Category: Beaver ponds

BEAVERS IN FORBES

heidi08 Beaver Book, Beaver ponds, Beavers January 24, 2019

So I was thinking yesterday that it had been a while since I saw any news about EAGER, and wondering if all the buzz was finally dying down. Then i did a google search and happened to be about two hours behind the publication of this story.

Ten Of The Best Books About Climate Change, Conservation And The Environment of 2018

Whether you are giving gifts to others or to yourself, this list of the best popular science books of 2018 about climate change, conservation and the environment is a great place to start reading and gifting

Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter by Ben Goldfarb

Before white settlers arrived in North America, the continent was home to millions of beavers. Thanks to these industrious rodents’ activities, the landscape was covered in an intertwined system of streams and wetlands that resembled a “bowl of spaghetti”, making the land much wetter than it is today. After white settlers arrived, beavers almost disappeared because their fur was intensely popular for making hats for English gentlemen. But beavers are a keystone species whose presence supports entire biological communities, so the dramatic reduction of these animals resulted in the loss of many critically important habitats. Additionally, the loss of beavers’ “ecosystem services” affected humans too by reducing groundwater retention, thereby increasing the frequency and severity of floods, droughts, erosion and wildfires, and intensifying the effects of climate change. In this impassioned and educational book, environmental journalist Ben Goldfarb highlights the ecological importance of beavers, shares important facts about their natural history, and corrects persistent misconceptions about them. He also interviews a variety of experts, ranging from scientists and environmentalists to ranchers and citizen scientists, and shares scientific arguments espousing the restoration of the beaver to its ancestral lands. Includes lots of useful references.

“Written with clarity, intelligence, and humor, this engaging book will appeal to basically everyone.”

Wow! Forbes magazine! Congratulations Ben, I knew your wonderful book was going to take beavers many interesting places but i never thought it would take them to Forbes! We especially love that last sentence of the review and couldn’t agree more. “Written with clarity, intelligence and humor”. So true!

And beavers, don’t forget the beavers.

i was also surprised to see that our old friend Phys.org forgot to mention how important beavers were for the problem they discussed yesterday. When there’s an obvious solution you should say so, don’t you think?

Freshwater wildlife face an uncertain future

Pacific salmon are one of Canada’s iconic creatures. Each summer, they complete their, on average, four- to five-year-long life cycle by returning from their rich ocean feeding grounds to the creeks and streams where they were born. Here, following in the “footsteps” of their parents, they will lay eggs, die and give rise to the next generation of salmon.

For our research on the migration and conservation of Pacific salmon, we have looked at how freshwater ecosystems—lakes, rivers, streams and wetlands—are changing around the globe. Society has its finger on the pulse of the oceans, but what about our too often forgotten fresh waters?

While fresh waters make up just a fraction (0.01 per cent) of all the water on the planet, they are home to nearly 10 per cent of the Earth’s known animal species, including one third of all vertebrates (anything with a backbone). There are even more species of fish in freshwater ecosystems than there are in the ocean.

This picture is, sadly, changing quickly. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) recently published the “Living Planet Report 2018,” showing that freshwater species loss is more severe than species declines on land or in the ocean.

Alarmingly, populations of freshwater species on average have declined by more than 80 per cent in 50 years, while populations of land-dwellers and ocean creatures have fallen by less than half that.

Gulp. That’s a huge loss for salmon and trout, frog, otter and herons. if only there were SOME animal that worked tirelessly to make freshwater wetlands that more animals can use. I’m scratching my head here. It’ll come to me in a moment. It’s right on the tip of my tongue.

But the solution does not rest solely with technological advancements to reverse past errors. We need to meet the freshwater needs of both people and nature by changing the way we treat fresh waters, for example, through our day-to-day actions, by joining or supporting the Alliance for Freshwater Life and pressing our governments to join the global effort to preserve freshwater.

**SAVING FRESH WATER SINCE BEFORE YOU WERE BORN**

BEAVER FISHERMEN TELL TALES

heidi08 Beaver ponds January 17, 2019

Hrmph. Yesterday I proudly finished my post and marched off only to notice an hour later that our entire sidebar on the website was gone. These are the kind of mysterious goings-on that make you crazy but I tweaked and scoured code and eventually found out if I took out part of what I wrote the sidebar was restored.

i still have no idea why.

Let that be a lesson to me! Don’t talk so much. Marching straight on to this fascinating column from Wade Robinson in Pennsylvania who thinks that beavers are ruining his fish time. (Yes, you read that correctly.)

Robertson: Beavers can impact one’s fishing — and the local

Since individual animals have personalities of their own, some bolder beavers have the ability to really irritate you at times. I’ve known several obnoxious ones who used their tails to repeatedly slap the waters where I’m fishing and, of course, this spooks the fish. The irate beaver isn’t interested in saving fish, it’s simply trying to force you to leave. In between powerful tail slaps, they can brazenly swim in tight circles, glaring at you, then another dive and explosion of water.
I’ve glared right back and had some choice words for beavers, but it never seemed to impress them.

Those obnoxious beavers! Slapping their tails and acting like they MADE the pond! Who do they think they are? Clearly Wade has a delicate understanding of the ecosystem services they provide. He even has a friend who was bitten by one. Seriously.

A close friend of my brother, a young woman weighing about 120 pounds soaking wet, was a very dedicated runner. She ran every day with her two large dogs and was quite health conscious. This particular day in early winter she and her dogs dropped down into a small valley and, lo and behold, there in the middle of the road was a beaver industriously dragging a 10 foot, thickly limbed, aspen branch across to the dam on the other side of the highway.

When the two dogs saw the beaver only 20 yards ahead of them they bolted forward to the attack, their jaws snapping. The slight woman was jerked off her feet and, unfortunately, had the short leashes wrapped around her hand and wrist. The straining dogs dragged her forward rapidly, constricting the leash tightly around her hand; she was unable to let go.

Before she knew what was happening she was the center of a swirling, tangled melee of leaping, growling dogs, snagging branches, twisted leashes and one very angry beaver.

Now, you may not think it, but a beaver’s tail can be a powerful weapon and those teeth, large and razor sharp, can bite through things other than wood.

In this tangled battle, two dogs, jogger and beaver all literally touching one another, the beaver chomped down on the poor woman’s knee, severing cartilage, tendons and scouring bone. It bit the dogs as well while simultaneously knocking the tar out of them all with its tail. It was over in seconds, the victorious beaver diving over the bank and into the water, the girl and dogs left to take stock of their wounds.

The single bite to her knee was very serious and painful; she couldn’t stand and was bleeding heavily. Luckily, within minutes, a car appeared at this incredible scene, untangled her from the dogs, put a tourniquet on the leg, lifted her into the car and rushed to the hospital. The surgeries needed to repair the knee were extensive and it was two years before she started running again.

So a woman who couldn’t control her dogs was dragged into a beaver attack? And in the tangle was bitten by the beaver? Goodness that’s a tangled mess of a story. It must have been terrifying. Apparently Wade was shocked to learn that an exposed threatened animal will defend itself. We, however, are not.

Once the beavers had exhausted the available food supply they abandoned the dam and moved on to another location. The abandoned dam soon broke and its bottom, now bare and covered with the highly fertilized silt quickly blossomed into a lush meadow. Their new dam repeated the cycle.

Beavers are a unique animal and fun to watch if you’re not fishing. Hopefully, you know a little more about them now.

However, I don’t suggest “tangling” with one, pun intended!

No mention of the valuable wetlands beavers create or the way they make habitat for birds AND fish. Obviously Wade has a cursory understanding of the role they play in creating the very scaled animal he is trying to catch. Apparently, they’ll let just anyone write a sports column in Pennsylvania whether they use paragraphs or not.

Speaking of the quality of writing, i was moved by this poem yesterday by author Debbie Slack with a nice beaver mention. It refreshingly has no knee-bitin at all.

Listener Essay – Taking Note

GETTING ALONG SWIMMINGLY!

heidi08 Beaver Book, Beaver ponds August 15, 2018

Folks liked seeing Tim’s mural yesterday, the post got 2 comments and something like 80 likes on FB. Public art does things like that. It seeps into your experience and brightens your day without permission. That’s an extra reason to have beaver public art around.

This morning there are a cluster of stories to take care of. I particularly like this one, since its so close to being excellent.

900-acre preserve focuses on environmental education

Covering 900 acres north of Warrenton, The Clifton Institute focuses on environmental education, ecological research and restoration for native plants and animals.

Grants and donations fund the non-profit’s annual budget of approximately $250,000.

Mr. Harris, an ecology expert, and his wife Eleanor, the managing director and a biology expert, started six months ago at The Clifton Institute. They hope to offer more educational programs and intern research opportunities in the coming years.

“There’s incredible diversity in our own backyards and people don’t realize. Just by showing people what we have here, I think they are going to want to have a lighter hand.

“People protect what they understand and love,” President Doug Larson said. “I think if you gain an appreciation for the natural world you are more inclined to protect and respect it.” and in how they manage their own property,” Mr. Harris said.

So far so good! I love the idea of kids in Virginia getting a chance to explore the outdoors. And he’s right. Children will grow up to be adults that protect what they learned to love along the way. Where’s the problem, Heidi?

The property off Blantyre Road near Airlie features a beaver damn, several bodies of water, fields and about 10 miles of maintained trails.

Good lord. Maybe that’s just how they feel about beavers in Virginia?

Time for another fine review of Ben’s book, this one from the Addison County Independent in Vermont by Becky Dayton.

Book review: Eager: The surprising secret life of beavers and why they matter — by Ben Goldfarb

As an environmental journalist covering wildlife management and conservation biology, Ben Goldfarb has written extensively about birds, bears, fish, and more for periodicals such as Mother Jones, Science and Orion, but it was beavers, of all critters, that inspired him to write a book.

And what a book it is! While fantastically well researched, “Eager” rarely — if ever — gets bogged down by its own comprehensive heft. This is a function of Goldfarb’s genuine enthusiasm for his subject, his healthy appreciation for the humor inherent in smelly, buck-toothed rodents, and his entertaining way with words.

“Eager” is, above all else, fun to read. The opportunity it presents to learn almost everything there is to know about these surprisingly bright, if maddening, rodents is almost secondary to the pleasure of consuming Goldfarb’s lively, storyteller’s prose. But learn you will — about the rich natural and cultural history of Castor canadensis. Goldfarb leaves no stone unturned in his investigation, visiting 12 US states and the UK to interview and “go into the field,” i.e., wade into the pond, with everyone from wildlife management biologists to civilian enthusiasts of various stripes, the whole range of “Beaver Believers.” The takeaway — that, contrary to popular opinion, beavers and humans can live harmoniously — is practically a foregone conclusion; it’s the getting there in Goldfarb’s company that makes it entirely worth your time.

What a lively review Becky! Thank you so much for putting your enthusiasm into words for us. That was exactly how I felt reading this book! I hate to ask but do you have a sister or something that lives in Massachusetts? We need your brignt energy proclaiming the book out that way.

Lastly there’s an update from our friend Tom Pelletier at Ask A Naturalist. You might remember a while back I noted that someone had asked a question about swimming with beavers and he wrote back a long detailed description of the risks of giardiasis. I sent him my thoughts and right before the festival he wrote and invited me to provide an update on the post.

Here’s what it says now:

Can I swim with beavers?

Additional commentary from Heidi Perryman of martinezbeavers.org/wordpress: If the question is “Can beaver ponds carry disease?” the answer is yes, and so can any other body of water you might feel like swimming in. If you’re asking “Do beaver ponds cause beaver fever?” the answer is also sometimes. Beavers can pass on giardiasis just like deer, muskrat or even humans. They are not, however, more likely to carry it. One researcher even remarked that in other countries there is no association with beavers and giardiasis because in other languages the words “beaver” and “fever” don’t happen to rhyme!

From the beaver’s point of view the answer to the question “Can I swim with beavers?” is: please don’t. Beavers would rather not have you around while they’re working and would definitely rather not have your dog around. This is especially true in the summer months when there are young beavers to protect. Every year I read at least one story about someone whose pet was attacked by a beaver in June or July. Remember, any animal that can chop down a tree with its teeth can do harm to your dog. (Rosell, F. Rosef, 0 & Parker H ) 2001. Investigations of Waterborne Pathogens in Eurasian Beaver (Castor fiber) Acta vet. scand. 2001, 42, 479-482.)

Well that sprinkled in a little education! Thanks Tom for letting me add my caveats. Hopefully more folks at least will think twice about letting their dog swim in a beaver pond in summer!

PAYMENT FOR ECOSYSTEM SERVICES

heidi08 Beaver ponds, Environmental January 6, 2018

You know the idea that’s been building in my mine, is wouldn’t it be GREAT if we could incentivize keeping beavers on the landscape by rewarding land-owners with some kind of payment for letting them perform their ecosystem services. PES we could call it?

Apparently this Forbes was thinking the exact same thing.

Cattle Ranchers Join Conservationists To Save Endangered Species And Rangelands

Idaho rancher Jerry Hoagland likes working under the open sky. He’s seen all kinds of wildlife, from elk and coyotes to eagles and mountain lions. But he had never heard of the endangered Columbia spotted frog before it was discovered on his ranch.

This wasn’t exactly welcome news, since it brought up fears that an environmental lawsuit might derail his ranch operations. “It was the worry a lot of us had at one point, that you didn’t have any control over your own property,” he said.

Enter Idaho’s division of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Hoagland learned that the wildlife agency was willing to split the cost of creating ponds and wetlands on private ranches to support the spotted frog and other endangered species. With shallow edges for spawning and deeper water for hiding, the ponds would serve as virtual incubators for biodiversity.

Did you get that? If you create a man-made pond on your land Idaho Fish and Game will give you $$$ for improving biodiversity. And that’s if you do it yourself, which takes time and money. I’m thinking of a little animal that would do that for free.

Hoagland says several years ago, he dug about 20 ponds (“including some dried-up old beaver ponds”) on his land at upper Reynolds Creek for the Columbia spotted frog. In a documentary commissioned by the , the Owyhee County rancher reports the spotted frog population was growing steadily. “A beaver turned four small ponds into one large pond, which was absolutely amazing,” he said. “We counted over 120 juveniles and I don’t know how many adults in that pond. We’re finding more frogs, and we’ll probably help keep it off the (endangered species) list.”

You see what I mean? If I can just get people to stop killing beavers, they will make their own arguments all by themselves.

“I wanted to create the [wet] meadow habitat because water is so scarce in the West, and water is critical to life,” says rancher Chris Black of Owyhee County, who created a series of ponds on his property. “If I can create a meadow habitat, I can create a place for sage grouse to come in, pronghorn to come in, all wildlife to use, plus my cows have a habitat they can use. It’s good for everything in the system.”

Cattle ranching is a historic way of life in the West, but it’s under siege, threatened by development, drought, wildfires, a shrinking number of cattle buyers and razor-thin profit margins. But land trusts, conservation easements and payments for ecosystem services (such as wetlands) offer hope that rangelands and their wildlife can survive and even flourish.

How does this work? Some conservation agencies, like Idaho’s, offer cost-sharing with ranchers, while other Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) cover all the costs or pay ranchers directly for wildlife programs. Ranchers who set land aside in permanent conservation easements receive estate benefits and federal tax savings for up to 15 years. And some land trusts, such as the Ranchland Trust of Kansas, allow ranchers to specify that their grassland legacy continue to be ranched.

Okay, I agree. There are all kinds of problems with this cattle-worshiping article. Ranching depletes water and Mary Obrien wrote that “This piece contains a lot of inaccuracies about ranching — never mind that there is no pound of meat that requires more water; uses and degrades more arid and semi-arid public land; and emits more methane than cattle.”

BUT, laying aside the problems, and considering the fact that Fish and Game already use the policy and funding is already in place, they have the paperwork, and already work with the system my point is that it wouldn’t take TOO much work to broaden it to include having beaver ponds on your land. Right? I mean of course a rancher can’t promise they’ll be there for 15 years but you can promise not to trap them and report the number of dams on your land.

And the very IDEA of paying for ecosystem services should be repeated over and over. Why not let any land owner do the same, or a university, or even a city who keeps beaver on its urban creek receive PES?

This whole article has me thinking. Plus it gives me an excuse to post my very favorite video of 2017 again, and I never, NEVER tire of beaver Moses.

POND-ER THAT

heidi08 Beaver ponds December 14, 2017

There was a fascinating article this week out of the horticulture school at Lullier Switzerland that doesn’t appear to be about beavers at all. Young scientist Beat Oertli is earning his degree by studying something we all take for granted. His thoughtful work is entirely based on data collection and other scientific things that make your eyes tired.

The funny thing for us, of course, is that it is ENTIRELY about beavers. We know better.

Why small ponds have enormous value

Ponds may not seem as glamorous as rushing rivers or majestic lakes, but they’re indispensable when it comes to biodiversity and ecosystem health. In Switzerland natural ponds have all but vanished with the rise of agricultural intensification.

It turns out that water purification and filtration is just one item on a very long list of services that ponds provide, both for humans and the environment. These services range from flood and erosion prevention, to habitat for endangered species – even absorption of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

“We’ve estimated that one pond can trap as much carbon as one car produces in a year,” Oertli says.

But he explains that these services are in danger of disappearing: over the last 200 years, 90% of ponds and small pools in Switzerland have dried up or been destroyed, largely as a direct result of human activities and agricultural intensification.

It’s easy to underestimate the environmental contribution of ponds, given their small size compared to larger freshwater resources like lakes and rivers. But as Oertli explains, their greatest ecological benefits are realised on a collective level, as each small body of water plays a key role in a larger network.

“In a region, if you put all the biodiversity of small ponds together, it’s many more species than lakes and rivers. That’s because ponds are all very different – they are like humans: you cannot find two that are the same.”

And it’s not just frogs that love to call Swiss ponds home: they are also crucial habitat for a variety of plants and fish, as well as beavers, shrews, voles, bats, leeches, dragonflies, and pollinators like bees and syrphid fliesexternal link.

Hurray for the small ponds! These little saucers of nature scattered across our landscape should be added together to count their contributions, Oertli, you’re onto something! But did you just say that ponds are crucial to beavers? I admit I don’t know anything about the Swiss language but I think you got your sentence structure reversed,

Beavers are crucial to ponds.

But individual ponds are valuable as well, especially in an urban setting, which is the focus of Oertli’s research in Lullier. Even an artificial pond in the middle of a city can host natural biodiversity, as well as provide key services for humans.

“Urbanisation is increasing, and ponds are a good example of systems that provide a lot of services for landscaping, flood protection, education for students and children, for trapping pollutants and purifying waters that flow through the city,” Oertli explains. He adds that urban ponds can even provide a crucial reservoir for irrigating parks and gardens, and even for fighting fires.

You don’t say. Ponds are important in cities? They provide a place for trapping pollutants and purifying water and even make a reservoir for fighting fires? Allow me to repeat that paragraph by adding an overlooked word to your sentence for clarification.

BEAVER ponds are a good example of systems that provide a lot of services for landscaping, flood protection, education for students and children, trapping pollutants and purifying the waters that flow through the city.

Well said, Oertli, I literally could not agree more.

You know I saw something recently that reminds me of this, you would think everyone would be lining up to get beaver ponds in their city, wouldn’t you?

Researchers find urban development dramatically increases stream flow

Urban development dramatically increases the flow of water in streams and rivers, creating an uptick in flood events, according to a study by Georgia State University researchers.

This is one of the first studies to successfully minimize the influence of precipitation when analyzing the effects of urbanization on streams.

Urban development affects more than just stream volume, said Richard Milligan, co-author of the study and assistant professor of geosciences. “The increase in impervious surfaces—or surfaces that water can’t penetrate—also affects water quality, as the liquid runs over asphalt, picking up pollutants.”

The study points out that of the developed areas they researched water flow increased in all of them, except for in an area where the water was leaking back into the soil through a cracked pipe,

I would say through a BEAVER DAM.

Why on earth wouldn’t any engineer or mayor of any city want beavers to make a pond in their treacherous fast flowing stream to reduce pollution and improve biodiversity? Everyone should be signing up for one. There should be one of those horrible long lines like you see at christmas in walmart for the very last toy that everyone’s child must have.

And your mayor should be at the front of the line!