Category: Beavers elsewhere

BELLS RINGING IN BELLEVILLE

heidi08 City Reports, Flow Device Installed, Who's saving beavers now? September 11, 2019

Remember our friend in the filmmaker in Belleville, Ontario who tried to rescue the drowning beaver and was horrified to find out they were being trapped in this day and age? We’ll he and his friends have been hard at work with some pretty great results,

City keeps fatal traps as “last resort”

Beavers in Belleville are not totally safe yet, but they are much closer to being treated humanely in the city than they ever have been.

Belleville city council passed a new policy regarding the trapping of “nuisance animals” Monday night which says lethal trapping should only be used as a “last resort.”

The “Humane Wildlife Conflict Policy” outlines several options to be used prior to lethal conibear killing traps, and stresses the city will “strive to implement proactive and preventative measures” of promoting coexistence and preventing potential conflicts.

The issue of how the city deals with “nuisance animals,” notably beavers, came to the forefront in the summer of 2018 when several East Hill residents rescued a beaver that had been caught in a drowning trap.

Yes we remember it well. Lets hear a little more about what the city is going to do instead?

That kind of trap will no longer be used by the city, which has since installed a Beaver Deceiver – a beaver control device — in the area of Haig Road where the incident occurred.

In any possible situation, the first step will be to identify potential problems and confirm there are “reasonable grounds” that property will be damaged or a threat to the community exists.

Mayor Mitch Panciuk, who praised McCaw for her efforts on this issue, said he was proud of the steps the city has taken to find innovative solutions to a very difficult problem.

“Is this policy perfect? No,” he said. “But today we have no policy. At least under this policy I know we will not be using inhumane traps except as a last resort.

I am not picky. I’ve been following beavers a long, long time, and I know that if any city commits to do ANYTHING first before reaching for trappers – whether its use an egg beater or dressing up for Halloween – any forced delay is actually better than none – and a delay involving an actual flow device or wrapping trees is the BEST of all! Because stopping to think of options and outcomes is ALL I ask for really.

Great work team Belleville. Keep the pressure on and keep your mayor careful. Your beavers will be around to thank you for it!

CALIFORNIA’S SLEIGHT OF HAND

heidi08 What's killing beavers now? September 5, 2019

Time for another victorious defeat for California beavers. We seem to be having these pretentious affairs every couple of months. And usually with credit given to a certain well known conservation group that seems to follow the spotlight.

I’m talking of course about the ban on fur-trapping.

California bans fur trapping for recreation, commerce

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California on Wednesday became the first state to ban commercial fur trapping, ending the practice nearly 200 years after animals like beavers and otters introduced the American West to international trade.

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday he had signed a bill into law making it illegal to trap animals for the purposes of recreation or to sell their fur. It is still legal to trap animals for other purposes, including pest control and public health.

Now if you were anyone off the street just tuning in you might say “Hurray no more fur trade in the golden state!” But of course you and I know that the fur trade hasn’t been the primary cause of beaver death for 30 years or longer. And all of the MANY beavers that still die every day in conibear traps and by gunshot wound die because of DEPREDATION which remains very much legal. In fact when you depredate beavers you don’t have to even count how many you kill. Isn’t that convenient? No one can report it because no one knows.

A good way to avoid those pesky AP articles.

But in recent years, California licenses for fur trappers have declined considerably. In 2018, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said it sold 133 licenses, leading to the harvest of 1,568 animals and the sale of 1,241 pelts. A legislative analysis of the bill noted most furs are sold outside of California, with data suggesting there have been no fur sales in the state for the past three years.

Meanwhile, the state has issued about 500 trapping licenses a year for pest control and other uses. People who trap animals for those purposes are not required to report how many animals they capture.

Hey here’s a funny funny joke. OF those 500 permits issued to kill nuisance animals in 2018. 210 of them were for beavers. Because what seems like good news is never good news for them.

I guess that won’t be a headline anytime soon.

Newsom’s office announced the bill signing on Twitter by referencing the governor’s childhood pet, an otter he named “Potter.” The announcement included a photo of what appeared to be an otter puppet exclaiming: “My friends & I should not have to live in fear of being trapped & our fur being sold!”

Of course. Of course he did.

The real surprise of the day doesn’t come from silly pretend news that doesn’t matter to beavers at all. But from very very local and REAL news that matters a great deal.

Consider it another verse of “It’s a small world, afterall”.

Yesterday Robin of Napa confirmed that the mother of famed beaver researcher Joe Wheaton lives in the city currently. Which lead me to hunt about on google and LOOK what I dredgged up.

Joe Wheaton: studying his hometown creek

St. Helena High School graduate Joe Wheaton has turned his hometown creek into an international waterway. As a PhD candidate in physical geography at the University of Southampton, England, he chose to do his doctoral research and dissertation on Sulphur Creek.

In the process, he has brought distinguished geographers and geomorphologists to the study the creek; and to share with the community and the world the working of a geological wonder, one that was ignored and hidden in the back streets of town for more than a century.

This amazing article is dated 2006, one year before the beavers showed up in Martinez, So none of this was on my radar. Napa was just a nearby city, and creeks were just things that other people studied while I was busily working to make children a little less unhappy.But there is not now, in all the world, a single more well-known and well respected beaver researcher than Dr, Joe Wheaton who apparently went to Napa high school before he literally put beaver benefits on the map and became their foremost authority.

The mind reels. The jaw drops. Do you think if he had landed a job at UCB California would have been the premiere state where the forest service protected beavers and the BRAT tool was invented? Do you think Mary Obrien would have ended up working for the Sonoma Land Trust instead?

I’m getting dizzy. I need to sit down.

Add to this fact that our dispersing beavers might have settled down in Napa, that Rusty and Robin became friends of those beavers and friends of Worth A Dam and that the County Supervisor Brad Wagenknecht came to our beaver festival. Twice.

Twenty-eight-year-old Wheaton was born in Napa, lived on Dry Creek Road but attended school in St. Helena. When he was 13, his parents moved to their present home on Inglewood Avenue.

He received both his BS and MS degrees at UC-Davis. Wanting to continue studies in fluvial geomorphology and ecohydraulics, he entered the University of Southampton, in Hampshire, England, where he will complete his PhD requirements this year.

Lets make the circle comp[ete. Any other famous beaver supporters from Napa?

Amy Gallaher Hall creating chalk art centerpiece in the Park at 12th Annual Martinez Beaver Festival 2019. Photo by Cheryl Reynolds 6/29/19.

I guess what they say is true. Beavers really do make the world go around

RESPECTFUL SPITE FOR BEAVERS

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Flow Device Installed September 3, 2019

You knew it would happen. One day, someday a state fish and wildlife agency would pay to install a flow device. It was inevitable. But what state? When?

The question challenges regular readers of this website to pub their thinking caps on. Jon did a good job guessing first Utah (NO) and then Washington (Also No). But think about it. If you’re a state agency and you’re agreeing to do something a beaver advocate has been riding you for YEARS to do, you have to find a subtle way to agree with them and piss them off at the same time.

It’s got to tell them you thought of it ALL by yourself – without their help.

Like if the city of Martinez said they were going to save the beavers better and differently before Heidi Perryman and all those meddling people got involved. They had it all worked out.

If you agree with my petulant premise them the answer is obvious. The State where the inventor of the Beaver deceiver has lived all his life. It can only be Vermont.

State installing water control devices on beaver dams

MONTPELIER — To prevent flooding on nearby roads and private property, Vermont Fish & Wildlife staff have installed 11 water control devices on beaver dams this year throughout Vermont.

Known as “beaver baffles,” these devices allow some water to pass through the dam without breaching it and destroying the wetland.

Fish & Wildlife staff expect to continue to install additional beaver baffles throughout the state this year. The baffles are one of many techniques employed or recommended to landowners to minimize beaver damage to property or trees. Other techniques include using fences to protect culverts, or placing wire mesh or special paint around the base of trees to prevent gnawing.

“The wetlands that beavers create provide critical habitat for a variety of wildlife such as waterfowl, songbirds, frogs, turtles, otters, and moose. These areas can also absorb extra water during rain events and clean pollutants from water, so we work hard to preserve these wetlands,” said Kim Royar, wildlife biologist with Vermont Fish & Wildlife.

Oh that’s right. We’re using Skip Lisle’s knowledge and experience, and even his techniques, but we’re calling it our OWN name. We’re BAFFLING those beavers = not deceiving them.

Never mind that the term beaver baffle is already used for a flow device in Canada with a completely different design. Never mind that beaver deceiver is a PERFECTLY good name and you have a local man who invented for pete’s sake. JUST NEVER MIND.

With funds granted from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and generated by waterfowl hunters through the Duck Stamp Program, the Fish & Wildlife Department has installed more than 300 beaver baffles in Vermont protecting over 3,000 acres of wetland habitat since the program started in 2000.

“We receive roughly 200 beaver complaints a year,” said Royar. “Several staff members respond to these complaints, and one technician is dedicated solely to addressing beaver conflicts from spring through fall. Despite these efforts, other management techniques must be used. We also rely on regulated, in-season trapping to maintain a stable beaver population so Vermonters continue to view beavers as a valued member of the local ecosystem and not as a nuisance.”

Landowners with beaver problems can contact the Fish & Wildlife Department for assistance at www.vtfishandwildlife.com. They can also contact private contractor Skip Lisle at www.beaverdeceivers.com.

Money from duck stamps to pay for beavers! What? That makes sense. Are you sure its what you meant to do because it is absolutely logical. And state agencies controlling wildlife are so rarely that?

What I love the utmost MOST about this article is that even though fish and wildlife is pointedly ignoring Skip, and the project itself ignores Skip, the reporter doesn’t. His or her very last line mentions his name refers you to his website. There is no byline on the article. So whoever you want to angrily call and complain it can’t be done. But it ends as it should with Skip’s information. So fucking there.

Well god bless the stubborn little green mountain state for doing this. And god bless stubborn little Skip Lisle for making it unavoidable, It had to happen and it’s only fitting that it SHOULD BE VERMONT. We should all have some maple syrup, cheddar cheese and Ben and Jerry’s today to celebrate.

Oh and if one day California wants to piss me off by installing flow devices and calling them Worth A Darns they can be my guest!

Finally Robin of Napa forwarded this amazingly urban beaver tweet from Hinge park in Vancouver. I can’t embed it but follow the link. I swear its worth your while.

A break from our regularly scheduled programming this morning to bring you this Canadian beaver stopping to smell the…bushes ??❤️
Hinge Park, Vancouver pic.twitter.com/wU8BHPj4OD

— Kelly Canuck? (@KellyCanuckTO) October 21, 2018

HOP ON THE BEAVER TRAIN: SAN JOSE TO LONDON TO MARTINEZ

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Environmental, Who's saving beavers now? August 15, 2019

Again with the good news. You must find me redundant. I’m afraid I’m going to have to tell you three very good things today. Again. You’re going to think I exaggerate or make stuff up. I swear its all true.

And I swear the last one is the very very very best.

The first comes from the Estuary magazine and stars an article written by a very good beaver friend. Talk about bringing in the big guns!

Two long-scarce freshwater mammal species are staging a comeback in Bay Area waterways.

By Joe Wheaton

Beavers are expanding in Santa Clara County. Steve Holmes of the South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition found a pregnant beaver on the Guadalupe River in 2013; others have been spotted in San Jose, Campbell, and Sunnyvale, and this spring De Anza College student Ibrahim Ismail discovered a den on Los Gatos Creek.

Nineteenth-century records place beavers in the South Bay before their local extirpation, but CDFW does not issue permits for beaver relocation because of their nuisance potential. Although there are beaver colonies in Martinez and a few other Bay Area sites, the origins of the South Bay colonies are not known; the beavers may have moved downstream from Lexington Reservoir, where they were reportedly introduced in the 1990s under unclear circumstances.

Hurray! A shoutout for urban beavers, beaver nativity and the Martinez beavers in particular! I knew this was coming because Joe contacted me on the nativity angle a while ago. I’m happy the brought him in to write this, but not quite so happy about this paragraph.

Holmes welcomes the return of the furry ecosystem engineers, whose activities have been shown elsewhere to improve habitat for salmonids. However, Santa Clara Valley Water District biologists Doug Titus and Navroop Jassal note that those studies may not match South Bay conditions, and explain that dams could affect threatened steelhead by blocking migration, increasing water temperatures, and providing habitat for exotic predators. However, they say that so far no negative impacts from dam-building or other beaver work have been observed.

Say it with me now. “That research doesn’t apply to these very specialized special conditions”. “We’re the silicon valley for pete’s sake. Nothing in the world comes close. Google it! In our habitat beavers actually HARM steelhead. So we better kill them.”

Well Steve is watching out for them, and Rick is too on the RCD, I’m going to assume good things for now. As we found, by the time you make it into Estuary magazine you’re already home free.

Onto some great mews from London. No not THAT one. This one is in Ontario just across the water from detroit.

Conservation authority baffles beavers to save city infrastructure

Some call it a beaver baffler. Others prefer beaver deceiver. In the simplest terms, it’s a pond-levelling contraption, made up of a pipe and a cage, that not only controls unwanted flooding but also tricks a beaver into thinking everything is just fine.

On Wednesday, the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority installed one in the Pincombe Drain, a tributary of Dingman Creek near a subdivision at Southdale and Wharncliffe roads in London.

It’s true enough. Some people use the proper names for things and some just make them up as they go along. But heck, I shouldn’t criticize. Not only did they do the very right thing here, they also did it for the most very right reasons.

“As we encroach on the rural landscape and farmers take back more land and they make more drains rather than creeks, beavers are coming back to the city,” Williamson said. “We’re creating all these green spaces and the beavers come in and form these wetland niches.

“That’s a positive thing and it’s an amazing habitat. The only thing is the wildlife is competing with infrastructure and human activity — things like flooding on roads, culverts, storm water management ponds and hazard trees. Those are really the only issues we have with beavers.”

Okay then, we can all see you obviously are installing a pond leveler and were trained either by Mike’s visit to London a few years back or his videos, but you’re doing it right and for the right reasons. And we just love you for it!

Okay now for the really, really good news. This was filmed yesterday morning by Nancy Fleischauer at the Ward street bridge in Martinez. Can I get an Amen?

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BEAVER CHAMPIONS POP UP IN THE MOST UNLIKELY PLACES

heidi08 Beavers, Who's saving beavers now? August 7, 2019

Things aren’t exactly looking up for beavers all over. They may have been casually welcomed in a National park in Canada – but it’s in that same suspicious way that a well-dressed black woman might be treated at the mall in Iowa. No one is telling them to leave, but eyes are strained and just waiting for trouble. Fundy Park is north west of Maine and sports the highest tides of in Canada at a whopping 50 feet. There are over 25 falls and miles of coastline and as many hiking trails.

Oh and beavers.

Beavers’ move into new area of Fundy National Park not a concern, park ecologist says

While the beavers haven’t posed a safety risk yet, staff at Fundy National Park are keeping a close eye on a new area some juvenile beavers have claimed as their own. The beavers have taken up residence in Dixon Brook, which runs through the park’s golf course.

“They have built dams there, created a lodge and have been an interesting thing for people to observe,” said park ecologist, Becky Graham.

Park officials think this group of beavers is made up of juveniles that left the MacLaren’s Pond area to set up a new home.

“When beavers are two years old they typically would leave their natal site, where they were raised, and branch out on their own.”

Hmmm good explaining Becky, the beavers did the right thing by hiring you as their counsel. Yes yearling do generally move on, unless they found a cushy golfcourse with a ready-made pond. Then they might just stick around a while.

Graham said the beavers have cut down some trees and vegetation along the brook to build dams and lodges, but she said that’s a natural process.

“That is beavers doing exactly what they’re designed to do in an ecosystem.”

Graham said that when beavers change the habitat and turn faster-flowing water into a pond, it can increase the biodiversity of the area.

This means native species will grow up in behind the trees that were cut and a natural succession process will start.While the water is higher in some areas, it hasn’t spilled over the banks of the brook yet, Graham said.

“Our main priority is always human safety and wildlife safety and there have been no issues so far and no threats to infrastructure so far.”

Becky is doing a good job spinning the news and calming ruffled feathers, but we’re talking 150 miles from Nova Scotia. Not a great place for progressive beaver management. I suppose it could work out fine, but I’m not holding my breath.

Graham said park staff will ontinue to monitor but haven’t seen anything that is too concerning so far. Staff are able to keep a close eye on what the beavers are doing on Dixon Brook because of its close proximity to park headquarters. A monitoring system is used to track other beavers throughout the park.

“We actually look for active food caches in the winter and the late fall, and that tells us how many sites the beavers are currently using.”

Moving or relocating beavers from one area to another is quite difficult, said Graham.”There would be nothing to stop another group of beavers from coming right in behind them.”

It’s also stressful on the animals to be trapped and relocated.

“Given that there’s no threat to human safety or species at risk or infrastructure or anything like that in this situation, that’s not our current approach.”

Becky! You are very highly qualified woman and must kind of a swan among the ducklings in that area. We think you’re wonderful! And of course you are right. Better to bear those beavers you have than to fly to others you know not of. Shakespeare said.