Category: What’s killing beavers now?

WATB NFU

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers elsewhere, Environmental, What's killing beavers now? November 27, 2016

The whiny Scottish farmers have been quick to find the silver lining in Ms. Cunningham’s announcement, which sounds someting like, “Even if we are going to be burdened with beavers, at least we get to kill some of them!”

Robust Management of Beaver Population Essential

Following the long-awaited announcement from Scottish Government about beavers receiving protected status, NFU Scotland insists that proper management of the species is fundamental in order to avoid unacceptable impact on agriculture.

NFU Scotland has made it clear that if the species are to continue to exist in Scotland they must not have an adverse impact on farmland; a view that Scottish Government and a number of other stakeholders share.

In order to ensure that this new species is not having an unacceptable impact there will be a need for monitoring and rapid and pragmatic interventions.“In today’s announcement by the Environment Secretary, she acknowledged the impacts that beavers can have on agriculture, and accepts the need for a fit-for-purpose management regime.

“It is essential that Scottish agriculture is not negatively affected by this decision and its implementation, and NFU Scotland will continue to work with its members who are concerned, and whose land has been impacted by beavers.”

Now, I was surprised as anyone to learn that NFU doesn’t stand for NOT F*CKING UNDERSTANDING, but rather the National Farmer’s Union which apparently read the minister’s fine statement about biodiversity and wetlands and thought it actually said;

I guess Nuance Fails Unbelievably in their guild. The poor tractor drivers are Nearly Fed Up. And will Never Finish Uncelebrating. But no matter. Beavers are Back, Baby. They will at least be better off than they are now getting shot whenever someone feels like it in the Scottish Wild West. Even if there will be permissible trapping all it really means is that beavers will have the same lousy chance in Scotland as they have anywhere else in this world, so I guess they’ll manage alright. We’re going to let NFU grim spirits dampen our good beaver mood, and besides.

Yesterday was a HISTORIC day for beavers.

Because The BEAVERS won the civil war which has not happened since 2007. All those ducks have been greenly sauntering around like they own the place for nearly a decade. It’s high time Orange had something to cheer about. Hey, it occurs to me something else significant happened to beavers in 2007. I’ll give you a hint. It’s something dam important!

Emotions should be used to defend gun rights, not wildlife.

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, Environmental, stupid solutions, What's killing beavers now?, Who's blaming beavers now? November 21, 2016

How odd, I was curious why there seemed to be no beaver news lately so I rechecked my google alerts. They had vanished! Well, fortunately I repaired them just in time to get the PERFECT alert for an article that deserves my comment perhaps more than any other in recent years. It is Len Lisenbee’s gloating commentary on the Montana Trapping Law’s failure to pass. The headline itself is misleading, since it should read “Election bodes well for our right to kill wildlife”. But I couldn’t have mockwritten this article better myself. Even his photo looks like great work from central casting.

Election results bode well for wildlife

Many people might not know it but, besides Donald Trump’s rather amazing and certainly unexpected victory on Nov. 8, there were also several important conservation items on various state ballots. And there can be little doubt that our fish and wildlife resources also won important and rather surprising victories.

I am not referring to President-elect Trump’s well-publicized stance on gun control and his four-square support of the Second Amendment. No doubt that position, all by itself, won him countless votes from among like-minded conservatives.

Here is one important fact: Rarely does any wild species benefit from emotional voting questions. Animals that are protected from hunting, such as cougars and black bear in California, are still subject to the laws of nature that include continued breeding, population expansion and eventual adverse interactions with humans and their pets and livestock.

The “Montana Animal Trap Restrictions Initiative,” listed as I-177 on the ballot, was designed by anti-trappers to greatly reduce and restrict trapping on public lands within the state. It’s history is sordid, lengthy, and steeped in deceptive misinformation and outright lies. And in the end, Montana voters were 63 percent against the amendment.

This initiative was extremely wide-reaching, and would have banned all trapping on any public lands. That prohibition would have included all city parks, municipal golf courses and all state owned properties everywhere in the state.

That’s right, in addition to electing Donald Trump class president, the wisdom of which will soon explain itself, this november showed its intelligence by protecting the right to kill wildlife on public lands. Because the right to SEE WILDLIFE on said lands is obviously secondary to the right to kill it, which must always, always come first.

I’ll let Len explain, since he understands this so well.

Enter the voters in Montana. They were not fooled by the rhetoric spewed out by the anti-trappers. Many paid close attention to the advertisements favoring existing Montana Fish and Wildlife management. The vote results were a landslide, and common sense in the form of scientifically-based wildlife management was able to overcome emotions on this important issue.

What problems would this initiative have needlessly incurred had it passed? Based on similar ballot initiatives successfully passed in other states, the results would have been devastating. Local communities, counties and the state would have had to spend millions of taxpayer dollars to deal with “nuisance” wildlife issues. Species such as beavers, skunks and raccoons would have become living problems in short order. Wolves and coyotes would have caused major depredations on livestock, and they would have decimated deer, elk and moose herds within just a few years.

Arizona, California, Colorado, Massachusetts and Washington are the only states that have enacted a ban on trapping. All were the direct result of ballot initiatives. And all of these states are currently experiencing major wildlife-related problems as a direct result of their misguided efforts to end trapping.

With this argument, Len firmly attests that failure to allow the sporty take of wildlife will result in public lands having to pay for the depredation of wildlife. Which might well be true, I suppose. States with more recreational trapping have less depredation, period. (Although it might be better for the stewards and park rangers of that land to decide which beaver colony is causing specific problems flooding culverts rather than letting Jimbob decide whatever beaver happens to be closest to the car.)

But I would argue that the difference for the beaver itself is actually negligible, since it makes very little difference to a him whether he’s killed for sport or for convenience. And, of possibly greater importance, the loss to the public that would have wanted to bird watch or photograph the beaver pond is hardly mitigated by whether the beavers were made into fur or just gotten out of the way. Right?

One example I like to use is the beaver problem in Massachusetts. The anti’s managed to get an emotion-filled ballot initiative against all trapping passed. Everyone who voted for it felt good.

But in just two years the beaver population increased dramatically and the complaints began to pour in. Backyards and basements flooding from beaver dam back-ups were the primary complaints. And the trapping ban on beaver was rescinded by voters one year later.

Wildlife management by emotions is never a good idea. But there always seems to be groups of individuals who, for whatever reasons, want to bypass scientific wildlife management. They always use emotions, deceitful information and lies to make their various points. And it is always wildlife that suffer in the end when too many people believe the lies.

Those crazy beaver huggers that want to bypass SCIENCE and use their emotions to make decisions. Now, I know what you’re going to say reader, but lets lay aside the fact that his example is false, MA never actually overturned the law, and bypass the fact that the entire gun rights lobby would disappear in a puff of logic if we ever made decisions based solely on science and not EMOTION – laying all this aside for the moment—- let’s just allow Len to demonstrate his keen grasp of the issues with his pointed discussion of climate change.

Considering that “climate change” used to be called “global warming” until the warming slowed and finally petered out completely, and also considering that our climate has been changing since well before the dinosaurs died out, and also considering that carbon dioxide is considered to be the major culprit of no longer mentioned global warming and yet is absolutely necessary for maintaining virtually all life on earth, I would hasten to suggest that there is ample room for more than one opinion on this subject.

Whoa! You know, the outcome of this crazy election is finally starting to make sense to me. Thank you for that. In the face of such a mind-blowing steely-surfaced argument I can only reply this:

This hasn’t worked at all, so we need to do it MORE…

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers elsewhere, What's killing beavers now?, Who's blaming beavers now? November 20, 2016

Mississippi is doing an outstanding job at not solving problems. It’s working so well for them that they have decided to do it more. I was going to question their intelligence but the 2010 census assures me that fully 78% have high school degrees so things are going better than we might have guessed for the region. Apparently the curriculum doesn’t include any information on beaver management though.

(Or evolution)

Program controls damaging critter

There’s a buck-toothed villain with a bounty on his tail in Alcorn County.

In an effort to help local landowners conserve timber and crops, the Alcorn County Soil and Water Conservation District is encouraging landowners to sign up for this year’s beaver control program.

Organizers say last year’s program was a success, with over 100 participating landowners and 260 beavers eliminated on over 3,500 acres throughout Alcorn County. Since the beginning of the program, over 9,000 beavers have been trapped in the county.

“It’s amazing what those little workers can do,” said Sandy Mitchell, district clerk at the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service office. “Even though we’ve been doing the program for 12 years now, they’re still producing, there are still plenty of beavers out there.”

That’s incredible! You’ve killed 9000 and the ones you missed keep reproducing? Instead of just giving up and moving to the next county or committing suicide by alligator? It’s like they’re MACHINES with no appreciation for all your effort! Considering that you’ve been doing this for more than a decade and it hasn’t worked yet, a lesser county would have started to rethink their strategy – you know, try something new, do some research or talk to other areas. But not you. You gamely keep trying the same failed plan over and over regardless of minor distractions like success. You have to admire that kind of determination.

Alcorn County resident Ozzy Hendrix has trapped beavers for half of his life. He has trapped for the City of Corinth as well as Alcorn County. In the last 15 years Hendrix has trapped over 100 beavers in the area around the train tracks on Harper Road. Hendrix said the most humane beaver traps are the ones that kill the animals instantly.

Anyone looking to trap beavers should first look for the telltale “runs” in shallow water, Hendrix explained.

“It makes a small indention in the ground where they travel in the water,” he said. “It looks like a little ditch. You put the trap down there, and they fit perfectly most of the time in these runs. We catch most of them that way.” Hendrix said there will be occasionally be a smarter class of beaver that will require a snare to trap.

A smarter class of beaver? Now that’s interesting. Hey I wonder if you happen to notice whether there are any more of them than their used to be when you started? Almost like the smarter survivors are breeding more smart survivors? It’s just a curious notion based on something I picked up in yankee school. Don’t trouble yourself about it.

Landowners may trap the beavers themselves or enlist the services of a trapper. They are asked to wrap each beaver’s tail and left back foot in clear plastic wrap or a freezer bag and keep them frozen until collection day. Landowners will receive $10 for each tail up to the maximum amount set.

Do let us know if this year’s beaver popsicle fest solves your problem, won’t you? I’m sure the 13th year will be the charm. I’m wracking my brain to figure out why you need a tail and a left foot too, but I’m drawing a blank. I’m pretty sure the tail would cover it?

Do you sometimes get two-tailed beavers in Alcorn county?

The chair heard round the world…

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers elsewhere, What's killing beavers now?, Who's saving beavers now? October 26, 2016

Thankfully the Furbearer Defenders letter got the attention of the Canadian Press (like the AP) which allowed the story to be published several more times yesterday. Not as many as I might like but a good number including the respectable Globe and Mail. Let’s hope that several people are feeling very uncomfortable this morning. And that the three men who watched (‘chairleaders’) are starting to think about naming the fourth. The town is really small and just over the American border from North Dakota. Near as I can tell there is only one bar and one bakery so everyone knows who did this. I don’t think they should be able to use chairs at all in the meantime. Everyone should be forced to stand until someone comes forward.

In the time we need hopeful things. Yesterday I was invited to meet with the junior high principal to talk about the way teachers and students might be involved with their new flat-tailed neighbors. This was made possible by former Worth A Dam member Kathi McGlaughlin who’s on the school board and made the introductions.

It turns out it really is true after all. It’s not WHAT you know but WHO you know that matters.

kathy — Kathi teaches youngsters about beavers at the Flyway Fiesta.

In the mean time we purchased a very cheap efficient camcorder that we’re loaning to the kindly resident who’s deck overlooks our wayward beavers. She has seen something little hanging out with them in the shadows and we’re hopeful we can guess what that is. Fingers crossed we will see soon.

And something else to restore our faith in Canadian men in the vicinity of beavers. A lovely article from naturalist Michael Runtz (author of the beautiful “Dam Builders“) about beavers getting ready for winter.

Beavers are busy preparing for winter

If anyone has recently visited a beaver pond – the masterpiece creation of these remarkable rodents – two things would be apparent. One is that the beaver lodge has undergone a noticeable change in appearance. Plenty of fresh mud adorns its outer surface. Another is that a fallen forest had sprung up next to the lodge.

The mud is a sure sign that freezing temperatures are in the not-too-distant future. Starting in late September, beavers begin plastering mud over their lodges. This serves as insulation during winter. As the days get shorter and nights colder, beavers continue to add material during the day, especially on overcast days in November.

Mud is dug up from the pond’s bottom, likely not far from the two underwater entrances. Mud is carried with both front hands holding it against the chest, much in the way that we carry a load of firewood. But beavers seldom carry just a load of mud to the top of the lodge. They inevitably carry a stick or two as well, which are clenched between its teeth.

This double carry amazes me because it is done while a beaver waddles up its lodge with its head in the air, chin pressing down on the mud load it is carrying. It cannot see its feet, which are stepping across protruding sticks surrounded by slippery mud. Despite walking up a slope replete with trip hazards, I’ve never seen a beaver stumble.

The “fallen forest” is the beavers’ winter pantry. Beavers don’t hibernate and so eat every day. During the autumn they fell trees and cut off branches, which are dragged to the pond and piled up next to the lodge. The huge pile, which extends from the surface down to the bottom, contains branches that will be pulled into the lodge where their bark will be eaten. If you examine a food pile from its top to the bottom, you would see a change in the type of branches it contains.

Near the bottom you would likely find Trembling Aspen, Willow, and White Birch branches for these are beavers favourite foods. But on the top you would likely see alder, cedar, and fir branches, items usually deemed inedible. These are placed on top because the ice renders them inaccessible during winter. Their role is to hold down the best foods under the ice where they remain accessible all winter.

Ahh articles like this are good for the chair-battered spirit. Do you think the appearance of this the day after such horrors is just a coincidence or is their a National Beaver Board in Canada that ordered this just in time? Either way, I’m grateful When I read his paragraph about the ‘waddle’ I think always of this famous video. Another feel good moment between beavers and humans.

OW! The stupid! It hurts us!

heidi08 Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, stupid solutions, What's killing beavers now? October 17, 2016

There are precious few articles about beaver that shock me any more. Remember, I’ve been doing this a long time and written nearly 4000 columns about the way a city responds to beavers. Sure, every once in a while a city makes the right decision for the right reasons and that shocks me a little, and sometimes entire regions make bad decisions that are so destructive it catches my breath, but often I’ve seen it all before. This, as they say in the cattle trade, ain’t my first rodeo.

But just when you think you’ve seen it all, something can come up that you never in a million years would have expected. Something that is so antithetical to all logic, research and instinct that it makes me groan so loud I frighten the neighbors.

Most severe drought restrictions imposed in this Georgia county

North Georgia’s searing drought has forced Haralson County, 35 miles west of downtown Atlanta, to impose the state’s harshest watering restrictions. No outdoor watering (except for irrigation of family food plots). No car washes. Football fields must remain dry. And, please, don’t run the water while brushing your teeth.

The Tallapoosa River is so low that the county water authority dismantled beaver dams Sunday. Preachers used the pulpit to spread the water-conservation word. And nearby Anniston, Ala. is sending water Haralson’s way.

Haralson is the first Georgia county to trigger a Level III — the most severe — drought. Yet 50 counties across North Georgia are experiencing, at least, an “extreme” drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. A handful of counties in far Northwest Georgia are experiencing an “exceptional” — the worst — drought.

It’s up to everybody to do their part,” Walker said. “If you don’t need to use water, don’t use it. We’re asking everybody to conserve.”

He’s also aiming for those pesky, river-clogging beavers. About 30 volunteers targeted four beaver dams along the Tallapoosa River Sunday morning. They’ll try to tear down the dams by hand or, possibly, with back hoes. Wood and other debris dislodged from a dam the other night filled three dump trucks.

That’s right. You read that correctly. Haralson county is experiencing the worst drought they ever faced. Their lawns are dying and cars are dirty, even by California standards. And the most important water official in this entire dusty land is addressing the crisis by using work parties to rip out BEAVER DAMS because they HOG all the water.

I bet you didn’t know that all those years you turned off the tap to save water you were actually HOGGING IT!

Well, I wrote everyone a letter last night, including the reporter and all the mayors in Haralson county, and you can imagine how full my mailbox is this morning with heartfelt thanks appreciating the many articles I sent them. Because the entire state is so interested in research and learning. It’s hard to believe out here on the backwards west coast.

(Did you get that? Or is my sarcasm too subtle?)

I told them that ripping out dams to save water is like removing traffic lights to reduce accidents. I think of that beaver with a leaky pipe on the dry Guadalupe River just sitting there building his little dam and waiting for his pond to accumulate.

Beavers are so selfish. If he hadn’t hogged all those drips to himself they would have rolled into the cracked ground and disappeared entirely and the drought could have belonged to everyone.