Category: Beavers and climate change

“LIKE HITTING THE ECOSYSTEM OVER THE HEAD WITH A HAMMER”

There’s a wonderful news story about our friend that I wanted to share this morning, but once again it will have to wait for me to comment on the massive castor-catastropshizing that’s going on EVERYWHERE under our noses. Literally people I haven’t spoke to in a decade are writing me in a panic asking whether this could possibly be true.

Imagine the worst headline you could possibly write, have a contest with all your friends and then sit down with the writers of White Lotus and a thesaurus to make it significantly worse, then double it, and you might come close.

Photos from space show 11,000 beavers are wreaking havoc on the Alaskan tundra as savagely as wildfire

Just stop. All by itself that’s enough for now. Beavers wreaking havoc AS SAVAGELY AS WILDFIRE. Could anything be more terrifying to a country that has grown terrified of fires? I can barely force myself to go on. But I must.

Beavers are taking over the Alaskan tundra, completely transforming its waterways, and accelerating climate change in the Arctic.

The changes are so sudden and drastic that they’re clearly visible from space.

As the Arctic tundra warms, woody plants are growing along its rivers and streams, creating perfect habitats for beavers.

As the furry rodents move into these waterways, they make themselves at home by doing what they do best: chewing and carrying wood to build dams, and clogging rapid rivers and streams to make lush ponds.

Those dam lush beavers with their lush beaver pond ways. They just swim in like they own the place and without so much as a “by-your-leave” start making things better for all these other species we didn’t invite.

Yes that’s EXACTLY like wildfire.

Tape and his colleagues assessed aerial photos from the early 1950s and found no signs of beaver presence in Alaska’s Arctic tundra. The first signs of beavers appeared in 1980 imagery. In satellite imagery from the 2000s and 2010s, the beaver ponds doubled.

Can I just pause and point out that after the devastation of the fur trade started to wear off EVERYONE noticed an increase in the beaver population. And it took from about 1840-1970 for beavers to start showing up in the rest of the world. Too bad you don;t have any aerial photos back from 1600. Oh right, there were no satellites or cameras or air travel them. Never mind. I’m sure you’re right and it looked the same as in the 1950’s..

“All of western Alaska is now really densely populated with beaver ponds,” Tape said.

That’s consistent with what Indigenous people in the area have observed. It’s especially obvious on the ground in towns like Kotzebue, where there were no beavers 20 years ago, and now they’re everywhere, Tape said.

So he was floored when he saw beaver-engineering projects completely transforming landscapes across Alaska.

“It was like hitting the ecosystem over the head with a hammer,” he said.

The severity and speed of beavers’ footprint on the landscape, as seen from space, is more akin to wildfire, Tape said.

HITTING THE ECOSYSTEM OVER THE HEAD WITH A HAMMER!!!!!!!!! and MORE AKIN TO WILDFIRE!!!!!!!!!

Ken Tape HIMSELF is responsible for that headline. Here I was trying to be charitable and blaming the copy girl. But no. He really made those words with his own mouth.

The US Department of Metaphor just released an alert reading that Ken is at large and was himself a failed candidate in their “comparative retraining” program. As an undergrad he was known to storm through their lecture halls reading essays about how his “Christmas dinner was as tasty as a box of nails” and how his “wife’s face was more beautiful than a lethal spider in the grass.”

I suppose a beaver’s effect on the ecosystem is kind of like being hit with a hammer. A magical hammer that makes everything you broke yesterday form suddenly back together as if it never happened.

Like I wish I could use on this article for instance.

“If you like the Arctic the way it was, the old Arctic, then beavers are bad for that. Whereas if you kind of embrace the new Arctic, well, then beavers are one of your champions,” Tape said.

If you like the arctic the way it was TOO BAD BECAUSE WE HAVE BEEN RELEASING CARBON FOR 100 YEARS and didn’t do anything to stop or slow down even when we could have and now its screwed so there. Gosh I wish there was something that could help make it more livable.

As temperatures rise, the permafrost thaws and releases the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere.

That’s the one beaver impact that Tape’s team is sure of: Beaver ponds are thawing the surrounding permafrost, exacerbating the climate crisis. Just how much, is not yet clear.

More and more beavers will likely spread through the tundra in the future, continuing to move north as the Arctic warms.

“All they have to do is swim downstream,” Tape said. “If they find the habitat there — in other words, if it’s warm enough, if the shrubs are tall enough, if there’s enough unfrozen water in winter — then they’re going to forever change that place.”

Ben Goldfarb agrees this is the worst headline he has ever read but says he has talked at length with Ken and knows he is no beaver hater. He thinks maybe he means “Hammer” in a good way. Like nothing ever gets built without them.

Hmm. I’m doubtful the average reader will take it that way. And so I’m going to end by offering a visual comparison to show how despite everything they’ve read to the contrary, the effect of beavers and the effect of a a wildfire are actually quite different.

It’s really pretty subtle. Let me know if can spot it.

MORE SPEED BUMPS NEEDED

heidi08 Beavers and climate change, Beavers and Flooding, Beavers and groundwater January 3, 2023

It appears we have devolved such that a single year’s rainfall decides to come in a matter of days. You look out the window at another wet day, you start to think, “GEE that’s a lot of clean water falling from the sky that will go down the streets and gutters and storm drains right out to the bay”.

And you want that water out of your way, of course, and off your driveway and lawns and schoolyards so you’re grateful for the drains and the pavement. But you also have in the back of your head this nagging sensation that “I bet we’re going to miss that water in July when we the entire Bay Area is looking like dehydrated fruit” Or maybe “Burning up entirely.”

Then one suddenly has a thought “Hey wouldn’t it be cool if there was some way to keep that water in the communities where it’s needed before it disappears out to sea? Like some kind of natural little water holding structures that slowed things down and helped the water seep into the soil and soak into the ground where it can stay cool til we need it later?“.

I know it sounds crazy, but I’ve read that we used to have lots and lots of these things that made little ponds all along our streams. Like some kind of natural champagne fountain constantly trickling down all the stacked glasses so that no cup ever went dry even when it was far, far away from the original bottle.

We used to have this:

“EVEN ONE DAM CAN REALLY AFFECT THE FISHING”

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Beavers and climate change, Beavers and salmon January 1, 2023

There is lots in this article I disagree with, but the line in the header is true. Just not in the way they mean it.

Beavers expanding north bring damming consequences for Inuit and wildlife

Eddie Kumarluk remembers a time when thousands of Arctic char swam in the Pamiullujusiup Lake near Umiujaq, Que. In the 1970s, there was a local who set up his nets in the winter, recalled Kumarluk, manager of the hunting, fishing and trapping association of the community in Quebec’s northern Nunavik region.

“He used to catch nothing but Arctic char,” said Kumarluk. “It’s one of our main foods that we like so much, and they have been in decline in recent years. We have hardly caught any.” What he described as a once plentiful area for fishers is no more. Newly arrived beavers are to blame.

The buck-toothed rodents have been expanding north over the past few decades — now found in parts of Nunavik, past the treeline. Experts say they are travelling out of survival instincts, but the move has a cost on wildlife and the traditional ways of life for Inuit.

So Artic char is a circumpolar fish salmonid that lives in the very very cold waters that other fish can’t tolerate. They are like steelhead in that they can be landlocked or navigate to sea and back again. Those darn beavers with their icky dams ruining things for Artic Char. The declining numbers MUST be because of the spread of beavers north right? I mean it’s not like there are regular populations of Char in the lower parts of Alaska or down in Canada right?

Locals began noticing the encroaching animals as early as the 1970s and ’80s, says Kumarluk.

Ten to 15 years ago, they started finding beaver dams built along the lakes. From there, they realized the extent of the damage caused by the semiaquatic animals — and the need to study their impact on the northern environment.

Kumarluk says it’s the “architecture” of the dam — built as a shelter for young beavers — that poses a problem to Arctic char specifically.

“They’re not as strong as salmon. Salmon can jump over a beaver dam … but Arctic [char] are weaker,” said Kumarluk, adding that the beavers’ presence has become a concern for the community.

“We don’t know how many rivers they have blocked or dammed and we have so much work ahead of us,” said Kumarluk. “We’re doing what we can.”

Part of the effort has been on securing funding to dismantle the dams to restore proper water flow to the lakes.

The mind literally reels. The jaw literally drops. First of all. BEAVERS DON’T LIVE IN THE DAM. Second of all just because two things appear to happen at the same time doesn’t mean that one caused the other. And third of all just because you have native ancestry doesn’t mean you are the repository of all tribal knowledge. I have tin mining ancestry going back many generations, for example, it doesn’t I have the faintest idea where you should dig for anything.

You had the same luck we all did. You and your father grew up in a world without beavers. Because every man and his cousin already trapped them out. Now that luck is changing. And if you were a little better informed you’d realize that’s a GOOD THING.

Some communities, such as Umiujaq, are particularly at risk to be impacted by beaver expansion because of the geography, says Mikhaela Neelin, director of the Nunavik Hunting Fishing Trapping Association.

Umiujaq is one of the communities located just north of the treeline — the edge of the habitat where trees are capable of growing.

“In the tundra and a lot of regions, they’re seeing beavers appear there for the first time,” said Neelin, adding that the consequences are a mixed bag.

Mixed bag? You mean like the increased invertebrates resulting for beaver dams actually feeding MORE fish and I suppose maybe some competition for the char? And more things for wildlife to eat?

“It’s not black and white … beavers are often pretty beneficial. They do a lot,” said Neelin. However, she notes the negative consequences are more severe in the North.

“They migrate into the lake and even one big dam could really affect a fishing area,” said Neelin.

Beavers might also affect the quality of the water, says Neelin. As water systems and rivers get dammed, there is concern over whether water from the lake or river could still be consumed without treatment.

You know. With all that Beaver FEVER. Because we never ever had even single cases of Giardia before beavers moved in. Dam them. And sure I’ve hear they do SOME good things some places. But not here. Because we’re artic.

Part of the problem has to do with what Neelin calls the “shrubification” of Nunavik — with more willows and small branches growing in the region because of a warming environment.

“Willows for example, they would be at ankle height. Some of them are now at human height and with that amount of deciduous material beavers are able to survive in areas that they couldn’t before,” said Neelin.

“Climate change is really increasing the height.… So that’s a huge impact on beavers moving northwards.”

Those dam beavers. Always going where they aren’t wanted. Just so we remember the Yellowknife conference where this beaver group came together, YK is the community where a trapper reported a few years back “that beavers were so aggressive they spring on their tails like pogo sticks”

That’s the kind of image that stays with you. So I’m sure they know just what they’re talking about.

“The Inuit, we hardly work on [beavers],” Kumarluk says. “We don’t bother them.”

Kumarluk and Neelin represented Nunavik at a conference on the beaver’s Arctic expansion in Yellowknife last month.

Kumarluk says they recently bought a drone to survey the area and are trying to get a Cree elder to come to Umiujaq to teach the community how to control its growing beaver population.

“We really wish to teach the youngsters, the young people, even elders, how to trap beavers so that maybe we can control at least part of it,” said Kumarluk.

“Hopefully we will be able to get more funding.”

Hopefully we get More funding to teach more youngsters to kill MORE beavers. But when the char population continues to decline because the water gets warmer from climate change or they get eaten by new trout that move into the area we will just say it’s because we didn’t kill ENOUGH beavers soon enough.

Our minds are made up you know. Don’t tell us that beavers are good for salmonids. We know we’re right about this.

And beavers raise their young in the dam. No matter what you say.

OUR CLIMATE IS CHANGING: BEAVERS CAN HELP

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Beavers, Beavers and climate change December 27, 2022

What built America and can help fight climate change? Beavers, says HC prof in new book

“They shaped our country’s landscape and jump-started capitalism on this continent,” said Leila Philip, a professor of English at the College of the Holy Cross, who also teaches in the Environmental Studies Program, and author of “Beaverland: How One Weird Rodent Made America,” which went on sale earlier this month.

There are several articles about Beaverland this morning proclaiming that the rodent can “Fight climate change”. As much as I adore beavers and boast of them constantly I freely admit that’s bunk. They can’t FIGHT climate change. Climate change is hear to stay. Even if humans stopped burning fossil fuels today and for the rest of time there is so much carbon already in our atmosphere we can’t stop it from happening. Sequences have been set in motion that cannot be altered. With or without beavers.

However, beavers CAN help us COPE with Climate change.

Which, aptly enough, is the subject of this year’s beaver festival activity and the grant that I just turned into the Fish and Wildlife committee. They have kindly provided grants to our festival since 2010, let’s hope they continue to think beavers matter.

Beavers: Climate Superheroes

As California heats up and dries out it’s becoming even more important to find tools that can help the golden state adapt to its changing climate. Lucky for us our streams are full of climate heroes that know just what to do. Beaver dams can store water to mitigate drought and recharge the aquifer. Damp soils reduce the spread and speed of fires and provide valuable wildlife refuge during firestorm events They also act as speed bumps during flooding and make waterways more manageable and robust. This year CDFW recognized the valuable role beavers play and recommended embracing them as part of “a nature-based strategy that can aid in reducing wildfire risk, mitigating drought and combating climate change.”

Helping children understand how our climate is changing is a daunting task. As future stewards who are inheriting the world we have altered they deserve to know what they’re getting into. But they lack the sense of history to remember how things ‘used to be’ and lack the context that could allow them to see that there are more fires and more heat waves than there once were. Even the discussion of climate change is so distressing and ominous for adults it can be hard to undertake. Explaining how beavers can help allows teachers to share the bad news without overwhelming children. The resilient story beavers encourage allows a discussion of the negative climate consequences we face while still offering rays of hope.

The ”Climate Superheroes” activity offers a concrete way to outline the problems while tying each challenge to a corresponding strength or skill presented by beavers. Participants will be children attending the 14^th annual beaver festival held on June 24, 2023 at Susana park in Martinez California. For example, the threat of fires is helped by the saturated foliage around beaver ponds. The increase in temperatures is aided by the presence of microclimates around beaver ponds, and so on. For this activity children will receive a bookmark describing beavers as climate superheroes on the front side. In back there will be spaces for 6 stamps that they collect from participating booths each showing a child-friendly illustration of how beavers can assist with reducing fires, floods, drought and extreme temperatures. The stamps will have been drawn for us by a talented character artist with a special interest in children’s art. Children will ‘earn’ these stamps by visit corresponding booths and learning how beavers play a role in resolving the issue.

Participating groups will be designated on the map and by a sign at the booth showing the issue beavers can address. The booth signs will be the same engaging cartoons that show how beavers can help each issue. A child will explain (or have explained) the signs and receive a stamp showing that particular ability to add to their bookmark. When all six stamps are collected, children can return to the starting booth to receive a recognition: A Canadian nickel reminding them than beavers can help with climate “Change”. They can keep the bookmark and nickel to remember what they’ve learned and share with others. They will then be invited to take a post quiz about beavers as superheroes.

Doesn’t that sound like fun? I mean in the sense anything about climate change can be fun…The cute drawings on the stamps will be made by our beaver buddy Erika who has helped at the festival for years, and I’m expecting the message to penetrate even the most adult minds.

Well that’s the theory anyway. Now the application sits in the hands of the committee and hopefully they can can see their way towards kindly helping us again. I must admit I’m a little daunted by the approaching new year as we stagger towards January. It means I have to finally buckle down and start getting all the things together.

Believe it or not, June will be here far sooner than either of us can imagine.

CALIFORNIA’S CLIMATE WARRIORS

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Beavers and climate change December 13, 2022

So this weekend I got to glimpses into actual developments on the funding for beaver restoration in California. The first came when I heard a friend of this website and beavers in general is sitting for his second interview tomorrow for CDFW’s new Beaver Restoration Program. And I thought WHOA it’s really happening.

Then I got a early scan of the article friend Lisa Owen’s Viani wrote for Landscape Arcitecture about the project overall and I realized that the beaver world as we know it was really changing.

New Funding will create dedicated staff to support colonies of California’s Climate warrior Herbivores

When governor Gavin Newsom released his budget in June it contained a small but mighty line item: 1.67 million for fiscal year 2022-2023 to support a new beaver restoration program. The program which will receive 1.44 million the following fiscal year will fund five new permanent positions in the California Department of Fish and Wildlife for monitoring and restoring beavers as well as equipment for tagging and relocating beavers and monitoring their health.

So there it is, In black and white. Really happening and maybe an actual friend of this website and beavers themselves will get one of those jobs. Lisa does a good job with the article talking to all the usual suspects but this quote made me pause;

[Emily] Fairfax who has studied beavers and wildfire resilience says there are plenty of areas, especially in Northern California and the Sierra Nevada Mountains where fire risk is extremely high and watersheds and streams are severally degraded. It is in areas like these that beavers can really help…

As long as care is taken to carefully relocate beavers from areas like the Sacramento-San Joaquin river delta, where they have been known to cause conflicts for landowners, these ecosystem engineers can thrive with only a bit of habitat.

Which of course got my attention. Because those could have been OUR beavers. And more than this, what happens to a beaver in the delta, whose never lived through a winter freeze and knows nothing of keeping a food cache when it is suddenly transported to the snowy sierras? Obviously there’s no time for a learning curve when you are trapped in your lodge frozen and starving. Our beavers never kept a food cache. What would have happened to them if they were moved to a stream where it suddenly froze solid?

This makes me want to start lots of conversations among folks who might know. Obviously there’s an instinctive part of cacheing food – but I think it might get triggered by a social message from another beaver whose doing it too. Like a kind of fixed action pattern. If it didn’t beavers in temperate climates like Napa and Sonoma would do it too, right?

Let’s not use our shiny new beaver dollars to move delta beavers into the snow so they can starve to death, okay?

The state’s proposal is poised for success, Fairfax says, “It’s not just about relocation or coexistence, it’s the whole beaver package, meeting with people, doing outreach, hiring staff, doing it right. This is the time we have a spotlight on us as a state for beaver work.”

Well I like that part a LOT! Just don’t move all our delta beavers please. We like them.