Category: What’s killing beavers now?

There are lies, there are dam lies, and there are beaver lies!

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beaver-themed merchandise, Beavers, Beavers and water, City Reports, Creative Solutions, What's killing beavers now?, Who's saving beavers now? February 5, 2016

Sometimes life in the beaver-biz is very rewarding. And sometimes it just annoys the stuffing out of me. Take this article out of Whinging-ton Ma for starters.

Hopkinton selectmen vote to trap beavers

HOPKINTON — Selectmen have agreed to hire a beaver trapper after flooding became a problem on the recently purchased Pratt Farm and neighboring properties.The board voted 5-0 on Tuesday night to pay for a plan to eliminate the beavers.“We decided we need to protect the town’s land,” Selectmen Chairman Ben Palleiko said in an interview.

Palleiko said the plan will likely cost about $5,500 — $4,000 for the trapping and $1,500 for taking apart seven dams. The board decided on an option known as a kill trap. A live trap would be as twice as expensive and the beavers would be euthanized at a later time, not released elsewhere, officials said.

How surprising! The folk in Hopkinton seemed so darned open-minded and committed to humane solutions! (Not). They have been gunning for those beavers since day one, and they kept promoting their death in the paper until they tipped the argument just enough. I especially admire the duplicity necessary to get this quote from their ‘beaver expert’ printed in the paper.

“Due to the beaver activity, an accurate flagging of wetlands may not be possible at this time, which will stall the work of the team,” she wrote in a letter to the board.The board made its decision after hearing from Malcolm Speicher, a beaver specialist, who has done work in town, including Legacy Farms. The town needs to seek bids for the work.

Speicher said it is only a matter of time before the town’s aquifers feeding to the town’s wells will be contaminated with bacteria from beaver feces.

Palleiko said Speicher believe there could be up to 40 beavers in the area.

Now maybe you’re wondering where they found this illustrious specialist. We are talking about MA, so maybe he’s at Cambridge? Harvard? MIT??? Ohhh no he’s a trapper who happens to specialize in beaver and fisher. So of course he knows all about beaver stools causing bacteria in the water.

Grrrr.

And now this. Things just got real in Mountain House. Now its time to bring out the big guns. Folks were shown Mike’s video about how to solve problems so they tried to think of an unsolvable one. We in Martinez know erosion trumps flooding. That’s why, after Skip’s flow device worked well and no one was worried about drowning anymore, the lawyer sent a letter about the foundation slipping because of unseeable burrows and that’s how Martinez got to buy 350,000 worth of sheetpile.

Obviously, this is deja vu all over again. Officials are now saying the biggest problem is these.

You can guess how true I think this is. Coal mining beavers?

But I think it’s always good to ask smarter minds than mine. Glynnis Hood says that beavers in her research do cause tunnels that collapse and its possible that a bank lodge this big could exist if the beavers have been around for some time. And Mike Callahan says its theoretically possible if there are tunnels inside leading to the water.

But I think if in 10 years of having beavers in Martinez they ever excavated anything like that, the mayor would have personally thrown me in it. Michael Runtz says a bear could do this, but he doubts beaver.

Stay tuned, I’ll tell you when I hear from more folks.

Apparently beavers are going on Broadway now, with Alan Cummings new musical. This made me howl with laughter – especially the leaping ballet beavers at the end. Enjoy!

A few more gifts arrived yesterday, and I’m thrilled for beavers good fortune. The first was some promised plates from this adorable set at thirdhalfstudios. How fun are these?

And the second is a beyond lovely sterling silver floating necklace that arrived from Winterchild. Like this but with a beaver symbol and on a breathtakingly delicate sterling silver figaro chain. I’m not sure I can keep from bidding on this. You definitely shouldn’t.

Right to Beaver-Life Movement gains Momentum

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Environmental, What's killing beavers now?, Who's blaming beavers now?, Who's saving beavers now? January 31, 2016

There are some grim advances on the effort to get the farmer-fueled beaver shootings into the public eye in Scotland. Early in 2015 there were reports of this happening and a flurry of requests for the government to intervene and grant protected status to the animals. After some foot dragging, it looks like they finally found the right words to get it reported by the BBC. I can’t embed the news report but click on the photo to watch it on their sight.

CLICK TO PLAY

Pregnant beavers shot by landowners in Tayside

Beavers that were heavily pregnant or had recently given birth are among those shot by landowners in Tayside. The news has led to demands for restrictions on shooting during the breeding season and renewed calls for Scotland’s beavers to receive legal protection

Experts at Edinburgh Zoo have now carried out post-mortem examinations on 23 beavers from Tayside. They concluded that 21 had been shot, although other sources have said the total number of animals killed in this way is significantly higher.

Two pregnant animals were shot. The size and weight of the foetuses indicates they were very near full term

Two other females which were shot had recently given birth

There were concerns about the length of time it would have taken some of the 21 animals to die

At least one animal contained lead shot. It is against the law to use lead shot to kill an animal in water.

Scottish Green MSP Alison Johnstone, deputy convener of Holyrood’s cross-party group on animal welfare, has called on ministers to “get off the fence”.

“Scottish ministers need to get off the fence, accept that beavers have a positive role to play in terms of biodiversity, and that they deserve legal protection.

Go read the whole thing, as this is a fairly thorough report. The FOIA really did its job in finding the grisly facts that would get this noticed. There has been considerable debate amongst the Tayside supporters as to whether it ultimately might make the beavers safer to offer some appropriate way to depredate legally OR whether they should just insist on humane solutions only. I understand the dilemma.

For the record my advice is to emphasize mitigation first, but once humane solutions are exhausted to allow for responsible depredation, because folks need a reminder that there are options if all these good intentions fail. It took me a while to tolerate language like “sometimes trapping is necessary” but I got there. Because it ultimately helps beavers for people to feel like they have an alternative.

I just think it should be a lot harder to get there.

Here’s some of what I wrote for the conclusion of our urban chapter. As I don’t know whether any of it might survive editing, I’m going to share.

It is our hope that in the future, when the inevitable occurs, this chapter can serve as a reminder to fully consider potential benefits and costs before a decision is made regarding the fate of these uninvited guests.While lethal solutions may at times continue to be necessary, we believe our urban waterways are often failed by the inability to recognize other viable options.

We wish our good friends in Scotland the very best of luck figuring this out. But getting the issue into the public eye is, as usual, the most important step.

A follow-up to the Mountain House beaver issue discussed Friday. I heard from the concerned resident who contacted me that she was asked by the official I spoke with to pull together an ad hoc committee to study the arguments.

A Tale of Beaver in two Cities

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, What's killing beavers now?, Who's blaming beavers now? January 30, 2016

These two cities share pretty much the same latitude, (a chilly 44) and are merely separated by 1400 miles and a great lake, but they couldn’t be more different. Especially in their attitude towards beaver activity. Funny thing is these stories appeared on the same day and are reporting about the same issue. Demographics are desitny. Let me show you what I mean. I’m thinking we should compare and contrast, and maybe try new toy.

Milton Ontario	Shorewood Minnesota
“I want to clarify that regulating a creek does not mean we own it,,” said Hassaan Basit, general manager at CH.	It’s gotten to the point where it’s not just the odd tree,” said Dick Woodruff, a Shorewood City Council Member. “It’s an epidemic.”
“This natural debris can play an important role in natural flood management and introduces important nutrients into the system, supporting its ecological diversity,” he stated.	“The beavers are aggressively taking down trees,” many of which have fallen on roads and power lines, Mayor Scott Zerby said.
And although it might look bad, even the dead trees on the ground are good for the environment. “It is sad to see a big tree chopped down but it does provide opportunities for new trees to grow. It’s cutting down a renewable resource,”	About 36,000 beavers were harvested in the state last year. Officials are discussing which kind of trap would be as pain-free as possible, Brown said. The waterlogged beaver lodges may begin to shrink, but they won’t entirely disappear because it’s hard to remove a beaver permanently from any Minnesota location.
“Honestly, we accept and appreciate what the beaver does.”	“They’re amazing animals,” Brown said.

I would write something witty about missed opportunities and missed IQ points, but honestly this morning it just bugs the snot outta me. Minnesota sounds a little frightened of the animal lovers, but they clearly have zero idea why beavers matter. And that just means they’re working hard to maintain their state of willful ignorance.

Now for some good news. Our willow fascines and states are waking up from their sleep! Soon they’ll be some LOVELY and alluring new trees in our creek to hopefully summon the beavers back.

Yesterday I happened to really look at their fancy well-funded logo and realized it needed some improvements. Do you think they’ll mind?

Muhammad goes to the Mountain House

heidi08 Beaver Chewing, Beavers and climate change, Beavers and Forests, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Dispersal, Environmental, What's killing beavers now?, Who's saving beavers now? January 29, 2016

If the name Moutain House sounds vaguely familiar it should. In the turmoil of 2008 it had the dubious distinction of appearing in the NYT as the community with the most homes “Under Water” financially. More recently they had other water issues to deal with, when their historic source was cutoff and they had to scramble to find a new one.

I wonder if you can guess how they feel about ‘watersavers’?

Yesterday I received a panicked email from a resident worried that the beavers in Mountain House creek were going to be trapped. Of course the creek was being used by the planned community as a handy drain, and they didn’t want anything backing up the water. She didn’t know who was in charge of the decision to depredate but she said Brian Lucid was on the Community Services District and interested in learning about options.

The appropriately named Brian Lucid is a native San Franciscan and 20-year veteran who served in Iraq before running for a seat on the board. When he actually contacted ME yesterday I was starting to get a little hopeful.

He told me about their concerns and talked about beavers blocking the water and nibbling neighbor’s trees. And I told him how Martinez had dealt with similar concerns a decade ago, and how downtown businesses were worried about flooding, and how we had studied the issue and decided what to do. I told him about the beaver population rebounding all over the state, and getting new beavers very soon if he gets rid of these ones. And I told him how when we decided to install a flow device and let the beavers stay they kept any other beavers from moving into our creek.

“Flow device?” He asked. “What’s that?”

So I told them about controlling vertical growth of a dam, and protecting culverts, and how 10 years ago there was no one trained in this work in the state and we had to bring in Skip Lisle from Vermont to do it for us. But now, there were several people trained in CA and the whole thing would probably cost about 500 for materials. Worth A Dam could even help with a scholarship. I even sent him a copy of Mike’s DVD.

He mentioned that he was a backpacker and appreciated wildlife, and was interested to hear about the role beavers play for salmon, steelhead, groundwater recharge, biodiversity, nutrient cycling, and climate change resilience. We talked about the controversy and the resolution, how our creek never went dry when the beavers were here. How beavers were great for teaching children about nature and science and mentioned our annual beaver festival. Then I sent him a big care package of information and said I would be happy to answer questions or connect him with the answers. I also suggested he might talk to Mark Ross or Lara Delaney to get the city’s perspective. He was eager to talk with his general manager, because in his words “it sounded like a no-brainer”.

Heidi Happy!

Not that this means everything’s solved and Mountain House beavers are out of the woods. It’s just a beginning.Lots of obstacles could hinder Mr. Lucid along the way. One swallow doesn’t make a summer, they say.

But summer has never come without at least one somewhere. So it’s a start.

Then I arranged a speaking date with Pinole Rotary who wanted to hear about the Martinez beavers and get the story first hand. Since there are eager beavers in Rodeo they must be on their way to Pinole next – I say not a moment too soon!

Old thinking in New Mexico

heidi08 Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental, What's killing beavers now?, Who's saving beavers now? January 18, 2016

Guess how much fun I had yesterday? This much.

And from the Department of False Dichotomies in New Mexico:

Beavers: Nuisance or necessary?

For at least the past decade, residents angry about beaver-related property damage have been at odds with conservation advocates who claim the animals are an essential drought management tool in arid New Mexico. The issue prompted an ongoing conflict between the Santa Fe Girls’ School and La Cieneguilla resident Ed Sceery that recently escalated into a court fight. The private middle school has been conducting a 10-year restoration project on land bordering Sceery’s property, and he says the work has drawn beavers that are damaging his trees and causing erosion.

Capture — A beaver dam on the Santa Fe River near Paseo Real and Calle Debra in the Santa Fe Airport. Luis Sánchez Saturno/The New Mexican

At the edge of a road in La Cieneguilla that borders the Santa Fe River, just up the bank from a beaver dam, a crack in the asphalt — likely due to erosion — has grown to a man-sized hole. The area is demarcated by two orange hazard barrels. Trees are toppled over, split in half by jagged teeth.

Sceery, who calls himself a conservationist, wants the animals removed from the land.

Peggy Johnson, a hydrogeologist for the state who studied the La Cieneguilla area in 2010, said the dilemma that beavers pose is a fundamental conflict between man and nature, especially in places like La Cieneguilla, which was a wetlands area more than a century ago but has since been altered by managed water systems. The Santa Fe River that runs through the community, once a free-flowing waterway, now feeds two municipal reservoirs far upstream that help keep city taps flowing.

In developed areas with managed water systems, beavers can act as a force of chaos, Johnson said. “[Beavers] have minds of their own. They are very active and dynamic and have a big impact on the system.”

For watershed restoration work in a natural setting, which includes maintaining wildlife habitats, preventing erosion and raising groundwater levels, Johnson said, beavers are a “very effective” tool. Whether a beaver’s impact is viewed as hurtful or helpful, she said, “depends on who is affected.”

However, Bryan Bird, a program director for WildEarth Guardians, said his organization’s requests for nuisance permits to relocate beavers have been denied, with the department saying relocation “could just be creating another problem somewhere else,” and it would only be “moving the problem rather than getting rid of it.”

Bird said WildEarth Guardians has done extensive research on where beavers would most benefit the environment, “but that hasn’t been good enough.”

I’m happy to see Mr. Sceery still isn’t getting his way. And happy this article is hostile enough to say honestly that he’s the one that “calls himself” a conservationist. (I suppose if you want to keep things your own way and preserve your selfish interests above everyone else’s that’s a kind of ‘conservation’.) But Bryan needs to push harder about beaver benefits and that they ought to be left to their own devices so that they can use their ecosystem services to improve the landscape wherever they see fit. Still, it’s nice to have this argument in the limelight – even if its only about permission to relocate.

At least the coauthor of the states beaver relocation legislation, has the right idea.

Keller, now the state auditor, said he first learned about the importance of beavers when he was 19 and working as a Boy Scout at the Philmont Scout Ranch near Cimarron.

“Nature’s solution is far more effective and cheaper than anything you can contrive in this regard,” he said, citing beavers’ role in mitigating drought and forest fires.

He said he still believes the beaver plan should be a Game and Fish priority. “And as state auditor, I know they have the budget.” He pointed to $10 million that has yet to be spent in the department’s budget.

Keller said recent studies have cited beavers as a climate change-resilient species. “This is a low-cost, potentially high-return idea.”

Amen to that. Not sure how I got on Mr. Keller’s radar back when all this was getting passed but his chief of staff called me when he was running for auditor. I explained that I didn’t live in the state and probably couldn’t be much help. But it’s nice to see he’s still a believer.

I know I am.