Because the beaver isn't just an animal; it's an ecosystem!

Category: Beavers elsewhere

BEAVERS MAKING A SPLASH EVERYWHERE

Devon Beavers, Who's saving beavers now? December 22, 2019

Wow. The Sunday before Christmas. Presents bought. Check. Presents wrapped. Presents under the tree. Check. Tree still alive. Check.  Dried orange slice garlands on windows. Check. 72 butternut squash raviolis made. Check. 72 short rib raviolis made. Check. 72. Mushroom leek raviolis made. Check.

I think everything is on track!

It’s a good time to catch up with all the news I’ve been setting aside. I know some of you will be so full of eggnog, good cheer and family obligations that you won’t think about beavers again until 2020. But this should get everyone through the holidays.

BeaverCON_Social Media outreach

BeaverCon 2020 is offering three minority scholarships.  (Enrollment only.) You still need to get yourself there and housed but its a great opportunity to share the beaver doxology with folks who might not otherwise hear it, Apply for the scholarship with this form: But do it before January 17th or it will be too late.

Attending the conference will be James Wallace of the UK and lots of the good folk from Beaver Trust. We had a truly dizzying conversation this week about all the excellent work they’re doing and who’ve they partnered with along the way. Honestly, they are starting out with a BANG and will make a huge difference for beavers in the UK and beavers generally. We also had a nice chat about the three E’s that come with this work: Exhausting Elbows and Egos that can sometimes make this work harder than it needs to be, and I was happy to provide some normalization and context.

I was so excited about some of their plans I practically had to take a nap after our conversation. Hopefully I told them some good things too. Because now I’m officially a “partner” of the project and listed on their alliance page. La!

Heidi Perryman Worth a Dam: Heidi started Worth A Dam to defend the beavers in her home town of Martinez CA, and then started helping other cities learn how and why to co-exist with these important animals. Since 2008 they have organised an annual beaver festival and maintained an internationally respected website. As California faces more drought years they believe it is more important than ever to coexist with these important ‘water savers’.

Welcome to team beaver, new friends!

And finally, to keep things interesting I put this together for the 2020 festival. Amy Hall was kind enough to say we were free to use her wonderful creation. Buckle up boys and girls, something tells me this is going to be one helluva year!

SONOMA COPIES MARTINEZ IN EXACTLY THE WRONG WAY

Who's blaming beavers now? December 21, 2019

This was the SOS I received yesterday afternoon.

The Sonoma County Water Authority took a chain saw to the Beaver Dam behind Bettencourt St., between 2nd St. West and the walking path. They claim to have been given “verbal permission”. These beaver’s have pups…please help protect them. Please notify what ever agency can help spare our wildlife. These are the only Beavers in the City of Sonoma. Help!

I was surprised because these are beavers I’ve never heard of an the message was sent by someone I didn’t know. I eventually turned over enough rocks to learn that SCWA had been worried about the dam for a while and was hoping that the recent rains would take it out. When it didn’t they got permission to do it themselves.

Kind of.

A series of emails were forwarded basically explaining that SCWA was concerned about the obstruction of the dam, the possible blockage of culverts down the road and the increase in mosquitoes in the summer (!) so they talked to CDFW who advised them to notch the dam.

A self justifying account was sent by SCWA to folks at Sonoma ecology Center whose phones were ringing off the hook when this all went down. That list is pretty much all bogus official-speak designed to make people not argue with them, except for the first one about obstruction which I’m sure is the whole reason they did it

It seemed stupid to me at first to do this on the first day of christmas vacation when children and parents are home and watching. But the thing is it when you think about it friday was EXACTLY the kind of day they would choose to do this. The last act before heading off for a 2 week vacation so all the public attention and yelling wouldn’t bother them. And don’t think for a moment there wasn’t yelling. Lots of people mistakenly think beavers live in the dam. So cutting into one with a noisy chainsaw probably got some attention.

Of course SCWA could have notified residents that this was going to happen. And explained ahead of time that they weren’t going to harm the beavers. They could have notched the dam with a silent clam rake instead of a chainsaw. They could have put up a little sign to let folks know what they were doing. They could have written the Sonoma Ecology Center BEFORE they got caught and let them know and asked for their help getting the word out.

But – I ask you – where’s the fun in that?

Better to throw a live grenade into the crowded foxhole and then go on vacation for two weeks. It is so exactly what our public works would do – and DID do – that it almost takes my breath. But then I remember how very differently this all feels when I’m not in the front lines protecting OUR beavers.

So I passed on what I could to the right players. I made sure folks knew what had happened and who to talk to,  and then I went to make 72 mushroom and leak raviolis for the upcoming beaver dinner. Because, even I, eventually remembered this wasn’t my circus. And those weren’t my monkeys. So to speak.

Sonoma has very smart people who care about this. They will figure it out. But even people who know better can be stupid about beavers.

Case in point: made last year in CANADA for Chrissakes,

 

Ontario Power Generation “Dammy the Beaver” from Nathan Love on Vimeo.

“HAVE YOU NO DECENCY, PRIMGHAR?”

Who's Killing Beavers Now? December 20, 2019

Primghar Iowa is in the upper left hand corner of the state – almost touching Minnesota. A small county seat of less than 1000 people it’s primary claim to fame is its most famous resident Joseph Welch the head counsel for the United States Army, who asked Joseph McCarthy, incredulously what we no longer bother to say in the current administration “Have you no decency, sir?”.

Well apparently they’re not content with simply being first to pick the president anymore. Now they want to kill all the beavers. In fact they want to kill 90% more beaver than they actually have.

I’m not kidding.

 

O’Brien County establishes beaver bounty

PRIMGHAR—O’Brien County is leaving it to beaver trappers to take care of cutting down the large furry rodent’s numbers.

On Tuesday, Dec. 10, in Primghar, the board of supervisors established a new countywide beaver bounty policy effective with the beginning of beaver trapping season through one week after the end of the season.

“The price doesn’t change based on the age of the beaver,” said board chair Sherri Bootsma. “They’re going to have to indicate where the beaver was harvested,” Bootsma said. “It is kind of an honor system, but they do have to map out where it came from.

A bounty of $35 will be paid per beaver until a maximum of $5,000 from the county’s rural services fund for the season has been paid out.

Just so you understand what we’re dealing with here, at 25 dollars a head -er a tail- pays for 142 beavers to be slain. Iowa has been subject to plenty of flooding and I suppose those dislocated beavers could be swimming about trying to find a home,  but when I check wikipedia it tells me that the entire county has .2 square miles of water to its name. That’s about three football fields of water if they’re lucky. And there is zero fucking chance of finding 142 beavers in 3 football fields.

So basically what they’re done is create a dead beaver import business. Good luck with that.

“The theory is, it’ll start a decrease in their population,” said supervisor Dan Friedrichsen. “Then they get harder to trap and their population is where maybe it needs to be.”

He noted he does not want to see the county’s beaver population totally wiped out.

“If it’s a lake, they deserve to be there; they should be there,” Friedrichsen said. “Certain systems — they need to be there.”

“We have a pond that has a family of beavers there,” Friedrichsen said. “We like to take two a year out of that family, and then that keeps the damage low. It keeps them from spreading.”

That’s pretty charitable if you, sir. Only killing off a few family members every year. Pretty dam charitable.  Bless his heart,

Apparently you have to bring in the WHOLE beaver with tail attached because they don’t want to shell out money for someone who just goes to a fur dealer and buys up a bunch of tails. You know?

 

 

BEAVERS RUINING THE PLANET AND OTHER NEWS

Beaver ecological impact, Who's blaming beavers now? December 18, 2019