Category: Beavers and trout

BINGHAM COUNTY WELCOMES BEAVERS

heidi08 Beaver ecological impact, Beavers and Birds, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout July 2, 2022

What do you know? While I’ve been cocooned in a bubble of festival details the world has continued to turn and find it’s own truths to say about beavers! Whether it’s the IFLS article that notices that beaver kits are, in fact, the cutest rodents in the world or this fine article from Binngham county Idaho.

CONNELLY: The beaver pond: Nature’s landscape remodeling program

Nature likes to remodel. Hurricanes, floods, fire, and so on can change the environmental landscape quickly and over large areas.

Nature uses another tool to affect change in relatively small areas, the beaver pond. Beavers are a “keystone” species, meaning their wetland-creating activities support many other species. In lakes and rivers with deep water, beavers may use bank burrows and lodges, otherwise beavers build dams to provide ponds as protection against predators and access to food during winter. Beavers normally work at night and are prolific builders, carrying mud and stones with their fore-paws and wood between their teeth.

Cute idea. The beaver pond “Remodeling program” could be reality TV that catches on. I like where this is going.

Beaver ponds can provide nurseries for trout and salmon. They are also beneficial to frog and toad populations, likely because they provide areas for larvae to mature in warmer, well-oxygenated water. A study in Alberta, Canada, showed that beaver ponds supported almost six times more newly metamorphosed wood frogs, 29 times more western toads and 24 times more boreal chorus frogs than on nearby free-flowing streams.

Beaver dams also help songbird populations by stimulating the growth of plant species important to songbirds and generally enhancing habitat. The presence of beaver dams has been shown to be associated with an increased diversity of songbirds.

Beaver ponds help build and restore wetlands which improve downstream flood control, plant and animal biodiversity, water quality, and erosion control. A recent study of beaver pond hydrology reported increased groundwater storage and regional water balance which can certainly be beneficial during drought.

Wow that’s a lot of good things to say about beavers in IDAHO. Have you checked your state laws? Are you sure that’s legal? I couldn’t not be happier with this article.

Many ranchers value beaver ponds because they enhance water and forage for livestock. After restoring beaver, one Idaho rancher reported that his ranch and surrounding public lands experienced an increase in wet meadows, healthy riparian habitat, and floodplains that are more resilient to fire, drought, and erosion. Lew Pence, who worked for the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service, said “I think beavers, in conjunction with proper grazing management, are the most economical way to bring these badly eroded riparian areas back to health”.

Additionally, a recent study concluded that increased vegetation productivity resulting from conservation-oriented grazing or exclosures and high amounts of beaver activity is equivalent to moving conventionally-grazed, low-gradient sites without beaver up at least 850 feet in elevation or increasing annual precipitation by almost 10 inches.

Wow. Jay Inslee you have made such an impression in Idaho that it’s starting to sink in. I am fully impressed. You should be very proud. Get ready for the classic “your mileage may vary” statement to make cover the lawsuits that follow.

Beaver ponds may not always be a good thing and do present some challenges. Ponds can be disruptive; flooding may cause property damage and can wash out railroad tracks and roads. When a beaver dam bursts the resulting flash flood may overwhelm a culvert.

In his book “Journal of a Trapper,” Osborne Russell reported much of his beaver trapping occurred east of the Snake River Plain. That was prime beaver country in the 1830s, and many areas still provide good beaver habitat today. If you want to view beaver ponds, the higher country stretching from Mink Creek to the South Fork of the Snake offers plenty of opportunity.

Okay nothing about solving problems or flow device but STILL. That was the best paragraphs I have read about beavers from Idaho EVER. I think that deserves a celebration. I don’t even know who wrote it. The article is titled “Connelly” but it doesn’t even say anything about the author. I did find this bio however. He’s the real deal.

Jack Connelly has lived in Bingham County for over 40 years. He is an avid outdoorsman and has hiked, camped, hunted, and fished over much of the U.S. as well as parts of Europe and Asia. Connelly worked as a biologist for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game for over 30 years. He now enjoys retirement with his wife Cheryl raising chickens and bird dogs at their home in Blackfoot.

Alright Idaho. You’ve been officially summoned to the beaver table. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

“CAN DEE FISHY YUMP OVER DEE BEEVER DAM?”

heidi08 Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout June 7, 2022

I don’t know how much proof people need and why we need to spend our time publishing studies like “Beavers Don’t Cause Beaver Fever More than any Other mammal” or “Don’t eat fish”. Some things you shouldn’t HAVE to prove. But I was glad to see this headine anyway,

Field experiments to assess passage of juvenile salmonids across beaver dams during low flow conditions in a tributary to the Klamath River, California, USA

Although the use of beaver ponds by numerous fish and wildlife species is well documented, debate continues as to the benefits of beaver dams, primarily because dams are perceived as barriers to fish movement, particularly migratory species such as salmonids. In this study, through a series of field experiments, we tested the ability of juvenile salmonids to cross constructed beaver dams (aka beaver dam analogues). Two species, coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) and steelhead trout (O. mykiss), were tracked using passive integrated transponder tags (PIT tags) as they crossed constructed beaver dam analogues. We found that when we tagged and moved these fishes from immediately upstream of the dams to immediately downstream of them, most were detected upstream within 36 hours of displacement.

By the end of a 21-day field experiment, 91% of the displaced juvenile coho and 54% of the juvenile steelhead trout were detected on antennas upstream of the dams. In contrast, during the final week of the 21-day experiment, just 1 of 158 coho salmon and 6 of 40 (15%) of the steelhead trout were still detected on antennas in the release pool below the dams. A similar but shorter 4-day pilot experiment with only steelhead trout produced similar results. In contrast, in a non-displacement experiment, juveniles of both species that were captured, tagged and released in a pool 50 m below the dams showed little inclination to move upstream. Further, by measuring hydraulic conditions at the major flowpaths over and around the dams, we provide insight into low-flow conditions under which juvenile salmonids are able to cross these constructed beaver dams, and that multiple types of flowpaths may be beneficial towards assisting fish movement past instream restoration structures.

Finally, we compared estimates of the number of juvenile salmonids using the pond habitat upstream of the dam relative to the number that the dam may have prevented from moving upstream. Upstream of the dams we found an abundance of juvenile salmonids and a several orders of magnitude difference in favor of the number of juveniles using the pond habitat upstream of the dam. In sum, our study suggests beaver dams, BDAs, and other channel spanning habitat features should be preserved and restored rather than removed as perceived obstructions to fish passage.

Are you paying attention WISCONSIN? Or do you stop reading when you saw all those long words. Let me make it clearer with a little graph. How’s this?

Just to clarify, on the first day only ONE fish had cleared the beaver dam. But two weeks later most of them had. And we’re talking salmon AND steelhead. Or to put it in the simplest terms. Do you remember the Swedish chef from the muppets? I think he would put it something like

“Can dee fishy yump over de beever dam? “Dee fishy is var tasty und dee dam est var hi. Mork Mork Mork! Yes! We can see dat the fishies all yumped over the beever dam!“

Are you following along? Look about those fine scientists blowing up beaver dams so that salmon and trout can get by, JUST STOP IT. You got that?

Overall, we suggest that unless there is clear and compelling evidence that a beaver dam or BDAs are preventing the movement of fishes and that this is likely to have a population-level effect, such structures should not be removed. Options such as temporarily notching may be an alternative under some conditions, such as the presence of adult salmon stacking up below a dam, but guidelines need developing. For human-built structures such as BDAs and other weirs, we conclude that our data provide some guidance as to what constitutes a passable structure, but that more examples from the field are needed under a wider range of flow conditions.

Kind of mealy mouth for my tastes, I wish you didn’t have to be so cautiously scientific about everything. JUST STOP IT. That’s what I’d say. But then I don’t work for NOAA Fisheries and nobody pays my salary.

BEAVERS AND ORVIS

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers and trout May 15, 2022

After yesterday’s dizzy news I felt a little high all day, like I had just won a downhill race or trekked nepal. I heard from many friends about the good news and called a few to make sure they knew. And I sent the License plate design to the governor’s office just for good measure. Late in the day I heard from Ben Goldfarb who was very very excited about and wanted to do an article for NG or something similar specifically on the fight. Good. I want everyone to know how hard we worked to make this almost happen.

I also heard Ben on the biggest podcast interview yet. The Orvis Fly fishing listen that angler’s from across the country tune into. I knew this was coming but it was better than I expected, and I usually listen to them all when Ben’s talking. If you want to skip the fishing advice, Interview starts at 43:26.

You may wonder why I’ve done a podcast about beavers. You may be greatly surprised by the beneficial interactions between beavers and trout habitat—I know I was after talking to Ben Goldfarb, author of Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter. Beavers have a much more positive effect on trout streams aside from just making deep pools, and they don’t present any problems to migrating fish. And, yes, we do talk about how to fish a beaver pond, and how to find a good one. I think all fly fishers and nature enthusiasts will learn something new in this podcast.

If every trout fisherman in every stream in every state thought beavers would good for fish then they might have a fighting chance. Nice work Ben.

BEAVER THINGS ARE FALLING INTO PLACE

heidi08 Beaver Art, Beaver ecological impact, Beavers and climate change, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout May 4, 2022

I just love days like these. Yesterday I learned that our long time helper Erika will take over for Fro with the animal spirit flag painting, with Susan, April and Alana and Jon as her aides and to top it off this story aired on the NPR podcast “Short Wave”. You should definitely listen.

Why You Should Give A Dam About Beavers!

BEAVER BONUSES BRING BENEFITS – WENATCHEE

heidi08 Beaver ecological impact, Beavers and climate change, Beavers and trout April 16, 2022

There’s just nothing about this article that I don’t like. I guess that means we know its from Washington State.

Sarah Ortiz and Michael Dello Russo: Learning to live with beavers offers bonuses

These mammalian guests, named Scar and Chewy by project staff, may at first appear out of place at a fish hatchery, but the beavers are integral salmon conservation partners. Beavers perform a variety of ecosystem services, including fish habitat restoration and climate change mitigation; but when these animals build dams and forage on private property, conflict arises.

The relocation of Scar and Chewy is part of a collaboration between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Trout Unlimited.

The goal of the Wenatchee Beaver Project is to reduce conflict between beavers and landowners in Chelan and Douglas counties, while helping support the important environmental benefits this unique mammal can generate. This is accomplished through the installation of non-lethal beaver deterrents where needed and the relocation of nuisance beavers from private to public land. These measures can help this important species continue to shape riverine habitat without disturbing local property owners.

Reducing conflict to let beavers work their magic. Oh when when will California learn this?

Although the Wenatchee Beaver Project has had success with relocation, the project team aims for on-site management when possible. Solutions as simple as caging desirable trees or painting tree trunks with gritty paint can deter beavers from chewing. When flooding is an issue, “beaver deceivers” are installed. A beaver deceiver consists of a large pipe put through a beaver dam and caged at both ends. Like a culvert underneath a road, the pipe allows water to flow through, and the cages prevent beavers from plugging the ends. This device will keep the water level in a beaver pond from exceeding a desired depth. If these methods are impossible to apply, then trapping and relocation are used as a last resort.

That sounds like a lot of trouble. Why should we bother?

Beaver dams benefit a multitude of other species, including cold-water-loving trout and salmon. Beaver ponds store cool water in summer, creating habitat for the region’s important native fish species, like endangered steelhead and spring Chinook. This is especially important today with record high summer temperatures and longer periods of low flow conditions predicted to continue across the Pacific Northwest in coming years.

Additionally, beaver ponds store groundwater which fuels riverside vegetation. This vegetation, in turn, shades rivers and streams, further cooling the water for native fish. In many cases the stored groundwater also returns to surface flow in downstream reaches, providing important cool water to chill too-warm summer streams. This means that a healthy beaver population acts to conserve native fish species in the Wenatchee Valley, allowing future generations to witness iconic trout and salmon on this picturesque landscape.

Jaspers explains that beaver “affect our landscape on a big level when it comes to fire and climate resiliency.” Recent research suggests that beavers help to protect people and their property from wildfires. Riverside vegetation fed by beaver ponds acts as a fire break, stopping wildfires from advancing across the landscape. In 2021, 20 times more land was burned by wildfires in Washington and Oregon than in 2020. With increasing rates of wildfire in the region, beavers may be an important defense against fire-induced property damage and destruction.

GO Jaspers GO. Nothing makes me happier than seeing beaver benefits preached at a grand scale. Help fish? Check. Fight fires? Check. Raise groundwater? Check. We got this.

The whole thing would make an awesome Tshirt. What do you think for this year’s festival attire?