Category: Beavers and Fire Prevention

BEAVERS GO TO YALE

Another day of horrific burning in California and I’m feeling mortified that any fire can grow by “80 football fields a minute.” It gripped me yesterday with a strange irresistible impulse, the four-hour results of which I’ll show you later. For now let’s go to Yale and see if beavers make us any smarter.

‘Let the Rodent Do the Work’:
Reflections of a Beaver Believer

3 Plugin Updates, 1 Theme UpdateBen Goldfarb ’13 M.E.M. had just graduated from Yale when it occurred to him that his conception of what makes a healthy landscape was completely wrong. But then again, that’s true of most contemporary Americans, he says. Why? Because most of us can’t comprehend what North America looked like before fur traders arrived, trapping millions of beavers from the continent’s rivers and lakes.

In his new book, “Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter,” Goldfarb makes the case that the near eradication of these once ubiquitous rodents had a profound impact on the continent’s landscapes and ecosystems. In an interview, he describes the vital role of these “ecosystem engineers,” how a growing coalition is trying to restore their populations, and how this animal can help humankind fight drought, improve water quality — even address climate change.

“This animal can provide us a huge amount of help… if we learn to work with it, to coexist with it, to outsource some of our labor to it,” Goldfarb says.

So begins yet another interview and book review, this one by the school of Environmental Forestry at Yale. Of course we know the answers already, but we’re so glad to see Ben helping folks ask the right questions.

How exactly do beavers transform the land? And what did North American landscapes look like before the fur trade?

Goldfarb: The classic beaver behavior that every school kid knows, of course, is that they build dams. The purpose of those dams is to create ponds and wetlands that provide shelter. A beaver on land is a slow, fat, waddling snack for wolves and bears and cougars. By contrast, beavers are incredibly powerful and agile swimmers. So building dams increases the extent of the watery habitat in which they’re safe.

In so doing, they inadvertently create huge amounts of habitat for other creatures as well. Water is life: In the American West, wetlands cover just 2 percent of the land area but support 80 percent of the biodiversity. It’s hard to name an animal that doesn’t benefit from beaver-built habitats in some way. Frogs and salamanders breed in beaver ponds. Juvenile trout and salmon use ponds as rearing habitat. Waterfowl forage in beaver ponds and even nest directly atop beaver lodges. Moose hang out in beaver ponds to cool off. Woodpeckers will use dead trees killed by rising water levels. There’s just this incredible array of species that has evolved to take advantage of beaver engineering.

I’m so old I remember when I thought that knowing the science about beavers and the important work they do would lead to actual changes in policy! Ahh I was so you then.

What lessons can humans learn from beavers as we try to address our own environmental challenges?

Goldfarb: To me the fundamental lesson of beaver restoration, and of the book, is the importance of working with nature rather than against it. As a species our inclination is to dominate nature – to channelize streams, pave over wetlands, and clearcut forests. One of the mantras of those who work in beaver restoration is “Let the rodent do the work.” This animal can provide us a huge amount of help — storing water, improving water quality, creating wildlife habitat, even sequestering carbon — if we learn to work with it, to coexist with it, to outsource some of our labor to it. Rather than dominating the natural world, beaver work is really about cooperating with it. Beaver restoration suggests a new approach to ecological restoration in general — one that is more holistic and in tune with the natural world.

From your lips to Gavin Newsome’s ears I hope. (Insert the name of your governor here). Good lord, we could sure use more beaver wetlands in California. As a firebreak if nothing else. This is what was ringing in my head yesterday and what I couldn’t avoid. I’ll add a link to remind you of the tune, but if you plan to try and sing along I recommend slowing the speed down to ,5, because that’s an awful lot of beaver words to manage at a fast pace.

“We could have stopped the fire”

A Song for California from the beavers. (with apologies to Mr. Joel.)

We could have stopped the fire

ALL THE PRETTY LITTLE BEAVERS

Some friends of ours at the new “Beavers and Brush“ website wrote the head of CDFG to ask whether beaver policy was changing to keep up with the need for water and fire protection in the state. After being passed off to someone lower on the food chain (a well-spoken environmental scientist in the upland game program), they got a really interesting response which I have permission today to share so I can riff on the more affronting points and offer praise where it is due.

The original letter was written very respectfully and cleverly starts out by complimenting THEM for having the good sense to publish our paper.

Dear Director Bonham,

Thank you for your service and for reading this email. I’m writing to applaud your agency for the publication of 99(4):164; 2013 in conjunction with researchers who documented the historic range of the beaver in California. As I learned from your publication, beavers inhabited nearly all of our state prior to the fur rush and prior to their designation as a “detrimental species” based on the poor science of mid-20th-century researchers.

Like most Californians, I’m now being endangered by runaway wildfires which have resulted in loss of life for my neighbors including firefighters, as well as loss of property and health. I have been personally impacted. As your agency’s publication demonstrated, California was a wetter place just a few generations ago, with deep reserves of water and natural firebreaks in the form of rivers, ponds, wetlands and streams, all thanks to the beaver. However, because we’ve yet to correct the designation of this most vital missing keystone species, we still have regulation §463. Beaver which allows trapping instead of protecting the one species that will be our greatest ally in lessening and combating wildfire.

I am writing to ask what the California Department of Fish & Wildlife is currently doing to alter this regulation and change the status of beavers so that they can be protected and, in turn, protect all of us. Your publication was so important. Please let me know what is being done now to reflect our modern scientific understanding of the beaver as a beneficial native species. Given the hazardous drought and fire conditions that are leading to fatalities in our state, I fully support these changes and would very much appreciate your reply.

What a good letter! Polite, to the point, relevant, and full of just enough pressure to get a response. Which they did. And which interests me to no end. It starts out with the head-slapping dismissal that of course fish and game always knew beavers were native to the state. They were the one that reintroduced them, of course!

Thank you for your inquiry, your email was forwarded to me from the office of the Director.

As you may already know, beavers were nearly extirpated from California during the early 20th century. The fact that beavers occur over the majority of their native range in California today, is a direct result of reintroduction campaigns carried out by the then, Department of Fish and Game. This action, taken by our department, to reintroduce and re-establish beavers populations across California, is consistent with our current stated policy and objectives in Fish and Game Code §1801.

Never mind that the website we maintained up until just 5 years ago listed beavers as “INVASIVES“. That was just colorful language. Of course we knew beavers were native! We never granted depredation permits in the sierras to kill off “invasive” beaver. That’s crazy talk. Pay no attention to the men behind the curtain!

Here’s a screen grab from their website in 2011.

Deep breath everyone. It gets better,

The determination of beavers as a “detrimental species” in Title 14 of California Code of Regulations 671 is not the result of bad science or a reflection on beaver’s intrinsic value to ecosystem function but rather an acknowledgement that beavers can have profound impacts on both agricultural interests and on human health and safety, as determined jointly by our agency and the California Department of Agriculture.

Beaver are not universally beneficial to the landscape. Nor are California’s landscapes universally suitable for beavers. Beaver are a unique species with great potential to affect significant changes to their local environment over short time periods. These changes may be positive or negative, depending on place and time, as well as the interests of all affected parties.

Humans are important and own stuff. Beavers can ruin our stuff. So we decided to call them “detrimental”. Never mind that all the species that depend on them like salmon and frogs think they’re vital. Just because the things we value need something to survive doesn’t mean we have to change our policy.

Near as I can determine “Detrimental” here means

to be detrimental or cause damage to agriculture, native wildlife, or the public health or safety.

I suppose for sure beavers can qualify. They can alter your irrigation ditches and eat your strawberries. But what if the good things they do for native wildlife (salmon) and public safety (fire prevention, statewide drought) outweigh the risk they pose to agriculture? Who gets to decide?

Given California’s diverse geology, biota, flora and its population of nearly 40 million residents, I am sure that you would agree that there are potential conflicts and limits to the public’s acceptance of beaver’s industrious activities, given prevailing regional land-use practices.

Hmm. How many of those 40 million residents drink water? How many of them would like for their homes not to be burned down? I’m not sure you’re seeing the big picture here. This is followed by a paragraph saying recreational trapping has dropped since the 70’s and in order to keep up with the demand for dead beavers we have to allow depredation.

In recent years, California Department of Fish and Wildlife has made significant updates to the process of beaver depredation permit issuance, to ensure that the unnecessary take of beavers is avoided. To this end, we require consultation with a department biologist in all cases before a depredation permit may be issued. Our biologist first offer information on mitigation strategies as alternatives to depredation and issue a depredation permit, only after other alternatives are exhausted. We have also greatly shortened the time “window” for beaver depredation permits and have limited the number of individual animals authorized for depredation on any single permit based on case-specific information.

I admit, this is my favorite paragraph. It practically has our name in the margins. What they really mean is that “a few years ago some crazy women started looking at our permit data and pointed out that we were irresponsible in how we issued permits” so we moved a few deck chairs on the titanic and now we’re floating comfortably. And we were going to do it all by ourselves just out of innate goodness. Because of how good we are. It has NOTHING to do with those dam women.

The available information does not suggest that beavers are currently in decline in California, in fact beavers have been increasing in California for nearly a century. Today, the occurrence of beaver over much of their range in California is based, in part, on the willingness of landowners and local communities to tolerate the landscape impacts of this species.

This is rich. The “we’re not running out of beavers” argument. How many times have you heard that! Maybe that’s true. Maybe we’re not running out of beavers. But are you running out of any of the things that beavers help with? I mean are you having any statewide droughts, for example? Or loss of steelhead and salmon? Are you seeing fewer frogs? Or noticing any more wildlifes?

You are missing the point. Pointedly.

Think of beavers as the front steps to where california needs to go. Sure you might not want to climb more stairs, and it’s not like there’s a stair shortage or anything, but you all want to get inside the building right? And if you can’t get inside the place you built and are committed to maintaining it doesn’t look so good anymore does it?

Beavers could take California where it needs to go Which the author kind of knows because he finishes with this ass-covering paragraph.

CDFW is currently not actively trying to expand or decrease the range of beaver in California but we are currently working to better understand the gravity and depth of beaver’s ecological relationships to our environment including their benefits to native salmonid species, water storage and management and fire-effects through Proposition 1 funded projects. We will continue to make recommendations for regulatory change whenever those actions are supported by the best available science.

When the science points the way, we’ll follow goddammit and not a minute before! Sure. Just like you did in deciding beavers were native? Meaning when you are dragged kicking and screaming to the inevitable conclusion you will say it’s what you were thinking all along and take credit for it? Grr.

I shouldn’t be too harsh on this paragraph. It has positive hints. I would love to know what prop 1 projects they’re currently running that look at beaver benefits. And I like the idea that CDFG is looking at the “Gravity and Depth” of beaver’s ecological relationships to anything. I hope it’s true.

I will end by saying that fish and game should get letters like this every week. Because they need to know the state is eager for beavers. Have you written one yet? It would help convince them that people are really paying attention and ready for a change.

Now that you have an idea of how it all works, why not add your voice to the discussion? Be polite, reference personal experience, and ask for recognition that beaver matter to a host of endangered and listed species, including the good people in California who drink water, and the agriculture industry that requires it. If you get a response we would love you to share it.

Only when we demand better conditions, and tell them how and why they matter, will we get to the beaver promised land.

DIRECTOR@wildlife.ca.gov

FIRE PREVENTION IS THE HOT NEW BEAVER THING

heidi08 Beavers and Fire Prevention October 31, 2018

It’s funny how beaver news cycles come in waves, and suddenly everyone wakes up and starts talking about the same thing. Ooh beavers are good for salmon! Oooh beaver dams can reduce flooding! Oooh beaver dams remove nitrogen! And then one day the obvious occurs to them.

OOH BEAVER DAMS CAN HELP PREVENT FIRE!!!

Beavers, Water, and Fire—A New Formula for Success

Low-tech stream restoration works wonders for people and wildlife

And, importantly, these “emerald refuges” provide valuable wildlife habitat during wildfires, which are burning more frequently and more intensely across western landscapes.

How they work for people and wildlife

Streams need a steady “diet” of water, dirt, rocks and wood. These natural elements wash down during floods and slow a stream’s flow, spreading water across the landscape where it can be stored longer between flood events. Each stream’s diet is unique, based on its location, size, and the surrounding climate.

Unfortunately, most of the streams in the western U.S. have been structurally starved of wood (largely from a lack of beaver activity) for the last two centuries. Many of our waterways now flow fast and straight rather than storing water in the valley bottoms and floodplains that create riparian habitat.

By slowing and spreading water, low-tech structures boost soil moisture retention and raise water tables. This, in turn, provides protein-rich forbs and insects for birds, ungulates, and other wildlife. Reconnecting floodplains improves both surface and groundwater availability, and also lessens the erosive energy of floods. Boosting soil moisture and vegetation production keeps restored areas cooler when temperatures soar.

For these reasons, the National Wildlife Federation is exploring opportunities to expand low-tech restoration techniques onto the grasslands of eastern Montana, where late-summer water is in scarce supply for the greater sage-grouse and other species.

I can hear the beaver at his dam right now saying incredulously “You call this low tech?! You think all these branches just gnaw themselves?” But it’s wonderful to see the National Wildlife Federation praising the good work done by beavers. And hey it’s not just wildlife that needs beavers to help save them from fire. Turns out we’re pretty flammable too.

Water doesn’t burn

Ranchers have plenty of anecdotal stories of wildlife and livestock flocking to wet, green places when wildfires sweep across the West.

Recent wildfires in the West proved that wet habitat is invaluable as a refuge, and possibly as a firebreak, too: the only remaining green areas amidst miles of scorched rangeland were active beaver ponds that kept the flames at bay.

“Beavers and beaver dam analogs make a lot of sense for mitigating impacts during a fire,” says Wheaton.

Or avoiding one entirely.

It also makes sense to incorporate low-tech stream restoration into post-fire recovery efforts as a tool to protect and improve existing wet habitat. For instance, the Bureau of Land Management is planning to build low-tech structures to accelerate riparian recovery and mitigate mudslides during runoff after the Goose Creek Fire in Utah.

In northeast Nevada where the South Sugarloaf Fire scorched 230,000 acres this summer, the U.S. Forest Service is planning to use low-tech restoration to protect critical habitats that didn’t burn from potential damage during post-fire runoff and debris flows.

Similarly, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game is using low-tech estoration not just to protect critical habitats post-fire, but also to aid in ecosystem recovery on the recent Sharps Fire near Hailey.

In all these examples, the agencies hope to also study the effectiveness of low-tech restoration and to document the vegetation response at restored sites versus unrestored control sites. “If we’re making a difference at a scale that matters, then we should be able to see the positive impacts of low-tech stream restoration from space,” says Maestas.

Especially, he adds, as restored wet places stay greener longer.

So beaver benefits are so important and do so much good they’re visible from space? I totally believe. Certainly they’re obvious underwater. Or underground as the water table changes. Come to think of it, probably the only place where beaver benefits can’t be easily seen is here, on earth.

Sheesh.

In the 2018 anyway, at least. Ben Goldfarb was sent a really interesting paper this week about indigenous people using fire to manage the growth of forests and plants before we came and guess they also used it for?

The Role of Indigenous Burning in Land Management

Robin Wall Kimmerer and Frank Kanawha Lake

A 10- to 12-year fire interval was typically observed around beaver
ponds to maximize regeneration of aspen and willows to feed beaver
(Lewis 1982; Williams 2000a).

Yes that’s right. Beavers were recognized as so important on the landscape that it was customary to manage the aspen in such a way as to make sure they had enough to eat.

BEAVERS AND BRUSH – CA FIRE PREVENTION

heidi08 Beavers and Fire Prevention October 29, 2018

We’ve all noticed fire season getting longer and fires themselves getting hotter. Last summer after the publication of Ben’s book I was contacted by a smart observer who wanted to incorporate beavers into brush management for fire protection. I thought this was very, very interesting and was even more pleased to see the website that person has launched.

I would gladly credit the source and introduce you but I’ve been asked not to, so I’ll just show you the considerable feat they managed to do.

The smart website summarizes beaver ecology, cleverly outlines the major myths associated with them, and walks through the native practice of using controlled burns to manage brush, which we settlers obviously forgot. Go spend some time browsing because there’s lots of information to glean.
The website also does a great job explaining the misunderstanding about beaver nativity that is unique to california. Excellent graphics are provided to make the information easy to understand. Here’s one outlining our research on beaver nativity.

a href=”https://www.martinezbeavers.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/beavertimeline.jpg”>

The website also includes links to visual materials, including the PBS film, and Greg Kerekes Gold Beaver documentary. It also folks to our story pretty nicely. About this website it says:

Worth a Dam

a blog by Heidi Perryman

There is no more active publication on the web than this blog authored by beaver researcher and advocate Heidi Perryman who was so instrumental in protecting the beaver family who arrived more than ten years ago in Martinez, California. Ms. Perryman continuously publishes every tidbit she can find about beavers and related ecological topics. Wonderful photos of the Martinez beavers, and memorable, ongoing news.

Well, that’s plenty humbling. Thanks for the shout out! Although it is true I would like to think that this website is much more than a blog about beavers and I always get a cramp when I’m called Ms, Perryman but I’m very demanding. I am very appreciative that the message is getting shared so effectively and there’s a new beaver resource on the block.

I especially like the last page that talks about “What you can do to help” and encourages readers to politely demand changes to California policy. Who knows if people are less scared of beavers than they are of fires, but it’s surely with a shot. I’m sure we can all enjoy this:

The Vision of Abundance

Just a few human generations ago, California was a much wetter place and it teemed with life of all kinds. Today, you know of the California Quail – the state bird – and have, perhaps, seen a covey of a dozen of these beautiful fowls. Not long ago, a single covey could contain a thousand members. You may never have seen a Pronghorn Antelope, but, until quite recently, their great herds covered the Central Valley, in the company of countless Black-Tailed Deer and Tule Elk. Try to imagine your hearing filled with birdsong, from the call of the nuthatch to the chortle of the turkey. Likely you’ve noticed the recent fad for eating chia seeds; now imagine millions of acres of colorful flowers being pollinated by numberless native bees and filled with delicious seeds for human harvesting. This is how it was.

Envision a beaver family in every stream, the rivers filled shore-to-shore with salmon, the marshes filled with ducks and geese. See forests with cleared sight lines from end to end and oak lands filling baskets to overflowing with acorn flour. There is plenty of water for drinking, bathing, gardening. There is water everywhere, breaking up the paths of fire and sustaining all life. There are people at work across the land, tending fire, harvesting food, drinking water, eating together. It can be this way again.

It’s said that people must share a vision to bring about social change for the better. As you devote time to the healing of California, drawing from the vision of the recent past of just how abundant life was here may help you keep going, even in times of discouragement. Carrying that vision of a beautiful, safe home with you in all of your work may give you the food you need for the journey

Welcome to the neighborhood, I’ll add your great website to the resource links today!

THE BEST GAME OF TELEPHONE EVER

heidi08 Beaver Book, Beavers and Fire Prevention October 12, 2018

My beaver reporting gig has changed in the past 6 months. It seems like there is so much good news because of Ben Goldfarb’s book I am too impatient to be bothered with the usual whining from Scottish farmers or duck hunters in Mississippi who think they need to blow up the beaver dam so there’s more room to shoot. I just want to talk about good news!

Like this for instance.

Working together with beavers is the answer

I’m thrilled to know that Torrey Ritter will be helping FWP to integrate beavers into the agency’s goals for watershed health and native fish recovery. Since much beaver habitat is currently unoccupied in our region, I commend FWP’s commitment to explore all options for restoration, including active reintroduction of beavers in the right place at the right time. Successful beaver relocations around the West are increasingly accompanied by “beaver dam analogues” or other structures that mimic and initiate the beaver’s likelihood of success. Transplanting mated pairs or family units has been shown to be effective, and I fully trust that FWP will take advantage of these and all other measures of the best available science for relocation outcomes that benefit people, beavers and habitat.

While we are lucky enough to have beavers existing on – or naturally returning to – our landscapes, there are several non-lethal solutions to traditional conflicts. Some, like wrapping special trees in wire fencing, are simple and cheap.

What a nice positive column from Montana of all places! Watching the story of beavers catch on is one of my favorite, favorite things.

“Flow devices” are another solution, and while they require some planning, a 310 permit and modest funds, they are durable, versatile investments that pay back in ecosystem services for years to come. Using a system of pipes and fencing to deter culvert blockage and excessive flooding, flow devices can be calibrated to avoid property damage while keeping the beavers in place. Far more than a compromise, studies have shown that for every dollar spent on flow devices, managers saved $8.37 in annual infrastructure repairs.

We have the tools and skills to work with these water-storing, fire-buffering, habitat-diversifying creatures. For more stories about how beavers are benefiting ranchers, urbanites, fish biologists and so many others, I suggest Ben Goldfarb’s excellent new book, “Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter.” Our watersheds have many problems but it is good to know that by working together – with beavers – we can be the answer.

Did you ever play the game of telephone as a child? Take a moment and remember the eager feeling of waiting for the secret to come your way as you watch the ring of giggling classmate faces whisper into each other’s ears – the message that you know is coming to you eventually. That’s honestly how this feels. Except we know the secret already. And it’s not a secret. As the game unfolds this message is staying remarkably in tact.

I’d like to thank the Pathfinder and Biologist Scott Eggeman for last week’s excellent column exploring the history, ecology and growing importance of beavers. As we increasingly face the unpredictable stresses of fires, droughts and floods, I appreciate Eggeman’s nod to the rodent’s keystone role in a resilient ecosystem.

Which reminds me to also thanks to beaver friend Lisa Robertson of Wyoming Untrapped who recently sent me this snippet from an older film by Jeff Hogan.