Category: Beavers and Fire Prevention

YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW: BEAVERS

Goodness gracious. Where is my brain these days? What kind of husband am I to forget our anniversary entirely after only 12 short years! Yesterday afternoon it hit me that it was November 7th as in the fateful day when back in 2007 the Martinez High School Performing Arts theater filled to the rafters with 200 people who had very strong opinions about whether our downtown beavers should be trapped. Everyone was there. All the teachers and the shopkeepers. Lots of neighbors I didn’t know and some that I did. Some who have since died and some who have moved away, The Humane Society. The Sierra Club. I even saw the parent of a patient from another city there and she came just because she heard about it on the news.

It was the meeting that changed history. Certainly our history. And the lives of the then 6 beavers we had living in Alhambra Creek. What would I be doing now if that meeting had never happened? It’s hard to even imagine.

And if you have three hours and nothing to do and want your mind totally blown you might try clicking on the photo to watch it for yourself. You will need a player to do so, the city recommends silverlight which is a free download. I know all the lines already. But there are some good ones!

The reason I remembered I forgot our anniversary is that I heard again from the grad student who IS doing his thesis on the Martinez beaver story and all its implications for wildlife and social psychology. Whoa. I thought he had moved on to easier topics. But apparently he’s coming this summer to interview folks, review microfiche and do focus groups and he wondered if I had a better copy of the meeting, which I don’t unfortunately. Then I looked at the date and looked at the calendar and said OMG!!!!! – slipped out the back door to buy some roses at the gas station and pretended I knew it all along like any good husband.

Happy Anniversary, Honey!

Enough of that for now. This morning there’s an excellent report on the Logan River in Utah and how much it changed when its very important beavers were trapped out in the fu-rush.

A Short History Of Utah’s Logan River on ‘Wild About Utah’

During this time the flow and movement of the Logan River was much different, in part because of the beaver families who built their homes and dams up and down the waterway. The dams created ponds whose waters seeped into the valley bottoms raising the water table and saturating the sponge.

Joseph Wheaton, associate professor of the Department of Watershed Sciences in the Quinney College of Natural Resources explained, “the saturated ground increased resilience to drought, flood and fire.”

In the early 1800s trappers arrived in the valley.

Michel Bourdon was one of the earliest trappers to see Cache Valley around 1818. The river was, for a short time, named after him. A few years later, Ephraim Logan arrived in Cache Valley. He and many other trappers attended the Rocky Mountain Rendezvous along the Bourdon River in 1826. Shortly thereafter, Logan died during one of his outings and the area’s trappers decided to rename the river Logan, in his honor.

Trapping for the fur industry severely impacted the beaver population and the Logan River. The dam building beavers were almost trapped to extinction because of the European fashion demand. Luckily, fashion trends changed before beaver were extinct. However, the virtual elimination of beavers fundamentally changed the character of the Logan River to this day.

Yes. The Logan river and EVERYWHERE else. And hi there Dr. Wheaton! I knew this was gonna be good when I read your name. Did you know Joe Wheaton’s mother lives in Napa? And he went to local high school? His sister surprised me very much by showing up to a festival an announcing cryptically “Joey says Hi!” And I scrunched my face in confusion and said “Joey?

“You know, Joey of Utah!” She explained impatiently and it started to dawn on me.

“Do you mean Dr. Wheaton of Utah State?” And she nodded happily, explaining that he always talked about the festival and so she had to bring her kids and see what it was like. They had a wonderful time and she came back again last year.

You know, because all roads lead to Rome. And all beaver roads lead to Martinez.

FANNING THE FLAMES OF BEAVER BELIEVERS

heidi08 Beavers and Fire Prevention September 1, 2019

The world is a hurdling snowball of beaver news lately. Every day I think I’m getting caught up on the latest and every day three new stories break that we need to read. I assume we can thank Ben Goldfarb’s book for this happy state of affairs. But maybe the slow trickle of beaver stories for years and years from this website has a cumulative effect. At least it would be nice to think so.

Lets start with the excitement in Tuscon.

River restoration group is eager for beavers to return to Tucson watershed

The Bureau of Land Management and the Arizona Game and Fish Department are currently studying whether to introduce beavers into Las Cienegas National Conservation Area, about 50 miles southeast of Tucson.

The proposal is the latest in a growing trend across the West to restore beaver populations and let these unique rodents do what comes naturally: build dams that slow the flow of creeks and streams, creating crucial wetland habitat while curbing erosion and storing water for plants, animals and people.

The nonprofit Watershed Management Group recently launched a summer fundraising campaign seeking $90,000 to support efforts to reintroduce the aquatic rodents in Southern Arizona.

That’s on top of the roughly $400,000 in state and federal grant money the group has already secured to help restore riparian habitat along Cienega Creek and elsewhere — work not specifically for the benefit of beavers but that could one day lure the “keystone species” back to the Tucson area to stay, according to conservationists.

Did you catch that? Ninety thousand dollars to bring back beavers on top of the 400,000 they spent planting willows and cottonwood to make it beaver friendly. You see how lucky Martinez was to get them for free?

Tell that to the mayor.

“They’re nature’s river engineers,” said Trevor Hare, river restoration biologist for the Watershed Management Group.

“And they’ve got the skills and the know-how to work directly in the creek,” Shipek added. “I think it’s really exciting to think about the future of river restoration partnering with a creature like the American beaver

You bet your beaver-loving sand they are. They’ll know what to do. It’s just that you need to stop killing them first, Can you do that?

Since Cienega Creek connects to the Tucson Basin by way of Pantano Wash, beavers could conceivably make their way downstream and into the city. And if there is suitable habitat to support them along Tucson’s rivers and creeks, they just might find lodging here, Hare said.

“I’m in my 50s, and I’d like to see that in my lifetime,” he said.

Bringing back the beaver is just one long-range goal for Watershed Management Group, which also promotes urban rainwater harvesting and “green street” projects aimed at conserving water, beautifying neighborhoods and improving the environment.

I’m with you. In my fifties and dreaming that one day beaver will be back to its rightful place on the landscape. In California and Arizona too. All over the west and beyond. Lets let them do what they do better than anybody in the world. And let’s just stop killing them when they try.

Deal?

I have to apologize that this story escaped my attention last week. It’s written by the CEO if Trout Unlimited Chris Jones, and appeared in the Las Vegas Press Standard. It’s the article we’ve all been waiting for and deserves far more attention than it received.

The best way to prevent wildfires

Nearly everyone agrees that Western rangelands will produce even larger and more frequent wildfires in the future. But are engineered fuel breaks the best answer?

Jack Williams, a scientist who worked for multiple federal agencies and Trout Unlimited says, “The primary culprit for larger fires in the Great Basin is cheatgrass, but warming temps compound the problem. Creating periodic firebreaks would help by breaking up and slowing down the flames. We can do that in a way that benefits the natural systems by expanding riparian and wet meadows along our small streams.”

The answer may be a small dose of much less expensive firebreaks and, surprisingly, strategies involving cows and beavers. Ranchers who fence streamside areas and/or rotate cows to rest pastures occasionally and allow streamside vegetation to grow back help re-establish natural firebreaks of lush green vegetation.

Hmm, little firebreaks along the riparian. Whatever can he mean? I just can’t put my finger on something that could help with that,

Consider the case of Susie Creek near Elko, where the Heguy family runs a large ranch. Over 25 years, they changed grazing practices so that the cows were moved more frequently, especially away from the streams. An evaluation by Trout Unlimited scientists showed riparian vegetation in the entire Susie Creek Basin increased by more than 100 acres. Equally important is that 25 years ago no beavers lived on Susie Creek; about 140 beaver dams cross the creek today, slowing runoff and keeping more water upstream.

When Trout Unlimited evaluated the effects of this type of “conservation grazing” and beaver at larger scales, across several Great Basin watersheds including Susie Creek, the increased wet streamside habitat was equivalent to the effects of adding 10 inches of annual precipitation. That’s nearly double the current precipitation at some sites — a big deal in this semi-arid desert.

The more water retained in the streams, the more drought and fire-resistant the land around it becomes, plain and simple.

Wait, is the CEO of Trout Unlimited saying what I think he’s saying?

The basic functions of a healthy watershed are to catch, store and slowly release water over time. Gifford Pinchot, the first chief of the U.S. Forest Service, once testified before Congress by pouring a glass of water over a wooden desk and watching as it all ran on the floor. He said this represents an unhealthy watershed.

Pinchot then put the desks’s ink blotter — something designed to absorb the ink of pens — on the desk and poured another glass of water. The water absorbed into the blotter and only a few drops hit the floor. This is how a healthy watershed functions, he said.

Beaver dams are akin to Pinchot’s blotter. Their dams keep water from running off downstream. Water can then percolate into the groundwater around the stream. Green vegetation grows. Trees provide more shade and structure to the stream. Sedges begin to crawl upslope. The beaver dams facilitate late-season flows, which is good for fish — and people, too. Improved flows and wider wetland vegetation translate to strong fuel breaks from wildfire.

Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Please call Governor Newsome right now and show him this article. Heck lets call ALL the governors. And CDFG. And the current head of the forest service where the author, Chris Jones, used to work. I can’t believe this article slipped past me. I would never have seen it but that it attracted ANOTHER letter to the editor in support. This one from Charles Parish in Las Vegas.

LETTER: Commentary on beating Western wildfires was right on target

Who would have thought that removing beavers from the land and putting cows on it would encourage wildfires? But that is the crux of the excellent commentary “The best way to prevent wildfires” (Sunday Review-Journal).

Cows tend to congregate at water sources, disrupting stream banks, polluting the water and eating the surrounding vegetation needed to retain stream water over time. As the article points out, a better way to control wildfires — rather than building and maintaining many acres of expensive bulldozer roads, as the Trump administration is proposing — is to mostly keep cows away from natural streams and waterways and let beavers return to build their dams, turning the steams into greenbelts and natural firebreaks that improve the storage of water in the parts of our country that are too dry to farm without irrigation.

When will people learn that they can’t best Mother Nature and instead must work with her?

Can I get an Amen? Let’s have a rousing cheer for this letter and Chris’ original article. Now if only all this information translated into actual action in terms of important changes in the way we treat beavers. (And cows).

We are reaching critical mass. We may not be there yet but we’re well on our way. Let’s celebrate with a wonderful photo of the beaver family from Napa by our good friend Rusty Cohn, How many family members can you count? Is it just me or doesn’t that little kit face in the front look almost like a muppet?

BEAVERS MAKE WAVES

heidi08 Beaver ecological impact, Beavers and Fire Prevention, Beavers and Forests August 20, 2019

This issue of the New Yorker magazine has a fascinated and detailed read about California’s “super-fires” and the work to combat them. The entire thing is worth your time, but one part stood out to me in particular.

A Trailblazing Plan to Fight California Wildfires

Megafires are huge, hot, and fast—they can engulf an entire town within minutes. These fires are almost unstoppable and behave in ways that shock fire scientists—hurling firebrands up to fifteen miles away, forming vortices of superheated air that melt cars into puddles within seconds.

Sagehen forest manager Jeff Brown secured grants, hired a professional facilitator, and brought together loggers, environmental nonprofits, watershed activists, outdoor-recreation outfits, lumber-mill owners. Sometimes there were upward of sixty people at meetings. Scientists from all over the region presented the latest findings on beaver ecology or the nesting behaviors of various bird species.

That sentence! Oh I wish I was a fly on the wall to hear what beaver ecologists said about megafire prevention. I would even be excited to learn who it was! The article says no more about this, and I’ve yet to track down the author, but I have put the question to all our smartest beaver friends. I will let you know if I hear anything back.

Someone knows who this was, Maybe for their power point they just showed this:

Idaho fire damage showing lush beaver habitat – photo by Joe Wheaton

Well I hope someone is thinking this way, because beavers could help us with so much if we just stopped killing them so quickly. Now let’s go to Ashland Oregon where people know just what beavers bring to the table.

Blackberries and beavers: restoration in progress

At Lomakatsi, we’re constantly faced with decisions on how to best restore ecosystems that have been degraded by years of mismanagement and neglect. Often, a good strategy is to use historic conditions as a reference point as we work to restore landscapes to health.

Before European settlers diverted creeks for agriculture and cut down trees for grazing livestock, most of our local waterways, including the banks of Bear Creek at Willow Wind, were lined with tall trees of various species and ages. The trees created habitat and provided shade that kept water cool during the hot summer months, supporting ideal spawning conditions for coho salmon and other fish.

Now, many of our waterways are lined with something different, the invasive Himalayan blackberry.

Okay, l saw immediately that they wanted a shaded creek and were going to rip out blackberries to plant trees and just assumed that when beavers came to eat those trees they would kill them for ‘damaging’ their restoration,

Silly silly girl. Always assuming the worst.

This summer, Kaiya and Harbor are spending 30 hours per week removing invasive species, watering newly planted natives, and serving as watchful stewards of Willow Wind and several other Lomakatsi streamside restoration sites throughout Jackson County.

Thanks to Niki, Kaiya, Harbor and many other community members who have been working to keep blackberries at bay, we’re already seeing positive ecological results at Willow Wind, including an increase in beaver activity.

“I started seeing signs of beaver here a year ago, when we first cleared out dense blackberry along Bear Creek,” said Niki. Kaiya and Harbor have been able to experience it firsthand too.

“It’s pretty cool that we now have beaver at the Willow Wind site,” said Harbor. “We noticed it right after the Lomakatsi youth crew cleared a bunch of blackberry here earlier this summer.”

While we are excited about the return of beaver — it shows our restoration efforts are working — sometimes the return of wildlife can set other processes into motion and create challenges in our urban watersheds. So we have to get creative.

Okay, here it is. Just exactly how did you get creative?

Ironically, left to their own devices, these beaver might actually gnaw through many of the shade-providing trees we’ve spent so long cultivating. Fortunately, we can mitigate this by wrapping the bases of surrounding trees with coverings to prevent the beavers from chewing them, as we have done successfully at other sites, including the confluence of Ashland Creek and Bear Creek.

Forgive me for being astonished when ecologists do the right thing. After all this is Oregon, and they’re much smarter about beavers than California. I remember once hearing the defamed nefarious Mary Tappel of the waterboard in sacramento telling people to PLANT blackberries around their trees because it would discourage beavers from chewing them.

Of course in Martinez we know that beavers gladly chew blackberry bushes. We learned that from the special and very rare kind of science where you discover things by actually WATCHING them.

Ahh we were all so young once.

BEAVER POPULARITY CONTESTS

heidi08 Beavers and climate change, Beavers and Fire Prevention, Beavers and Forests, Beavers and groundwater August 18, 2019

They say if you live long enough you’ll be impressed and surprised by everyone you thought was a disappointment. Or maybe they don’t say that, but they should because its TRUE. This has been a charmed week for beavers, and this article from Montana is good for the heart.

Middle-schoolers, Conservation Corps team up to hunt for nature’s engineers

To improve water in the Clark Fork River, it might be time to employ some talented engineers. Especially if they work for free.

Over the past five years, as dam removal and restoration work has improved more Western rivers, agencies and organizations have recognized the benefits that beavers could add to watersheds. So the Lolo National Forest wants to know where and how it might employ such an inexpensive helper, and the Clark Fork Coalition offered to help.

“I know, for the Lolo National Forest, climate and wildfire mitigation are things they’re really looking at. Beaver habitats store water and recharge groundwater so they can be effective at addressing climate change and wildfire,” said Clark Fork Coalition Education Manager Lily Haines.

In 2014, the Clark Fork Coalition conducted a watershed vulnerability assessment for the Lolo National Forest and found several streams with water quality problems, including high water temperatures, dwindling water quantity and sediment pollution.

Remember a few days ago when we read about them winning the grant from USFS for this work? Well this article brings it all to life, and it delights me very much. In this world there are two very unpopular groups that, lets be honest, everyone dreads dealing with: Beavers and Middleschoolers.

This combines the two annoyances beautifully.

I love this picture with a firey passion and they white hot heat of 1000 suns. It is just SO middleschool. No other group could work as hard and still seem so awkward and out of place. I love it!

Beaver dams cause streams to slow down and pool, which can clean the water by causing sediment to drop out. The ponds and surrounding wetlands can offset drought and reduce wildfire risk by keeping vegetation green. In addition, the ponds create good trout and wildlife habitat.

The problem is, due to trapping, damaged habitat or poor water quality, beavers are gone from many streams.

So each summer, six middle-school scientists spent a week wading along mountain streams and collecting data under the watchful eyes of two team leaders from the Montana Conservation Corps. A total of 30 students from around Montana learned to collect biological information over the course of five separate weeks this summer.

The kids measured stream width and gradient – beavers prefer more level slower-moving sections – stream pool depth, and the trees and vegetation along the stream. Starting at the mouth of the stream, they made measurements every 300 yards for as they could go, as long as stream conditions would still support beavers.

How much do we love this story? Pretty dam much, I can tell you.

Then, armed with good information and the best science, certain streams might eventually be managed for beavers, which will then manage the streams for everyone.

Occasionally, landowners concerned about flooding or loss of trees along streams don’t want beavers around. So Clark Fork Coalition employees are working on conflict resolution and tools that reduce flooding such as pond levelers. But on streams where those don’t work, managers could install beaver-dam analogues to create similar conditions to improve streams.

“One of the things they say is beavers is second only to man for their ability to manipulate the environment. Which means they and their habitat can do a lot of work to help us out,” Haines said “And we don’t have to pay them.”

Wonderful! That’s such a great use of two things that are so often woefully unappreciated: Youthful energy and beaver engineering. No wonder this program won the grant competition. I’m so happy everything worked out.

Getting young people to understand how they fit in the big picture is so important. Although sometimes its the young ones that teach you.

Now if you’re inspired to watch a young persons progress against incredible odds you definitely should check out Greta Thurnberg’s passage as she makes a sailing trip across the Atlantic. The whole journey is accessible and on Windy.com. where you can zoom in to see what they’re doing through tweets and instagram. We are having so much vicarious fun watching her success. The sailboat slipped into the right wind overnight and they toodled along at 24 knots. This morning she’s exercising with her team – dad and filmmaker – on the rails

WATER-SAVERS PORTFOLIO

heidi08 Beavers and Fire Prevention, Beavers and water August 8, 2019

Today is water portfolio day in Capital Hill. When your own fish, wildlife and waterway experts gather together to brainstorm ways to keep water for a drying planet. Can you guess my suggestion? You can watch the entire presentation here.

Live stream of Commission meetings (when in session)

While the day gets started, I thought you might enjoy reading my added comments to the discussion. There is still time to send your own.

Beavers bring resilience to climate change

I’m hoping that whether the focus of the water portfolio is on drought resistance, fire resistance, biodiversity or water quality, it will remember the significant role that beavers and their dams can play. Research has demonstrated consistently that they dramatically increase water storage (both above and below ground) and that their persistent damming will filter water removing toxins and decrease nitrogen. Beaver wetlands create natural barriers to wildfire, and beaver forage reduces fuel and speeds recovery after fire. Salmon, trout, waterfowl, amphibians and all kinds of wildlife thrive because of their ponds and suffer without them.

Beavers are a tool in the water resilience tool box that California should take seriously.

For years CDFW has freely distributed depredation permits to landowners who complain of flooding or damage to landscape – they continue to do so DESPITE the fact that there are inexpensive, reliable tools for resolving problems. I know because my own city made the decision to coexist with beaver in our urban creek by installing a flow device to prevent flooding and wrapping trees to prevent damage. Because of our safe and beaver tended wetlands we observed more steelhead, heron, otters, woodduck and even mink!

It is time California makes a commitment to reward landowners who commit to allowing these important ecosystem engineers on their land. An environmental tax credit would be an excellent incentive to remind landowners to try letting these water engineers on their landscape. Education and resource distribution is important as well.

For far too long landowners have looked at beavers merely as a nuisance or helpful only in very remote locations. The truth is that anyplace that needs water needs beavers.
And California’s water portfolio should reflect that.

The photo attachments are relevant information regarding California’s new fire season showing beaver wetlands as protected oasis. Some great resources to read more about this are linked below, but I would be happy to connect you with other resources or information to get this conversation moving in the right direction.

I concluded by adding links to Ben’s book, Ellen’s book, and the beaver restoration guidebook. Then I included Emily’s fire video and these photos for good measure. I’m hoping they got the message.