long. But you tried. We appreciate the effort.
Once upon a time, a long, long, time ago, positive beaver articles used to be few and far between. One dropped every other year or so, and I was powerfully happy to see them. Now everybody and his mother seems to have something nice to say about beavers. Even Popular Science wants a seat at the willow table.
Beavers, like humans, shape their ecosystems not just by eating or excreting, but also by building and tearing down. And because of those similarities, the rodents have become North America’s best-known “ecosystem engineers.”
But the scientific idea of ecosystem engineering wasn’t born in a beaver lodge—it came from Israel’s Negev Desert. The pea-size rock-eating snail sticks to the underside of limestone boulders and has a peculiar means of accessing food: It chews through stone to get the lichen living inside. The tiny mollusks then poop out so much of the rock that they literally build the desert soil. Measurements taken by ecologists in the 1980s showed that their gritty feces add as much sediment in the course of a year as windblown dust.
When one of those ecologists, Clive Jones of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in New York, visited the desert in 1987, he saw that snails weren’t the only animals shaping the landscape. Most of its organisms, from animals down to bacteria, changed how water flowed in the arid environment. Porcupine pits and anthills trapped runoff. Bulbed plants broke up hard-packed earth, trapping moisture. Colonies of microbes covered slopes in waterproof sheets.
And beavers! Don’t forget the beavers, Doing their part to keep North America Green and lush. I mean snails and oysters are cool and all, but I don’t see any one rushing to form the nonprofit “Worth A Shell” any time soon.
Jones and his colleagues coined the term ecosystem engineering in 1994 to connect the processes they saw in that desert to similar ones all over the world. Kelp forests create calm nurseries for fish and crabs on coasts. Terrestrial forests collect water. In all these cases, the actions, or even the body of an organism itself is reshaping the world—and not as part of a food chain. An elephant eating leaves isn’t engineering—but as soon as it rips down a tree, it is.
Since the idea entered the scientific mainstream, ecologists have debated what counts as an engineer, given that almost any organism could conceivably qualify for the definition. Does an action have to be intentional, as beavers’ dam-building appears to be? Does it need to shape the lives of other organisms immensely?
Jones says no to both. From the perspective of an ecologist, it doesn’t matter whether an elephant means to rip up a bush or eat a specific plant—the fact is that it does. And the effect doesn’t need to be earth-shattering. An animal’s shadow is the most trivial example of engineering. “No other organism cares about the ephemeral shadow caused by the cat walking outside my window,” Jones says. But the shadow has the same type of effect as a beaver’s dam in that they both change the heat, light, water, and air that other organisms depend on.
Well I believe it was Frances Backhouse who first called beavers “unintentional philanthropists”
“To understand how an ecosystem works, you need to take all those things into account,” Jones says. If you think about beavers’ eating habits—consuming the leaves and soft inner tissue of wetland trees—you’d assume they were an engine of environmental destruction, leaving clear-cuts in their wake. Instead, studies show that these rodents create stunningly biodiverse wetland habitats. Similarly, tens of millions of bison once roamed from what is now Louisiana to the Canadian boreal forest, engineering the plains differently from the cattle that replaced them. Bison, unlike cattle, plow snow on the winter prairie and wallow up huge sand pits in the summer, helping create grasslands that support more birds and native plants.
Understanding how species alter landscapes isn’t just an intellectual exercise—it’s critical for figuring out how to preserve fast-disappearing habitats, or how to restore lost ones. “Humans can imitate the way in which ecosystem engineers do their work,” Jones says. “Of course, why bother to build a wetland when you can conserve beavers, and they’ll do it for you?”
Of course beavers need most for us to get out of their way and stop bothering them. They need for us to appreciate the changes they make and stop complaining all the time. Still, as nice as it is to read this article in popular science it is still only my second favorite.
(i) Beaver restoration includes coexistence, habitat enhancement and expansion, process-based mimicry, and relocation.
That right there is a Major addition. Restoration doesn’t just mean moving nuisance beavers. It means MARTINEZ and FAIRFIELD and SONOMA and DODY RESERVE and TAHOE every that flow devices have been installed and trees have been wrapped. Everywhere that BDAs have been installed.
(d) (1) If a wild beaver that is released onto public lands pursuant to this section migrates naturally onto private property, the private landowner of the property where the beaver now resides may request that the department relocate the beaver. The department shall comply with the landowner’s request determine whether relocation is necessary and feasible in a timely manner.
(b) (1) If, for the purpose of preventing damage to private or public lands, structures, or other improvements of value, a landowner needs to remove, breach, or modify a beaver dam that is utilized by the wild beaver relocated pursuant to subdivision (a) and that is located on the landowner’s property, the landowner shall submit a request for alteration to the department at least 48 72 hours prior to altering the dam.
(2) (A) If the department finds that the beaver dam poses no risk to private or public lands, structures, or other improvements of value, or is found to be providing critical habitat for any listed species pursuant to the California Endangered Species Act (Chapter 1.5 (commencing with Section 2050) of Division 3), then the request for alteration may be denied. The department shall provide to the landowner, in writing and in a timely manner, the reasons why the department denied that landowner’s request for alteration. These reasons shall include a justification on behalf of the department as to why the dam does not need or warrant alteration.
You asked for these beavers. Now it’s your job to either deal with the issues that arise or save all the frickin fish in the stream that are threatened if we give you permission to mess with the dam.
(B) If the request for alteration is approved, the landowner shall be responsible for monitoring the parts of the upstream and downstream that reside of the altered beaver dam on their property for stranded fish in isolated pools. The department shall provide guidance to the landowner regarding monitoring requirements. The landowner shall make a good-faith good faith effort to capture and safely move all stranded or isolated fish to the nearest free-flowing water.
So There.
4030. (a) The department shall, through consultation with beaver restoration program partners, develop a program to promote beaver restoration across California by revising policies and guidelines relating to beavers, coordinating restoration efforts, proactively mitigating human-beaver conflict, and relocating beavers into watersheds.
(b) No later than January 1, 2025, the department shall expand the program described in subdivision (a) to do both of the following:
(1) Develop a required training for the capture, handling, transport, and release of beavers on public and private lands.
(2) Develop a licensing scheme that includes the issuance and administration of permits for the capture, handling, transport, and release of beavers on public and private lands. Any costs imposed shall not exceed the reasonable costs to the department for the implementation and administration of the licensing scheme.
(c) Nothing in this article shall be interpreted to imply that federally recognized tribes shall be required to obtain training or a permit to capture, handle, transport, or release beavers on lands held in federal trust for a tribe’s benefit.
(d) As used in this article, “beaver restoration program partners” means federal agencies, nonprofit organizations, federally recognized tribes, nonfederally recognized California Native American tribes included on the contact list maintained by the Native American Heritage Commission, academic programs, and other entities.
Get on it already, It’s practically May.
This remains my VERY FAVORITE PART of this bill because I am proud for my own kittle role in proving it to their satisfaction”
(a) The North American Beaver (Castor canadensis) is a keystone species that is native to California and was once prevalent in watersheds throughout the state.
International Beaver Day was first celebrated in 2009, after being created by a nonprofit group called Beavers: Wetlands & Wildlife. The group chose April 7 as the date because it is the birthday of Dorothy Richards (1894-1985), a woman who had studied beavers for almost 50 years at the Beaversprite Sanctuary in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. She had been an inspiration for Beavers: Wetlands & Wildlife, and the group’s first work was to finish reforming management of the 1,300-acre Beaversprite Sanctuary. They also have worked to stop anti-beaver legislation from being passed in several states, and have worked to find solutions to human and beaver conflicts. Eventually, they became an internationally recognized authority on beavers. In the first year of International Beaver Day, they donated almost 1,000 copies of the teachers’ edition of their DVD Coexisting with Beavers to schools.
There’s more about our day from the site above but you might have seen some of it already. What’s happening now really shows that past efforts to get the word out about how valuable we are is paying off!
A river–forest ecosystem in Northern California, USA within the historic range of American beaver. Including ecosystem engineers in restoration and management decisions may lead to better outcomes for ecosystem functioning. Credit: Understory
In ecosystems, all species interact with each other and their environment. However, some species have a much greater influence than others. Certain plants or animals are able to greatly modify their landscape through just their mere presence. This makes them part of the group know as “ecosystem engineers.”
One of the best known examples of an ecosystem engineer is the beaver. By building dams, beavers change the flow of rivers and transform terrestrial ecosystems into wetlands. This leads to a whole cascade of processes and the arrival of new animals.
Although the individual cases of ecosystem engineers helping biodiversity are well documented, the mechanisms at work are not yet well understood. Scientists from UNIL have developed a guide for predicting and measuring the influence of species on ecosystems under different conditions. The aim of the guide is to include “ecosystem engineers” in the process of biodiversity conservation and ecosystem maintenance. The team’s review is published in Functional Ecology.
To establish this framework, the scientists proceeded in several stages. First, knowledge and literature about the known ecosystem engineers was collected. Next, the team developed a comprehensive framework to model and quantify the effects of the species. Finally, a procedure for including these natural regulators as much as possible in the field was created.
Gianalberto Losapio is the lead author of the study and a researcher at the faculty of Geosciences and Environment at UNIL. He is also affiliated with the University of Milan. He said, “This guide is intended to help specialists and communities ask themselves the right questions when setting up conservation programs. For example: What is the goal? What are the characteristics of the terrain, as well as the spatial context?”
The guide also provides tools to assess the impact of the actions carried out so that they can be adapted if necessary. “Some restoration projects end up being abandoned because introduced species cannot survive,” adds Losapio. “We believe a comprehensive approach is more likely to succeed.”
Burlington, Vt. – Ahead of International Beaver Day (April 7), PETA sent a letter this morning to Champlain College President Alex Hernandez, appealing to him to slap a fur ban on campus so as to protect beavers just like the school’s own beloved mascot, Chauncey.
PETA points out that tens of thousands of beavers are killed every year and that, as Champlain College itself points out, they were once on the verge of extinction in North America due to hunting for their pelts. With a ban, the school could help protect beavers and other animals still trapped and killed for their fur, joining Kingston University in London and the many cities that are also implementing or considering fur bans, and further the college’s mission to advance society and encourage students to help create a better world for all.
“Beavers are caught in steel-jaw traps, which clamp down with bone-breaking force, causing excruciating pain and a slow death,” writes PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “Please help end cruelty to beavers by informing students and staff members about the threats these animals face and by establishing a fur-free campus.”
PETA’s letter to Hernandez follows.
April 5, 2023
Alex Hernandez
President
Champlain College
Dear President Hernandez:
I’m writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals—PETA entities have more than 9 million members and supporters globally, including many thousands across Vermont—ahead of International Beaver Day on Friday, April 7, with a dam good request that would help protect beavers like Champlain’s beloved mascot, Chauncey: Will you please ban fur on campus? This step would not only further the college’s mission to advance society and encourage students to help create a better world for all but also help protect beavers and other animals who are trapped and killed for their fur.
As you likely already know, beavers are intelligent and resourceful animals. They’re well gnawn for building dams to create ponds that offer refuge from predators and space for food storage. They also construct lodges that provide shelter and a safe place to raise their young. They’re great swimmers, and their fur is naturally oily and waterproof, which helps them keep dry and warm, even when submerged for a very long time. They’re also among the few animals who can alter their surroundings to produce a suitable home. The dams they make generate wetlands, which are vital ecosystems for many species.
Tens of thousands of beavers are killed every year, often in response to their natural dam-building efforts or so they can be used for their fur. Champlain College even points out that beavers were once nearly extinct in North America due to hunting. To trap beavers, humans often use steel-jaw traps, which clamp together with bone-breaking force, causing excruciating pain. Beavers are also often strangled in neck snares and crushed in body-gripping traps, which are barbaric devices with metal bars designed to slam shut on an animal’s body. Some traps are designed to hold beavers underwater until they drown. But since they’re used to holding their breath while they dive for long periods, death by drowning is a slow, agonizing process for them.
Please help end cruelty to beavers by informing students and staff members about the threats these animals face and by establishing a fur-free campus. Many U.S. cities have already implemented bans on fur sales, and various institutions of higher learning are considering fur bans. Your efforts to help animals would beavery impactful. Thank you for your consideration. We look forward to hearing that Champlain will be a leader on this important issue.
Very truly yours,
Ingrid Newkirk
President
We are intelligent and resourceful and do do well at gnawing trees to sustain us and make our dams, but I’m not sure if the mention above of “being well gnawn” is a punny insert or auto-correct glitch. It sorta fits though. . .
A beaver dam on Lake Lowell in Caldwell, ID | Mackenzie Davidson | Argonaut
The U.S. government is looking to an unlikely rodent in an effort to repair ravaged riparian ecosystems, and it might be working.
Beavers are one of the odder species, in terms of appearance. With their long buckteeth, paddle tail and rounded shape, they don’t often attract sympathy from the owners of the land they choose to settle down on.
Due to unregulated trapping in the 1800s, beavers were largely eradicated from the U.S. This had cascading effects on the ecosystems they once called home. Beavers, as “ecosystem engineers,” change their environment in ways that promote a healthy ecosystem. With beavers gone, the riparian, or water based, ecosystems they frequented were in trouble.
Many other animals rely on the work beavers do to remain healthy. Without beavers, fish populations, predators, birds, amphibians and even the plants lining water banks were suffering.
Since 2008 the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest has been reintroducing beavers to various areas in order to promote riparian health. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the project has documented an increase in salmonid spawning and rearing as a result of the beavers’ presence.
In Idaho there are between 50 and 75 beaver restoration projects currently operational. These projects either directly introduce beavers to damaged riparian areas or have biologists build dam-like structures in order to encourage beaver populations to return to those areas.
The U.S. has a history of killing off vital species, directly resulting in whole ecosystems decaying; a cursory examination of the history at Yellowstone National Park can attest to that. The eradication of wolves, grizzly bears, mountain lions and, of course, beavers have all resulted in the lack of riparian vegetation, predatory species and healthy landscapes.
It brings hope to the environmental community seeing these restoration projects underway, reversing the damage once done to the American landscape. Recent legislation, like Idaho’s SB 1211 and Utah’s HB 469, attempt to undo some of those efforts, but biologists and conservationists are not so easily deterred.
The beaver represents a great success in conservation; once nearly extinct, there are now almost 15 million in North America alone thanks to supremely dedicated conservationists.
Mackenzie Davidson can be reached at arg-opinion@uidaho.edu or on Twitter @mackenzie_films
But coexistence is key. We just want to get along without hurting anyone. So maybe you can help out these friendly folks.
Humans often kill beavers when their damming and tree-chewing behaviors cause problems such as flooding and destroyed vegetation. This approach is ineffective because new beavers will soon move into the empty habitat. Lethal trapping, dam destruction, and culvert unclogging are only temporary solutions that, in the long-run, are expensive and unsustainable.
How is coexistence possible?
Beavers and the wetland habitats they create are beneficial to people, plants, animals, and entire landscapes and watersheds. We believe it is possible for people to share land with live beavers while addressing flooding and tree-chewing problems using long-term, cost-effective solutions.
Got some images of kids playing beaver at the recent SLO County Beaver Festival.
![A beaver dam creates upstream pools used by other wildlife, such as wood ducks. [Photo provided by Whit Gibbons]](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2023/04/22/NTTN/0e5a113f-596d-481b-8c71-cc7f6efcc04f-BEAVER_WOOD_DUCKS.jpg?width=300&height=307&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
