Can speed bumps actually slow traffic?

I mean will the busy flow of uncontrollable cars actually slow itself down based on a tiny obstruction in the roadway repeated over and over again>? Why does no one ever ask that question and why does the other one get poised repeatedly?

Cumbria’s Eden Valley to see reintroduction of beavers

Beavers are to be reintroduced to Cumbria’s Eden Valley to see if they can thrive in upland environments.

The animals, which were hunted to extinction in the UK in the 16th Century, will be introduced to the Lake District for the first time in a trial. Efforts to return the species to other parts of the UK, including Yorkshire and Somerset, are also under way.

The government-approved trial will look at how beavers restore small farmland streams and can aid flood prevention.

Oooh ooh, call on me! I know this one!

It is hoped the beavers will deliver benefits such as carbon storage, flood mitigation and an increase in other wildlife.

Conservationists support the return of beavers to Britain’s rivers for the benefits they can provide in preventing flooding, by damming streams and slowing the flow of water, as well as boosting water quality.

I don’t know. Do you think the repeated  observations of science and gravity will apply in another region? Do you think speed bumps will slow traffic? That’s a real head scratcher. I guess we’ll find out.

The funny thing is that just last night I was reading about the great flood of 1862, and thinking about the timing of this massive event. Obviously all those humans mining for all that gold had some effect. But given the fact that the entire beaver population was wiped out about 20 years earlier and their decaying dams would just about be completely gone  – one has to wonder.

The Great Flood of 1862 was the largest ever recorded in Oregon, Nevada and California’s history. The flooding occurred from December of 1861 until January of 1862, drowning the state in water and leaving much of the Northern Valley unlivable until the summer months of 1862.

The flood created a lake down the center of the state that was 300 miles long and 20 miles wide. It’s estimated that thousands of people were killed in Northern California during the event.

Entire cities were under water and many people were killed. 

The foothills of the Sierra Nevada were seeing tremendous flooding activity during this time. The American River near Auburn rose 35 feet and some of the small mining towns were completely submerged. On the Stanislaus River near Knight’s Ferry, two major bridges washed down the river and anything within 40 miles was completely destroyed.

The year before had extra heavy snow so the melt didn’t help matters. But don’t you think all those missing speed bumps might have had something to do with the calamity?

John Carr wrote about his riverboat trip up the river during the peak of the flood:

“I was a passenger on the old steamer Gem, from Sacramento to Red Bluff. The only way the pilot could tell where the channel of the river was, was by the cottonwood trees on each side of the river. The boat had to stop several times and take men out of the tops of trees and off the roofs of houses. In our trip up the river we met property of every description floating down—dead horses and cattle, sheep, hogs, houses, haystacks, household furniture, and everything imaginable was on its way for the ocean. Arriving at Red Bluff, there was water everywhere as far as the eye could reach, and what few bridges there had been in the country were all swept away.”

 It’s a terrifying story of our history that I knew nothing about before. When Stanford was inaugurated governor of California he had to row his way to the capital.

I bet a lot of those beaver hats got floated away too, Ironic, huh?

It rained, and rained for forty dayses dayses
rained and rained for forty dayses dayses
Nearly drove those poor animals crazy crazy
Children of the lord.

I’ve been in the beaver biz for so long I’ve used this very song to describe my alarm at how beavers manage in high flooding. Lord knows we saw some glory days and some fire and brimstone days in our decade with the beavs. One year their lodge washed away entirely. And recently the little secondary dam was topped.

Now Tulocay creek in Napa is worrying about the same thing.

Tulocay Creek Beaver lodge flooded Sunday This morning Rusty forwarded me an email from a concerned neighbor who asked worriedly if beavers could survive in such flooding? I replied  of course and much. much worse but I’m glad to know there are folks worrying about them and grateful Rusty braved the storm and took these photos.

In case you can’t make that out that’s their little island lodge flooded to the rafters in the background. Here’s a closer look.

A wise woman once said to me that the human vagina is a potential (rather than an actual) space. And that must be true for beaver lodges too. I remember after the great flood of 2011 we were so worried where our beavers would sleep when their lodge was flattened. The next morning we went anxiously to look and saw footprints in the mud where the youngsters had walked back and forth searching for their cozy home that was no more.

But beavers find a way. That’s what they do.

What I learned in my decade as a beaver guardian is that if there is a way to be found then beavers will find it. This too shall pass.