Category: Beavers and Birds

BRING CLIPBOARDS TO THE BEAVER POND

Well good news for our chalk artist Amy Gallaher Hall. She hates to be penned in by barricade while she works but doesn’t love when her masterpiece is walked into either. I’m been scratching my head to try and find someone we can borrow a rope line and stanchions from but I found out yesterday that we can rent them pretty cheaply from Chairs for Affairs because people use them for crowd control at events or whatever. So Voila! Problem solved.

Also this ad featuring her art will be appearing in the Spring Bay Nature Issue:

Amelia who does our brochure is back from Mexico fully tanned and rested and working on our new cover now. All is right with the world!

And things are looking pretty good for beaver world too. After the stellar report on beavers on the River Otter, and lots and lots of talk from the media, its seeming like pretty much a done deal. There’s a nice summary this morning from Associate Professor of Ecology at North Umbria University.

EXPERT COMMENT: Beavers are set to recolonise the UK – here’s how people and the environment could benefit

The results of the five-year trial are striking. The beavers built dams, creating wetland and ponds that slowed down peak river flows that might have caused flooding. Their engineering holds back water in the catchment area, stopping it from running off the land quickly and overloading the river, creating a bottle neck in towns downstream.

This glowing report on the flood prevention skills of beavers couldn’t be better timed. Two winter storms, Ciara and Denis, have recently brought flooding to thousands of homes in the UK. In November 2019, the National Trust, a charity more associated with stately homes, released beavers on Exmoor, also in Devon, with much of the publicity at the time touting the likely benefits they’ll bring to flood-prone homes nearby.

Wildlife has benefited from the beavers too. The small pools created by the dams had 37% more fish than comparable stretches of the river. That’s helped local birds that eat fish, while rare water voles have been able to find refuge from invasive mink in newly wetted channels. Young trout prefer the faster water of washed out dams and have been spotted leaping over intact dams during high river flows.

The River Otter backs up data from shorter term studies set over smaller areas that show beaver dams benefit the diversity of freshwater invertebrates, reduce nutrient levels in outflow, filter pollution and allow sediment to settle out and bury carbon.

Beavers look to be on the way back, all over the UK. Quite how they will get around isn’t entirely clear yet, but there seems to be widespread public and political support, and it may be that they will spread by themselves.

People, landscapes and animals who need water need beavers. Period. Any other questions?

MONEY FOR BEAVERS AND YOUR FISH FOR FREE

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, BDA's, beaver myths, Beavers and Birds August 11, 2019

Well it looks like someone’s getting a nice fat grant from NOAA to help fish by helping beavers. Ain’t it funny how life works? I mean in Wisconsin you could probably get a grant for destroying beaver dams because you said it would help fish.

Location. Location. Location.

National Marine Fisheries Service grants $15 million for salmon habitat

SALEM — Oregon’s salmon and steelhead bearing streams will benefit from $15 million recently allocated by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The Pacific Coast Salmon Recovery Fund money, along with Oregon Lottery proceeds, are granted to the state’s soil and water conservation districts and watershed councils by the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board to improve habitat for species listed on the federal Endangered Species List.

In Wheeler County, Chase Schultz, the soil and water conservation district manager, said the grants he’s received through the Watershed Enhancement Board are used to cool stream temperatures and improve water quality with streamside planting and fake beaver dams.

“Beaver dam analogs are a hot button topic,” Schultz said.

Built from untreated wooden posts driven perpendicularly into the stream and woven with willow whips, the analogs simulate a beaver dam by spreading a stream’s water out into the floodplain, benefiting adjacent wetlands, Schultz said. The analogs also increase stream flow later in the summer, slowing water down that is released longer into the summer and early fall.

The hope, Schultz said, is to create the habitat to attract beavers to move in and maintain the dams.

The best part, he said, is the dams quickly create desired results. Immediately following the 2017 installation of a dam on Bear Creek, a tributary to the lower stem of the John Day River, Schultz said water started backing up and extended a wetted reach almost 2 miles.

You know how it is. Everyone wants the popular kids to sit at their table. Sometimes you get lucky and a family of beavers moves right in and starts doing your work for free. It’s a pretty fine day when that happens, I can tell you.

There’s more good news on the beaver bandwagon because our Idaho friends will be hosting their SIXTH beaver dam jam. Wonderful!

6th annual Beaver Dam Jam to raise Money for watershed guardians

POCATELLO — The 6th annual Watershed Guardians Beaver Dam Jam to support beaver conservation will present music and other activities from 4 to 8 p.m. Aug. 24 at the Mink Creek Pavilion.

The pavilion is located in the Caribou National Forest at the Mink Creek Group Camp Site on South Mink Creek Road outside of Pocatello.

Besides live music, the event features food, a silent auction and a super raffle featuring a boat and boating gear among other items. There will be games and demonstrations.

All of Idaho should thank the heavens for sending Mike Settell to Pocatello and getting this started. He had the vision to find friends and make this happen. It seems a very long time ago indeed that I first read about Mike getting a grant from Audubon to help in his beaver count. Now he does it with a team of volunteers in snowshoes every winter. And rocks out at the beaver dam jam every summer.

That’s a busy man!

“The event is in (a) great setting with great music and food,” said Mike Settell, founder of Watershed Guardians, the organization sponsoring this event. “We are doing this because beaver do more to help preserve healthy native fisheries than perhaps any other factor, and Watershed Guardians is the only beaver conservation organization in Idaho working to ensure they remain.”

See what I mean? Beavers seem to get the best champions.

Oh and lets throw out one more beaver shout to Jennalee Larson Naturalist Intern at Good Earth State Park in South Dakota. For some reason the Dakotas have always been smarter about beavers than lots of their neighbors. Well, mostly.

Just for Kids: SD Children in Nature

Beavers are known as ecosystem engineers. Ecosystem engineers are animals that create, change, and maintain a habitat. These animals strongly affect the other animals living there.

Beavers make small changes that can really impact their ecosystems. They create dams by removing living trees and using them as a part of the structure. Once they create their dam, a pond often forms which brings an abundant amount of new biodiversity (variety of life). Some birds are unaffected by the destruction of trees while other decline or increase in number. Because the dams create ponds, there is a wading area for birds to thrive in as well as a place to lay their eggs if a dam happened to be abandoned. Reptiles benefit as the beavers create a basking area for them on logs. They also benefit from the loss of trees because the forest then grows new early vegetation and the dam creates a slow moving water which some animals prefer. Invertebrates that prefer slow-moving water start to increase in number

Create a yummy dam out of pretzels for a snack: Use peanut butter spread, marshmallow, or chocolate spread depending on preference. Add stick pretzels to the spread of your choice. Once it is all mixed, give each kid a scoop and have them shape it into their own dam.

First let me praise your very fine attention to beavers and their impact on the environment. Good job, Jennalee. And sure, have the kids make a their own frosted dam or whatever. Mmmm disgusting. And now that we have established our support. um, can you maybe tell me more about your idea that birds can nest in abandoned beaver dams?

I assume this means you are thinking beavers live INSIDE the dam? And if they move out birds can move in? Or are you thinking that birds can lay their eggs directly on top of the sticks in a beaver dam? I’m not sure that would work out too well, even if they didn’t get predated or roll off into the water….

AUDUBON WELCOMES BEAVERS

heidi08 Beavers and Birds March 7, 2019

Tonight’s the night! If you’re anywhere in the vicinity you should come lend support to beavers. because Audubon isn’t used to dealing with riff raff like me and they may revolt. I of course will do my best to explain why beavers matter to birds. Pray to the old Mac gods that my very special laptop friend will survive keep at least one more commitment.And just to demonstrate that beaver education is still needed. I will share one precious and shocking moment from a google search yesterday. You have my word that this was not photo-shopped in anyway and was captured on screen exactly the way it looked. Always remember, as foolish and inadequate as we all are, we’re at least better than this.

MONTANA GETS A 1-2 PUNCH OF BEAVER GOSPEL

heidi08 Beavers and Birds, Beavers and climate change April 16, 2018

If you were anywhere near Hamilton Montana tonight you drive this evening to Bitteroot Audubon and hear all about the fascinating research of this gentleman, Torrey Ritter. He will present his 2.5 year research on why beavers matter to water storage, climate change and ecology, And then tomorrow you could go to the Wildlife Film Festival just a few miles away in Missoula and hear the same sermon from a different preacher at the movies!

Montana is getting a crash course in beavers this week,

“Beavers, Nature’s Ecosystem Engineer” presented April 16

Bitterroot Audubon’s April meeting will feature a presentation on beavers, nature’s ecosystem engineers, by Torrey Ritter. Torrey led a 2 1/2 year research project at MSU aimed at better understanding the ecology of beavers in relation to habitat restoration strategies. Beavers have been identified as a keystone species and an ecosystem engineer because they drastically modify the habitats they occupy and in doing so create environmental conditions that allow certain plant and animals species to inhabit an area where they may not otherwise occur. Researchers radio-marked dispersal-age beavers to evaluate dispersal distances, timing, and outcomes. They also mapped beaver activity to evaluate habitat preferences of beavers starting new colonies in novel areas.

Torrey is a true Beaver Believer who finished his degree at Montana State University studying beaver dispersal patterns and went back for a masters in Organismal biolology (which I didn’t even know was a thing). His wiki page encourages everyone to support your local beavers, so you can tell we’d be fast friends.

Here’s a short look at his his work, and I bet he already has tickets to the beaver premiere tomorrow. Aside from a bad habit of picking up beaver by their tails there’s a lot to like about our new friend in Montana.

His presentation is a great way to spend a monday evening. and then tomorrow you can go see this:

MORE BEAVERS EQUALS MORE BIRDS

heidi08 Beavers and Birds April 7, 2018

Yesterday I remembered to write something about the Beaver Festival for the May issue of Mt. Diablo Audubon’s Quail newsletter. Perfect timing because it goes to press on Monday and yesterday National Wildlife Foundation Published this on their conservation blog

More Beavers Equals More Birds

We know that beavers are busy critters. They build habitat for fish and wildlife when they create natural structures in streams and rivers that slow down and spread out water. And this furry keystone species also builds resilience to climate change by improving water availability and water quality.

In Montana, partners are discovering just how important beavers are for birds, too. The University of Montana’s Bird Ecology Lab in Missoula is documenting the differences in bird abundance and diversity in areas where beaver are active versus absent.

“Back in the 1950s, Ducks Unlimited recognized that beaver ponds are the key to waterfowl production across large parts of North America” -Anna Noson, avian ecologist with the Bird Lab.

Most of the research on the relationship between birds and beavers has focused on these areas, and is less documented in western states. But beavers may be even more important for creating bird habitat in the arid West.

Nice of you to notice! News Flash: They are. Just look at the bird life Martinez saw during the beaver decade compared to now. Where are those nesting green herons? Kingfishers?

Wet areas comprise just 1-2% of the landscape in the western U.S. Yet more than 80% of all wildlife species depend on these “emerald isles” because they provide nutritious food, good hiding and breeding cover—and, of course, a water source. Ponds created by beavers are often the sole source of wetland habitat in dry states. In Montana, for instance, cavity nesting waterfowl like hooded mergansers, wood ducks and buffleheads are usually found breeding in beaver ponds.

Unfortunately, the West has lost many of these precious wet spots.

“I’ve seen some numbers that say we’ve lost as much as 90% of our riparian habitat in the West,” says Noson.

Noson became interested in the importance of beavers back in 2004 while counting birds on small streams—“the kind you can jump over”—as part of a statewide stream survey effort. She compared the breeding bird community across three different types of stream reaches in southwest Montana: active beavers, inactive beavers (with evidence of old dams and wet meadows), and no beaver activity.

“In the areas without beavers, the riparian corridor was really just one willow plant wide. But the active beaver reaches were full of ponds ringed by wetland plants and shrubs,” says Noson.

The bird abundance and diversity increased exponentially in the streams with old or active beaver sites. Noson found eight species typically associated with wetland and riparian habitats, such as belted kingfishers and blue-winged teals, along with several at-risk species like the sandhill crane.

Why are birds flocking to beaver ponds?

“Where there’s slow water, there’s more food,” says Noson.

Beavers ponds generate a much higher density of biodiversity than fast-moving water. Ponded areas allow more plants to grow and more insects to breed in the water and in the surrounding soil. In turn, these plants and bugs bring in hungry birds.

Not to mention that the improved invertebrate community at beaver ponds becomes food for a his of things birds like to eat!

Last year, Trout Unlimited asked the Bird Lab to help monitor Ninemile Creek, a stream in western Montana degraded from past mining activities that is now being restored. The goal is to document whether the restoration project benefits critters living alongside the creek as well as the fishing living inside the creek. Noson launched the monitoring project last May and June during birds’ breeding season. She set up counts along several different reaches, including a reference reach not impacted by mining with healthy habitat and plenty of beaver activity.

“I found an incredible diversity of birds utilizing the many beaver ponds in the reference reach,” says Noson.

This included an assortment of neotropical migratory birds, like warblers and willow flycatchers. In contrast, Noson found only a handful of species in the mining-impacted reaches where beaver hadn’t moved in yet. Here, the creek was channelized with steep banks, no ponded habitat, and a much narrower strip of riparian vegetation. Most of the birds she counted were conifer-dependent species rather than waterfowl or migratory birds that rely on riparian habitat.

“There’s no question mark—more beavers equals more birds,” said Noson.

Noson plans to continue monitoring birds along Ninemile Creek as Trout Unlimited restores the stream and beavers move downstream. By reconnecting the floodplain to the creek, beavers will have access to more food sources (woody shrubs and trees) and more room to build dams. And as the beavers do their job, they’ll bring in more birds, too.

Did you get that? What do you know the exact same conclusion reached by Steve Zack and Hilary Cooke in their seminal paper on the subject 10 years ago. What do you know? Things that are true stay true and things that are lies stay false.

I loved the entire article but this was the part that really made me sit up and pay attention.

On April 17, National Wildlife Federation is co-hosting the world premiere of The Beaver Believers film at the International Wildlife Film Festival in Missoula, MT, along with a panel discussion on Beavers: The Great Climate Change Manipulators. More information here.

The finished Beaver Believer film will premiere April 17th? Wow! That’s ten days away! It was nearly 6 years ago that Sarah Koenisberg and her merry band of student filmmakers came to the beaver festival. You might remember them doing lots of lots of this. Or filming the interview in my back yard.

A while back I got a call from Bob Boucher in Montana who had seen me on the film, been impressed and wanted to know if I thought that if he could direct funds to Sarah to finish the film it would get made.

Of course I said YES!

And here we are. I have written Sarah to ask for an update so stay tuned and we’ll see what unfolds. T minus ten days and counting! WIth Ben’s Goldfarb’s book, Sarah’s film and Ranger Rick’s may issue this is shaping up to be a very exciting year for beavers.

Watch this space.