Category: What’s killing beavers now?

APHIS KEEPS THE BEAVERS AWAY

Well well well. It’s nice to know that APHIS is still getting paid work. With all the bad news they’ve seen some better days in California. Apparently Minnesota isn’t phased.

Minneapolis Parks: We didn’t put out a ‘killing contract’ on beavers and coyotes

This week, Ralph Sievert, the Minneapolis Park Board’s director of forestry, is answering a lot of voicemails about beavers.

That’s because last week, the board met (distantly) and approved a new wildlife management contract with the United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. It’s an unwieldly name for a government organization that, among other things, helps solve “conflicts” between people and wildlife.

Some of those conflicts, the board said, could include particularly aggressive urban coyotes, or maybe beavers doing beaver stuff in the wrong place at the wrong time. Commissioners gave the example of a few specimens that had been chewing up the trees in Sumner Field Park. Neighbors had called the Park Board’s forestry division to complain about the mess.

Did you ever notice how beavers and coyotes tend to get lumped together as ‘nuisance’ animals? I sure did. I’ve always said I’m honestly not sure which is harder to defend. But no one wants to sit by a ‘coyote pond’.

According to Sievert, you legally cannot shoot animals within city limits. That’s just language the USDA keeps in its contracts in case it needs to, for example, shoot a nuisance animal out in rural Montana. So that’s not going to happen.

There are no plans yet to kill any Minneapolis animals. Apparently, beaver activity at Sumner Field has calmed down this spring. Park staff think the pond water was probably a little too shallow for the beavers to comfortably winter there.

There haven’t been any catastrophes involving coyotes yet, either, although they’re a growing presence within city limits. Those were just some “examples,” Sievert says, of the type of situation that could merit the USDA’s attention.

There is also bad news for the beavers, and that’s that this contract, on a practical level, changes very little. The parks system already arranges for the killing of beavers on a semi-regular basis.

We will kill beavers on an as-needed basis. And now we don’t have to go thru the hassle of having a public meeting about it or hiring a trapper. Isn’t that great? It sounds air tight to me.

By the way, speaking of beaver ponds, here’s an excellent look at what Minnesota just prevented itself from having any of. If you need a little peace today save time to watch this video. It’s a mesmerizing look at the very best place to be.

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A LESS TRAP-HAPPY INTERNATIONAL BEAVER DAY

Happy International beaver day! I asked Stacy Studebaker yesterday to post a reading of her wonderful book for the occasion and she said one was forthcoming so expect an addition soon. (I of course tried but my arms aren’t long enough to film and read at the same time.) In the meantime feel free to share Suzi Eszterhas wonderful photo far and wide. It’s about time we celebrate the beaver!

And just in time, the state of California has banned most federal wildlife trapping in our golden state. Which is a kind of good thing even though we all know most beaver trapping isn’t federal and there will be plenty killed anyway, it doesn’t apply to our county and there is still plenty of wiggle room. But still. Hurray for today, right?

California Court Approves Ban on Federal Wildlife Poisoning, Trapping

SAN FRANCISCO— In response to a lawsuit filed by wildlife advocacy groups, a federal animal-killing program must restrict its use of bird-killing poisons in Northern California and stop setting strangulation snares and other traps in places like the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex.

The agreement, approved today by a San Francisco federal court, also directs the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services to analyze the environmental impacts of its killing of coyotes, bobcats, mountain lions and other wildlife in California’s “Sacramento District.” This 10-county region covers Colusa, El Dorado, Lake, Marin, Napa, Placer, Sacramento, Solano, Sonoma and Yolo counties.

So the idea is if they have to actually evaluate the effects of their actions they will come to their senses? Or find it easier to just give in? This is the part we care about most.

The court order further ends most beaver-killing in waterways where endangered wildlife depends on beaver-created habitats.

Of course there’s a catch, right? There’s always a catch.

APHIS-Wildlife Services agrees not to engage in lethal beaver damage management in natural lakes, rivers, and streams within the Critical Habitat, as set forth by FWS, of the southwestern willow flycatcher, tidewater goby, Chinook salmon, Coho salmon, and Steelhead, except where beavers have blocked culverts, water control boxes, or other transportation crossings to the extent that fish passage is prevented.

So we the undersigned agree NOT to kill them EXCEPT for when we would want to kill them anyway for doing the rotten things that get beavers trapped in the first place. Oh and did you know fish passage was prevented by beavers? Well now its in a court document. It even specifies they can’t remove dams UNLESS they block fish passage.

Let’s not chill the champagne just yet. okay?

The whole ruling is here if you want to read all the fine print.It doesn’t include Contra Costa though. Some day our prince will come.

When I sat down this morning there was a beautiful pink moon setting. It reminded me of this look of one of my favorite places on earth that we used to spend the first part of every summer. The wildflowers will be insane this year.

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THIS LADY OF THE LAKE ISN’T WELCOME

heidi08 Flow Device Installed, What's killing beavers now? March 23, 2020

When should you stop ‘trying’ to live with your neighbor and commit to violence instead. The first time his cat defecates on your lawn? The tenth? When his teenage sun drives the truck over your marigolds? When his son brings your daughter home drunk?

I mean there’s a time for reasonable people to meet and hash things out. And there’s a time for war. And who knows when one becomes the other?

Walter Scott: Tired of undoing springtime beaver activity

Spring is supposed to be the season of change, not just cold and snowy. The wildlife in the area are also showing signs of spring.

Geese on the lake are swimming around in pairs, looking for a good place to nest. Bluebirds are checking hollow trees and the houses we have put out for them. In the evening, we can hear the call of the wood ducks in the timber near the far end of the lake. We have also noticed an increase activity from our resident beavers.

Beavers are fascinating creatures. When we first built our lake, I thought it would be fun to have a pair of beavers to watch. At the time, Iowa State University had a pair of beavers move into a small pond in the center of campus. They were becoming destructive by removing the ornamental trees in the area, so the Department of Natural Resources was asked to re-locate them.

I contacted the DNR and offered a home for them, but never heard back. They must have found a home closer to Ames. A few years passed and one day I noticed some trees near the lake being felled by beavers. I excitedly told my wife we had new residents. A week or two later, I noticed the lake level had increased by more than a foot.

This starts out so promising. Walter actually WANTED beavers on his lake. He volunteered for the job. And he likes watching the birds and wildlife they bring. What could possibly go wrong? Oh. you know. The usual.

Our lake is fed by three creeks and the outflow is through a 36-inch concrete tube through the dam. I checked the tube to find dozens of pieces of wood neatly arranged and packed with mud almost totally blocking the outflow of water.

It is no small job to dislodge the carefully constructed plug in the tube. When all their building materials are freed up and sent through the tube and downstream, the beavers must cut all new building materials and start over. This takes them about a week.

After several times of fighting to remove their plug in my tube, I decided beavers were not as interesting as I first thought. They were cutting down every oak and hickory tree near the lake, leaving behind any Osage orange or thorny locusts. I finally gave up and had them trapped and removed.

When is it time to commit violence against your neighbor? When they chop down your hickory tree I guess, Then its time to bring in the big guns. Er traps. Problem is sometimes violence doesn’t work.

Things went along smoothly, even when I noticed new beavers moved in last fall. They were mostly cutting down willow trees, which was fine with me. They built a den at one end of the island and moved tons of willow trees to their site to use for winter food and building materials. They left the outlet tube alone and all was well.

You are a very foolish man if you think it will stay well. They didn’t bother plugging the tube in the winter because there was plenty of water. Now that we are seeing some sunny days they are going to want to keep all that flow. I predict they will start plugging that pipe. But hey, what do I know?

After a week or so, the water had not gone down and may have even risen more than when the snow first melted. I stopped by and checked the tube one day on our journeys and discovered the tube was plugged. Many small logs, sharpened on both ends, were lodged in the tube and the neat framework was sealed with mud.

I realize it is spring and the beavers are afraid all their water is going to go out of that tube if they do not plug it up, but I am getting tired of undoing their work. They need to get about their other springtime activities and leave the lake level where it is, or they will be forced to find a new home.

Or they will be killed. Isn’t that what you mean? I spent an hour looking for how to contact Walter and came up empty. He is a free lance columnist so the paper doesn’t provide contact info. He lives in the very bottom right hand of the state of Iowa, but I couldn’t find his name in any city records or Gun club. I posted it on the facebook management page in desperation and Mike Callahan wrote Chris Sorflaten who lives in Iowa and just did a beaver institute training in flow devices saying he should contact him and Beaver Institute might pay materials.

Fingers crossed good neighbors can get this right.

FEAR AND LOATHING IN LOUISIANA

heidi08 What's killing beavers now? March 13, 2020

Sure you might be thinking, beavers have an easier time of it now because of things like that conference and Ben’s book. But you’d be wrong. Because beaver stupid runs deep And Hamlet wasn’t kidding when he told Ophelia to stop hoping

“for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it”.

Here’s the relish.

In running beaver battle, Pointe Coupee raises bounty to $50 per tail

In its latest battle against the beaver, officials in Pointe Coupee Parish raised the bounty on the pesky critters that build stream- and culvert-clogging dams that lead to more flooding.

The Parish Council unanimously approved an ordinance Tuesday that increases the bounty for beaver tail by $10, allowing trappers to collect $50 for each one they turn between April 1 and May 31. Trappers can still collect $40 before and after those times.

Officials say the boost is part of an effort to encourage more trapping because the cost of finding and destroying beaver dams is an expensive and time-consuming process. Many times crews will raze a dam only to find it rebuilt within a few days.

Fifty dollars a tail? FIFTY? If Louisiana is a boot Pointe Coupee is above the ankle and in the arches of the wearer. It is a parish with six rivers, s healthy alligator population and a wildlife refuge. The average working man can hardly walk by a deal like that When the mean income of the parish is about 20 dollars an hour, offering 50 to kill a beaver is too good to pass up. Imagine, if you trapped a family of five you could easily earn enough to install a goddamned flow device. But hey, I guess they aren’t into longer term solutions.

“Beavers are the best engineers you can find,” said Parish President Major Thibaut. “They’ll build dams on everything from streams and rivers to even bayous with a slight current.If you eliminate the beavers altogether … it saves you from having to go out.”

Well sure. I mean when you face another drought like you did four years ago you could just get some bailout money from Fema, you shouldn’t worry about killing off the animal that could prevent it. Why plan ahead? It’s Louisiana for god’s sake.

“We were able to get more meaningful work done when the time is spent not fooling with beaver dams,” he said. The council has already budgeted the money it expects to pay beaver trappers for this year, Thibaut said.

One of the great ironies of this article is that the photo they ran with it (shown above) is of a beaver with an ear-tag taken in Washington State. That particular beaver was given an earring not for a fashion accessory, but because it was reintroduced on PURPOSE to prevent drought, raise the water table and help salmon. Because, unlike you, that state understands that the animals are valuable and have a vital role to play for our streams.

A live beaver is more valuable to mankind than a dead one. These remaining beaver may be exterminated; but if protected they would multiply and colonize stream-sources. Here they would practise conservation. Their presence would reduce river and harbor appropriations and make rivers more manageable, useful, and attractive. It would pay us to keep beaver colonies in the heights. Beaver would help keep America beautiful.

Enos Mills, In Beaver World

THE GOLDEN STATE SURE KILLS A LOT OF BEAVERS

heidi08 What's killing beavers now? January 29, 2020

Heidi slaved away yesterday at the beaver funerals, counting the numbers of the fallen. You’ll be happy to know that even though Placer county is still issuing the most permits, it is for a smaller number of beavers, authorizing the deaths of a mere 284 beavers last year with zero unlimited permits.

Merced did not do so well. It issued a mere 18 permits with 11 of them for an unlimited number of beavers. Lassen too issued few permits but all 6 of them were unlimited. This of course makes it impossible to count the number of beavers California had permission to kill but it is somewhere in the ball park of 2800 + 23 unlimiteds. So we can guess somewhere around 3000, which is consistent with prior years.

The good part: and there is a good part somewhere I swear, is that out of 143 permits the issuing officer mentioned sand painting, wrapping trees or installing a flow device some 25% of the time. Which, lets not fail to notice, is way,way more than zero. In fact, for the first time EVER this year there was a recommendation that the party requesting put in an ANALOG. Meaning make their own beaver dam so that when the beavers come back they go where you want them not where you don’t.

So things do change a little at a time. Don’t loses site of that. Back in the dark ages when Martinez wanted to save its beavers do you know what every single person who called CDFG was told about flow devices?

They never work.