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Utah Beavers Beckon

heidi08 Beaver News, Beavers and Birds, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Friends of Martinez Beavers, Who's saving beavers now? August 31, 2014

Mary Obrien was the first beaver idol I ever had. It was 2009 when I read the article in High Country News that described her eloquently preaching the beaver gospel and advocating for their many benefits. I was starstruck to meet her in person at the State of the Beaver Conference in 2011 and thrilled when she came to our festival the following year. It was Mary who talked the documentary crew into including Martinez last year. And Mary who flew out to attend the Salmonid Restoration Conference workshop on steelhead and beaver, coming to dinner at the house we rented in Santa Barbara with the other beaver wizards.

Think I’m exaggerating about her importance? Here’s a description of Mary from Scientific American.

One five-star general in the campaign to save nature is Dr. Mary O’Brien, and she has a thing for beaver, the championing of which she has completely converted me to. In the first place, the quest for beaver has arguably had more impact on American history than the pursuit of any other single natural resource, its influence lasting well over 200 years. Sixty million or so beaver populated North America before 1600, and had a huge effect on the hydrology of the landscape – beaver dams stored water, slowed its flow and rate of evaporation, slowed erosion and supported a wealth of fish and bird species. In fact, the extermination of beaver from North America arguably marks the point at which our landscapes began to buckle and slide down the ruinous course we find them on now. Especially in the West, where water has always been an enormous issue and will become more important as climate change affects it, there is a real imperative to put beaver back on the waterways.

So when she asked me after my presentation at the conference whether I’d be willing to come to Utah and present at their festival this year if they payed my expenses I was very, very surprised. Like kinda if Santa asked you to help pick out your presents for next year, surprised. The kind where you don’t really want to mention or think about it just in case it doesn’t happen. Mary’s a busy woman and has five million things to do at any given moment, so I thought she might change her mind or forget about it.

She didn’t forget. She wrote me the week of our beaver festival and said “Are you coming?” So on the last weekend of September we are officially flying to Cedar City on Friday and getting picked up by her students to stay at a hotel in St. George where the festival is. Saturday morning we go to the event where I will present twice in an auditorium at the Nature Center on our urban beavers, and generally enjoy the day. Sunday morning I’ll present to her students on the research we did for the historic prevalence papers. And Monday we fly home. She sent the almost completed poster yesterday which needed a time change, but I couldn’t wait to share so I patched it myself just to show you.

Remember, that there was no Utah Beaver Festival until there was a Martinez Beaver Festival. And there never would have been a Martinez Festival if our city had conceded gracefully and said “OK you win, we’ll protect the beavers.”

I guess we should really thank them for being so encouragingly stubborn?

And as for Utah, home of the first beaver relocation plan to restore upper watersheds, a statewide USFS beaver management plan, who brought in Skip Lisle, Sherri Tippie and Mike Callahan to teach the basics, and who still had time to commission the “Economic Services of Beaver” paper, Utah of the adorable beavers in towels photos after the famous Willard Bay Crude Oil spill – That Beehive state had better get ready.

Because I think Martinez is going to rock their world.

The beaver sun also rises

heidi08 Beavers and Frogs, Who's saving beavers now? August 29, 2014

Former Martinez resident LB moved away to Beaverton 5 years ago. Last night she wrote me that she still reads the website every day and sent this column. Thanks LB! Beaverton NEEDS beaver supporters.

This undated photo provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows an Oregon spotted frog, which was listed Thursday, Aug. 28, 2014 as a threatened species. Once common across Oregon and Washington, the frog is only found in scattered and isolated wetlands amounting to 10 percent of its former range. (AP Photo/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

Oregon spotted frog to be protected as threatened

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) — Twenty-three years after it was first proposed for protection by the Endangered Species Act, the Oregon spotted frog is being listed as a threatened species.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is expected to publish its decision on Friday in the Federal Register. It takes effect 30 days later.

Once common from the Puget Sound in Washington through the Willamette Valley in Oregon down and into Northern California, the frog survives in scattered locations in about 10 percent of its former range, mostly east of the Cascades, the service said.

That’s sad for frogs, but what does this have to do with beavers? Hmm can you guess?

Habitat for the frog has been lost to urban and agricultural development, livestock grazing, the removal of beavers and the encroachment of non-native grasses, the agency said. Non-native fish and bullfrogs have eaten them.

Restoration plans will focus on maintaining water levels in wetlands, putting beavers back into ecosystems, removing invasive grasses and removing non-native predators, Fish and Wildlife officials said.

And that’s just ONE reason why it’s smart to play for team beaver. There are many more. Take care of the beavers and lots of things will take care of themselves. Frogs and salmon and birds and water…

Oh and lest you despair, apparently the beaver spirit lives on in the shire. A prominent beaver defender wrote me yesterday after my gloomy column bemoaning DEFRAs unstoppable evil in Devon:

Hi Heidi – Its not over till the fat lady sings – no notes so far. We are fighting this as hard as we can with more people helping daily. The govt trappers have no idea how to capture them all and none of us are helping.

I don’t know, maybe you should help. Put on your best wellies and a field jumper tell them how much beavers like to roost in the lower tree branches or doorways.

Beavers: The cure for what ails you.

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers elsewhere, Who's saving beavers now? August 13, 2014

At-Risk Columbia Spotted Frogs: Factors Influencing Conservation

USGS researchers, including scientist Robert Arkle, examined existing data on spotted frog occurrence, abundance and habitat to understand factors influencing habitat quality, habitat connectivity and climate suitability in the Great Basin. Preliminary results suggest that the area of the Great Basin with suitable climates for spotted frogs has already decreased over the past 100 years and will continue to decrease substantially over the next 100 years. Genetic research suggests connectivity between adjacent occupied sites is currently low, while sub-populations are isolated from one another.

USGS research suggests that management tools, such as beaver reintroduction, grazing management and non-native trout control efforts may promote conservation of the Columbia spotted frog in the Great Basin.

So NOAA, USFS, and USGS think beaver reintroduction is a good idea to increase habitat for threatened aquatic species. While USDA and CDFG merrily continue to kill them, ignoring the trickle down effect that eliminating each beaver dam will have on a rapidly drying planet. How long does it take for such simple wisdom to pass through government bureaucracy?

Let’s just say I wouldn’t want to be a columbia spotted frog.

Word this morning is that Utah is truly having another beaver festival, and they’re paying for me to come talk about our beavers in Martinez. It’s in Cedar City and I’ll tell you more details when I know them. The event is organized, of course, by the Mary Obrien and the Grand Canyon Trust where practically all good news about beavers originate. Considering Mary was the inspiring voice in the wilderness a million years ago when this all started, and now she wants me to come speak, I’m pretty honored.