When you undertake a gigantic change that has never come close to being done before, you begin very simply. Baby steps forward. Eyes on the prize. Never stop moving obliquely towards the light.
Except no one ever told Eric Robinson change happens slowly. He’s just beavering in. All-in.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has, for nearly a century, adhered to a strict policy saying that forbid beaver relocation. Beavers were problems. And you don’t move problems to somebody else’s property. Unlike Washington and Utah and Idaho a beaver causing trouble in one place can NOT be live trapped with his family and relocated to another place where his dam building might do some good. Never mind beaver contribution to watershed, drought, fire prevention, biodiversity. The only solution is the final solution.
“BETTER DEAD THAN WATERSHED”
Until the revolution that is.
This week will be the first ever meeting on beaver relocation in California. It is the vision of Eric Robinson of Southern California and involves his dream to bring back beaver from the crushing traps of San Diego and restore them to the empty dryish creekbeds of the Tule Tribe with the help of some well-placed friends. Like all revolutionaries, he has a vision of a better world and no time for the obstacles to his success.
The famed Molly Alves from the Tulalip tribe will be there teaching beaver relocation and housing, wildlife rehab staff will get first hand training from the expert, joined by our own Cheryl Reynolds and Brock, Kate and Kevin of the OAEC. It will be, for all intents and purposes the first meeting of the beaver revolution to rattle California and you can bet there is already serious push-back against it happening.
But it is happening.
If you feel the earth move suddenly this week you’ll know why. There are ideas that are so radical even talking about them is heresy of a kind. Get ready for life beyond the barricades, because its coming.
This revolution will not be televised. But you can read about it, here.
Years ago, and I mean more than a decade, I befriended filmmaker Mike Foster who was following the beavers of the San Pedro River. He was one of the few folks I knew at the time who had spent as much time as I had watching beavers. Our correspondence eventually tricked off as I got more involved in the beaver community and apparently the beaver population did too. Because this morning I came upon this headline:
Twenty years after their triumphant return, beavers have nearly vanished once again from the San Pedro River.
No beaver dams have been recorded within the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area for the past three years, and only a few individual animals have been spotted along the river 85 miles southeast of Tucson. Experts fear the remaining population is now too small to sustain itself.
“There are beaver down there. We don’t know how many, but there has been a decline,” said Scott Feldhausen, local district manager for the BLM. Officials from the Bureau of Land Management and the Arizona Game and Fish Department said they simply don’t know why the animals are disappearing or how many of them might be left, because they long ago stopped monitoring the population.
And stopped paying Mike to film them. It’s hard to imagine beaver not being hardy enough to survive, but maybe they’re being killed? Or maybe climate change made their lives harder? And maybe they would have preferred BDAs along that river to help them get a foothold on a landscape that has been without them for 300 years?
The bad beaver news comes as state and federal wildlife officials are studying whether to introduce beavers into another Southern Arizona watershed, Las Cienegas National Conservation Area near Sonoita.
An early version of the plan reportedly called for as many as nine beavers to be turned loose along Cienega Creek, within the 45,000-acre conservation area.
An environmental assessment of the proposed release was on track for completion late this year or early next, but Feldhausen said he is considering shelving the project as a result of questions raised by the Arizona Daily Star about the status of the San Pedro population.
He said his agency has not followed through the way he thinks it should have when it comes to monitoring beavers on the San Pedro, and he doesn’t want to see that happen again.
“If we are going to do these efforts in the future, we are just going to have to make sure the time and effort are worth it,” Feldhausen said. “It’s incumbent on us to find out if it was successful or not, and if not, why not.”
Maybe from a bureaucratic point of view you need to monitor your project, but from a beaver point of view you most likely don’t. They’re going to survive or die off whether you count them or not. I definately thin BDA’s would improve their odds, though.
A growing number of ecologists and environmentalists now celebrate the animal for its role as a keystone species and a restoration specialist for damaged landscapes. Simply by doing what comes naturally to them, these furry engineers improve the overall health of watersheds and create new habitat for a host of other species, beaver backers say.
The beaver’s contributions to nature were chronicled last year in Ben Goldfarb’s award-winning book, “Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter.”
Now the animals and their advocates are the subject of a documentary called “The Beaver Believers,” which premiered in Tucson late last month at a fundraiser for the Watershed Management Group.
About 250 people turned out for the Sept. 27 screening. The beaver-themed event raised roughly $15,000 for the conservation group’s riparian restoration work in and around Tucson.
Watershed Management Group Executive Director Lisa Shipek said she didn’t know anything about the plight of the beavers on the San Pedro until someone mentioned it during a panel discussion before the movie was shown.
“It was surprising for sure,” Shipek said. “There have been positive impacts from (the beaver’s) reintroduction … but I think we’re still learning. That’s why we need to keep tabs on how they’re doing in the watershed.”
I don’t have a lot of tolerance in my heart for people who say they didn’t know how good things were until someone came in and told them they were valuable, BUT I’m glad Ben and Sarah are making an impression. I guess sometimes you need to “antique road show” your environment to find out that that river left to you by your great great grandfather is actually worth something!
“Oh that old thing is valuable? We’ve been using it for years to keep cans in!
Mark Hart, spokesman for the Arizona Game and Fish Department in Tucson, said the agency followed the beavers for the first five years or so, but it is not a species they generally track. Once the population seemed to be established, they turned their attention elsewhere, he said. “As far as we were concerned, the reintroduction had taken.”
So where have all the beavers gone since then?
It’s a question Feldhausen said the BLM hasn’t even tried to answer at this point.
Some speculate that drought and groundwater pumping have reduced the river’s flow, leaving the mostly aquatic creatures with little more than stagnant puddles of warm, dirty water during the summer months.
Others suspect the beavers are being wiped out by mountain lions or even poachers.
Ironically, perhaps, the BLM just approved a new resource management plan for the national conservation area that opens much of the San Pedro to beaver trapping under Arizona Game and Fish regulations, though Feldhausen said he doubts there are enough animals left to attract serious trappers.
GEE YOU THINK THAT MIGHT HAVE HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH IT? I mean, in addition to the fact that you drained their watertable and that probably affected the riparian tree diet, and without food or shelter my population would decline too.
Filmmaker and naturalist Mike Foster thinks what’s happening to the beavers could be part of a normal population cycle and that the numbers will rebound on their own.
“They’re pretty tenacious. I would be surprised if they’re gone completely,” he said.
AGREED! Wonderful to hear from Mike. People who spend time actually watching beavers know a lot more than we give them credit for.
Foster has decided to take matters into his own hands. He said he’s going to start walking the river again, and he’s taking his camera with him.
If there are beavers still out there, Foster aims to find them.
HURRAY FOR MIKE! HURRAY FOR BEAVERS! I agree that the odds of a total wipe out are small. Beavers have a way of making things work unless people get involved and start mucking it up.
I really like everything about this article, holding the BLM accountable for followup and finding the heroes, and this line. I especially like this one line.
Where have all the beavers gone?
Where have all the beavers gone, Long time, passing. Where have all the beavers gone, Long time ago. Where have all the beavers gone. Gone to trappers everyone. When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?
My father, like many fathers of a certain era, had several jokes he liked to tell over and over. I remember some of them fondly but am especially partial to his tale of the ‘city slicker who moved to the country’ to live a more natural life. He started off at the feed store to purchase two dozen baby chicks thinking of all those farm-fresh eggs he’d soon be enjoying.
A week after his purchase he was back again, complaining that the first batch had all died. The manager of the feedbarn was concerned and asked about the details of their care. Prompting the city slicker to observe,
“I don’t know. Maybe I’m planting them too deep?”
Cue the groaning laughter, because as we all know baby chicks shouldn’t be planted. Which you will understand right away why I thought of this joke when you read this curious beaver relocation article from New Mexico.
During the past week, three beavers were reintroduced in to Rito de los Frijoles at Bandelier National Monument marking the first time beaver have been above Upper Falls since the 1950’s. Beaver are a keystone species meaning that many other species and the ecosystem as a whole are reliant on their presence. Beaver raise the water table, modulate stream flow, improve water quality, and increase biodiversity. We have high hopes that our new residents will help increase water storage, control vegetation, reduce water temperatures, and improve wildlife habitat within Frijoles. Photo Courtesy NPS
Okay, so far so good right? I mean it’s a little comical to name a national park after beans, but it’s good they think highly of beavers right?
All three beaver came from the Taos area where their activity was conflicting with humans and without relocation the beaver would have been euthanized. The beaver all survived the reintroduction which is rare as the stress of relocation is commonly lethal.
Relocation is usually lethal? Now you know why I heard my dad’s joke echoing in my brain. What do you usually do to them? The entire National Park system of the United States, with all their research, vibrant staff and history, is saying that beaver relocation is usually lethal?
And they tried it anyway?
The mind reels. The jaw drops. Even when the Methow Project was reporting terrible numbers with beaver relocation the success rate was stil 50 percent! Hell, even when they tossed beavers out of the frickin’ airplane they reported only one death
Prompting the very serious question, what on EARTH does New Mexico do to its beavers?
Speaking of beaver hardiness the Sierra Wildlife Coalition recently posted this heart-melting video, which proves to me that Beavers are much cooler than anything you can imagine and work way harder than people which are lazy toads by comparison.
Don’t you just Love them? And yes that’s the first snow in the Sierras at the end of September, and since you asked neither rain or snow or dark of night shall prevent a beaver from his important work. Post office be dammed.
You know how it is. You think you’ve seen it all. Tried everything, opened every door. And then one day, almost out of the blue Nancy Pelosi launches an impeachment inquiry and San Diego is relocating beavers.
About Dam Time!
So our friend Eric Robinson is really doing this. He is raising money to buy traps and I think Worth A Dam should help. I already told him he has to have a booth at the festival and explain it all. And he agreed!
Experts say the beavers come down the Santa Margarita River each year and flood the rifle range at Camp Pendleton with their dam-building.
SAN DIEGO — Several beavers that have been causing issues at Camp Pendleton in North San Diego County are set to be removed from the Marine Corps base.
A group of environmentalists that specialize in these types of animal removals has received approval to live trap and transport eight to 14 beavers. Experts say the creatures come down the Santa Margarita River each year and end up flooding the rifle range at Camp Pendleton with their dam-building.
Previously, Marines at the base were lethally trapping the beavers each year as their population expanded.
The group that traps the beavers will house them temporarily and the animals will have a health check performed by a veterinarian.
The entire beaver family will be transported to release sites with the first batch going to Tule River Reservation near Porterville, California.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to assist with the rescuing of the beavers.
Footage in this piece by Sarah Koenigsberg courtesy of The Beaver Believers. To learn more click here.
The campaign now has nearly 400 dollars Click here to help out and get beavers relocated in San Diego!
You know how it is, You work and work every day at a worthy task, like changing the beaver relocation laws in California or hey maybe impeaching a corrupt president who made deals with a foreign government to thwart our democracy, and it seems like you are getting NO WHERE, You’ve followed all the rules. You’ve done this all by the book, and you can measure the dramatic noneffect in nanometers.
It’s not working.
Then one day, everything changes. I mean everything.
Meet Eric Robinson a fairly recent beaver believer from Southern California who wants those reintroduction laws changed and fast for his very dry part of the state. He tried talking to fish and wildlife, tried working with Kate Lundquist from OAEC who has been at the frontlines on this issue, working to get the law changed, And got impatient with all the nothing that was happening.
So he stepped out of line. Got a crowbar. And found the rusted gears most likely to move.
Eric spoke with the head of USDA who said they would be happy to give him some beavers. And with the members of several tribes who want beavers back on their land. And with Molly Alves from the tulalip tribe whose been doing this work in Washington for years. Then he talked with Doris at Sonoma Wildlife and got her to agree to house some beavers during transition.
It went from impossible to it’s all happening. Molly is coming to do a training for Doris and her staff in October, and rusty wheels are in motion. Yesterday he was on the local news regarding the beavers at Camp Pendleton which they have been routinely trapping for years. Now he’s talking to SeaWorld about possibly being a Southern California stopover site. It couldn’t hurt their reputation. And they already have a beaver in their education program.
Oh and he has an acronym for the program. It’s called B.R.A.V.O.
Currently Beaver are coming down the Santa Margarita River into Camp Pendleton every Spring where they are lethally trapped. This year we finally discovered a way to save them. We are partnering with California Tribes to restore beaver to their native lands. We will use the money to buy Hancock Live traps $450, Game Cameras to record our process $90, Food and Lodging for them while we collect the whole family $300, Veterinarian bill for health check up $360. Transportation to the release site at Tule River Reservation $300.
GO TEAM BRAVO! Eric and his merry volunteers could use your support. This is pretty exciting to watch unfold. Now we just have to do that other thing too, Stay tuned.
When you undertake a gigantic change that has never come close to being done before, you begin very simply. Baby steps forward. Eyes on the prize. Never stop moving obliquely towards the light.
The famed Molly Alves from the Tulalip tribe will be there teaching beaver relocation and housing, wildlife rehab staff will get first hand training from the expert, joined by our own Cheryl Reynolds and Brock, Kate and Kevin of the OAEC. It will be, for all intents and purposes the first meeting of the beaver revolution to rattle California and you can bet there is already serious push-back against it happening.
During the past week, three beavers were reintroduced in to Rito de los Frijoles at Bandelier National Monument marking the first time beaver have been above Upper Falls since the 1950’s. Beaver are a keystone species meaning that many other species and the ecosystem as a whole are reliant on their presence. Beaver raise the water table, modulate stream flow, improve water quality, and increase biodiversity. We have high hopes that our new residents will help increase water storage, control veg
