Category: Beavers and Fire Prevention

TOO LUSH AND NOT LUSH ENOUGH

heidi08 Beavers and Fire Prevention August 15, 2021

I know it’s hard to believe, but California isn’t the only flammable state. There’s plenty of attention to fires in other places too, Even other countries. Here’s some focused attention on the role beavers can play in fire prevention from Canada of all places.

Beavers may have untapped wildfire fighting skills

The small iconic Canadian mammal known known for chopping down trees may also have a decent set of natural firefighting skills.

By building dams and digging channels, beavers can change small streams into broad wetland areas, keeping plants lush even during a drought, according to a study published by American researchers last year who studied beaver dams and their impacts on wildfires in California, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon and Wyoming.

Green vegetation near beaver ponds is more difficult to burn than nearby dry vegetation and fire’s will often take the path of least resistance, burning through dry vegetation away from the beaver ponds, according to Emily Fairfax, an environmental professor at California State University Channels and lead author of the study.

Good work Emily! Her dissertation turned America’s head and is now marching into Canada. Will this be what changes the news about beavers? I’m not holding my breath, but I’m a cynical bastard, so let’s just be happy they are talking about it right now I guess,

It’s possible in parts of Canada, and in northeastern areas of B.C., beavers’ impact could have a similar effect in dryland ecosystems with relatively open vegetation cover, said Jean Thie, an Ottawa-based landscape ecologist.

In denser forested areas in B.C. the beavers would have little effect and in locations where they is already lush vegetation.

Hahahaha. The single most predictable thing about research.”That’s a very interesting finding, but it might not apply HERE because our forests are forest-y-er”. Very similar to the research showing that has show for 2 decade that beavers help salmon and the response from PEI and England saying “It probably doesn’t apply to our fish which are salmon-y-er,” “More research needs to be done.”

There’s no evidence to suggest beavers in the Okanagan, or in Canada, have currently implemented any effective fire breaks with their beaver dams, but it could be possible in locations where beavers have built dams on small sloped creeks and created larger wetland zones, he said.

In B.C.’s northeast corner, east of the Rockies, he said there are a large number of dams that appear to have created more green vegetation in the area with a higher water level than normal. It also appears that a fire came short of the vegetation zone but would require more study as the moisture in the area could have played a role, he said.

“This is another beautiful example… These trees have more water because of beaver and wetlands too,” Thie said. “Definitely they would be helping to reduce the spread of fire in this area.”’

Are you following along? Yes it’s true that lush vegetation might catch fire less often. But all of Canada is Lush. I personally am lush. (Close enough). So beavers won’t make a difference here.

The sheer number of dams in an area would have a more beneficial impact in that landscape as well.

Ya think?

It’s nice to know they seriously considering this. We were just give this photo of the Minister of the Environment and hist staff reading through Dr. Fairfax’s research.

MAINE NOTICES BEAVERS FIGHT FIRES

Isn’t it nice when people STOP KILLING BEAVERS long enough to realize they do really useful stuff when they’re alive? This story mad it onto YAHOO news this morning and even the local radio station. Good.

Greene’s taxpayers have an unlikely hero to thank: a local beaver

Do you suppose somebody makes a fireman’s helmet that will fit a semiaquatic rodent? Because as far as the Greene Fire Department is concerned, there’s a certain beaver along Bull Run Road that deserves a spot on the roster.

The department’s fire pond was brought up to level recently, and town taxpayers were possibly saved thousands of dollars, when a beaver constructed a dam in just the right place at just the right time.

Who needs a crew of engineers when you’ve got buck teeth and a long flat tail?

“A couple years ago we had noticed the level in the fire pond on Bull Run Road was very low and actually got to the level where the hydrant was out of service,” Greene Fire Chief John Soucy explains. “We thought it was due to the drought and the water level never had a chance to recover. This past spring we had noticed that the spillway had eroded to the point that it would not allow the pond level to rise.”

For years, the department had been using the pond to haul water to areas where there are no fire hydrants. The pond water is considered a crucial part of the department’s firefighting efforts in rural areas. So, with that in mind, fire officials glumly went about trying to deduce what they’d need to shore up that eroded spillway and to bring the pond up to snuff.

Now wait just a dog gone minute. The town relied on this particular pond to keep their fire hydrants full and the that had needed repair for a couple of years? Ummm… I guess they’re not that worried about fires in Maine? Well I’m glad they got the help they needed anyway.

By some estimates, repairs would have cost up to $4,000. But that was before the unnamed beaver, a member of a species best known for its dam building abilities, went to work for free.

“Recently we began to make plans to fix the problem,” Soucy said, “but noticed that the pond level had risen suddenly, and when we looked into it further we noticed that a beaver had built a dam at the spillway, raising the water level to the point where the hydrant is now in service. The beaver saved the town of Greene thousands of dollars in repairs to the fire pond.”

The hero beaver has yet to be spotted in action, yet there is evidence that his or her work continues in service to the fire department.

“He is currently maintaining that dam,” Soucy said, “and the department’s plans to fix the spillway have been canceled.”

Well sure beavers can do a hell of a lot more than that too, if we just let them. I wish every city that noticed beaver benefits made it into the news cycle.

Here’s their headline on yahoo news where the very same article will be read by millions:

Hot dam! Beaver saves the day in Greene

And here’s the report on the local radio station, complete with a groundhog photo:

You

Yes beavers do good things that benefit humans. You would think this was big news or something.

BEAVER FIREFIGHTERS ON THE RADIO

heidi08 Beavers and Fire Prevention, Who's talking about beavers now? July 24, 2021

Time for another fun interview, this time from Emily Faifax at KCRW in Santa Monica. I knew the Doty story would get a bunch of eyes. With host Madeleine Brand.

Beavers to prevent wildfires? Conservationists are enlisting the help of these buck-toothed rodents

As California continues to grapple with a mega-drought and wildfires, we’re trying to do whatever we can to help our parched landscapes and abate that wildfire threat. But the process can be costly and time-consuming.

A few weeks ago, the Sacramento Bee reported on a floodplain in Placer County. During California’s last big drought in 2014, ecologists wanted to restore the dry, barren grassland. It would’ve taken 10 years and cost as much as $2 million. But there was another option: beavers.

Conservationists turned the buck-toothed, oversized rodents loose and got out of their way. And unlike every other contractor on the planet, they finished under budget and ahead of schedule.

BEAVERS CAN SAVE US, BUT WHY SHOULD THEY?

heidi08 Beavers and Fire Prevention July 7, 2021

I pretty much think of blogs as the most ridiculous and least read information on the web. I rank it right below that note your mom packed saying to brush your teeth and the .gif of the cat jumping on the counter as soon as its owners leave the house. I am always surprised to remember people read this. And always surprised when other blogs act like they matter.

Kotte,org calls itself one of the oldest on the web and the guardian in 2013 called it one of the 50 most important blogs in the world. So who knows, maybe this matter?

Perhaps the Beavers Will Save Us

Beavers are unusual among animals in their ability to radically alter their habitat. They build dams to turn small streams and flood plains into ponds that they use to store food and hide from predators.

It turns out that this is useful for other species who like to radically alter their habitats, like humans. Let’s say you’ve got a dried out flood plain in California you want to restore in order to mitigate the effects of a drought, or even to help stop wildfires. Why not hire some beavers?

The Doty Ravine project cost about $58,000, money that went toward preparing the site for beavers to do their work.

In comparison, a traditional constructed restoration project using heavy equipment across that much land could cost $1 to $2 million, according to Batt…

“It’s huge when you think about fires in California because time is so valuable,” Fairfax said. “If you can stall the fire, if you can stop it from just ripping through the landscape, even if that beaver pond can’t actually stop the fire itself, just stalling it can give the firefighters a chance to get a hold on it.”

These lush green beaver wetlands also protect wildlife that can’t outrun a wildfire.

Ahhh, its nice when good news travels. It could have traveled a little faster and I wouldn’t complain, but if it creeps its way into consciousness eventually I guess that’s good.

The idea that beavers might be a low-cost, low-impact way to mitigate the destruction of the environment by climate change (and other forms of human meddling) is an attractive one. But we have to be careful not to introduce beavers (or any other species) anyplace where they are unlikely to thrive, or where they’re just going to come into conflict with humans or other species, starting a cycle of destruction all over again.

I can say that beavers have WAY better natures than me, because if I were killed off 2 continents and persecuted for three thousand years you can bet I’d think twice before saving any of you.

Beavers forgive.

GOOD IDEAS ABOUT BEAVERS – STOLEN

heidi08 Beavers and Fire Prevention July 6, 2021

That’s the thing about good ideas. The really good ones get stolen and passed off as original. I’m sure there were lot of tossers saying they came up with the theory of evolution too when Origin of the species was first published. From the point of view that getting the word out is the only good thing, it’s still good news.

How a group of beavers prevented a wildfire and saved California a million dollars

Graig Graziosi

A dried-out floodplain in Place County – just north of Sacramento, California – was in perfect condition to fuel wildfires. It was 2014, and California was in the midst of its worst drought in decades. The floodplain was full of dry brush and devoid of moisture. Fire prevention and ecological workers in the state were desperately working to mitigate potential wildfire fuel sources anywhere they could. Ecologists – facing a dangerously dry floodplain and a price tag of $1m to $2m for a major construction project to fix the site – did something surprising. They called in the beavers.

Note that the stealing is so entirely opportunistic that they didn’t even have the sense to get the NAME right. It’s Placer county, you moron. Not Place county. Sheesh. Of course this article isn’t written by “GRAIG” but by Isabella Bloom who was once the intern at the Sacramento Bee and is now at the UCB graduate school of journalism.

The Sacramento Bee spoke with researchers involved in the furry gambit to protect the state and revitalise the land.

Ultimately the Doty Ravine project only cost $58,000, which was used to prepare the land for the beavers to come in and do what they do.

Damon Ciotti, a US Fish and Wildlife Service restoration biologist who led the project, estimated that the beavers would take about a decade to return the dried out land to streams in the region, but the critters blew away his expectations. By year three, water was back in the floodplain.

The success of the project has spun off a number of other projects using beavers for land revitalisation throughout California.

Yeah yeah yeah. We know, Because we read it four days ago in an American paper, you lazy Brit. And besides that’s a ridiculous way to spell “Graig”.

Ms Batt said that federal programmes were beginning to take notice and offer training on how to use beavers for wildfire mitigation, and indicated that universities and nonprofit programmes were also interested.

This stealing must happen ALL the time. Lazy reporters who just rewrite stuff as their own because honestly who is going to know? If I weren’t such a weirdo reading every single article published about beavers I wouldn’t.

This is personal though.

How about a letter to the editor in the register guard which is published in Eugene Oregon.

Fighting fires with beavers

Susan Libby, Eugene

Last summer, Oregon endured the single most flammable year in modern history. Record-setting fire after record-setting fire burned through the state, yet once again we ignore or even kill the water-saving firefighter who would work for free to protect us: the beaver.

Hey, wait a minute, you’re thinking. I read this before, But I don’t think it was about Oregon.

Beavers save water and reduce the risk and severity of wildfire. They do it all day, at zero taxpayer expense. Their ponds have been consistently shown to increase biodiversity from stoneflies to steelhead. Beaver ponds help fish survive at a time when the Pacific Coast is hemorrhaging salmon.

Our own self-interest dictates our attention. Yet Oregon isn’t learning.

GOD DAMMIT. I know its for the good of beavers and we need to share credit but hemorrhaging salmon is MY line. I had to look up how to spell it THREE times. Stoneflies to steelhead is MY line. I worked hard on the alliteration. Our own self-interest dictates is MY line. Like anyone else ever talks like that, SHEEEESH.

Okay, I just heard from Suzanne Fouty that she shared my op-Ed with Susan and others that are working on the beaver bills. Um okay. But its still stealing if you lift entire phrases off the page. GRRR Someday you can bet we’ll have a conversation about copying someone else’s paper and passing it off as your own. HRMPH