Category: Beavers and climate change

Assorted Advocacy

heidi08 Beavers and climate change, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Environmental, Who's saving beavers now? October 30, 2016

A truly thoughtful letter to the editor from Eric Rick Stevens of Garden Village about Lake Nipisssing (Near Ottowa, just over the lakes from Michigan) this morning.

Time to control water with nature in mind

We can’t keep controlling Lake Nipissing’s water with complete disregard for fish and wildlife. Engineers control water levels with only what’s in the best interest for property damage (docks) which is also very important. But when controlling water, they also have to start keeping fish and wildlife in mind.

Animals like beaver and muskrat have built their lodges over the summer are suddenly faced with low water levels, causing their entrances to be above water. Entrances have to be under water to protect them from predators and also keep their babies from freezing.

he practice of controlling water levels to protect only property damage is very cruel to nature. It’s sad to see a frozen baby beaver laying on the ice dead because the door to its lodge is now above the ice. I’ve also seen large turtles, maybe 100 years old, walking on the snow trying to break through ice to get back in water. This year the water is already at a very low level and still going down.

I realize controlling water isn’t easy, but we have to start controlling water keeping wildlife in mind.

Thanks for watching out for nature! But the solution puzzles me, since the lake is lowered according to how much snowfall they receive and there’s no way they could ‘plan ahead’ before the freeze. Lodges and food caches will already be set if they suddenly discover it has to drop by 4 feet to accommodate the snow. This letter and its sentiment is right, but I’m not sure how its possible to protect nature as well? I guess there could be an overflow lake that only holds water in high flow? But we know wildlife would find its way there too eventually.

It’s got to be a common puzzle though – because I know Silver Lake in the sierras where we go is drained before the snow falls so that it won’t overflow. All the hydro lakes. Surely in all the world there must be a brain smart enough to figure out how to protect property AND wildlife. right?

Honestly, I worry so much about our beavers as it is I’m grateful that we don’t have to think about the perils of snowfall too!

Time for a sweet little article from Amy Lignor on in Baret News.

The Environment Engineers

From the title of this article, you may think that this is all about conservation, organizations that promote and work on creating healthy habitats, or even companies promoting a greener, healthier planet. However, the real environment engineers we speak of are actually four-footed creatures whose mission it is to better nature’s ecosystem.

Not as mystical as, say, the wolf. Not as talked about as the Black Rhino or the long list of other species that are endangered and moving closer and closer to extinction. No, this little guy is sometimes forgotten about completely; yet, without them, the environment would be in far worse shape than it is already.

The beaver has a myriad of skills they’re born with that allow them to always be successful on their nature missions. It is no surprise that the term for an active person who gets things done is: “As busy as a beaver,” when you think about the amount of work these creatures do. Felling trees, changing waterways, building dams – the beaver not only does this to benefit themselves, mind you, but also to benefit other species…including humans.

Think about this: Dams help control both the quality and quantity of water both animals and humans utilize. The ponds, streams, and flooded areas they create are actually vibrant habitats that serve more plants and animals than you can shake a stick at. A variety of fish, insects, and birds benefit from the healthy world the beaver creates. And it is a fact that some animals choose to only live close by the beaver’s habitat.

However…like many animals the beaver has seen a horrendous drop in numbers over the centuries. Once upon a time in North America beavers could be found in almost every pond or stream you looked at. The statistics for the population were once out of this world, with some studies even stating that there may have been over 100 million+ of the creatures at one time. But during the early 20^th century the beaver was suddenly looked at for their fur and not the part they played in a healthy environment. Thus, trapping became monumental and almost lent to the beaver’s complete extinction. Over time, as people grew wiser to the issues, reintroductions of the animal into various habitats brought the number back up to approximately 12 million. Big number, yes, but certainly not when you take the past into account.

Hey Amy, who says beavers aren’t MYSTICAL? They’re plenty dam mystical, I can assure you. In addition to which you are off on their expiration date by several hundred years. But other than THESE niggling details it’s a pretty nice read. Thanks for the appreciation. We need reminders from every corner of how important beavers are to the planet we call home.

(Mutters to self…Not mystical….sheeesh)

More wonders from Cows and Fish

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers and Birds, Beavers and climate change, Beavers and Forests, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and Insects, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental, Friends of Martinez Beavers, Who's saving beavers now? October 29, 2016

Time for more beaver wisdom from our very impressive friends at Cows and Fish in Alberta.

Beavers are friends of the environment

Beavers were promoted as friends of the environment and property owners during Beavers in Our Landscape workshop Oct. 12 in High Prairie.

Lesser Slave Watershed Council and Peace Country Beef and Forage Association co-hosted the event with presenters from Cows and Fish – Alberta Riparian Habitat Management Society.

“Livestock producers usually consider beavers as pests,” says Jen Allen, agri-environmental program co-ordinator of the beef and forage association.
“The workshop showed that we can work and live with beavers.”

Currently the critters seem to be rampant in the northern parts of Alberta.

“Beavers will always be prevalent here, so more people need to know about them better,” says Kaylyn Jackson, watershed co-ordinator for the water council.

Cows and Fish presenters urge property owners and livestock producers to be friends with beavers, that help sustain and enhance water supply and provide many benefits to the environment, habitat and people.

One of the most remarkable things about this Alberta organization is that it marches straight into the heart of the greatest possible beaver conflict and teaches “It is in your best interest to keep beavers on your land”. Even the name itself conveys how unafraid of conflict they are. They understand that you will never convince folks to work with beaver if they feel it is not in the interest of the two things held most dear to them: so Cows and Fish is a fearless name for this fearless organization.

Earlier this year they released their very impressive publication on beaver ecosystem services which you should go read again here and resolving conflicts. It happens to have some of the VERY BEST teaching illustrations I have ever seen on the subject, crafted by their brilliant artist Elizabeth Saunders.

And my personal favorite:

Back to the article which does a less outstanding job at describing this:

“We encourage people to work together and have conversations about where beavers fit into the watersheds and landscapes and how we might expand our tolerance for them,” says Kerri O’Shaughnessy, riparian specialist.
“We want to give people a better understanding of beavers so we can look at ways of living with them and reducing the conflict.”

A pond leveler maintains the capacity of water that suits the landowner and the beaver.

Wrapping the trunks of large trees with wire mesh deters beavers from cutting them down.

Other tips are offered in the section Beaver Solutions in the booklet Beaver – Our Watershed Partner, published by Cows and Fish in 2016.

-For smaller areas, excluding beaver with a mesh fence is an option to protect valuable trees and shrubs in yards.
-Fences can protect young trees, often the most targeted age classes of woody vegetation by beavers and many other animals.
-Circular wire mesh extending upstream of a culvert may prevent beavers from damming the flow.
-The most effective deterrent is fencing coupled with moving the intake of water far upstream of the culvert with a pipe system.
-Greater success will occur by increasing the area blocked from beaver upstream of a culvert. Beaver may create a dam upstream but the culvert will remain unplugged.

Honestly, I love seeing any article with their name in it because I always know I’ll be delighted by what is said. I made sure to invite their director, Lorne Fitch, to the state of the beaver conference and he said he was very interested but didn’t think he could afford the flight. Sad face. We need to hear more from them. You do such great work, Cows and Fish!

Now, if only they could start a sister organization in Saskatchewan!

Save

In-the-know in Idaho

heidi08 Beavers and climate change, Beavers and water October 28, 2016

Maybe I was a little bit right about late October. Yesterday we got some wonderful beaver articles. I’ll save the delight from Cows and Fish in Alberta because we already know about them. This was a bigger surprise from Idaho of all places!

Beaver bring back Birch Creek watershed

Necia P. Seamons

Two beaver families are making homes in Birch Creek. It may not seem to be earth-shattering news to some people, but the tale of their return to the creek reveals several powerful concepts. The critters represent a decade of effort and many more years of personal growth on the part of one dedicated Mink Creeker, and the benefits his efforts will have for people that will never know him.

Twenty-one years ago, Jay Wilde returned to the home he had been raised in as a child– the last house before the Forest Service border on Birch Creek. He always had a dream to raise and sell cattle, but life had taken him away from his hometown and his dream.

“I had to do something to get the stream flowing so the cattle could utilize the feed the land was producing,” he said.

Now you might have guessed already how this ends. But read on anyway and follow his misguided effort first to “Rip out all the cottonwood trees because they were too thirsty” and eventually go to Utah state to ask their advice. The article doesn’t say but I confirmed this morning that lucky for all of us he happened to connect with Joe Wheaton and Nick Bouwes, who suggested the answer might just be a little more flat-tailed than he suspected.

But something was bothering him. He remembered from time he spent in the hills as a boy in the ‘50s that water should be running year round from Birch Creek.

“There were all sorts of plants and animals that depends on that stream having water in it. …We just can’t throw our hands in the air and walk away. That’s not fair to all of the life that depends on that water,” he thought.

“One morning in 2006 I was sitting at my kitchen table at 4:30 a.m., waiting for the caffeine from that first cup of coffee to kick in when it dawned on me… there was no beaver activity in the drainage,” he wrote.

“My family and friends spent much time fishing, swimming, and watching the activity in the beaver ponds. Now in 2006, those ponds are all gone and there’s no sign of the rodents that built and maintained them. Could it be that the absence of those critters with their ponds and harvesting the woody species in the riparian areas was contributing to the demise of our stream?” he wondered.

Ooh ooh I know! Call on me! Now shhh Heidi, sometimes people need to work out answers for themselves. Jay was on the right track and he just needed a little nudge to get there.

The questions fueled further research and Wilde contacted anyone he could find with knowledge of beaver and their impact on an area. What he discovered was that when beaver dam up an area, the water table around the dam is raised significantly. The ground acts like a big sponge that keeps the water cool and slowly releases it as the season progresses.

“We don’t actually see any more water created. What we see is a change in the timing that it is released,” he wrote.

Through much trial and error, including the disappearance of 13 different beaver he transplanted in Birch Creek, over several years, Wilde said he finally found the right group of hydrologists, biologists, and agency directors to help him create an environment in which the beaver would stay. (He estimates over 100 people have been involved in the entire repopulation process.)

In 2014, they created 19 mini-dams to encourage the beaver families they imported. He discovered that beaver are highly family-oriented and won’t stay put without their complete family unit,

So Nick and Joe was the one that introduced those beavers and gave him ideas about BDAs to make the water more beaver friendly. And eventually it all paid off.

Last year, beaver were introduced to the area again, and this time, they were still there when Wilde returned last spring to look for them. The creatures had transformed one grassy meadow into a series of terraced dams, with water flowing out each side of them.

The beaver have built up some of the temporary dams, ignored others, and built their own dams. They are in the process of building a lodge on one of them.

Now, in late October, water is still running in Birch Creek and native cutthroat trout have found their way into the dams.

Last fall, he and some of the professors from USU held a meeting to let his Birch Creek neighbors know what was going on.

“About 20 people came,” said Lyla Dettmer of the Franklin Soil and Water Conservation office. “

And Scene! That may be the very best journey of realization I’ve ever read, and I’ve read a few I can tell you. This is a lovely article to tuck away and read again or share with your disbelieving friends.Thanks to the beautiful writing of the editor Necia P. Seamons, it also has the very good sense to end with a paraphrase of a quote we will recognize from our good friend John Muir.

Wilde has learned much in the pursuit of improving the Birch Creek watershed, and his efforts offer much in understanding the impact one person can have, the power of education and the importance of a lifelong pursuit of education, the value of knowledge carried by a community’s older residents, the effectiveness of cooperation, and that all life is connected.

Reaching and Teaching

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers, Beavers and climate change, Beavers and Forests, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and Insects, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Environmental October 27, 2016

And it came to pass that the CBC picked up the story, making it known in all of Canada and beyond that four men in Wolseley did something heinous for sport.

People in Wolseley, Sask., upset after beaver killed with chair

There is zero new information on the crime but that cute photo of a beaver doesn’t hurt the cause any, so thanks for that.

In the meantime I guess this beaver’s battle is lost but the war goes on. And Worth A Dam is on the front lines as always. On Thursday we were asked by a the Helen Schuler Nature Center in Alberta, Canada regarding use of Cheryl Reynolds great photo of beaver teeth for an educational display on beaver adaptions. To which she graciously agreed. And yesterday I was asked by the preserve manager of The Nature Conservancy in Rhode Island if my poster was copyrighted and could anyone use it? To which I replied they were welcome to use it for educational purposes but the name Worth A Dam should appear somewhere on it because it was our design.

I would just point out that these two recent examples represent an educational broadcast range of some 4000 miles that our hard-won beaver knowledge has informed, which ain’t too shabby for a small-time organization that was formed to save a few beavers. Both organizations have large backing and structural support but they are asking this little mom-and-pop beaver group for assistance.

Which is pretty dam cool.

Beavers discussed in New Zealand, Russia and Chicago

heidi08 Beavers and climate change, Beavers and Forests, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and Insects, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Environmental, Who's saving beavers now? October 9, 2016

William Hughes-Games is a scholar and organic farmer in New Zealand who happens to be very interested in beavers. Years ago he read about Worth A Dam in the Beavers: Wetlands and Wildlife newsletter, and we became buddies online. He also maintains a smart blog about climate change and other things, most recently about beavers and their value on the watershed. He’s far more thorough than I am so I’ll just post highlights and encourage you to go read the entire thing. You’ll be much smarter because of it.

The Otter river Beavers of England

A couple of beavers ‘appeared’ in the Otter River, on the South Coast of England in Devon. This has resulted in three breeding pairs at present (Sept 2016). In a great move, the Powers-that-be have allowed the introduction of a second pair further up in the catchment so that when the two populations meet, there will be greater genetic diversity in the united populations.

Beavers do so much good for the environment and for an individual farm that you may desire to encourage them to create a pond on your farm or in the head waters of your catchment. The only way you can increase the beaver population is by making new areas attractive to them. The best way is to truncheoning in a new forest of deciduous trees on the banks of a stream). Tiny seeps that hardly deserve the name of a stream can be occupied by beavers if the habitat is provided for them. Let’s catalog the benefits from beavers.

Water flow regulation
Beavers store water on the land in a number of ways. This is particularly important in the catchment of the Otter. The underlying strata is mainly sandstone and water doesn’t infiltrate the aquifer quickly, unlike outwash plains such as the ones found East of the Rockie Mountains in the USA or to the East of the Alps in the south island of New Zealand. In the Otterton, most of the water from high rainfall events shoots down to the sea in a day or two. Of course, if these are unusually high rainfall events, they cause flooding. So how do beavers store water.

First, of course, are the ponds they create with their dams. Depending on the topography of the particular area where they build their dams, they can store considerable water. Beaver dams are somewhat leaky so some water is leaked downstream and water also seeps downward into the underlying strata. holding the water on the land allows time for the water to infiltrate the ‘reluctant’ aquifer.

Secondly, the ponds raise the water table in the surrounding land. Water tables intersect streams at the surface of the water in the stream. As the water rises in a beaver dam, the surrounding water table rises as well. In particularly propitious cases, a field which had to be irrigated, now doesn’t need it since the field crops can access the underlying water table. Water then leaks back into the stream, down steam from the beaver dam.

He has lots more to say about sediment load and fish populations of course, and has wished more than once over the years that NZ had beavers. William traveled to Canada to meet Eric Collier’s son and to the UK to meet Louise and Paul Ramsay and Derek Gow. He’s a very interesting fellow who studied marinology in Israel and takes “WOOFERS” to maintain is farm (Willing Workers On Organic Farms). Go read his entire article and say hi. You won’t regret it.

As I mentioned, in all of this, the rest of England is going to be playing catch up. Hopefully, a really intense research program will document the effects of beaver dams as they become established throughout the Otter catchment. This will be the body of work that other catchments can point to to convince the uninformed of the benefit of the return of the beaver.

In the end it depends on the people in the Otter catchment. If they establish favorable habitats for the Beavers, the beavers will return the favor with interest. If they avoid harming the beavers, the beavers will repay the favor with interest.

And ain’t that the truth! Thanks William.

I laughed to hear the Russian Charity beaver story on “Wait Wait don’t tell me” yesterday. Enjoy this short clip from the lightening round.