LEARNING FROM THE BEAVERS

heidi08 Beavers and water February 16, 2022

Felicia!

Back in March I read about these smart scientists at Stanford working to understand groundwater recharge. I commented then how they neglected to mention beavers and wrote several of them privately about the upcoming beaver conference. One of them even enrolled.

I was told by beaver buddy Ann Riley that Felicia Marcus was an old friend and someone good to have on our side. Now I see why.

Confronting Drought With the Tools of Nature

There are successful models for leveraging natural systems to improve water quality and supplies, enhance biodiversity and blunt the ravages of wildfires. There’s even something we can learn from beavers.

The ongoing drought in the West has dramatically impacted the health, well-being and livelihoods of millions of the region’s residents, from farmers in Colorado struggling to sustain their crops to Californians who have lost their homes to wildfire. The new federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act provides substantial funding, including $8.3 billion for water-related programs in the West, to begin to mitigate and adapt to our drying climate. But achieving the scale of impact needed requires a willingness to prioritize investments in nature-based solutions that protect, restore and sustainably manage existing water systems. (more…)

WILL SOME ONE PLEASE TELL “BAY NATURE” ABOUT BEAVERS?

heidi08 Beaver ecological impact, Beavers and Flooding, Beavers and water February 3, 2022

Rusty Cohn of Napa alerted me to an interesting interview with Erica Gies in KQED last night. It was all about finding the ancient prehistoic waterbeds that used to flood the central valley and solve California’s rain problem year after year. I was particularly struck by this quote:

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BEAVERS HELP RIVERS – WHO KNEW?

heidi08 Beaver ecological impact, Beavers and water January 19, 2022

Well, I have to admit I felt a little better after my letter to NPR was heartily approved by both Ben Goldfarb and Rick Lanman. Of course I got no response from NPR itself but I live in hope they get the message. Anyway the day just got better from there because this was the headline that showed up on Phys.org in the afternoon. Apparently beavers are very busy indeed because after they are finished causing global warming in the Artic they will still find time to save all the rivers in Scotland.

Major new study shows role beavers could play in restoring Scotland’s rivers

Beavers could make an important contribution to improving the condition of Scotland’s rivers, including helping to improve water quality and limiting the effects of drought. (more…)

IT’LL NEVER LOOK THE SAME AGAIN, THANKS TO BEAVERS

heidi08 Beavers and climate change, Beavers and water January 16, 2022

You and I have limited appetites for the BEAVERS CAUSING GLOBAL WARMING narrative but I just had to listen to this short interview with the author of the study. It won’t let me embed the audio and I can’t seem to record it yet so I’ll just transcribe and rely on you to listen for yourself.

Hot dam: Beavers have gnawed their way into the Arctic, speeding permafrost thaw

Beavers are moving to the Arctic as the Alaskan tundra heats up and the beaver population rebounds after centuries of trapping. A study published in December shows the small, industrious mammal is accelerating climate change in the north.

Beaver ponds are showing up in places they’ve never been before. For the past five years, ecologist Ken Tape has used satellite imagery and old aerial photos to map where beavers have dammed streams and created ponds. The University of Alaska Fairbanks professor says he was shocked by the magnitude of change.

What are they eating up their? Ice? I bet that’s it. They worm their way in. Eat up all the ice. And cause global warming!

Now I know you meant that as an insult to beavers but honestly, it’s the first time I’ve ever heard a scientist be truthful about how much impact they truly have have and how much their removal means to any stream. I’m sure you meant it as hyperbole. But it’s actually true. That’s certainly what we learned in Martinez.

When beavers dam a stream, it creates a pond that’s deeper than the stream was, and it retains more heat. Tape says if you liked the Arctic the way it was, this is not a good thing. He says to think of ponds as little oases for creatures that don’t usually live in the Arctic. They thaw permafrost and release carbon dioxide. It’s a case where increased biodiversity isn’t healthy for the native ecology.

Oh puleeze. Ya the beavers are doing all that.Just ruining the artic. That’s what they do.

“The landscape is falling apart with permafrost thaw, and beavers are that trend on steroids. And one of the big reasons is that permafrost is really rapidly impacted by changes in hydrology and surface water. And that’s precisely what beavers do,” Tape said.

The full effects of these new beaver ponds on fish and water quality aren’t clear yet — Tape says last season kicked off what will be about five years of field study around Nome and Kotzebue. He says he has an idea of the big picture, but it’s the people in arctic communities who can help him learn how beavers are changing life and livelihood in the North.

Yes. Because we have ZERO idea how beavers affect water quality and fish. It obviously has never been researched before by anyone. Because this whole permafrost thing. It’s a game changer.

Hey if a growing beaver population depletes permafrost, do you think the decimated one in the 1800’s might have expanded it? I mean do you think you’re whole expectation level might be wrong because of shifting baselines?

Gee.

“IT’S LIKE KILLING THE GOOSE THAT LAYS THE GOLDEN EGG”

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers and water January 11, 2022

Have I got a family to introduce to you today! Meet the Sorensens from Elko Nevada, Their family has been ranching the land for 3 generations. But they are the ones that have learned something different. You’re going to just LOVE this story.

At Secret Pass near Elko, family focuses on making ranch sustainable

The Sorensens pose for a family photo on their ranch in Secret Pass near Elko on Dec. 12, 2021. Back row, from left, Jules holding her baby, Mesa next to her husband, Justin; Jared and his wife Selena and their daughters Michelle and McKatie. Middle, Jared and Selenas son Weston, and front row, children Jonas, Gabe and Charisty. Not pictured are sons Keaton, who is serving a mission in Texas, and Kaysen, who lives in St. George, Utah. (David Calvert/The Nevada Independent)

In the 1940s, the Sorensen family planted roots in Nevada, raising thousands of sheep and some cattle on a ranch where the Ruby and East Humboldt mountain ranges meet in the northeastern corner of the state. Their descendents are still there.

Third-generation Nevada rancher Jared Sorensen and his wife Selena are raising their family of nine children, who play important roles on the Secret Pass Ranch, where winter winds are unforgiving and a blanket of snow glimmers across the region. Encompassing 10,000 acres (and an additional 12,000 acres the Sorensens lease for grazing), it sits between the mountain ranges, the valley opening up to vast fields where cattle graze. The Sorensen home, an unassuming 100-year-old house, is mostly hidden from the highway by trees. Across the way at the foot of the Ruby Mountains, a stream flows along the highway. (more…)