Category: Beavers and water

CHECKING IN ON THE MILWAUKEE BEAVERS

Fall is a great time to head back to Milwakee and check on how the beaver recovery is coming along. Here and now Producer Chris Bentley recently gave a nice report on WBUR. Unfortunately it’s featured with an otter photo from Getty images which they say was sleeping “on a branch” which is the greatest possible fail. But we hope more beaver sightings will straighten them out eventually. It’s a nice 5 minute listen, enjoy.

Milwaukee welcomes back beavers, after hunting and pollution drove the industrious rodents away

Beavers are moving back into Milwaukee.

The American beaver was once a fixture of this area, at the confluence of three rivers by the shores of Lake Michigan. Then the region’s first European residents made Milwaukee one of their main fur trading posts. They hunted and trapped beavers for their pelts, and the population plummeted.

But a few years ago, people started noticing trees along the riverbanks in the heart of downtown Milwaukee that had been gnawed down to a point — a telltale sign of a beaver.

There’s even a quick mention of our buddy Bob Boucher’s study about flooding, but then it’s back to worshiping at the trout rumors.

That’s another reason ecologists are happy to see beavers returning to urban areas.
Last year, researchers at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee found beavers could substantially reduce flooding in some of the county’s most flood-prone areas.

Trout fisherman, however, worry too many beaver dams could muck up their fishing streams.
But in urban Milwaukee, there’s still room for people to share the rivers with a few more beavers.

The sun eventually set on our canoe ride and we got back on shore while bats snapped up bugs over our heads.

You know how beavers are. Always ruining streams for trout. The oddest thing is that they only seem to do that in WISCONSIN. In every other state they are GOOD for trout.

Weird.

DO BEAVER PONDS IN IOWA BEHAVE LIKE OTHER BEAVER PONDS?

heidi08 Beavers and water October 1, 2022

Uh oh. More good news today about beavers. An article saying they treat water. Look for one soon claiming they don’t treat ALL the water good enough for humans to use it. We can’t just let beavers get away with hogging the entire news cycle, We have to draw the line somewhere.

Researchers: Beaver dams do a good job improving Iowa water quality

ISU team finds the barriers can remove nutrients from waterway

Sediments trapped by beaver dams help remove excess nutrients in state waterways, Iowa State University researchers have learned through a first-of-its-kind project for Iowa.

The team found sediments trapped by beaver dams can reduce nitrates by 1 to 4 parts per million on average — which can add up to hundreds and even thousands of pounds per year across multiple dams, according to lead researcher Andrew Rupiper, an ISU master’s degree student.

“Regardless of where you’re at in Iowa, we see significant sediment trapping and significant nitrate reduction when you compare to a non-dammed stream nearby,” said Rupiper, who presented the team’s ongoing findings Thursday at the 2022 Iowa Water Conference.

Wha-a-a-a-t? Do you mean to tell me that findings of Rhode Island AND Great Britain are actually true for Iowa too? GET OUT! I never suspected that Iowa would be subject to the same laws of physics. Did you?

Beavers are native to Iowa and inhabit streams, rivers and other water bodies statewide. Their populations in Iowa rebounded after facing extinction in the 1900s and are estimated to have since grown into the tens of thousands.

Beaver research in the United States is almost exclusively focused in the West, Rupiper said. These ecosystems — and their beavers — behave differently than those in the Midwest. He said his team hopes to fill that gap with its ongoing research.

“There’s been zero work done in that regard in the state of Iowa,” he said. “We’re looking at the same critter doing some very different things.”

Are you kidding me? Iowa isn’t very big you know. The west side of Iowa is about 3oo miles from the East side of Iowa. Do you really think these factors act so differently at that distance?

The team recorded the depths of sediment trapped by each beaver dam and calculated the total volume, which could amount to as much as 250,000 to 300,000 kilograms — or more than a half-million pounds.

Then, the researchers collected sediment samples to bring back to the lab.

There, they investigated if the samples had the right “ingredients” for nutrient reduction: low oxygen, slow water speeds and particle sizes ideal for microbes that consume the nutrients. They found that beaver dams can create ideal conditions for nutrient removal — mirroring human-made reduction efforts — for free.

Emily points out that he’s referring to the western US generally, So its a bigger deal to refer to the midwest. Okay, you’re right. But Arthur Gold’s original research was done in Rhode island which I believe is east of Iowa. And Alan Putock’s research was done in England which I’m pretty sure is east of Iowa. Not to mention Bylak’s new research. Good luck, Andrew. You have your work cut out for you.

THIS JUST IN: BEAVERS SAVE WATER!

heidi08 Beavers and water September 30, 2022

Well as many outlets that carried the beavers and climate change story are now carrying the beavers can’t fix everything story by rerunning that article and its nutria photo or kindly supplying another one. Of course NO ONE has challenged them or said that the information is as wrong as the image. But who are we to be surprised?

At least the Pacific Forest Trust still thinks beavers can help. Their newest issue reads thusly with an actual beaver photo to boot.

Bringing Busy Beavers Back

The ongoing drought that has gripped the West has helped many people understand the vital importance of nature’s water manager, the beaver (Castor canadensis), in regulating our water supply, as well as reducing wildfire impacts and providing critical habitat for many fish. But beavers have been extirpated from much of their home range in California, with a resulting drop in groundwater supply, rivers running low-to-out-of water in the summer, and the loss of vital fish habitat. So, we celebrated mightily upon seeing the return of beavers to one of our conserved properties in the headwaters of the Feather River above the Sierra Valley.

Well now that’s a nice welcome back if I every read one! The feather river is one that has done the best job bringing stake holders to the table and securing their contribution for the welfare of everyone. And beavers have been part of the conversation for years. Mostly “Wish we had some”.

The Feather River supplies the Oroville reservoir, which forms the core supply for the State Water Project, and the Sierra Valley is North America’s largest alpine wetland. PFT has protected five properties and nearly 4,500 acres in the Sierra Valley (including the first conservation easement completed in the Valley at Valley View Angus Ranch), recognizing its importance for water, as well as wildlife. Help us help beavers by donating here!

Well sure! Money for beavers is like investing in water which is like investing in everyone. I’ll drink to that, Beavers are climate change superheroes and ecosystem engineers we can all afford to hire.

Just remember they can’t cure cancer.

BEAVERS ALWAYS WANT WATER TO WIN

heidi08 Beavers and water August 28, 2022

I pledge allegiance to the streams
and the beaver ponds of America
And to the renewal for which they stand,
One river, underground, irreplaceable
With habitat and wetlands for all

I’ve been hearing a lot about this book lately, and coming across beaver believers who recommend it highly. So I thought we should spend some time thinking about it. The author Erica Gies is an author and accomplished journalist. She’s the kind of women who’s seen things all around the world, so when she talks, we should listen.

Reflections on the extraordinary power of slow water

For her new book, Water Always Wins, National Geographic Explorer Erica Gies criss-crossed the globe, witnessing some of the unanticipated results of modern society’s preference for engineered solutions.

The tendency to hem water in and wrestle to alter its natural course with enormous dams and ever-higher dikes, straightened rivers and hardened shores often exacerbate the symptoms of global warming, the environmental journalist found.

But an array of microbes, animals, and communities enjoy beneficial relationships with this vital element by harmonizing with water’s wishes, Gies discovered. As such, her book explores hopeful and resilient approaches to working with water that respect its natural flow and rhythms, with positive outcomes for humans, biodiversity and the climate.

Hmm. Got your attention yet? What does water want? Well might you ask young Jedi. It almost always has seemed to me that water wants the freedom to move where it chooses and rest when it feels like it. But Erica has different ideas.

“Basically, what water wants is a return to its slow phases that we have dramatically eradicated with much of our development,” Gies said.

As much as 87 per cent of the world’s wetlands have been eradicated since the 1700s, and humans have heavily encroached on floodplains worldwide, risking homes and businesses should water reassert its return, she said.

There are so many examples of the folly associated with interfering with the natural filter, trickle or spread of water, Gies said, pointing to California, the poster child of perpetual drought.

“California is arguably the apex of water engineering hubris,” Gies said.

Now that’s interesting to me. I never thought of California as spectacularly worse than any other large state at managing water. But maybe because are so long. From wet to dry. I wonder if the reason California pretended to forget it had beavers was because it needed to focus on its own water management needs and get theirs out of the way.

Since the mid-19th century, the corralling of two great watercourses, the Sacramento and the San Joaquin rivers, has eliminated the historic annual flushing of the Central Valley — once a vast floodplain — drying it out and denying vital aquifers below an opportunity to top themselves up, she said.

Compounding the problem, the rivers’ water is funnelled vast distances across the state while the region’s groundwater is heavily tapped to fuel California’s vast agricultural empire — helping in part to create a critical shortage of water in areas where it once existed in abundance.

Surface water and groundwater are mutually entwined, Gies said.

“We have deprived the natural recharge that happens when the water slows on those lands and moves underground,” Gies said. And in reverse, stressed aquifers can’t help recharge rivers and tributaries at the surface during the dry season.

“For a long time, California had this sort of political attitude that they were dealing with two separate sources of water that could be regulated independently, or in the case of groundwater, not regulated (at all).”

Yes I guess we did forget that all water is the same. And that when you deplete one bank you run out of funds in the other. You know who didn’t forget? Beavers that’s who.

“But beavers are incredibly important for the health of the hydrological cycle, and they’re being used in different places around the world to help protect against drought, wildfire and also flooding.”

Gies dedicates a full chapter to the multitude of ways we can better our relationship with water by relying on and living with beavers.

The skill of these once ubiquitous mammals has been recognized by U.S. authorities, who on various occasions in the past parachuted beavers into wilderness areas to restore watersheds.

Slow-water projects, principles, and solutions are unique to each location, community, and culture, she added. But there are some common principles.

“I think it’s really about respecting water and appreciating the benefits that collaboration can bring.”

Can I get an amen? I know why Stanford referred to you in its water in the west study. You can see the writing on the wall. And it’s been written by beavers.

BEAVERS GO TO STANFORD

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Beavers and water August 20, 2022

So a very important thing happened last week that you might not have known about. You might remember the name Felicia Marcus who was formerly California’s water board chair and recently appointed a fellow at Stanford’s “Water in the West” program.

Felicia Marcus is the William C. Landreth Visiting Fellow at Stanford University’s Water in the West Program, an attorney, consultant and member of the Water Policy Group. She most recently served as chair of the California State Water Resources Control Board, implementing laws regarding drinking water and water quality and state’s water rights, hearing regional board water quality appeals, settling disputes and providing financial assistance to communities to upgrade water infrastructure.

Okay so when I read about her a couple years ago I sent her an invite to the California Beaver Summit and she was very interested which surprised me. Imagine how surprised I was this week when her report dropped.

This is one of those weighty documents that comes with an executive summary and lots of media resources so it can make an easy landing in the public eye. Just so you know, NBS are nature based solutions.

We are at a pivotal time in the world’s response to climate change. Fortunately, the policy discourse is evolving at an accelerated rate. There is a growing recognition among world, national, state, tribal, and local leaders of climate change’s catastrophic impact on people and the ecosystems they rely on, and of the need to act rapidly to both mitigate that damage and adapt to the inevitable changes to come. At the same time, there is also a growing global recognition that the loss of ecosystem function has a tremendous impact upon climate, water security, and other essential elements of life. 2 Water is at the core of those key issues. As Brad Udall, Senior Water and Climate Research Scientist at Colorado State University’s Colorado Water Center, is often quoted as saying, “Climate change is water change.” 3 The first effects of climate change manifest in the water sphere, whether through drought, flooding, sea level rise, or stressed species. At the same time, intelligent water management can be at the core of both mitigating and adapting to climate change, with ecosystem and river restoration playing a critical and beneficial role.

While “nature’s engineers” are endearing, the results of their industriousness have also been called out as a natural firebreak and potential widespread tool for slowing fire making their reintroduction an important part of potential plans to expand meadow restoration efforts or integrate meadow restoration into forest management. The role of beavers in wildfire prevention/mitigation has been elevated in the media since the large wildfires of this past year, which should also add focus on this important and restorative means of integrating nature-based solutions. The science demonstrating the benefits of beavers’ hydrological work is young but an active field of research. Researchers in 2015 found that the average beaver pond contains 1.1 million gallons of water and stores another 6.7 million gallons of water underground. Beaver water complexes can even act as a fire break against the megafires that climate chaos is wreaking here. And given that desiccated plants are volatile tinder for fires, it’s possible that a widespread return of beavers could help reduce fires both by keeping plants better watered and by providing more local evaporation from the ponds and transpiration from plants to fuel local rain.

HOHOHO! So it’s possible beavers can prevent fires and save water is it? Stanford thinks we might just need to take the drastic step of introducing them in California. GEE. Guess who will read this rep0rt? EVERYBODY. Guess who’s already read it?

The governor’s chief of staff.

On May 13, 2022, Governor Gavin Newsom announced a proposal for California to develop a new policy, complete with significant funding and staffing, to develop a beaver strategy. Climate and water benefits are both prominently noted. The proposal, which has yet to be adopted by the Legislature, explains: To be successful in our efforts to protect biodiversity, the Department must take a proactive leap towards bringing beavers back onto the landscape through a concerted effort to combine prioritized restoration projects, partnerships with local, federal, and state agencies and tribes, and updated policies and practices that support beaver management and conservation throughout the State.

Beavers are known for their ability to build dams and change waterways – but the ecosystem benefits provided to other native species in the process may be less recognized. It might be odd, but beavers are an untapped, creative climate solving hero that helps prevent the loss of biodiversity facing California. In the intermountain West, wetlands, though they are present on just 2 percent of total land area, support 80 percent of biodiversity

You know what I love? When all the smart people start quoting each other in the hopes that no one will be able to tell eventually who said it first. Go ahead guys. Take credit for beavers. They can handle it.

This paragraph blew me away when I saw it.

Yes that is Amelia’s wonderful logo; in exactly the very best place it could possibly be. Because a perfect illustration will find its way in the world. And that is perfect. We all know it.

At a time when the fate of our planet is at stake, NBS offers the opportunity
to advance sound climate policy while meeting other societal needs, particularly for water. The work is complex but attainable, rewarding, and essential for a liveable future.

Oh and on the FIRST PAGE of the report is the acknowledgements which ends with this remarkable sentence

“Significant source of beaver lore“. Yep. That sound like me. Just call me the beaver-lore warrior. Go read the whole thing and then share it with everyone you know.