Category: Beavers and Frogs

A bucketful of hope…

heidi08 Beaver Rehabilitation, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Who's blaming beavers now?, Who's saving beavers now? September 23, 2015

Great video from Joe Wheaton and the beaver smarties in Utah. This came out in July but I must have been buried under a pile of festival preparations and I missed it. Don’t make the same mistake! It’s worth your time.

Any ideas how we can get the governor of California to watch this every night before bed? Come on Jerry, do we really want to be behind Utah in water management skills?

Our good friend Deidre sent this to me yesterday and I was happy to see good beaver news out of the Dakotas again. I mean almost entirely good news. They still have some work to do. See for yourself.

A Pond to Call Home: How Beavers Pick the Best Dam Water

Beaver ponds are a good indicator of beaver activity as well as beaver colony density, according to recent findings. Carol Johnston, lead author of a new study published in the Journal of Wildlife Management and professor at South Dakota State University, first examined how shallow marsh helps predict declining beaver numbers in Minnesota’s Voyageurs National Park in the late 1980s. More recently, she set out with her co-author Steve Windels to see if this is still the case.

What? I’m sorry. What? Could you say that again? Beaver ponds are good indicators of beaver population? Are you kidding me? Like spider webs are a good indication of spiders? Or gopher holes are a good indication of gophers? And someone published this in a journal? Seriously?

It gets better. (Worse).

how shallow marsh helps predict declining beaver numbers

Am I reading this wrong? Shallow water predicts fewer beavers? You mean like less money in your 401K predicts a ‘decrease’ in the stock market? Or hiring fewer policemen predicts an ‘decrease’ in crime?

Are you maybe confusing cause and effect here? Should you maybe replace the word “predicts” with the word “reflects”?

“Now, it looks like pond water is more of a predictor of active beaver colonies,” Johnston said. “When beavers create dams, they impound water. It’s intuitive that beaver ponds are related to the number of beavers.”

Ohh good. Whew. It’s intuitive for some of us apparently. Not the Journal of Wildlife Management or The Wilderness Society I guess. Maybe the reporter misunderstood. Carol Johnston is a beaver believer from way back and a name we’ve talked about before. I’m guessing the whole thing is a misunderstanding and what she’s basically saying is if you want more water you need more beavers. Or something like that.

I hope.

I had to play with my toy again yesterday, although this was WAY more work that it seems because I had to splice up the audio first before I even approached the visuals. I hope you feel inclined to share it with some concrete thinkers who need very clear beaver education.

There was a exciting beaver drama yesterday. Kelly Davidson Chou of Mt. View Sanitation contacted me saying she had a tiny beaver kit at the visitor’s center looking unwell. She didn’t even know there was a family on sight (although they’ve had beavers historically and probably were the parents of our original beavers.)

She brought it to Lindsay wildlife hospital and it weighted in and just under 3.5 lbs. (Which makes it too small to be our 4th kit who disappeared, although there was a brief moment of crazy hope.) We’re trying to locate his family at the moment, but I thought you’d want to see his adorable tiny self, that fit so easily into a 5 gallon bucket. The photos are from Kelly, who I’m SO JEALOUS OF at the moment that she got to retrieve and transport this little heart-breaker. We’ll keep you updated when we learn more.

A day in the life of a beaver advocate

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers and Birds, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Educational, Environmental September 21, 2015

Yesterday in Sonoma was hot. hot. hot, with surprises of the nice variety. There were many many people who knew that beavers create habitat because they had watched the documentary, read a book or heard my talk at Santa Rosa Audubon or Kate’s talk at Pepperwood. And the booth right next door was the executive director of Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation who had formerly been the beaver management guy at Huntley Meadows in Virginia! He happened to know our friend Ann Cameron Siegal, who has been taking jaw-droppingly beautiful photos there of beaver life for years.

Crazy small world.

I came home thinking about the idea of the beaver as an ecosystem engineer, and wondering whether our next activity at the festival could help children understand that concept.

An ecosystem engineer is an organism that modifies, creates or destroys habitat and directly or indirectly modulates the availability of resources to other species.

Wouldn’t this make a cool activity for kids to earn from the different booths if we can figure it out? You know like each car links together to make the train bracelet?

Two awesome beaver birthday cards came to me yesterday that I really need to share. Love the beaver strategy meeting especially.

Ohhh and just in case you’re interested, here’s what I thought yesterday about turning 50.

Sonoma Bound

heidi08 Beaver News, Beavers, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Who's saving beavers now? September 20, 2015

Yesterday we met with Suzi Eszterhas and 5 children that were beaver regulars and did a beaver art project in Susanna Street park for possible inclusion in the Ranger Rick story. The pictures will give you some idea of how cute it looked from the outside, but you’d actually need to be there to hear how delightful it was in person. These children had been to many, many festivals and literally knew everything there was to know about beavers.

One child had brought her recent copy of Ranger Rick for Suzi to sign, since it was the issue with her incredible cheetah photos. Many of then named their beavers (B0, Violet and Jojo are some I remember.) And one girl fed hers acorns, fennel and a branch. The bags were very popular and Suzi especially liked the fork paws. If you want to make your own the patterns are here.

There’s a nice article on Napatopia this morning. I especially like the way it talks to public officials who never mention flooding or money. Life is so different on the Napa side of the creek…

Napa waterways attracting wild critters

Since moving to Napa four years go, Rusty Cohn has gotten into the habit of taking a daily walk along Soscol Avenue. About two years ago, he noticed that a pond had been created in Tulucay Creek next to the Hawthorn Wyndham Suites hotel.Observing the area more closely, he was amazed to see what looked like a beaver dam.

There was a moment of disbelief. Beavers in residence along Napa’s Auto Row?

The Resource Conservation District estimates that there are 10 to 15 beaver dams and at least 100 individuals in Napa County waterways, including the new arrivals in downtown and along Soscol. Beaver dams create mini ecosystems, according to Knapczyk. They, in turn, draw other wildlife like fish, birds, and the popular river otters, although the otter population in Napa is very small.

See those last three lines in bold text? Can you make the whole article like this next time? Go read the whole thing, and see how perilously little credit beavers get for this sudden biodiversity. We’ll work on it. In the meantime I wish we had many, many more articles pondering the benefits of wildlife in urban settings.

If you have thoughts or questions, you should come ask them yourself here. Because Martinez and Napa beavers will be shoulder to shoulder teaching how and why to coexist. See you there?

What I didn’t expect…

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers and Birds, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Beavers or Social Ambasadors, Creative Solutions, Who's saving beavers now? September 19, 2015

I never ever thought I’d live to see the day that we heard about beaver benefits from Arkansas! But what do I know, anyway?

Busy Beavers: Pests or Heroes?

Amanda Bancroft

Beaver habitat is riparian zone, and these vegetarians are good creators and maintainers of wetlands. First they create the dam (which they can rebuild overnight if necessary) with mud, stones and timber. Once the water level begins to rise, they turn their attention to building their lodge. Interior rooms are hollowed out after the structure is finished. They take in lodgers who live in the same rooms as the beaver family: muskrats, frogs, insects, deer mice, fungus, and more. This sort of community hospitality is unique.

They can be pests to farmers currently benefiting from fertile land that was once a beaver pond. When beavers return and build a new dam, they cause flooding. But beaver whisperer Michel Leclaire has found that placing a recording of running water where you want beavers to build their dam entices them to build in places convenient for people. Other advice for farmers, road crews and the general public for getting along with beavers can be found on Beavers: Wetlands & Wildlife’s website at BeaversWW.org.

Whooohooo! Give Amanda a hand for spreading the beaver gospel AND teaching how problems can be managed. Never you mind that she doesn’t mention a certain beaver-saving group that shall remain nameless, she does a great job anyway. I guess I shouldn’t be so surprised because we had a great donation to the silent auction for the beaver festival last year from Arkansas. Remember these from our friends at ozarkmtnhomestead?

There was only one part of the article that worried me a little bit. And it came at the end.

Beavers create a wetland habitat which is great for a plethora of species but not so great for species like the endangered Arkansas darter, a small fish that does not need a beaver pond bringing in predatory species that may eat it. Beaver ponds are also not so great for climate change, contributing a small percentage of methane gas into the atmosphere from their ponds. That’s a pretty small downside for an animal that provides big benefits to North America overall – particularly in areas prone to drought.

OK, first of all you’re wrong about climate change. I mean in the big sense, the only one that matters. And second of all I’m not so sure about the darter. You might want to check out what happened to the near by state of Alabama when they removed a beaver dam and threatened the rare watercress darter. I believe their fine for doing so was in the millions.

Now it turned out that Scott didn’t start the website upgrade, because terrible things (as you know) happen when you do that sometimes. So he would never do it unexpected. WordPress just dragged me kicking and screaming into the future. And eventually we’ll straighten it out.

‘m feeling at the moment like I’m extraordinarily lucky to be able to depend on others to help the parts that I can’t reach. I was worried about making it in Sonoma yesterday and thought we’d need to cancel because of the heat.

Rusty volunteered and will be ending the day with Lory and Cheryl and bringing stuff back to Martinez after. This morning we’re off for a children’s photo shoot making beaver puppets with Suzi for RR and tomorrow I will turn 50 doing what I love to do.

I already got the best present:

Out of the mouths of babes…

heidi08 Beavers and Birds, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Educational, Environmental, Who's saving beavers now? September 10, 2015

LETTER: New role for Canada’s beavers in the conservation of water

Editor: At one time beavers were emblazoned on our currency, given to the queen as a gift and revered as a founding economy of our country. But today, beavers are considered a nuisance.

As a secondary school student in Walnut Grove, I studied and wrote an article about the beaver dam on Anderson Creek (Langley). From our own history, I could see the significant role of the beavers in forming and starting the nation.

Today, Canada is well represented by preserving many Aboriginal cultures and arts used in its tourism economy.

But will the beaver also be respected and preserved regarding its new role in the community?

The beaver dam on Anderson Creek could become a concern for the property owners living in the area if rising flooding interfered with roads and houses.

However, from the biologist’s perspective, beavers are actually conserving water to prepare themselves and the whole community to deal with the problems of hotter and drier weather.

As beavers work hard to make a new wetland and provide healthier environments in B.C. shouldn’t they be highly appreciated, especially, since not many people are conserving water?

Recently developed flow devices are also helping beavers become successful co-habitants with the community.

Therefore, shouldn’t we urge people to not only look at beavers as part of the past but also as a vital part of the future?

Seeone Kim,

Walnut Grove Secondary

How much do you love this letter? Smart ecology tailored to our own inescapable self-interests. I went hunting for Seeone online who is starting 11th grade this year at one of the biggest high schools in Vancouver. (One that looks rosy enough to make it into the Canadian Disney hit 16 Wishes). Obviously Seeone has much bigger goals than that heroine. I found the article about her project which was overlooked on this website by the strange coincidence of slipping into the black hole of festival week. You will want to go read it yourself, but here’s a highlight.

New neighbours help conserve water

As the City of Langley and the Township move to Stage 3 water restrictions during the hot and dry summer weather, one group of residents have successfully mastered the art of conserving water.

A newly constructed beaver dam on Anderson Creek in Surrey is helping maintain healthy water levels in local streams, creeks and rivers.

As a summer writing project, co-ordinated by English tutor Joan Gibson of Langley, two students from Walnut Grove Secondary School — Seeone Kim, Grade 11, and Cormick Campbell, Grade 9 — are studying and writing about the new dam construction and its effects on nearby habitat.

The beavers began building last January and today, have created a beautiful dam that spans the creek from bank to bank.

Stage 3 water restrictions. That sounds serious. We wouldn’t know anything about that her in CA right? I’m really starting to think water is going to be the unavoidable issue that helps people see beavers differently. In fact I spent a good part of yesterday on this 30 second PSA which I’m pretty happy with.