Category: Beavers and trout

Beaver Memorial Day

heidi08 Beavers and Birds, Beavers and climate change, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, What's killing beavers now?, Who's saving beavers now? May 30, 2016

Home again, home again, and not a moment too soon! We found Mario putting finishing touches on the mural, my attempts at posting on location upside down and the fantastic news that Hopkinton is FINALLY hiring Mike Callahan! Here let me catch you up to date on everything! I’ll sit on my Portland stories a while to let them percolate.

Apparently Dave Scola and some city folks are stopping by on Wednesday to see the final product. Then it’s just sealing the work for posterity. Love the frog and the dragonfly and the way a beaver dam is forever on Alhambra Creek. I couldn’t be more pleased, but I’m still going to try to push for one little beaver kit. Wish me luck.

I think every city should have a beaver mural, don’t you? I love that this mural is literally “OVER THE TOP”.

Now you might remember the city of Hopkinton in Massachusetts, which I was forced to learn how to spell when I wrote about them in winter of this year, or in winter of last year, or in spring the year before that. I wrote the council and one brave responder actually talked with Mike for a half an hour in 2015 before a trapper killed 42 beavers this year. Just go to the search bar and type “Hopkinton” to see how many articles come up on the first page alone. They have been such voracious whiners they provoked me into this graphic in December.

Well, change IS possible, get out your nano tools so we can all measure the progress.

Hopkinton looks to trap beavers, install devices

HOPKINTON — In an effort to reduce flooding on properties on Fruit Street and Huckleberry Road, the town is looking to get approvals to trap beavers and install other measures in Whitehall Brook. The Department has filed a notice of intent with the Conservation Commission to approve a beaver management plan developed by a private contractor, Beaver Solutions LLC.

The plans call for trappings, breaching three small beavers dams and installation of two flow devices.

“The town’s goal is not to eradicate the beaver population but to manage it enough so that we can all enjoy our properties safely,” Burke wrote. Mike Callahan, owner of Beaver Solutions in Southampton, surveyed the area by kayak and foot in March.

“Whitehall Brook is a large stream that drains an extensive area including Whitehall Reservoir,” he wrote in his report. “It can have very high flows and if impounded by beaver dams can flood extensive areas since there is a broad floodplain here.” He said beavers have likely lived in the area for a long time. His report details six dams.

“Three active dams raise the water by six inches to a foot each,” he said. “These several small dams all combine to maintain a higher water level abutting the homes on Huckleberry Road. There are also two very large active beaver lodges in this area.”

He said because there is a good food supply, some trappings will likely be needed. He said beaver trapping season is Nov. 1 through April 15, but a permit can be granted from the Board of Health in the off-season.”There are two large beaver dams and multiple smaller ones,” he wrote. “Ironically it is the smaller dams in the vicinity of Huckleberry Road that have generated the most concerns.”

He said for one dam that is flooding an acre of farmland, he recommends the town spend $3,000 for two pipes to lower the water.

Hurray for Mike Callahan and beaver solutions! And hurray for the working mind(s) that made this happen! Of course they are clinging to the trapping idea, because 42 beavers just ISN’T enough for a city of 15,000 and 1.5 square miles of water. (On the day the terms “Slow learner” were redefined, we can simply stand in awe and watch.) Still, progress is incremental. Maybe when they see how these two pipes work for the long term they will stop wasting everyones times with trapping.

Looks like this memorial day is full of losses and opportunities. We need this I think.

Help from Beaver Friends

heidi08 Beavers and Birds, Beavers and climate change, Beavers and Forests, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water May 17, 2016

Yesterday was a volatile day, filled with unexpected reunions and thrilling returns. It was a day of very wonderful and very upsetting things. So of course I got our two grant applications back from the CCC Fish and Wildlife Commission. Sadly the mural application received a rejection letter, but the Wildlife train bracelet was funded in full.

Hurray! Beaver money from the feds! And what on earth is the All Aboard project you ask? A.L.L. A.B.O.A.R.D.

(A little learning about beaver operations and riparian dwellers)

As a foundation species and ecosystem engineer, beaver offer invaluable service in riparian zones. Teaching children about this function encourages them to think more dynamically about the way species systems are interconnected, and how our human behavior can disrupt or encourage the healthy function of streams. With their constant dam building, chewing, mudding and digging of channels, beavers create stream complexity, invertebrate abundance, and habitat enrichment. Beaver wetlands are among the most biodiverse areas on the planet, and are rapidly being recognized for their important role in providing salmon and steelhead habitat, protecting amphibian populations and removing phosphorous and nitrogen. It is important for children to understand that preserving these valuable Ecosystem Engineers can benefit many species, including ourselves.

Beavers are such obvious examples of Ecosystem Engineers that they are often used to explain the concept overall – but this language itself is not very child-friendly and can be hard for youngsters to grasp. With that in mind we’ve decided to employ the concept of a ‘train engineer’ with which children are much more familiar, to cheerfully introduce the idea. We emphasize the way the beaver ‘engineer’ drives the ecosystem with their works, pulling new species into the wetland much like a train ‘pulls along’ the other cars behind it. The concept of ‘linking’ separate cars together, works naturally with the idea of an ecosystem engineer bracelet activity, which children would put together by learning about how beavers help other species.

Yes the acronym monster strikes again, and she believes victory is sweet. Mike Warner of Wildbryde is already hard at work on the charms for 150 children while we speak, and this grant and the recent one from Kiwanis will go a long way to making that possible. (975+450=1425). Now I just need to start breaking it gently to Erika that she will need to put on links for 8 charms x 150 children that day. I’m thinking chocolate and gerber daisies, what do you think?

And while we’re on the topic of ‘breaking it gently, I must assume that somebody told the mayor we were seeing beavers in the creek again, because I joyfully posted the news on Martinez Rants and Raves and this morning that post has received over 400 likes. This comforts me since this forum is limited to folks in Martinez just in case we need to rally the troops again on short notice.

Finally there’s a very fun headline from Devon which has adopted a ‘beaver mascot’ and is looking for the public to help them provide a name.

A DEVON-BASED conservation charity is looking for help from the public to suggest names for its new beaver mascot

The beaver in question is a human-sized beaver costume made to promote the work of Devon Wildlife Trust with England’s only known wild beaver population on the River Otter in East Devon. The costume, which has striking teeth and tail has been produced with support from South Devon-based Cofton Country Holidays.

Steve Hussey , from the Devon Wildlife Trust, said: “We wanted a beaver mascot to help us raise the profile of the River Otter Beaver Trial and its vital work. When Cofton Country Holidays generously stepped in to help us we were delighted.

Gotta name suggestion? I have several. “Resilience, Recovery, Engineer, Keystone, and Evolution” spring to mind first. But “Fish friend” is up there too. Let’s just face the inevitable reality of “justin” and get it over with. You know people will think it’s insanely clever.

At least have the heart to give him a last an herbal middle name to make the point.

And finally here’s a special present from Moses Silva on Sunday that I know you’ve all been waiting for. Thanks Moses!

Beaver splashes

heidi08 Beavers and Birds, Beavers and climate change, Beavers and Forests, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Friends of Martinez Beavers, Who's saving beavers now? May 13, 2016

Here’s the excellent documentary I was talking about yesterday. Don’t ask how it became possible to share it – just enjoy the ride! The Martinez story starts around 15:30 after a trapper segment – but you’ll be smarter if you watch the whole thing.

Untitled from Heidi Perryman on Vimeo.

Yesterday I spoke to a VERY packed house at Martinez Kiwanis, who were eager to know what was up with the beavers. I gave them the full update and talked about the mural and our very odd summer with Suzi and the unexplained beaver deaths. Lara Delaney from city council was happy to have the update. People said afterwards it was one of the best talks they ever had, so I going to assume I did okay. There was a lot of interest in the little Napa segment I added, and people were very surprised to learn how little controversy their arrival had caused in Napatopia as opposed to Martinez.

Unfortunately they mentioned during the meeting they had already voted last week to decide funding allotments for scholarships. So I hope they remembered how much they loved beavers then! The greedy marketer in me would rather Worth A Dam was fresh on their mind when they considered our grant application!

Now my desk is officially cleared and I have no other commitments before Portland. That will give me time to focus on that speech and the mural progress. Mario didn’t work yesterday because he had business in the city, but hopefully well march onward today and tomorrow? I would sure like to have a full bridge before we leave town.

The lying month of May

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers and Birds, Beavers and climate change, Beavers and Forests, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, What's killing beavers now?, Who's blaming beavers now? May 9, 2016

We are just two weeks from the purifying ritual that occurs every year apparently at SARSAS in Auburn. Before they invite me to come tell the truth about beavers, they conjure the opposite so as to soothe the evil bureaucratic spirits. I guess them helps sneak me in the gates, so to speak, since the powers that be are thus duly convinced they hate beavers. By the time my booming beaver beatitudes arrive no one of consequence suspects anything.

By evil spirits, I’m referring, of course, to Mary Tappel, who still takes time out of her busy life on the water board to spread vile lies about beavers. I once called her the ‘human beaver deceiver‘. Her bio in the SARSAS newsletter has some rich allegations of her merry volunteer brigade and their wondrous application of various nonlethal techniques. But this is my favorite one.

Mary also dealt with beaver management questions and in foothill areas such as Granite Bay, Loomis, & Roseville; and towards the Bay/Delta area in Fairfield & Martinez, and to the south in Elk Grove, all in creeks and small retention basins.

So not only does Mary have the outright gall to take credit for the unrivaled beaver slaughter in Elk Grove and Granite Bay (The biggest beaver genocide in 2007 and the site of the most depredation permits in 2013-14.) She also PROUDLY proclaims her work in MARTINEZ.

We’re actually on her resume.

What was her service to the home town of John Muir you ask? Fortunately nothing at all that was useful or true. She told the Gazette that beavers breed for 50 years. She told our mayor that flow devices never work. She advised city staff to kill the father beaver so that the mother would be forced to mate with her offspring. And, at a public meeting of 200 people nearly a decade ago said that the beavers were leaving Martinez, and wouldn’t be a problem anymore.

I have to say I remain very grateful for her unique level of competence.

Maybe I’ll thank her publicly when I come present in June and talk about the many transformations that beavers made to our creek in Martinez. I’m constantly reminded of how many individuals’ incompetence was instrumental in saving our beavers. The lawyer on the subcommittee who wanted them trapped, for instance, was lackadaisical at best in his half-hearted efforts to convince the city they would ruin the creek. He brought a large stuffed beaver once to the meeting with a sign that said ‘send me to Plumas county’. I thought maybe he was just ineffective generally until I saw him speak on another issue in opposition at a meeting. In that instance, he was forceful, competent and had done all his homework, which is what my lawyer friends told me he was like in court.

If THAT attorney had shown his face on the subcommittee we might have had a very different outcome.

As it was, folks just didn’t really care that much. Maybe enough to toss some money to hire a lawyer, but not enough to do research and really examine the allegations in the case. Like say, um, me for instance. If I had been my opposition, there would have been trouble.

Thanks, Mary.

Bonafide Beaver Bounty

heidi08 Beavers and Forests, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Who's saving beavers now? May 6, 2016

It’s been a surreal pair of days. Yesterday I saw beavers in Alhambra Creek for the first time in 8 months. I spoke with Suzi Eszterhas who said the Ranger Rick wants to go ahead with the beaver story and might want to include my paper bag puppet design as an activity. Today I opened my email to find an invitation to speak at the Placer Fish and Game Commission. (Yes, PLACER) And now this from Michigan. I can’t embed the news clip here. But you MUST go watch it, it’s that good.

Beavers blamed for local flooding in back yards

“The beavers are doing really good habitat work,” said DNR Wildlife Biologist Mark Mills. “It just happens that they’re flooding a neighbor’s yard.”

Instead of trapping the beavers and endangering the unique wetland in which they share with many other species, Kalamazoo Christian High School students volunteered to help the DNR install a beaver pond leveler. The structure, made with pipe and fence, allows humans to control the level of water even after the beavers rebuild the dam.

DNR says a lot of rare species depend on the higher water. If they removed the beavers, the water level would drop too much, and important wildlife would be lost.

“It’s about finding an equilibrium,” said Mills.

The supplies for the beaver pond leveler cost about 100 bucks. That’s less than the cost of pest control, and only a small price to pay for protecting a popular environment.

Michigan is having a kind of beaver revival. Once regarded merely for their self-destructive habit of ripping out beaver dams to help fish, in the past year we’ve seen their beaver IQ take a hearty surge. I’m particularly impressed that DNR (which is like their fish and game) would encourage this. It makes me very curious how, for example, they adopted Mike Callahan’s design name (Pond Leveler) but not his exact design. He wrote on the beaver management forum that he was a little nervous about the look of what they built, so I doubt they used his DVD. But I’d love to track down the trickle of influence and see how it made its way to Michigan DNR. At least, they have a helpful group of curious and interested students. So if anything goes wrong, they can make the necessary adjustments.

Jon is helping Mario this morning set up to get started on the mural, and we turned in our application for the festival yesterday. It turns out the invitation for Placer is for exact hour I’m presenting in Portland, so hopefully we get find another time. This morning Moses’ beaver discovery is (sort of) in the Martinez Tribune. And I was grateful that Amelia made a few changes to our final festival poster. I figure, if we have to pay for the Bay Nature ad, why not use it to educate as well as promote?