Category: What’s killing beavers now?

BEAVERS ARE NOTHING BUT TROUBLE THEY SAY

heidi08 What's killing beavers now? December 17, 2017

You shouldn’t be thinking, just because there have been several glorious days of beaver reporting, you shouldn’t be thinking that public opinion against them has finally tipped and it’s smooth sailing from here in.

You shouldn’t think that because it isn’t true. Beavers still face plenty of hardship and for every good story I am lucky enough to review here, there are a dozen of these. Maybe more.

Today we’re balance the scales a bit.

Gloomy fate for Bear Creek beavers

While the Sodalis Nature Preserve is best known for its bat population, a wide assortment of wildlife actually calls the almost 200-acre park home. That list of animals shrank recently after three beavers were trapped and destroyed after damaging or bringing down several trees along the shore of Bear Creek.

Andy Dorian, director of the Hannibal Parks and Recreation Department, said that live trapping the rodents and relocating them “would be the hope” of the city. However, he added that such decisions would be left up to the Missouri Department of Conservation, whom he contacted for help.

“Whatever their normal protocol is,” said Dorian. “We don’t have any ability to trap beavers at the Parks Department, so we have to rely on their expertise.”

According to Don Clever, Jr., conservation agent, live trapping wasn’t a viable option.“Relocation just doesn’t work,” he said. “Live traps aren’t accessible. We don’t have very many of them throughout the state. “It’s more efficient when we go in and use kill traps. That’s why they’re set under water, where nothing can get into them other than water mammals.” Trapping beaver can be a chore.

Beaver territory .This was not the first time beavers have taken up residence along Bear Creek.

“Ever since I’ve been here there have been beavers on Bear Creek,” said Dorian. “I think some years they are more prevalent than others. We had some pretty good ones last year and then the problem just went away. We never did any trapping last year.

“It was becoming a safety hazard,” said Clever of the damage to trees the beavers had done. “I’m sure the city is going to have to go in and cut a couple of trees down that the beavers were chewing on before they fall across the (Sodalis) bridge. They ringed some trees that are still standing and dropped several others.”

Falling trees were not Dorian’s only beaver-related concern.

“There’s always the fear of bank destabilization. What you don’t want to do is lose a bunch of trees and your bank becomes eroded out and then you lose part of your trail. That’s something you have to look out for,” he said. “You also have to look out for damming so you don’t have a big pool of water backing up which floods a big area.”

Now never mind that Sodalis is a nature preserve and beavers are, in fact, nature. The park was designated as a conservation site for bats. Apparently trees are too hard to wrap in Missouri.. Forget all those studies that say that beavers are actually GOOD for bats. This is Hannibal and we don’t need your highfalutin research around these parts. And my name is Don Clever Jr!

What do you mean ‘misnomer’?

Wind Lake canal has a beaver problem

A handful of beavers have become a little too industrious for the likes of some people living on the Wind Lake Canal. Officials from the Wind Lake Management District and the Town of Norway are both looking toward resolving the problem.

The lake area has experienced a number of beaver problems over the course of the past eight to 10 years, according to Jim Marks, chairman of the Wind Lake Management District.

“The beaver population is always there,” Marks said.

The district’s main beaver issue at the moment is a dam built by the creatures in the middle of the Wind Lake Canal, the channel that connects Big Muskego Lake in Waukesha County and Wind Lake in Racine County.

“That’s currently our major problem area,” Marks said.

Marks estimated that the dam, built in the center of the stream, is about 2 feet above the water level. He speculated that four to five beavers are likely to blame.Marks said he was alerted to the issue between three to four months ago.

“The residents are very concerned,” he said.

Wisconsin doesn’t like those pesky beavers either. I mean why would a lake-side home owner expect to have to deal with a problem like that, I ask you. Beavers are completely unheard of in those areas! The article goes on to say there isn’t actually a problem right now, but they’re worried it might become a problem in the future. Beaver problems are always anticipated. Just as they were in Martinez.

Thank goodness the criminal justice system doesn’t work like that. “Sure she isn’t a criminal now, but she looks like she might cause problems down the road.”

Cost of repairs compounds problem of beaver dams flooding road in Charlton

CHARLTON, MA – While killing beavers and breaching their dams to stop the flooding that closed Guelphwood Road is at a stall, town officials grapple with a new obstacle in the effort to reopen the road.

“Everywhere you look, there’s a problem with this project. It’s not just trapping the beaver,” Charlton Highway Superintendent Gerry C. Foskett told selectmen last week.

For more than a decade, incessant beaver-induced flooding has plagued a small portion of the road that connects Charlton and Southbridge, causing temporary closings several times a year.

Mr. Foskett closed it indefinitely more than two years ago and began efforts to permanently solve the beaver problem, which reaches past the town boundary into Southbridge.

Permanently solve the beaver problem? Are you suggesting installing culvert protection them or raising the road? I’m so surprised. People hardly ever find permanent solutions to beaver problems.

Perennial trapping, the report says, would ensure beavers don’t rebuild and reflood the roadway.

Wait, what hat does perennial mean again? Websters defines it as

Perennial: continuing without interruption

That sounds about right. So Charlton can solve this problem if we just keep paying for it over and over again. Are you sure ‘solve’ is the right word?

Charlton Conservation Agent Todd Girard told selectmen he got a permit to breach a dam in Southbridge but he also needs a permit from the health board to trap while dismantling dams in the summer months, which is off season for open trapping.

“If we can’t obtain these trapping permits from the town of Southbridge, I’ll never be able to de-water this site and I’ll never be able to have a safe passage for this road,” he said. “It was very challenging working with another municipality, and I was a little frustrated because they are not looking at the full picture.”

The plan to kill beavers outraged local animal rights activists, and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals had launched a petition.

“It seemed that the people on the Board of Health were more concerned with their individual political protection of a beaver than over opening the road for human safety,” Mr. Girard said.

Gosh, the city of Charlton is really in a tight place. You are in between a beaver and a hard place. I feel for you. I guess lasting solutions like Mike Callahan of Beaver Solutions could provide are out of the question. I mean how far is Charlton from Southampton, anyway?

52 miles

Okay, sure he’s close enough. Bu we both know those things never work. I mean where’s the proof?

Mitigating infrastructure loss from beaver flooding: A cost–benefit analysis

Glynnis A. Hood, Varghese Manaloor & Brendan Dzioba

STILL NOTHING NEW IN NEWPORT

heidi08 What's killing beavers now? November 29, 2017

My problem is that I am not smart enough to figure out why Newport would write about the beaver problems after hiring a trapper, put photos of the dead beavers in the news, or run the entire story all over again two days later on the evening news.
Do you have any idea?
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Beavers becoming pests in Newport, Minnesota

Andy Shoemaker has been trapping for decades, and a couple weeks ago, he got a call from the city of Newport. The city found it while clearing a house off flood plain property they’d purchased, the trees all along the public trail on top of the river dike. So, it’s a legal liability.

“I got one out of here that I’m sure was at least 70 pounds and probably two others that were 60,” Shoemaker said. He said Newport is one of ten stops just today to check traps and that the problems seem to be growing

That being said, the population is very healthy… Less than a quarter mile up, there’s a whole separate colony of beavers, there’s a whole other one.

Obviously if a solution isn’t working what you need to do is do it MORE. Like the large families of Catholic parents practicing the rhythm method, Newport just needs to try doing their non-solution HARDER.

That should work, right?

I can’t understand why they are running this story again in a town of 3000. There can’t be much push back or they wouldn’t show photos of the dead beavers. There is obviously a problem, and no one on gods green earth can think of a single other thing to do with those trees to protect them. Certainly not spend the half hour public works uses to complain on camera to actually wrap them with wire. That’s just silly.

There are plenty of other species that would consider that a better idea. Here’s just one example from today’s news.

Wood Turtles In The Adirondack

Unlike the painted and snapping turtles, the wood turtle does not prefer to reside in the quiet waters of ponds, marshes, and the weedy shores of lakes. Rather, this reptile is more attracted to large, sluggish brooks, alder-choked streams and meandering rivers, especially those that flow through wooded areas. Because the wood turtle is not as well adapted for absorbing oxygen from water as other turtles, it must seek out those aquatic settings in which there is a high concentration of this dissolved gas. Sections of water in which a series of small, swirling cataracts and periodic waterfalls allow the air to mix with water forming a solution rich in oxygen are ideal. Even the waterfalls on the spillway on a beaver dam can create favorable conditions downstream for the wood turtle.

Here’s some more:

More Saskatchewan Madness

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, History, What's killing beavers now? November 9, 2017

There are very few advantages to the thankless job of writing about beavers every day – (I mean there isn’t free beaver merchandise given at conferences, or drinks on the road with the team, or eager secretaries wanting to make a good impression) -there aren’t what you’d call “Perks”.

But there is this: which apparently even the multi-million Canadian Broadcasting Corportation cannot boast:

A sense of HISTORY and the ability to see when things happen over again and again.

Rural Sask. municipalities look to solve big beaver problem

Beavers are burdening rural areas of the province, and now the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities is looking for solutions — including the restoration of funding for a program cut in the last provincial budget.

Beaver numbers have boomed to a point of overpopulation and the critters have been destroying infrastructure, according to several municipalities. At the association’s midterm convention in Regina on Tuesday and Wednesday, two of the matters on the agenda touched on the nuisance beavers are creating in rural areas.

“Problem beavers” and the structures they build can lead to road and property flooding, according to the SARM website. In response, the association created a beaver steering committee, representing a coalition of rural municipalities, associations and government.

Now doesn’t the article make it seem like this is a brand new solution that will tackle the problem in a brand new way and rid the poor folks once and for all of these pesky beavers? Except for I wrote about SARM and its coalition of 16th century tools to tackle the ‘exploding beaver population’ back in 2011. In fact, that column had some of my earliest graphics that still make me smile fondly today.

“Exploding beavers? Now that does sound dangerous! No wonder you found 500,000 to fight it! I guess America has seen shoe bombs and underwear bombs in the last few years, so why NOT an exploding beaver! It’s insidious!

Ohh. I just received a wire from the Ministry of Dangling Participles clarifying that the population of beavers has exploded, not the beavers themselves. Whew. That’s a relief! I was going for my beaver-proof vest. I’m curious though, how do you know the population has exploded? I mean when is the last time you did a regional count and how do you know the numbers have increased?”

Funny thing about Beaver trapping. When governments rush in to take out massive groups of beavers, populations have a way of recovering. In fact they often rebound, with more food available for fewer beavers and female caloric intake increasing so that brood size increases. You end up doing the same thing all over again in 1-2 years.

Hopefully you set aside another 500,000 dollars to take care of that problem?

Ahhh, I was so young and naive in those days. I actually thought Saskatchewan could be shamed into fixing their beaver problems with reasonable and proven techniques. Silly, silly girl. What did I know? I didn’t realize that they were the MOST BACKWARD and BRAZEN region on the entire planet when it comes to beaver management. They had the infamous kill contest two years ago that resulted in terrible press for the entire region. Literally hundreds of beavers were killed. And it didn’t help.

CBC might act like this is a “NEW” problem. But we here at beaver central know better.

In response, the association created a beaver steering committee, representing a coalition of rural municipalities, associations and government. At its conference, the association tabled a resolution calling for the restoration of funding for the Beaver Management in Provincial Parks program, which was cut from this year’s budget.

It also called for a special permit to control nuisance wildlife within a specific distance of threatened fields or infrastructure. SARM hopes the government will restore funding for the beaver management program in the 2018-2019 budget. It also called for a special permit to control nuisance wildlife within a specific distance of threatened fields or infrastructure.

Good luck convincing folks to spend money and not solve the problem again. I’m sure you’ll get it. I mean someday they’ll probably realize that the amount they have been spending over and over again has been useless. Some bored intern will crack open the budget book for the last 20 years and realize how much money they’ve handed you to throw away over the years and someone with a brain will demand actual accountability for the contract.

But don’t worry, I’m sure that day won’t come anytime soon.

Speaking of young naive things that have zero idea what’s ahead of them, It seems like a good time to mention that today is our 32nd anniversary of wedded bliss. Who would allow these children to be married? What on earth were those foolish babies thinking?

Happy Anniversary Jon!

babes

Fish Lobby for Beavers

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers and Birds, Beavers and climate change, Beavers and Forests, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and Ice, Beavers and Insects, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, What's killing beavers now?, Who's saving beavers now? December 11, 2017

Nobody told me there’d be days like this in beaverland. Wow. The past two days have been exploding with good beaver news but this takes the veritable cake. Guess who the center for biological diversity is suing now? And for WHAT?

Capture

Lawsuit Aims to Protect Salmon Harmed by Government Beaver-killing in Oregon

PORTLAND, Ore.— Two environmental organizations today filed a formal notice of intent to sue a federal program that kills hundreds of beavers a year in Oregon. The lawsuit aims to hold the program, Wildlife Services, accountable for killing beavers because the animals are essential to protecting threatened and endangered fish like salmon and steelhead.

Wildlife Services, a part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, kills the beavers with traps, snares and firearms. Beavers are Oregon’s official state animal.

Numerous studies show that beavers benefit endangered salmon and steelhead by creating ponds that provide fish with natural cover and food. Despite these well-established ecological benefits, Wildlife Services killed more than 400 beavers in Oregon in 2016. The extermination agency even killed beavers in counties where endangered aquatic wildlife rely on beaver ponds for survival.

“Killing beavers in Oregon just one year after federal fish experts announced that beavers are essential to providing high-quality habitat for salmon is just perverse,” said Nina Bell, executive director of Northwest Environmental Advocates. “If this state is committed to saving salmon, we have to be equally committed to preserving the remaining fraction of beavers that historically lived in Oregon.”

NO FOOLIN’. I heard nothing of this in the pipes and everyone I’ve talked to is slapping their foreheads. That we weren’t warned isn’t a huge surprise because CBD tends to forage on their own and act like the only team on the field. For this particular lawsuit they’ve teamed up with the Northwest Environmental Advocates. Their letter of intent clearly lays out the legal basis for the suit, explaining that when an animal is listed on the Endangered Species Act as salmon and steelhead are, and ANY federal agency is going to do something that affects their habitat they are required to mitigate the action and warn those involved. And since there are decades of evidence that trapping beavers threatens salmonids they have failed in this responsibility for years and years. Read for yourself.

When a species has been listed or critical habitat designated under the ESA, all federal agencies—including APHIS-Wildlife Services—must ensure in consultation with the Services that their programs and activities are in compliance with the ESA. 16 U.S.C. § 1536(a)(2). Specifically, section 7(a)(2) of the ESA mandates that all federal agencies “insure that any action authorized, funded, or carried out by such agency . . . is not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of any endangered species or threatened species or result in the destruction or adverse modification of [critical] habitat of such species.”

Now that seems pretty clear cut, doesn’t it? I’m sure that WS has lots of ways to justify their actions but I can imagine some smart judge ruling that the evidence shows that removing beaver is a threat to salmon and they’re required to engage in mitigation when they do so. Like build BDAs or pay a fine. Can’t you?

The entire document is well prepared with a few jarring exceptions. It has the requisite shocking photos of dead beavers in traps or piled on trucks (which won’t do much in court), and isn’t careful about language enough for my tastes. (That paragraph alone spells “ensure” two ways without explanation) but its a HUGE shot across the bow, and every one from Michael Pollock to Ann Riley to Michael Callahan wrote me VERY interested in this yesterday. The reference section is thorough, indeed.

Here is their list of endangered species that beaver removal affects.

Salmon, Chinook Snake River spring/summer-run ESUOncorhynchus Salmotshawytscha
Salmon, Chinook Upper Willamette River ESU Oncorhynchus Salmotshawytscha
Steelhead Upper Willamette River DPS Oncorhynchus Salmomykiss
Salmon, coho Oregon Coast ESU Oncorhynchus Salmo kisutch
Steelhead Middle Columbia River DPS Oncorhynchus Salmomykiss
Sucker, Warner Catostomus warnerensis
Trout, bull Salvelinus confluentus
Trout, Lahontan cutthroat Oncorhynchus clarkii henshawi
Frog, Oregon spotted Rana pretiosa

I can see California and Washington watching eagerly to see how this plays out, and follow suit down the line. I know APHIS is the favorite target for CBD, but in our state CDFG allows the killing of far more beavers than are taken by APHIS alone. Is there any way that this suit could affect the number of depredation permits issued to private landowners or cities because of threat to salmon? Or Red legged frogs? Or migratory birds? Or WATER?

You can see the list grow.

And if that isn’t exciting enough for you, how about beaver benefits on Utah Public Radio? Robert Edgel is working with the Wetlands Initiative to install BDAs until the real things comes along.

Utah Biologists Create Man-made ‘Beaver Dams’ To Improve Sage Grouse Habitat

Beavers are what biologists call an “ecosystem engineer.” That means that they change the environment they live in, and help maintain critical habitat for other species. Beaver dams raise the water level of a stream which causes the stream to flood during spring runoff. The flooding allows grasses and forbs to grow and the much needed insect population to thrive.

Oh and I saw this yesterday on FB and wanted to share. Suzi Eszterhas, the wildlife photographer that filmed our beavers a few years back and is a friend of the festival, is currently in Africa, facing brand new hazards on her current assignment. This time it’s a opportunistic meerkat who has decided to use her as a lookout.

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Mystic Decision-Making: w/ UPDATE

heidi08 Beavers and Forests, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, What's killing beavers now?, Who's blaming beavers now? November 1, 2017

Today is a grim day for beavers living at Mystic lake in Bozeman Montana. Located in the Custer Gallatan National Forest at the bottom of Montana near the top of Yellowstone. November 1st is the date the Forest Service and City will be teaming up to syphon out some of the water before ripping out the dam entirely because they are worried a washout could impact the city. It is 35 degrees today with a winter storm warning, so in every likely hood most of those beavers will lose their home, their pantry, and eventually their lives if enthusiastic hunters don’t pick them off in the meantime.

City, Forest Service to tear out Mystic Lake beaver dam

City and federal officials are working together to get rid of a potentially problematic beaver dam at the outlet of Mystic Lake that they say is a safety hazard.

The city of Bozeman and the U.S. Forest Service began talking about tearing out the dam in late August. A news release sent out Wednesday said the dam is “large enough to create a public safety concern downstream due to increased water volume in the lake.”

The work will begin Nov. 1. Workers will siphon water from the lake to Bozeman Creek to drop water levels. Heavy equipment will roll in to help tear out the dam.

The Forest Service wants to warn hikers that Bozeman Creek’s flows will likely be increased while the work is ongoing. Trucks and heavy equipment will be rumbling up administrative roads and trails throughout the area, including Forest Service Roads 176 (Moser Creek Cutoff) and 979 (Bozeman Creek).

So they agreed this work should be done three months ago but didn’t get around to doing it until NOW when there is no chance the beavers can recover their food stash or rebuild their flooded home? I suppose they didn’t want to compromise the trails during hiking season so they waited until winter. But this is just cruel. I can’t believe the forest service is helping them do this. Who do they work for anyway?

Beaver Dam Removal Planned for the Mystic Lake Outlet south of Bozeman

Bozeman, Montana – Trail users near Mystic Lake, in the Sourdough Drainage, south of Bozeman, Montana should be aware that there will be a flurry of activity associated with a beaver dam removal project starting November 1. Visitors can expect vehicle activity, heavy equipment operation and a crew working near the lake outlet for about two weeks.. “We realize that the activity may disrupt hunters and recreationist in the area but the work is extremely important” acknowledged Acting Bozeman District Ranger, David Francomb.

For the project duration, there will be higher than normal water flows in Bozeman Creek. Flow related water surges will be comparable to spring run-off water levels, thus, recreation users considering creek crossings should use extra caution. Property owners along Bozeman creek will see more water in the stream. According to Brian Heaston, City of Bozeman Engineer, “the increased flows are not anticipated to pose a threat to life safety or property.”

You’re worried about disrupting the poor, poor hunters in the area? Trust me, they’ll be fine. Someone sent Ben Goldfarb the last-org discussion about this decision by some wildlife activists in the area who know better. I’m glad people are worried about these beavers, because they should be. I feel just awful for not writing about this sooner and contacting the folks involved. We were in transition between the Sierras and home and the alert must have escaped me.

I doubt anything short of an injunction is going to stop them today when their heavy equipment is already loaded and on its way but we can make their lives a little less pleasant. Honestly these are the very kind of decisions that enrage me. For what its worth, here’s the forest service number and the project engineer’s direct line

I was feeling hopeless this morning but I am SO WRONG! Sounds like locals must have gotten involved. I wrote Mr. Francomb and he wrote back this morning from his home in Vermont, cc’ing the ranger currently in charge. They knew about flow devices but were worried about a dam washout. Then a late email came just now saying that the flooding will be mitigated and a long term solution will be proved at a later date! WHOO HOOO!

Update on Mystic Lake project. Engineers are currently working on a mitigation device to keep water to tolerable level after lowering and keeping the beavers in the system. Long term solutions will be discussed at a later date. Thanks.