Category: Beavers elsewhere

PRETENDING TO HELP

heidi08 What's killing beavers now? December 30, 2019

Oh alright. Vanesso Petro whose boss is Jimmy Taylor at USDA says that as far as she knows the position is specific to predators and will not include any beaver work. Never mind that in Oregon beavers are categorized as predators!!! The positions are to stop predators that threaten live stock. Which, last time I checked, no one accuses beavers of doing. But I guess theoretically if beavers flooded some ranchers field that might be perceived as threatening live stock, and a smart supervisor might say that installing a flow device would provide a long-term solution to protect them? Hmm….

It’s been two good years of beaver news ever since Ben published his book. But we should remember that not everything is rosy. We should all be grateful for articles like THIS that remind us how truly grim things can get when you leave the warm circles of beaver academics. Take this article from upstate New York for example.

Nate Kennedy: Give trapping a try this year

Last fall when I ventured off to a local rod and gun club to take the New York State Trapper Education Course, I wondered what the day would have in store. I considered the various motivations that would bring one to fur trapping, and I thought of my own motivations for taking the course. The “reasons” to trap are varied, and all positive if you ask me. Personally, I connect with the tradition of it all. Much of this country was discovered and built by fur trappers, and that history and lifestyle lives on today.

If you hunt or fish much at all, you can understand the allure of a new outdoor pursuit or hobby. Another season. Another adventure.

An adventure! You know, like joy-riding or serial killing. Why not try trapping? And, as this article specifically recommends, trapping BEAVER. Because you can!

Here are some reasons why you should give trapping a try:

Outdoor recreation and exercise
Conservation and wildlife management
Tradition and history
Economic benefit
Wild game and wild fur

Nate makes sure to embellish each snappy heading with a little paragraph explaining what he means but I’ll spare you most of the effusive prattle. Let’s just zero in on number 2, shall we?

He notes that buying a trapping license or gun folds back funds into the conservation programs themselves, And then adds pointedly:

Wildlife management is one of the largest motivations for trapping. Managing certain species like beaver, muskrat and coyotes can be a great service to landowners, farmers and others who may experience the negative impacts of overabundance. A healthier population can benefit the species, the ecosystem, the landowner and the trapper alike.

Now now. Any advocate worth her salt could have written those exact lines for him. We know the three lies trappers repeat better than they do. This keeps the population healthy! This maintains a balance! This helps farmers!

There is a powerful scene in Never Cry Wolf where some old inuit leaders stop over and sit at the fire for a night. The old woman tells him a creation myth and the young grandson translates. She says long ago there were no predators and so many caribou that the people called them ‘lice’. They reproduced so much that the young ones got sick and the land got trampled. The spirit of the old woman returned to a hole in the ice and asked the creator for a tool to cut the sickness from the herd.

And the amaguk was born. Amaguk: wolf.

It’s way way better when she tells it, with her thick slow native speech and the firelight showing her glowing timeless face. But this will do for our purposes. It does well enough that you will understand when I say that little Nate with his conibear, and all the little Nates he encourages are still no amaguk,

Trapping for sport is very akin to Fantasy Football. You don’t actually do the work, or the training, or learn a skill. You just capitalize on the work of others and pat yourself on the back for doing so by saying you’re HELPING. Which, of course, you aren’t.

When you trap beaver out of an area, and their pond falls into disrepair because there are no little engineers left to tend it – that means there is no deep water for the trout, no meals for the otter or blue heron, and no breeding pools for the frogs and dragonflies. You didn’t help conservation.

You defeated it.

Nate is a rifle instructor at the Cornell school of 4-H in Seneca. He holds a master’s degree in environmental communication from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry Which means he attended the very school where Dietland Mueller-Schwarze taught and did research for years. If the name rings a bell its because he’s the author of the FIRST beaver book that changed everyone thinking.

So he should know better and might get a letter.

Speaking of long term solutions to beaver issues, I made this for Mike yesterday to remind folks to enroll in the first-ever East coast beaver conference.

BEAVERS KNOW BETTER

It’s a beaver day brimming with news. Starting with the Denver bike-path that knows it needs beaver help. Something tells me contact has already been made but I wrote them how to reach Sherri Tippie and here’s hoping things will be easily resolved soon. It’s her home town, so they should know the right things to do already.

Denver bike commuters can blame beavers for trouble on the Cherry Creek trail

Yesterday I touched base with the beaver watcher who alerted everyone in Sonoma, Robert Burkart. I remembered how upset and helpless we felt when our city did similar things to our beaver dam and I thought he’d want to hear from a supporter. Like I expected, he was really concerned by the what he saw happen to the habitat that he had come to care about. He passed along this video of part of the destruction.

Does this look like a ‘notch’ to you?

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Of course not. It never does.

Good news. Beavers fix things when we break them. Robin Ellison of Napa went by yesterday and took this photo of the cleanup.

And harking back to our story-telling conversation, this POWERFUL video spoke to me yesterday. It was shared by Dr. Travis Longcore who is a professor at UCLA and author of the Management by Assertion paper. I could NOT watch this video and fail to think how amazing it would be to have a similar short piece using a child’s voice to explain why beavers matter. I have already spoken to some film making friends about just that, fingers crossed…

CAREFUL THE ‘TAIL’ YOU TELL

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Who's saving beavers now? December 26, 2019

Jeanette Winterson is the kind of author that draws you into an impossible tale with such urgent integrity that you never once stop to question whether its possible or not. The telling MAKES it possible, and it is a true-in-your-heart story that you will never find any air in your lungs to question. In real life she is a small severe lesbian that doesn’t wait to make an impression. A friend at Random house described being ‘inventoried’ on the elevator by her imposing gaze and not realizing until she got off that she was barely 5 feet tall.

Trust me. I’m telling you stories.

Stories change the world. Stories change the teller. Stories that soften hearts. Stories save beavers. But you knew that, right?

Jane Goodall On the Power of “Reaching People’s Hearts” as Climate Activism

Jane Goodall is a legend in the science community thanks to decades of her groundbreaking work with chimpanzees. But in recent years, the famous primatologist has shifted her focus to environmental activism. And in her time advocating for the planet, she discovered a pretty powerful yet simple technique for reaching people’s hearts and making real progress.

As Goodall let slip later in the interview, she has found that the trick to helping people understand that we can all make a difference is pretty simple: telling stories.

“Being angry and pointing fingers, you won’t get anywhere. You just have to reach people’s hearts. And the best way I know is to tell stories,” Goodall said. “My job now is to try and help people understand every one of us makes a difference. And cumulatively, wise choices in how we act each day can begin to change the world.”

One of the things I learned most organically in this journey is not that beavers are good for the environment. Not that beavers help salmon or that their are ways to solve problems that arise when they move in. No. I once foolishly thought that science would be persuasive and that knowing the facts would make all the difference. It didn’t.

What made a difference was telling stories.

That wasn’t what I expected or what I really wanted. Touching hearts seemed somehow a mushy way to go about this important work. I wanted to persuade people with facts. I wanted people to see the historical inevitability of living with beavers. I wanted people to use the right names for things and understand what was at stake.

But it was the heart strings – not neurons – that saved beavers. I realized it that first random Earth day at John Muir.

It was our first exhibit so we weren’t even sure what to bring. We tossed in an old chew Moses had given us and some photos. And on a whim I stopped at the Wall green’s on the way in and bought a cheap set of felt pens and some paper. I thought maybe, if nothing else, we’d encourage some children to draw beavers. Make it a contest, put the winner on the website. We ended up with 100 and they were every single one priceless. There are two council members children in this photo. And there were more.

I had no idea the beaver illustrations would be so personal. So unique. So touching, One council member opposed to the beavers was going through a divorce and his ex came with the children that day. The children drew heart-felt beavers with “We love you” signs on it, Another council member came over afterwards and asked me not to post those pictures on the website or say whose they were “Because you know how things get complicated in families”.

Trust me. I’m telling you stories.

In the end that day laid the footprints for the path we would ultimately take. Touching hearts, winning votes for beavers, placing increasing pressure on the ‘respectable’ wing to do the right thing. We learned it all that day. Or the first lesson to it all.

Goodall then did what she does best: She told a short personal story to highlight that point. “I got lots of opposition from animal rights people for even talking to the people in the labs,” she said. “But if you don’t talk to people, how can you ever expect they’ll change?” A longtime opponent of experiments on animals, Goodall has become a leading activist in the anti-vivisection community.

There are certainly merits to challenging those with differing viewpoints — but for Jane Goodall, being patient, understanding, and attentive toward her opponents has brought her great success in making a difference in the world.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m nowhere near as patient as Dr. Goodall. And I think she completely underestimates (or pretends to underestimate) the enormous value of shame. But I agree with her about this. In the end its not about groundwater or science. It’s not about the role urban wildlife plays in creating social cohesion. It’s not about biodiversity or saving salmon or preventing fires.

It’s about telling stories.

12th Martinez Beaver Festival 2019. Photo by Cheryl Reynolds 6/29/19.

JUST REMEMBER WE ALL SAW IT COMING, SONOMA.

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, mistaken identities, Who's blaming beavers now? December 24, 2019

There was a very funny set Wanda Sykes did when she guest hosted the Ellen Show where she read the headlines from certain kinds of very predictable stories and shook her head knowingly saying “Oh White people“,

Well imagine I’m doing that right now. Only saying things like “Oh water people” and “Ohhh otter people”. Sometimes when you can just tell how a stories going to end, it shouldn’t even be allowed to start. We wrote about this story three days ago, and we predicted this would happen.

Sonoma Water Agency cuts notch in beaver dam in Sonoma

Armed with a chainsaw, workers with the Sonoma Water Agency caused a stir among beaver fans last week when they used the equipment to cut a “bypass hole” in the beaver dam near a trail in Sonoma.

Sonoma resident Robert Burkhart, who said he often walks his dog on that path, saw the workers and tried to get them to at least cut the bypass on the sides rather than in the center of the dam. But they wouldn’t listen, they were just following orders, he said.

“I know there are other ways this can be done,” Burkhart said.

Burkhart took photos and video of the workers, which shows one man slicing through the branches that create the beaver dam.

Now you just KNOW he was not happy to be photographed chainsawing the beaver dam. But he did it anyway. Because it was noisy and fun. And involved some kind of risk and destruction. What could go wrong? Do you remember the grinning face of that worker lowering the turkey into the machine over the shoulder of Sarah Palin? Yeah, sure you do. I’m pretty sure it was the exact same face.

“They cut a notch in the dam. Tonight the beaver will fix that. Beaver don’t stop building,” said Caitlin Cornwall, planning and partnerships advisor at Sonoma Ecology Center.

Cornwall said the notch was cut for flood control, but beaver will always fix an area where they hear water running.

“They are stimulated to build when they hear water trickling through the dam,” she said.

There is an alternative to cutting into the dam, she said. Called a “beaver deceiver” or pond leveler, it connects the two sides of the stream that are bisected by the beaver dam.

“It reduces the lateral width of the pond without stimulating the beaver,” Cornwall said.

Well, not exactly. The beaver is still stimulated to rebuild his protection. Because he’s not in a coma. It’s just that he can’t. And if we’re lucky he eventually stops trying. And a beaver deceiver and pond leveler are two different things. But I guess that’s neither here nor there.

“(Beaver dams) are incredibly effective at catching and holding water, which our state needs more of,” she said. “Beaver ponds create wonderful biological habitat areas. This is a much bigger issue than just in Sonoma.”

Burkhart said the area where the dam is located is a beautiful ecological area. Beaver dams are important biodiversity habitat that help prevent soil erosion and create pools where fish, birds and other wildlife can live. Their ponds also help filter pollution out of the water, recharge aquifers, and retain silt. They also act as firebreaks, and can slow down floods.

Okay, We like THIS part a lot. Robert Burkhart was the reason we even found out about this story in the first place. Thanks Robert, He alerted folks who alerted me. We LOVE that he knows and cares about beavers in the state. We’re less enamored of the photos he provided to the reporter. These were taken of the site on his many sightings.

Now if you’re thinking to yourself, , hey I don’t remember beavers climbing trees! You’d be dead right. Because these lovely photos are of river otters. No doubt enjoying the benefits the beaver dams provided. No doubt there ARE beavers somewhere nearby because otters don’t build dams that need to be chain sawed but these, as we say in the trade, ent them.

I can dimly remember a million years ago back when I first started watching our beavers seeing an otter sitting on the lodge and thinking, hey wait, that looks different, is that a beaver? Ahh memories. We all start somewhere. I’m sure there are actual beavers nearby. Who else would build a dam and upset SCWA?

“It’s exciting that we have these big smart ecosystem engineers here who are members of our Sonoma Valley community,” Cornwall said.

Calls and emails sent to the Sonoma Water Agency were not returned by press time.

Nope. I’m sure they were not. I’m sure staff nipped out the door and turned off the lights after their chainsaw massacre. Because that’s what they do. If enough people write the paper complaining theremight be an stern email from the mayor when they get back to work. But I wouldn’t hold my breath. The word ‘notching’ is a pretty sophisticated beaver coverup. And they already have the ecologists and the papers repeating it, I’d say they get a bit of heat for a day and then it all goes away.

Until next time.

But it was fun way to start Christmas Eve. Have a wonderful day. Someone shared this yesterday and I had to add one missing part before I could share it with you.

ATASCADERO ISN’T SURE IT DESERVES BEAVERS.

heidi08 Beaver ecological impact, History, Who's saving beavers now? December 23, 2019

Oh look. Santa Claus brought me an early present. And he wrapped it in newspaper just the way I like it. He must have me on both his lists, naughty AND nice because this article runs the gauntlet from VERY VERY IRKSOME to mildly pleasing. And it ignores our research nicely, So it has that going for it.

Bonus points: Here’s the title in the San Luis Obispo Tribune where it ran. In the broader issue they changed the headline and used OUR photo, But what’s a little theft between friends?

Giant rodents are changing Central Coast waterways

Beavers are known to be industrious engineers. They can drastically alter the flow of rivers and streams with dams to suit their homemaking needs — creating drastic impacts that can be both extremely frustrating and useful to neighboring humans.

Now beavers are busy on the Central Coast.

Scientists can’t decide if beavers are native to the Central Coast. And it’s unclear whether they’re friends to the environment, or foes.

See the present? See how nicely its wrapped? Scientist can’t decide whether beavers belong here or not and gosh, we don’t EVEN know if they’re good for the environment. Boy those scientists sure are a head-scratching bunch aren’t they?

Of course I spent all of yesterday writing a letter to the editor complaining about the things you would expect. And pointing them to our coastal paper. But this morning I received a response saying that the paper doesn’t SPECIFICALLY have a gotcha moment for Atascadero so the jury is stlll out on the issue.

I’m thinking that Newton didn’t prove gravity existed in Atascadero either, but people still feel comfortable making the inference, ya know?

They use their strong, iron-like teeth to cut down trees and chew on grape vines. Their dams can cause flooding in roads and fields.

They also make conditions for rich wildlife habitat by creating pools of water long after the rainy season when a river might have become a trickle. Yet some of the animals they support, such as bullfrogs, are bad for native species like red-legged frogs.

In the Arroyo Grande Creek channel, beavers have been known to cause dramatic problems for flood control as sediment and debris builds up in the backwaters behind a dam.

It’s a conundrum, particularly when the state Department of Fish and Wildlife’s vision is an environment where “native fish and wildlife thrive.” What does that mean for the beaver?

I could spend hours writing a thoughtful treatise proving that beavers are native and good for the environment. But really what’s the point. It’s much more effective simply to post the proper gif that sums up where we are in this teachable moment.

State Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist Bob Stafford said he’s issued five or six depredation permits to kill beavers in San Luis Obispo County in the last 20 years. In those cases, property owners had damage attributed to beavers.

“They can certainly chew up some stuff in an area,” Stafford said. But there’s “no large effort to eradicate them,” he added. “It’s unclear in the system how native or nonnative they are.”

Really, Bob, its unclear in the system? In what system exactly? In the California Department of Fish And Wildlife System? You mean the same system that PUBLISHED our paper in 2013 and hasn’t since published anything that refutes or challenges our findings? That’s quite a system.

Cal Poly graduate Stuart Suplick suggests putting that question aside to research beavers’ potential benefit now that they are here. He was inspired to research beaver activity along the Salinas River for his senior project after a professor mentioned that the mammal might help with groundwater recharge.

What the Cal Poly grad found is clear: They are here — hundreds of them — and they are thriving.

“Beavers are practically everywhere on the Salinas River,” Suplick said. What’s really interesting, he added, is their habitat tends to be in areas altered by human impacts to the river flow, such as human dams.

Okay we already know about Stuart. We like Stuart. Mostly. And he likes beavers. Mostly, But he wasn’t quite willing to go toe to toe with the naysaying bs-artists who are still non believers. Too bad, Stuart, You missed the thunder moment.

Water flow on the Central Coast tends to be flashy, meaning that stream flow is driven by flood events. The arid or semi-arid environment isn’t conducive to beavers, which generally work on lakes or rivers with yearround water.

Beavers were likely native to the Central Valley, Stafford said, where snow melt once fed lakes that flooded the lands from Bakersfield to the Bay Area.

Here’s a newsflash for you. If we had ENOUGH beaver our streams wouldn’t be so flashy. Dams would stabilize flow and both flooding and drought would be less common. That’s what I wrote Stuart this morning when he wrote back that they had ‘enough’ beavers.

Some research indicates beavers can help restore underground aquifers, which would benefit the Salinas Basin where over-pumping for agriculture has depleted underground reserves.

Unfortunately, Suplick said, while that could help in other areas, it won’t work on the Salinas River. Beavers build their dams too low to reach the flood plain, so water can’t percolate down and recharge groundwater.

Gosh darn those beavers. Building their dams too low so that the aquifer isn’t recharged. I mean sure, if you had ENOUGH of them the stream would be more stable and the dams could be higher and the watertable could be recharged. But okay. That’s fine. Just say what you like. It’s Christmas.

“Because of the flashy nature of flow in the region, dams tend to get washed out or destroyed with floods that come every winter,” he said. “The woody debris that comes down river creates habitat for fishes, which helps with birds and things that feeds on those.”

“The debris also changes the form of the river, whether in small pockets over time or by changing how the river flows by affecting habitat,” Suplick said.

Suplick suggests humans can mitigate whatever problems beavers cause, while working to research their ecological benefits..

With beavers, he said, “We have a healthier ecosystem that’s more resilient.”

Finally, a paragraph that LIKE! Maybe it is Christmas after all. Alright Stuart, even though you aren’t sure beavers belong in Salinas and you think we have ‘enough’ of them, and even though you decided to punch the beaver hippies a little bit so that everyone knows you’re a serious scientist – I’ll let you off the hook for now. Besides, this article introduced me to a new beaver friend, I’m always happy to meet those.

Red fox, bobcat, possum, mountain lions, black bear, badgers. You can see everything. It’s really an amazing spot,” nearby resident Audrey Taub said.

She’s been visiting the area regularly with her family ever since she came across a spot off Juan De Anza Trail while studying tracking a decade ago. And it’s inspired a new passion for her: Protecting beavers.

“I attribute it all to the beavers. They create the environment that helps all the others,” she said.

Audrey, something tells me this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.