Category: Beavers and salmon

KITSAP KNOWS THAT BEAVERS HELP SALMON

heidi08 Beavers and salmon November 8, 2020

If you have a pulse I believe it is beating lighter this morning. Time for some more uplifting news from Kitsap Washington.

Salmon run starting later than usual, but here’s where you can see them

Salmon are just starting to leap over beaver dams and swim upstream toward freshwater. The salmon run season seems to be starting a little later than usual, according to experts, but thousands of salmon in the Kitsap area are or soon will be on their way upstream to riverbeds to spawn.

Rain in the past week has invited the salmon into the rivers and creeks, but smaller streams aren’t yet filled with enough water to support the fish swimming toward their destination.

Jon Oleyar, Suquamish Tribal fisheries biologist, said a dry summer has caused many Kitsap streams to be relatively clear of salmon so far. Chico Creek, Blackjack Creek, and Curly Creek are beginning to flow with fish, however.

It’s splendid that some places still get enough salmon to celebrate. And guess how they look at their beavers by the way?

“The nice thing about salmon is they’re very evolved to these conditions. They’ll wait around in the saltwater until the right conditions,” Walbillig said.

The higher up a salmon can get in the watershed, the better the chance of successful spawning. Lower in the watershed, there is more of a chance for flooding, which could bring sedimentation or pollution to salmon as they’re trying to spawn.

Beaver dams can slow the salmon’s pace a bit, but overall they are beneficial and important to salmon health and habitat.

“Beavers and the salmon have coexisted for thousands of years and they’re good buddies,” Oleyar said the beaver dams aren’t an issue in the salmon’s crossing. “They do slow down the passage a little bit, but it’s actually beneficial because it gives the salmon a place to rest and wait for that rain.”

No one’s blowing up beaver dams in Washington I assure you!

When the rain comes down the streams go up, and the salmon can go around, through, or over the beaver’s barriers. The water is then also nice and deep for the salmon on the other side of the dam. Members of the public are encouraged not to remove beaver dams if it can be avoided, as they benefit the health of the watershed as a whole.

Walbillig said in low-water conditions with few salmon he’s visited a beaver bond full of coho. Deeper pools like that provide a rearing area for juvenile fish, he said.

“It’s a really symbiotic relationship between the two,” Walbillig said.

Nicely said, although to be honest symbiotic is probably the wrong word. Beavers don’t NEED salmon, any more than they NEED mergansers or woodducks or otters or dragonflies. It’s a one way street baby. Beavers need willow. They don’t really need any of you.

You’re welcome.

Last night, after the celebrations, we watched the Sound of Music. So we could see inspiring people get away from Nazi’s. With singing. May I say we highly recommend it.

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OLD NEWS CONTINUES TO SURPRISE IN OREGON

heidi08 Beavers and salmon July 23, 2020

Yesterday Cheryl gave consent for a bunch of her photos to be used to Cascadia Wildlands who is undertaking a campaign to persuade people not to trap beavers in Eugene. They maintain a website called Protecting Ecosystem Engineers where Cheryl’s photos are soon to be shared. Because apparently no one ever thought of coexisting with beavers before for a decade.

Well may they do a lot of good and let folks see things clearer in Oregon. I’m not going to be condescending at all because California is way way worse. I’ve always said that beaver wisdom flows from Washington State and by the time it reaches us its a little tarnished.

Folks are having a heyday in Oregon though.

Beavers Could Be A Key Species For Endangered Salmon Recovery In Oregon

Recent guidance from the federal government is, for the first time, promoting the importance of beavers in the recovery of endangered salmon and steelhead in Oregon rivers.

A recently released biological opinion is encouraging landowners to use non-lethal means of dealing with beavers on private property.

“We know that they can provide important benefits that help support recovery of these fish that a lot of people are working toward,” says Michael Milstein, a spokesperson with the National Marine Fisheries Service. “But at the same time, it’s clear that they can cause conflict.”

It’s funny how the same decision our friends called a major break down and failure, NPR classifies as a major break through. Politics is the art of the possible. It’s more about public transportation not falling in love. Just because a deal doesn’t get you exactlt where you want to go, you don’t throw in the towel and pledge to just stay home. You go with whatever bus brings you CLOSEST to where you need to be.

I guess this is closer.

WHAT’S SO FUNNY ABOUT PEACE, LOVE AND TOLERANCE?

Well Oregon isn’t done teaching us all not to let the moment pass next time. This appeared yesterday in Oregon Coast.

Fish do grow on trees

By Paul Haeder

You’ve got to start thinking about this as an ecosystem. All these plantations might as well be growing corn. But if you want clean water, salmon, wildlife, and high-quality lumber, you’ve got to have a forest.” — Mike Fay, a Wildlife Conservation Society biologist and National Geographic Society explorer-in-residence

I met Evan Hayduk, 35, with Mid-Coast Watershed Council when I first moved to the coast from Portland. That was Jan 2019 at Oregon Coast Community College for a dual presentation as part of the Williams Lecture series.

“Shedding a Scientific and Humanitarian Light on Climate Change” was a one-two punch featuring Hayduk alongside Bill Kucha, well-known artist and founder the 350 Oregon Central Coast.

Ooh I have a feeling we read something by Mr. Haeder before. Now that I search I see I did an interview with him after the first beaver conference I attended years ago. Sadly it’s no longer online. But at least I know where I heard his name before! I think we’re going to like this,

“Tidal wetlands are important habitats for salmon and a diversity of other fish and wildlife species,” said Hayduk. “They also trap sediment, buffer coastal communities from flooding and erosion and perform other valued ecosystem services.”

The connection between healthy rivers, functioning floodplains, and healthy fish, Evan emphasizes while putting planting riverbank lupine (Lupinus rivularis) in clusters of four, is trees. I learned much of these interlinked processes while teaching and living in Spokane, working on issues around the Spokane River, a highly urbanized and suburbanized river. Those forested watersheds have much higher water quality. Trees also provide a wide variety of ecological services.

Hmm. I can believe that. I mean it’s. not the answer that springs first to the tongue,t that but were surely going to need the trees if we want that OTHER special angel to come fourth and do his healing works.

Paul: What are the three things you suggest citizens can do to help folks like you and nonprofits like MCWC do what you have to do to protect salmon habitat/refugia?

Evan: A. Help and protect beaver on the landscape. This is #1. Beavers do a better job to create and maintain salmon habitat than we could ever hope to. Tolerate beavers if you live on a property that has a stream. There are beaver solutions that make it easier to “live with beaver.” Inform your neighbors about the importance of beaver and join efforts to stop trapping and killing of this ecosystem engineer.

And SCENE! That’s what we were all waiting for. You know it was coming. Tolerate beavers in the landscape. Stop killing them and let them tend your streams. You will have better salmon, better fish, better wildlife, better water storage, cleaner systems and more life-giving wetlands if you do.

Tolerate beavers

Tolerance. Does that really sound so hard?

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KEEPING THE OFFICIALS ON THEIR TOES FOR BEAVERS

heidi08 Beavers and salmon, Friends of Martinez Beavers July 7, 2020

Commissioner Bob Main will not get my vote

I listened to the recent Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting regarding the beaver trapping ban in the national forests. The intent of the ban was to protect our declining fisheries. Beavers are a “keystone species,” an organism whose pond-creating powers support entire biological communities. In Oregon, a host of threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead runs depend on them.

A growing body of evidence suggests that by creating ponds, storing water, and converting straight streams into multi-threaded ones, beavers expand shelter for young fish and keep creeks well-hydrated. One 1992 study found that two-thirds of Oregon’s coastal coho overwintered in beaver ponds and slack waters. In its coho recovery plan, the National Marine Fisheries Service recommends “encouraging the formation of beaver dams.”

I was surprised to learn our Commissioner Bob Main testified at the ODFW Commission meeting that he wanted to support beaver trapping and was against any rule changes. Under the current rules trappers only have to check their traps every seven days. Seven days in a trap is nothing short of cruel. The same goes for the cyanide poisoning across Oregon.

Commissioner Bob Main will not get my vote this year. He has shown complete disregard to our fish and wildlife.

Charles Erickson, Coos Bay

Excellent letter Charles! Imagine paying such attention to the election of a fish and wildlife officer that you write a letter like this when they vote wrong! Near as I can tell he’s the director of the clam digging association up there. I think he is my new best friend. And of course he’s right. If a commissioner can’t see the salmon for the trees he had better find another line of work.

Perfect timing, really because this evening I’m presenting to the Alhambra Watershed Forum on the Martinez Beavers. It’s nice to be asked back after all these years and I am looking forward to updating the beaver benefits I start illustrating lo these many years ago. They’ve posted the link to the talk on facebook so I believe I can share it.

if you want to zoom in and join us click on this photo at 6:30 tonight!

CAN MORE PAPERWORK SAVE SALMON?

heidi08 Beavers and salmon June 23, 2020

The weighty bio report from NOAA in the USDA beaver trapping decision has been making slow and unfriendly waves. The latest is an excellent letter from our friends at the Center for Biological Diversity who were involved in the original lawsuit.

OP-ED: Trump Admin Rationalizes Oregon Beaver Killing, Endangers Salmon

In a long-awaited analysis, the National Marine Fisheries Service issued its findings on the impact on salmon and steelhead of continued killing of Oregon beavers by Wildlife Services, an arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The analysis highlighted the importance of beavers in creating excellent fish habitat and demonstrated that beavers have been reduced to only 3-10% of their historical populations. Despite the clear connection between beavers and healthy salmon and steelhead populations, the National Marine Fisheries Service concludes that Wildlife Services’ beaver killing will not “jeopardize” 12 species of salmon and steelhead that require protection under the Endangered Species Act because their populations are so imperiled.

“NMFS acknowledges in this opinion that Pacific Northwest salmon and steelhead evolved with beaver dams and adapted to their presence, yet, in the same document turns a blind eye to a federal agency killing 400 or more beavers a year in the Beaver State,” said Andrew Hawley, an attorney with the Western Environmental Law Center (WELC). “Allowing Wildlife Services to resume business as usual, NMFS missed the opportunity to set clear guidelines on when beaver killing shouldn’t and should be allowed given beavers’ importance to the threatened and endangered fish of Oregon.

I can’t imagine what it is like to be Michael Pollock today, working for a federal government that does exactly the opposite of what his research recommends. At least the report QUOTES him, even if it doesn’t listen.

This is my favorite part.

“This opinion is a classic mix of science and politics in the Trump era,” said Nina Bell, executive director of Northwest Environmental Advocates. “The science overwhelmingly says that beavers are essential to preserving and creating salmon habitat, yet the federal agencies conclude that continued beaver killing should proceed so long as they send reports about it. Unfortunately, there is no link between more paperwork and salmon survival.”

Oh man that’s good. Very droll. That’s almost British it is so dry. Nina Bell is my new favorite person. If you google her you will see a resume 5 miles long. She has testified more times than you mother can count.

“Unfortunately, there is no link between more paperwork and salmon survival.”

Numerous studies show that beavers benefit endangered salmon and steelhead by creating ponds that provide fish with food and habitat. Despite these well-established ecological benefits, in past years, Wildlife Services killed hundreds of beavers annually with traps, snares and firearms. In 2016 the program in Oregon killed more than 400 beavers — the official state animal.

Just keep repeating that over and over. If beavers can’t win the war they can at least win the battle of public opinion. Teach people why they should live with beavers and you are two thirds of the way home.

Its not as if USDA wants to trap beavers in their spare time and gets lonely without it. They do it because they are paid to do it by cities, counties and landowners who complain about beavers.

Get rid of the complaint and you get rid of the USDA.