Category: What’s killing beavers now?

SWAP places with the beaver…

heidi08 Beavers and Birds, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Dispersal, What's killing beavers now?, Who's saving beavers now? May 16, 2015

Beaver takes stroll down aisles of Alaska hardware store before being foiled in plumbing

555674004723f.image — Beaver at Lowe’s in Fairbanks
A beaver pauses in the middle of an aisle at the Lowe’s store in Fairbanks, Alaska, Friday, May 15, 2015. The beaver triggered the automatic doors and strolled inside, where it wandered around the aisles until workers were able to corral it under a box. Alaska Fish and Game officials relocated the animal to a more suitable location. Photo courtesy of Angelesa Ward

FAIRBANKS, Alaska – A beaver walked into an Alaska hardware store on Friday, but couldn’t find anything for his lodge.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports (http://is.gd/6oWIqo) the beaver triggered the automatic doors and walked into Lowe’s about 7 a.m. Friday.

Employees trapped the beaver with a cardboard box in the plumbing department. A state wildlife biologist was called.

Hollis released the beaver into the Tanana River, far enough from town where it won’t be a nuisance.

Lowe’s assistant manager Adam Vanhoveln says the beaver didn’t cause too much of a commotion, and it didn’t reach the lumber department.

My goodness dispersal season is exciting. And terrifying. Anything could happen. Someone in the video on the website observes that he appears to be bleeding. Which isn’t surprising when you consider how low he is to the ground and all the distance he had to travel from the water. Beavers have keen senses of smell. Maybe he went in because he could scent the lumber? Well hopefully he wasn’t too badly injured and can stick to the water from now on.

Ongoing beaver drama from Ada MI.

Neighbors battle over beavers in condo pond

Ohhh this is turning out to be very, very interesting. Mr. Hughes hasn’t written me back yet, but you can see he is a thoughtful man who’s done his homework. Assuming he’s looked for beaver information on the web at all he’s seen this website and knows where to find us. Good luck beaver champion! Let us know if you need any help!

In case anyone else wants homework this weekend, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife has just released their SWAP assessment (state wildlife action plan) which they do every 10 years. This includes public review dates. They’ll be taking public comment through the end of the month. Go here to read about their wildlife plan or tell them something in particular about beavers.

Sacramento — May 22, 2015, 9-11 am, Resources Building Auditorium, 1416 Ninth St.,

Oakland —May 28, 2015, 2-4 pm, Joseph P. Bort Metro Center Auditorium, 101 Eighth St.,

San Diego —June 3, 2015, 1:30-3:30 pm, Chula Vista Women’s Club Reception Hall, 357 G St., Chula Vista

Los Angeles — June 4, 2015, 2-4 pm, Los Angeles Zoo Witherbee Auditorium, 5333 Zoo Dr., Los Angeles (Does not include zoo admission)

If you think CDFW is doing a great job with beaver management, then let them carry blithely on. But if you (like me) have some ideas for improvement spend some time wading through the materials and let them hear from you by email or in person. If this all seems inconvenient look on the bright side. At least the oakland meeting doesn’t charge admission.

Beavers don’t have Lodge Owners Associations

heidi08 Beaver Chewing, Beaver News, Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, What's killing beavers now?, Who's blaming beavers now?, Who's saving beavers now? May 14, 2015

Family of beavers face eviction from their adopted pond in Ada subdivision

ADA TOWNSHIP, MI – A family of beavers that has moved into a pond at the Ada Moorings subdivision may soon be evicted, despite the impassioned protests of neighbors who live in the surrounding houses.

The beavers have endeared themselves to nature-minded residents after building a lodge in one of the ponds dug to collect rain water in subdivision, located near the south banks of the Grand River east of Ada.

“The Beavers Have Returned!” cried a neighborhood newsletter that celebrated the return of the furry beasts to their historic habitat.

That’s not how the beavers are being welcomed by the board of the Ada Moorings Condominium Association, which governs the ponds and grounds for 151 homes in the site condominium development.

The busy beavers’ efforts to block an outflow drain on the pond have upset neighbors, who worry the dam will cause water levels to rise in the connected ponds and create flooding in the neighborhood.

Chris Beckering, the association’s president, said the neighbors have had to remove the dams almost daily to assure the flow of water through the ponds to the Grand River.

“As an association, we are concerned about damage to our infrastructure and potentially, our homes,” Beckering said.

Visible beavers! Supportive residents! And a negative administrative response! Could there be a better combination for a beaver drama in Michigan? Maybe Martinez can help – we’ve certainly been there, eight years ago when our beavers were busily stirring up terror in a town afraid of flooding. Neighbor pitted against neighbor in the single biggest event ever to happen to Martinez. This is right out of our playbook. Just look at this deeply threatening nonresponse from Mr. Bickering;

On Tuesday, May 12, the condominium association’s board reiterated its decision to contact the state’s Department of Natural Resources about the best way to remove the beavers, their homes and their infrastructure, Beckering said.

“They have put us in touch with a trapper,” said Beckering, who declined to speculate on how a trapper might resolve the problem.

“It’s not our place to tell them,” Beckering said.

That’s right. We just contact them, retain them and pay for them. We can’t be responsible for what they decide to do. Just like people aren’t responsible when they hire a hit man. Oh wait, that’s right, courts tend to think they are.

Well I tracked down everyone I could find and sent off the information and resources about what we did in Martinez. I even sent this Michigan radio program on beavers from a few years back just in case they could listen better to one of their own. If you never heard it I think you might enjoy it.

Oh and it’s getting to be summer and time for more beaver horror stories, how many new outlets do you think this will be on by tomorrow? It includes a grisly photo of the dead beaver, which you will have to go look at yourself.

Woman is savaged by an angry beaver: Neighbour stabs animal to death after seeing it tearing at his friend’s leg in Russia

A woman in Russia who had her leg ripped open by an angry beaver was saved after a neighbour came running over and stabbed it in the head.

But she felt a terrible pain in her leg and looked down to see a large animal had bitten into her calf. Miss Eliseeva said: ‘I was in complete shock and had no idea what it was at first.

‘I thought it might have been a dog that had jumped on me. It was quite dark but it seemed to be standing on its tail as it was so tall.

‘Then it he got on all fours and charged at me again. Its teeth were in my leg and it was furiously shaking its head from side to side.

‘I was screaming like a maniac and this man suddenly appeared out of nowhere and attacked the beaver.’

The woman’s rescuer, local man Hleb Yefremov, 54, said: ‘I heard the girl scream and saw this giant hairy beast attacking her.

‘I didn’t stop to think what it was, I just pulled out my knife and plunged it into the creature’s back. It was only later I realised it was a beaver and not a dog.’

I know there are rabid beavers in the world, and that beaver teeth are sharp. But why are these ‘unprovoked’ attacks always in kit season? Doesn’t that make it seem like there might be some perceived provocation on the part of the beaver?

So close and yet so far…

heidi08 Beavers and Birds, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Environmental, What's killing beavers now?, Who's blaming beavers now?, Who's Killing Beavers Now?, Who's saving beavers now? May 12, 2015

There’s very encouraging news out of Alberta this morning, where Lorne Fitch is holding an all-day workhop on beaver management and benefits. He’s the provincial riparian expert at the extremely beaver-progressive Cows and Fish which has done so much for beaver education in the province.

Beaver education presented by Lorne Finch

A May 21 workshop will help educate landowners, municipal officials and anyone interested in the impacts of beavers on the surrounding area will be held May 21 at the Cremona Community Hall.

“Beavers bring challenges, but they also bring benefits,” said Finch. “The challenge is what is the balance between the two?”

The purpose of the workshop is to highlight the impact Canada’s national animal has on watersheds in the area surrounding Cremona, values beavers provide for the community and issues and challenges presented by beavers.

“It has become recognized by many ecologists that beavers are one of the tools that help us adapt to climate change,” said Finch. “We recognize that climate is changing, it’s becoming more variable and uncertain. In some cases the climate manifested as weather events (that are) quite violent.”

Finch said beavers have helped maintain safety for communities whether there is a drought or a flood. In the case of a flood beaver dams help moderate or dampen flood flows, while during a drought they naturally help store water and controls the effects of low stream flow conditions.

One of the key segments that will be offered during the workshop offers insight to better understand beaver ecology.

A whole day of beaver education? Don’t you want to be there? Cows and Fish has made a name for itself by straight talking right to the ranchers themselves. They have done amazing job making the smart beaver research done by Dr. Hood and others available at the hands-on level. They have a great relationship with the media and they know how to use it well, and are firmly committed to letting beaver do their restoration all over the province. This video introduces there long-term restoration goals, and is nicely done. (Even if it DOES sport a famous muskrat photo….sheesh.)

It’s hard to understand how such a significant beaver IQ could plummet so dramatically if the boundary is crossed into the next province over, Saskatchewan. 850 miles from the Cremona, the even less populated untown of Kellross is doing everything it can to get rid of beavers. (Everything it can without actually learning, I mean.)

Beavers are a nightmare for some in rural Saskatchewan

Provincially, beaver numbers are up as well. The beaver control program is an initiative of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, with help from the province.

In 2014, a total of 37,645 beaver tails were turned in — a significant jump (about 56 per cent) from the 27,653 beaver tails submitted in 2013.

Despite the aggravation they cause, Patterson still has a grudging admiration for the engineering feats, and stick-to-it attitude, of the beaver.

“They are good workers,” he admitted. “They’re hard workers that’s for sure. They don’t give up.”

For reference, the province is about 3 times the size of Texas. They are so notorious for beaver slaying that they were in the canadian version of Jari Osborne’s documentary. And I first wrote about them on this website in 2011 when I was prompted to create the famous ‘exploding beaver’ graphic.

The province has 22,921 square miles of water which means they killed 1.6 beaver per mile. Considering that the numbers of beavers went UP every year you’d think they start to consider that maybe this technique wasn’t working. Instead of just doing it more, they could actually do something different? With population rebound being what it is this might not be the smartest idea.

Apparently there’s no danger of any thinking going on anytime soon. Guess what the numbers will be next year?

Yesterday I spent some time working on the handout for children participating in the Keystone Project at the beaver festival. They will each get a laminated copy to use and hopefully return it to me and take part in the survey we need to use for our grant. I tried to make it fairly simple and straightforward. What do you think?

Beavers swim up stream to S.A.R.S.A.S.

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, What's killing beavers now?, Who's saving beavers now? April 28, 2015

There are days in the Beaver-Biz when you get the feeling that something is really happening, and that you yourself are part of the momentum. You can almost hear those creeky rusted wheels start to shift and turn, you aren’t sure at first whether you believe it. You draw a breath to watch what happens next and then comes that wonderful moment when you just sit back and watch it all unfold.

That’s how yesterday’s Placer meeting was. We started out the day by driving to Auburn at 6:30 to avoid Sacramento traffic. We were a little panicked to find the destructive lane closures and partitions on 80 which I later described as a cement tomb with speeding. There were accidents and stopped cars on the way but we eventually made it to our destination. (And lived to have it explained to us that this was just the second year of a multi-year project. Lucky them!)

The presentation was going to be at the central location for county offices in Placer called “the domes” for obvious reasons. (I have heard that there are tribes who believe a house should have no corners because evil spirits lurk in them. Geodomes have multiple corners so maybe that’s why they kill so many beavers in Placer. Ahem.)

They was a big square conference room and equipment all set up with a county technical consultant to get everything plugged in. And then the room started filling up. Afterwards folks said it was the best attendance they ever had. I was especially happy to notice county employees coming in at the end, in addition to all the fish and beaver supporters.

The prescient soul who had actually invited me over a year ago was actually on vacation with his family in Europe and couldn’t be there. His fellow leaders did a great job of orienting the presentation and getting me settled. On the way in I met Sherry and her neighbor who had driven down from Tahoe, Janet who is local and always takes the train down to help at the festival, and Jeanette who did such dynamic working helping with programs last year. (I actually heard her laugh out loud when I showed the photo of her and her niece, coincidentally during my talk.)

I had restructured things to make my talk more “fishy” so started out with the salmon info and the clip about bridge creek and beaver assisted salmon recovery. Then got into our story. My talk ran a full hour and there were attentive faces throughout. And laughter in the right places, I was happy to note.

I was especially aware of where I was sitting when I got to the part about the depredation permits. I said “Our statistician noted that one county issued seven times more permits than anywhere else in the state. And that, as it happens, was this one.” I was so happy to see the horrified faces, I can’t tell you. Even more so when I pointed out that according to CA law you need to report the numbers of beaver you trap, but not the number of beavers you depredate.

Afterwards there were questions and appreciations, and some talk about beaver dams and salmon passage or adequate gravel for spawning. I was thrilled to learn that there were attendees in the room who had actually heard Pollock’s talk in Weed and knew all about channelization and salmon enrichment. On particularly knowledgeable young man introduced himself as Damion Ciotti from the Habitat Restoration Division of US Fish and Wildlife Service. We connected several years ago and he was very interested in our work in Martinez. I made sure he left with a copy of Mike Callahan’s DVD. You can’t imagine how helpful his comments were in soothing the beaver-disbelievers in the room. I couldn’t have orchestrated it better than to let fish savvy folk do the defending for me!

Afterwards folks chatted about their own beaver encounters and promised to come to the festival. Jeannette said she saw a beaver at Lake Natomas in Folsom from her kayak and felt honored. Janet presented a cluster of little beaver items she had picked up on her journeys, saying they could be gifts or I might pass them into the auction! And Sherry said she had agreed to give a talk at the educational portion of Taylor Creek where they did the flow devices installations.

Then Jon and I made our way back to the flat lands of Martinez, chatting happily about the day and its possible consequences. We were both exhausted, but in a good, accomplished way, and happy with our results. One of the final questions came from one of the group leaders, who wondered, now that the problems were averted and the city wasn’t afraid anymore, have our city leaders embraced the beavers? Do they support their presence now?

Which made me chuckle, and I answered carefully that they did eventually give up trying to kill them, which, if you think about it, is a kind of support.

It was the best of times and, well, you know…

heidi08 Dispersal, What's killing beavers now? April 26, 2015

There is abundant news on the Michael Runtz beaver book front. This warranted such a media turnout I have to think the book can’t be far behind this time. But I’ve been Charlie Browned by Lucy’s football before.

Acclaimed author Michael Runtz provides in-depth presentation on beavers

He explained he wanted to see the Eurasian beaver, after so many years of studying the Canadian beaver.

“I wanted to photograph them,” said Runtz. “They’re a little more reddish brown, with narrower tails. The reason, I believe, for the narrower tails is the Eurasian beaver favors river habitats, which have faster moving water than the beaver pond habitat of Canadian beavers, so the narrower tails are beneficial in the faster moving water.”

He said Eurasian beavers tend to share their habitat, whereas Canadian beavers create their own.

“I’ve discovered quite a few things about beavers over the years, including they use their teeth differently when cutting down trees versus eating,” said Runtz.

He said beaver’s diets are interesting and they always bring their food back to the water to eat.

“It’s their safe haven,” said Runtz. “They love aquatic plants. They are almost like farmers, nibbling on these plants and then leaving bits and pieces in the water from which more grow.”

He said beavers select their food based on scent.

“If there are seven different types of willow trees in an area, they may only eat three or four varieties,” said Runtz. “Poplar is one of their favorite foods.”

He explained he took part in an experiment, taking bark from trees beavers tended to favor (poplar) and ones they avoided (balsam fir), boiling down the bark to make a sap, painting the opposite trees with the sap (balsam fir with poplar sap and vice versa).

The beavers cut down the balsam fir that smelt like a poplar and dragged it back to the water,” said Runtz.

It’s a good article and with only a few things that I’m not sure I’d agree with, you should go read the whole thing and when his book comes out we’ll all be first in line!

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Yesterday was an upsetting day at the Napa beaver pond, which Rusty happened to catch on film. One of the beavers appeared to drown, which I wouldn’t have thought possible but seems to be the case. Cheryl went by in the evening and they saw three strong beavers at once, which they never did before. So there is still more of the family (and hopefully mom) to carry on. The whole thing is very mysterious and we’re going to have to wait or do without answers. In the interest of study and understanding, assuming you are the kind of person who wants to see, click on the gate. And if you are not that kind of person (And I’m talking to you, Jean), do NOT click on the gate. Really.

I leave you in Rusty’s capable hands tomorrow. Lots of life to see still at the beaver dams in Napa. I’ll be getting up before the sun to drive to Auburn for the SARSAS talk. Wish beavers luck!