Category: Beavers and water

“Unconfirmed”

heidi08 Beavers and Birds, Beavers and climate change, Beavers and Fire Prevention, Beavers and Forests, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and Ice, Beavers and Insects, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Who's saving beavers now? November 9, 2017

The salmon suit was ALL over the news yesterday. I was thrilled to see it even made the radio in Oregon. Yesterday CBD actually had a matching donor so all the money that came in from the news was doubled! I didn’t even realize it the announcement was cleverly timed to match the beaver moon which was apparently strongest in the wee morning hours last night. Everything about this must have gotten wildlife services attention. Lets see where this goes!

More treats to follow, because this wonderful letter by Connie Poten of Missoula Montana just ran yesterday in the Independent Record. Connie is the secretary of Footloose Montana, and writes a powerful letter. It has a few things that need tweaking but my goodness it even has a NEW FACT THAT I LOVE. And that so rarely happens anymore.

Let beavers work to prevent fires

Gifford Pinchot, the first chief of the Forest Service, called beavers this term is blocked. [Editors note: the name she writes he called them is very cool but not as yet unconfirmed by the forest service or Pinchot scholars so for now consider it cloaked.] Tens of millions of beavers created vast wetlands in North America, nourishing Native Americans, fish, wildlife, forests and meadows with life-giving water. Then came the European fur trappers, and in less than 50 years, Montana had no more beavers at all. Eastern Montana dried up as a result. Finally, beavers were reintroduced to recharge aquifers gone dry and save water from draining away.

Starting July 7 with the Crow Rock fire near Miles City, Montana turned into an inferno. The Lodgepole Complex fire burned 400 square miles. Montana became the epicenter of drought — the hottest and driest summer on record —and got smothered in smoke. By Sept. 11, more than 1 million acres had burned. Animals burned alive and died from smoke inhalation; a coyote was seen with a leg burned off. Seeley Lake was plunged into toxic darkness for six weeks. Montana’s tourism industry shut down in much of the state. Hundreds were evacuated and homes burned. Two firefighters died.

We now face the cost of fighting these fires. Farmers lost $400 million in crops, ranchers were hit hard and the tate budget is spiraling downward. It doesn’t have to be this bad. We could make a small change that would help contain fires. We could eliminate recreational trapping of beavers.

Beavers create ecosystems. They build dams that hold ponds and restore streams, wetlands and floodplains. They turn hardpan into rich soil. They supply water for municipalities, irrigation and wildlife. Seasonal streams flow year-round and groundwater is stored, thanks to beavers. Beaver wetlands act as firewalls, mitigating forest fires. Firefighters use water from the ponds. When beavers gnaw down cottonwood trees, they spur more growth — cottonwoods thrive on disturbance.

As warming temperatures threaten cold-water fish like trout and coho salmon, the cold water at the bottom of beaver ponds makes a perfect habitat for juvenile fish. Beaver ponds nurture grasses, trees and shrubs, creating nesting sites and food for songbirds, forage for game animals and most species. Beaver ponds improve water quality too, by reducing sediments and pollutants.

In a time of accelerating climate change, drought and fire, we need beavers more than ever. They work for free and restore our precious water. What are we waiting for? End recreational beaver trapping now. Let our beavers go to work.

Isn’t that an AWESOME letter? Connie deserves all our praise. She even talked about Skip Lisle and beaver deceivers! No wonder Footloose Montana is so successful since even its secretary can deliver a powerful lesson with a pen. I love the quote about beavers being “water factories”. You know I’ll be tucking that away to share sometime in the future!

Una familia de castores ‘monta’ su casa en la cuenca del Ebr

Another delight was sent by Duncan Haley of Norway yesterday but the beaver world was TOO busy to share. This is an article about beavers in Spain that were supposedly introduced without permission. (Duncan swears the accusation is legit and because he has inside information so I trust him.) The article is in Spanish but use google translate if you want to read some really amusing beaver misunderstandings! The farmer has been watching the beaver activity using a night cam. I was especially interested in the interaction between the beaver and this Genet so I clipped that short interchange. It is easily the likely the most delightful beaver moment I will ever post here. I especially love the moment when the Genet waits to see if the beaver is following. Enjoy.

Don’t you think they play that every night? If you, like me, find yourself suddenly wondering what a Genet is, Duncan explained “Like a cross between a marten and a cat with spots like a leopard and a long ring tail”
Wow. Doesn’t that sound amazing? Here’s one in the color.

Fish Lobby for Beavers

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers and Birds, Beavers and climate change, Beavers and Forests, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and Ice, Beavers and Insects, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, What's killing beavers now?, Who's saving beavers now? December 11, 2017

Nobody told me there’d be days like this in beaverland. Wow. The past two days have been exploding with good beaver news but this takes the veritable cake. Guess who the center for biological diversity is suing now? And for WHAT?

Capture

Lawsuit Aims to Protect Salmon Harmed by Government Beaver-killing in Oregon

PORTLAND, Ore.— Two environmental organizations today filed a formal notice of intent to sue a federal program that kills hundreds of beavers a year in Oregon. The lawsuit aims to hold the program, Wildlife Services, accountable for killing beavers because the animals are essential to protecting threatened and endangered fish like salmon and steelhead.

Wildlife Services, a part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, kills the beavers with traps, snares and firearms. Beavers are Oregon’s official state animal.

Numerous studies show that beavers benefit endangered salmon and steelhead by creating ponds that provide fish with natural cover and food. Despite these well-established ecological benefits, Wildlife Services killed more than 400 beavers in Oregon in 2016. The extermination agency even killed beavers in counties where endangered aquatic wildlife rely on beaver ponds for survival.

“Killing beavers in Oregon just one year after federal fish experts announced that beavers are essential to providing high-quality habitat for salmon is just perverse,” said Nina Bell, executive director of Northwest Environmental Advocates. “If this state is committed to saving salmon, we have to be equally committed to preserving the remaining fraction of beavers that historically lived in Oregon.”

NO FOOLIN’. I heard nothing of this in the pipes and everyone I’ve talked to is slapping their foreheads. That we weren’t warned isn’t a huge surprise because CBD tends to forage on their own and act like the only team on the field. For this particular lawsuit they’ve teamed up with the Northwest Environmental Advocates. Their letter of intent clearly lays out the legal basis for the suit, explaining that when an animal is listed on the Endangered Species Act as salmon and steelhead are, and ANY federal agency is going to do something that affects their habitat they are required to mitigate the action and warn those involved. And since there are decades of evidence that trapping beavers threatens salmonids they have failed in this responsibility for years and years. Read for yourself.

When a species has been listed or critical habitat designated under the ESA, all federal agencies—including APHIS-Wildlife Services—must ensure in consultation with the Services that their programs and activities are in compliance with the ESA. 16 U.S.C. § 1536(a)(2). Specifically, section 7(a)(2) of the ESA mandates that all federal agencies “insure that any action authorized, funded, or carried out by such agency . . . is not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of any endangered species or threatened species or result in the destruction or adverse modification of [critical] habitat of such species.”

Now that seems pretty clear cut, doesn’t it? I’m sure that WS has lots of ways to justify their actions but I can imagine some smart judge ruling that the evidence shows that removing beaver is a threat to salmon and they’re required to engage in mitigation when they do so. Like build BDAs or pay a fine. Can’t you?

The entire document is well prepared with a few jarring exceptions. It has the requisite shocking photos of dead beavers in traps or piled on trucks (which won’t do much in court), and isn’t careful about language enough for my tastes. (That paragraph alone spells “ensure” two ways without explanation) but its a HUGE shot across the bow, and every one from Michael Pollock to Ann Riley to Michael Callahan wrote me VERY interested in this yesterday. The reference section is thorough, indeed.

Here is their list of endangered species that beaver removal affects.

Salmon, Chinook Snake River spring/summer-run ESUOncorhynchus Salmotshawytscha
Salmon, Chinook Upper Willamette River ESU Oncorhynchus Salmotshawytscha
Steelhead Upper Willamette River DPS Oncorhynchus Salmomykiss
Salmon, coho Oregon Coast ESU Oncorhynchus Salmo kisutch
Steelhead Middle Columbia River DPS Oncorhynchus Salmomykiss
Sucker, Warner Catostomus warnerensis
Trout, bull Salvelinus confluentus
Trout, Lahontan cutthroat Oncorhynchus clarkii henshawi
Frog, Oregon spotted Rana pretiosa

I can see California and Washington watching eagerly to see how this plays out, and follow suit down the line. I know APHIS is the favorite target for CBD, but in our state CDFG allows the killing of far more beavers than are taken by APHIS alone. Is there any way that this suit could affect the number of depredation permits issued to private landowners or cities because of threat to salmon? Or Red legged frogs? Or migratory birds? Or WATER?

You can see the list grow.

And if that isn’t exciting enough for you, how about beaver benefits on Utah Public Radio? Robert Edgel is working with the Wetlands Initiative to install BDAs until the real things comes along.

Utah Biologists Create Man-made ‘Beaver Dams’ To Improve Sage Grouse Habitat

Beavers are what biologists call an “ecosystem engineer.” That means that they change the environment they live in, and help maintain critical habitat for other species. Beaver dams raise the water level of a stream which causes the stream to flood during spring runoff. The flooding allows grasses and forbs to grow and the much needed insect population to thrive.

Oh and I saw this yesterday on FB and wanted to share. Suzi Eszterhas, the wildlife photographer that filmed our beavers a few years back and is a friend of the festival, is currently in Africa, facing brand new hazards on her current assignment. This time it’s a opportunistic meerkat who has decided to use her as a lookout.

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Sometimes they listen

heidi08 Beaver Art, Beaver Behavior, Beavers, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental, Friends of Martinez Beavers, Who's saving beavers now? November 2, 2017

Yesterday was a strangely successful day that turned out well for beavers. After writing about the Mystic lake madness I wrote the acting director of the Custer Gallatan Forest Service and some city folks protesting the decision to sit on this problem for three months and then expose the beavers to slow death. I was written back fairly promptly by that acting director saying the army corps of engineers had told them there was a risk of a 500-year flood event for the town below if the dam washed out. He assured me they knew about flow devices and would talk about this for the future, but had to do this now. The beavers would be trapped, not left to starve, which was something.

I was grimly comforted by this news, and mollified that he wrote back at all which I did not expect. He also said that he was back at his regular job now in Vermont and another ranger was in charge – whom he cc’d on the message so we could be in touch. I still thought the beavers were done for, but I was glad that my letter had been responded to.

45 minutes later I received this:

Update on Mystic Lake project. Engineers are currently working on a mitigation device to keep water to tolerable level after lowering and keeping the beavers in the system. Long term solutions will be discussed at a later date. Thanks.

Chad Benson
Deputy Forest Custer Gallatin National Forest

surprised-child-skippy-jon

There must have been a lot of other public outcry besides mine. Maybe we’ll never know. I will say I am capable of writing a fairly decent letter, but am downright talented at finding the right email address to target even when folks work hard to hide it. Still, I can count on one hand the number of times something like this happens. Maybe it has something to do with Amy’s recent presentation on the topic and my reminding the ranger of her skills and the fact that she was trained by the man who solved our beaver problem a decade ago? Maybe someone chained themselves to a bulldozer or threatened to stop dating the mayor’s niece. Who knows how these things work?

I’m just happy it did!

disperser — *Dispersal: Elizabeth Saunders*

To celebrate I started thinking about a festival design that would promote our new location and vaguely remembered a charming illustration by Elizabeth Saunders the artist who works with Cows and Fish. It was about beaver dispersal, but I thought it could easily be re-purposed to inspire Amelia on our brochure this year. Even as a starting place, I’m liking this a lot.

moving

Today is full of blessings in every way! Louise Ramsay posted this on FB a very nice beaver program from radio 4. There are some irritating parts but stay patient because it gets very good. I especially find it kind of wonderful to hear how happily the reporter describes their return. Enjoy!

Mystic Decision-Making: w/ UPDATE

heidi08 Beavers and Forests, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, What's killing beavers now?, Who's blaming beavers now? November 1, 2017

Today is a grim day for beavers living at Mystic lake in Bozeman Montana. Located in the Custer Gallatan National Forest at the bottom of Montana near the top of Yellowstone. November 1st is the date the Forest Service and City will be teaming up to syphon out some of the water before ripping out the dam entirely because they are worried a washout could impact the city. It is 35 degrees today with a winter storm warning, so in every likely hood most of those beavers will lose their home, their pantry, and eventually their lives if enthusiastic hunters don’t pick them off in the meantime.

City, Forest Service to tear out Mystic Lake beaver dam

City and federal officials are working together to get rid of a potentially problematic beaver dam at the outlet of Mystic Lake that they say is a safety hazard.

The city of Bozeman and the U.S. Forest Service began talking about tearing out the dam in late August. A news release sent out Wednesday said the dam is “large enough to create a public safety concern downstream due to increased water volume in the lake.”

The work will begin Nov. 1. Workers will siphon water from the lake to Bozeman Creek to drop water levels. Heavy equipment will roll in to help tear out the dam.

The Forest Service wants to warn hikers that Bozeman Creek’s flows will likely be increased while the work is ongoing. Trucks and heavy equipment will be rumbling up administrative roads and trails throughout the area, including Forest Service Roads 176 (Moser Creek Cutoff) and 979 (Bozeman Creek).

So they agreed this work should be done three months ago but didn’t get around to doing it until NOW when there is no chance the beavers can recover their food stash or rebuild their flooded home? I suppose they didn’t want to compromise the trails during hiking season so they waited until winter. But this is just cruel. I can’t believe the forest service is helping them do this. Who do they work for anyway?

Beaver Dam Removal Planned for the Mystic Lake Outlet south of Bozeman

Bozeman, Montana – Trail users near Mystic Lake, in the Sourdough Drainage, south of Bozeman, Montana should be aware that there will be a flurry of activity associated with a beaver dam removal project starting November 1. Visitors can expect vehicle activity, heavy equipment operation and a crew working near the lake outlet for about two weeks.. “We realize that the activity may disrupt hunters and recreationist in the area but the work is extremely important” acknowledged Acting Bozeman District Ranger, David Francomb.

For the project duration, there will be higher than normal water flows in Bozeman Creek. Flow related water surges will be comparable to spring run-off water levels, thus, recreation users considering creek crossings should use extra caution. Property owners along Bozeman creek will see more water in the stream. According to Brian Heaston, City of Bozeman Engineer, “the increased flows are not anticipated to pose a threat to life safety or property.”

You’re worried about disrupting the poor, poor hunters in the area? Trust me, they’ll be fine. Someone sent Ben Goldfarb the last-org discussion about this decision by some wildlife activists in the area who know better. I’m glad people are worried about these beavers, because they should be. I feel just awful for not writing about this sooner and contacting the folks involved. We were in transition between the Sierras and home and the alert must have escaped me.

I doubt anything short of an injunction is going to stop them today when their heavy equipment is already loaded and on its way but we can make their lives a little less pleasant. Honestly these are the very kind of decisions that enrage me. For what its worth, here’s the forest service number and the project engineer’s direct line

I was feeling hopeless this morning but I am SO WRONG! Sounds like locals must have gotten involved. I wrote Mr. Francomb and he wrote back this morning from his home in Vermont, cc’ing the ranger currently in charge. They knew about flow devices but were worried about a dam washout. Then a late email came just now saying that the flooding will be mitigated and a long term solution will be proved at a later date! WHOO HOOO!

Update on Mystic Lake project. Engineers are currently working on a mitigation device to keep water to tolerable level after lowering and keeping the beavers in the system. Long term solutions will be discussed at a later date. Thanks.

Beavers and Heraclitus

heidi08 Beaver Chewing, Beavers, Beavers and Birds, Beavers and climate change, Beavers and Forests, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and Ice, Beavers and Insects, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Environmental, Who's saving beavers now? October 30, 2017

Another savory dish Rob Rich sent my way was this essay by author Ginny Battson. It is a splendid, thoughtful and thought-provoking read perfectly designed for a sunday afternoon by the seaside or a cup of coffee and the first snow in your uncle’s cabin. Which means it deserves much broader thinking than I can summon, but the beaver parts are really, really good so I’m going to share them.

Beavers are Fluminists

I learn from rivers, as do the beavers. I spend time in and around them, observing and sensing. Two and a half thousand years ago, the ancient philosopher Heraclitus also wrote on the profound things he learned from rivers. In an age before science, he looked for guiding principles in nature. What he found in rivers was a permanence in a reality of apparent change. All is flux, a matrix of matter and movement. The river is an analogy for an elemental cosmos, yet materially effervescent. Rivers are also life systems ~ complex and dynamic.

Beavers, the river keepers, have evolved to be more than the sum of themselves. Beavers live in the life-flow, interrupt and send it in multiple directions. Known to ecologists as ‘keystone,’ First Nationers instead call them ‘sacred centres’ of the land. For they are whirling hubs of life-diffluence and life-confluence, integral to the flow just as mind cannot be separated from body. They are dam and bridge builders, storing water at times of plenty for times of drought. They sequester carbon by trapping it in fluvial muds that eventually become rich soils. They are coppicers; the trees they fell to feed upon and rear their young will regenerate, beaver-cuts catalysing a diversity of plant and animal life. They are also wildlife protectors ~ during winter, woody debris left trapped behind dams are buried beneath deep snow, and provide shelter for a host of smaller mammals and reptiles during the bitter cold. And then, when the northern hemisphere tips nearer to the Sun, melt water forms reservoirs and a rising water table, creating habitat for amphibians and a plethora of bird species, including waterfowl ~ wood duck and heron, migratory waders and passerines. New lentic deeps amongst woody debris provide fish fry safe passage to grow to adulthood. Majestic osprey take the adults. In lotic flows downstream, clouds of black fly larvae lay submerged, attached to substrate with silk, to emerge in spring and breed, then feed the bats that hunt on the wing above the beaver-cuts. The dams may eventually blow-out by flood, and the beavers will find new territory. Upstream, moose rear youngon regenerating meadow grasses years after dams are abandoned. This really is rich habitat; the smell of river, wood and beaver is intoxicating.

If beavers could speak human, they may also say: Into the same rivers we step and do not step, we are and are not.

(Heraclitus Homericus B49a)

Ginny introduces the word Fluminism to explain the interconnected dynamics of the universe flowing forwards, connecting and enriching and says it’s what beavers do best. She even goes so far as to call it a kind of love, or the doing and caring parts of loving. Her essay is filled with the richest imagery and most fluid prose. You should really tuck away the link and read it sometime when you have time to reflect. For now I will just say that she GETS beavers. I remember Skip Lisle similarly said the principal of beavers is dynamism, meaning change. They change things, things change them, the things that are changed by them change other things. Maybe after 10 years of watching beavers I can see how they changed me, how my life has rearranged itself because of their work.

Back to the Maine woods, and it’s getting late. I’m a little bit edgy because the light is falling. As I hurry back with my baby over the bridge towards Gilbert, we hear the slap of a scaly, flat tail hitting the water ~ splash. I stop and turn us around to follow the sound. My eyes adjust to the watery scene. And there is the beaver, Fluminist, swimming, with a wet, brown head visible for a moment and shiny eyes, before diving beneath the inky reflections of a darkening sky. She’s warning others we are here. Though we’d never harm her, others might. I feel at peace knowing she is here, knowing she has a rich intrinsically valuable life, full of love for this world in the river she understands so intimately. I point her out to my baby who instinctively feels both the joy and excitement. Formative moments, for sure. There is so much yet to learn from Ahmik, Fluminist, and I walk us home full of awe and gratitude.