Category: Who’s blaming beavers now?

A Modest [beaver] Proposal

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, stupid solutions, What's killing beavers now?, Who's blaming beavers now? April 16, 2017

“A Modest Proposal” was published anonymously in 1729 by Jonathan Swift and shocked readers with the [satiric] suggestion that the problem of too many Irish poor children could be solved if their parents simply sold them as a food source to rich people.

A young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee, or a ragout.”^[1]

Long before Trump said Mexicans were rapists and murderers, Swift hated the way people were treating the poor Irish and more particularly the way that people wrote about their plight as if one single solution could solve everything. One of the subtle victories of the pamphlet was that it shocked and enraged the reader so much that they ended up hating the narrator and feeling sorry instead for the Irish.

Let’s hope. Because yesterday New Hampshire NPR podcast on beavers from “Outside In” centered on a thoughtful retired mid-wife who solved her pesky beaver problem by deciding to eat them.

No really.

“For seven years I said, you can’t kill them, you have to outwit them. That’s back when I thought you could actually outwit a beaver, but you can’t.”

The paradigm under which we currently operate is called the American system of wildlife management, under which wildlife is a commonly owned resource, and through regulation we decide how many animals we will kill. Are deer eating the shoots off of too many saplings out in the forest? Increase the number of deer hunting permits issued. Are farmers complaining about losing livestock to coyotes? Relax limitations on hunting them. Are there so many beaver that they are expanding wetlands until they flood wells and roads? Call in trappers to reduce beaver populations in that location.

This ensures that the population stays below what is called the “biological carrying capacity” which is a fancy science-y way of saying “how many beaver the land can sustain.” Pat Tate is a big believer in keeping animal density low, because he believes it makes the animal’s lives better.

Pat said, “As I’ve reduced numbers in the wetlands, and went back subsequent years to trap, the amount of scarring and bite-marks on the beaver decreases. So the individual animal’s health increases.”

And trappers I’ve spoken to hear a lot of hypocrisy whenever they hear people call trapping immoral. For instance, a trapper from Southern New Hampshire, Jeff Traynor, points out there isn’t the same outrage at housing developments or highways or parking lots: forces that have just as much to do with keeping beaver populations low.

“We are the most invasive species on the planet, there’s no doubt about it,” he told me, “As we encroach more we’re pushing them. So where is that overflow going? There’s only so many places that they can go. It comes to a point where you can say, well let’s just let nature take its course, or you can say, as human beings can we manage this creature with moral wisdom?”

Two things I’m SURE trappers possess an abundance of: Morality and Wisdom. P-uleeze! If you have time go listen to the whole thing, because it is actually stunning how often it is incorrect. The story didn’t get any better when he talked to our friends Skip Lisle or Art Wolinsky either.

But this “moral wisdom” argument, just doesn’t do it for many beaver believers. Skip Lisle, founder of Beaver Deceivers International, has heard this argument for years in his line of work, and doesn’t buy it. “You know, you always hear, we have to kill the beavers so they don’t get hungry. And if you were an individual beaver, you can imagine which choice they would choose if they had one to make, right? Would you rather be hungry or dead?”

The proponents of restricting beaver trapping often point out that while some management decisions are based on ecosystems science—with government biologists going out and to try to estimate how many animals the land can sustain— other times, the decision is based on our willingness to tolerate animals. This is, almost euphemistically, what we call the “cultural carrying capacity.” And for beavers, it’s often that cultural limit, and not the actual limits of the habitat, that they bump up against.

Skip and his disciples argue they can increase society’s tolerance for beaver by keeping the two species from coming into conflict. Beavers’ damming instinct is triggered by running water, and by using a clever arrangements of grates, culverts, and drainage pipes, Skip keeps beaver far enough away from the running water that they don’t get the urge to start building a dam.

By putting in this type of “fixed protection” whenever a conflict arises, Skip argues we can have the best of both worlds: a growing beaver population and an infrastructure that isn’t submerged under beaver ponds. For him, the argument that trapping leads to a healthier population is beside the point.

Good for you Skip, I’m glad you tried valiantly to elevate this beaver HIT piece. But of course the narrator visits next the plight of Massachusetts where the mean compassion-isitas outlawed body crushing traps in 1996 and the beaver population exploded, because no trappers! (Never mind that no one IS or WAS counting the beaver population in MA or anywhere and any time threats to human property is at stake the same traps can be used anyway.)

Then he trots faithfully back to the beaver-eating midwife who bemoans that she tried installing a beaver deceiver AND a beaver baffler and they didn’t work! So the plucky gal picked up her fork and got to work.

Carol Leonard, who started off our story, spent seven-years trying to figure out how to fool the beavers on her property. “In my naivete I said oh well we’ll try these beaver deceivers and these beaver bafflers and all these do-hickers,” she recalled. But eventually she gave up and apprenticed with a trapper, and started to trap out the animals that threatened her property.

“We are meat eaters, you know, we are hunter gatherers, it’s part of who we are. And so to be able to turn a blind eye to that is just a blind eye,” she said. She applauds animal rights activists, but says she thinks their efforts are better spent protesting concentrated animal feeding operations, or other places where animals live short and miserable lives before heading to our plates. “I think the traditions of hunting and trapping in New England are good, healthy traditions. And I can’t talk against hunters… I can’t. I’m a meat-eater.”

Carol says she has trapped somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 beavers from her property, and while many still remain just downstream, the pond that was threatening her septic setback is no longer growing. In 2015, she and her husband were able to start construction and their home, now completed, is gorgeous, judging from a recent photo spread done by Down East Magazine.

That’s right, You know the old saying: if you can’t Beat ’em – Eat’em.

I don’t know about you but I’ve reached my CULTURAL CARRYING CAPACITY for stupid-ass reporters like this who repeat beaver bullshit even though they have the real answers RIGHT at their fingertips. A reporter with access to talk to experts like Skip Lisle or Ben Goldfarb but still clings to the bitter laments of trappers and fish and game instead. Ben told me in an email last night that in his interview with Sam Evans-Brown, the reporter said that he had been told “flow devices only work 10% of the time”. So of course, when midwife said it didn’t work, he believed it. Why would he read any of the articles citing their success OR interview Dr. Glynnis Hood who has been using them with great success OR talk to someone Skip had done an installation for a decade ago and ask whether it actually worked.

Details Details.

It’s all comes down to real estate. Beavers are in our WAY and we deserve to kill them, didn’t you realize? And besides who needs clean water anyway?

“I grant that this food will be very dear and therefore more proper for the landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of the parents, seem to have best title to the children.”

Selfish, Sad and Silly

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers elsewhere, What's killing beavers now?, Who's blaming beavers now? April 6, 2017

There’s a veritable glut of beaver complaints this morning. You’d think people had never seen spring before. Starting with this sodden complaint from Amherst Massachusetts.

Flooding headaches in Amherst: Homeowners on one street struggle to reach their front doors

AMHERST — Back from the supermarket with four bags of groceries, Joyce Silverstone was confronted by a pond in the middle of her street, and a dilemma: should she drive through the deep water to get home, or would it be wise to park the vehicle on pavement and make multiple trips, on foot, to her 35 Pomeroy Court residence?

The water issues are a continuing frustration for the nine residents whose homes are on Pomeroy Court, a dead-end street off Pomeroy Lane that has long been susceptible to flooding and extended periods of standing water.

Almost annually, either the town has trapped beavers and removed beaver dams, or the power company Eversource has monitored the nearby land for beaver activity, said Department of Public Works Superintendent Guilford Mooring.

“The issue is to try to make sure the beavers are managed,” Mooring said. Town officials are well aware of the problems on Pomeroy Court. “During wet weather it floods,” said Town Manager Paul Bockelman. “It’s a super inconvenience for people who live there, and clearly it’s a problem.”

That’s right. We tried this solution OVER and OVER again and the problem keeps coming back. So obviously we just need to try it more. Trap more beavers! More often! Never mind trying something new that would actually solve the problem, like hiring Mike Callahan to install a flow device and control pond height. We want to do the same thing again, again. Because it’s quantity not quality that matters. Sheesh.

On to the smartest folk ever in Memphis Tennessee where a ‘single beaver’ that causes concern is going to be relocated.

Midtown beaver to be relocated

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The city of Memphis says it has no choice but to remove the beaver currently taking up residence in Midtown. The animal was recently spotted at Central and Barksdale, and officials are worried he might cause street flooding and damage to property.

Some folks in Midtown told WREG they think the beaver needs to be left alone, but city leaders promised to be careful relocating it. They said it may even move on its own once they remove its dam.

“Normally we just try and capture the beaver. We have to determine with the state what the regulations are with relocating beavers, or what the options are. It’s something we have to look into,” said Robert Knecht with Memphis Public Works.

On the first hand it’s kinda sweet that their first instinct isn’t to bring in the trapper. Aw. On the second hand I’m not really thrilled about ‘bubba’ stuffing a beaver into a potato sack and dumping him over county lines. I mean if you really did this ‘all the time’ why on earth would you have to look up the regulations for the state? Wouldn’t they be the same as the last time you did it? Never mind that relocating a single beaver is tantamount to a death sentence, or that it’s not going to end well for our hero. Or that there likely isn’t just one beaver, and your breaking apart a family which you will end up killing later.

Honestly, there were three more similar stories this morning that I don’t have the patience to write about. Moral of the story is “People freak out about beavers in April”. And February. They just get worried about all that water. Here’s something delightfully juvenile to take your mind off it. An article entirely of beaver jokes. Some of them aren’t even dirty.

Heh, Beavers

Q: What does a beaver do when it wants to surf the Internet?
A: It LOGS on!

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Beaver.
Beaver who?

Bea-Ver-y quiet, I’m playing hide and seek.

Beaver Trash and Treasure

heidi08 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, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental, What's killing beavers now?, Who's blaming beavers now?, Who's Killing Beavers Now?, Who's saving beavers now? April 1, 2017

A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down right? Let’s have something sweet and something not-so-sweet today because beavers face all kind of receptions. Here’s the response they’re getting in a park in Madison Wisconsin, because really who ever heard of wildlife in a park!

Beavers create controversy at Madison park

They say, in addition to tree damage, beavers often build dams that could create flooding across the park. With raised water levels, that could also increase the likelihood of fish dying.

People also say they’re upset the public was not notified. The city says trapping is a longstanding wildlife management practice. They says it’s not practical to have a public process prior to each instance of trapping being authorized, given the timing of a quick response.

That’s right, the mean beavers will make the water too deep and the fish might drown! And we do this all the time whenever we want to so don’t complain! We’re glad at least that people are upset about this. Because anytime people are forced to talk about their silly decisions on the nightly news there is a spark of hope the right people will think about changing.

Necessity may be the mother of invention. But discomfort is the precursor to listening.

Well, pay attention. You should take a lesson from two states (and some lakes) folks really paid attention to Joe Wheaton teaching about beaver benefits. Not clear why this article is being written in Pennsylvania but I’m sure glad it is.

To Aid Streams Simply, Think Like a Beaver

A buck-toothed rodent could teach people a thing or two about stream restoration.

Beavers have been building dams along North American streams for centuries, and their habits suggest cheap, simple ways to improve water quality, said Joseph Wheaton, an associate professor of watershed sciences at Utah State University.

Most current stream restoration practices are costly and require heavy machinery to rework small tracts of land.

“I would argue we spend that money so disproportionately on little postage-stamp restoration projects here and there, leaving millions of miles of streams neglected,” Wheaton said during a March 22 USDA webinar.

Wow, it was a webinar that inspired this article? Good work, somebody was paying attention. I wonder who. The author, Philip Gruber? He’s a staff writer, but maybe one with a eye on this? The only other name mentioned in the article is a sage brush specialist from Portland, Jeremy Maestas.Someone who works for Lancaster Farming wanted this written, and I, for one, am thrilled. Pennsylvania is one big kill-beavers state, so it’s remarkable. Dr. Wheaton must have been very convincing.

Beavers have contributed to those changes in the course of streams. To keep safe from predators, beavers like to have an underwater entrance to their above-water lodge. If the water is not deep enough to have such an entrance — often the case on headwater streams — beavers build dams to make it work.

Beavers are found across much of North America, almost anywhere there’s water and wood. They are well-established in most areas of Pennsylvania.

In places where they aren’t, such as Lancaster and Berks counties, excessive trapping and landowners’ distaste for beaver damage are the main reasons, according to a 2008 report by the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

The idea of using beavers as conservation accomplices dates back at least 60 years, when Idaho parachuted beavers into a wilderness area to improve trout habitat and reduce the risk of flooding.

That turned out to be fairly cheap and effective, Wheaton said, although he isn’t necessarily prescribing a furry air drop for Kutztown or Quarryville.

Humans can build beaver-damlike structures themselves with logs and large woody debris.

These structures can slow down a “bowling alley of a stream” and turn it into a more complex, more gently flowing habitat, he said.

Dubbed beaver dam analogues, these structures can be built with hand labor. Even volunteers and children can get involved — no heavy machinery required.

A beaver dam analogue can easily be adapted to fit the location, and it’s relatively simple to build a complex of dams as beavers often do, Wheaton said.

Considering they are made of raw wood, beaver dam analogues don’t have a super long life span — one to 10 years, depending on conditions.

That’s OK, Wheaton said. “Sometimes the failure of these dams produces some of the best habitat.”

Wait for it…here comes my favorite part.

Artificial beaver dams don’t work quite as well as actual beaver dams do, so once people have laid the groundwork, it often is possible to turn the conservation work over to the critters themselves.

HERE ENDETH THE LESSON. The moral of the story is that you can get your buddies together and run around cutting up trees and pretending to be beavers every few years or you can simply stop killing the animals and let the be themselves, making repairs as needed and constantly improving their work.

Which one sounds easier to you?

“There are lies. There are dam lies. And there are issued Statements”

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, What's killing beavers now?, Who's blaming beavers now? March 30, 2017

Whadya know, the sanitation district decided to stop hanging up the phone on reporters and issue a statement. What are the odds? Of course no one can challenge whether the statement is true or not because there are no photos or evidence but hey, at least they bothered to say something, even if its a lie.

Sanitary District explains Striebel Pond beaver removal

MICHIGAN CITY — A social media uproar started recently when someone left a sign at Striebel Pond indicating the Michigan City Sanitation Department had trapped and killed a pair of beavers who had made a habitat there.

Tuesday night, Sanitary District General Manager Michael Kuss issued a statement regarding the matter:

In early March, the district received reports from the Michigan City Police Department and concerned citizens that beavers were causing damage to Striebel Pond, which is a flood control facility whose proper operation is vital to preventing flooding in the southwest portions of Michigan City, according to the district’s release.

After an investigation, the district discovered that beavers had destroyed approximately 20 trees and built a dam, which was was affecting the proper operation of Striebel Pond. According to the district’s release, this was threatening to cause widespread flooding and damage to human health and the environment in that part of the city. The district decided it was necessary to remove the dam as well as the beavers.

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources consulted with the district and explained that beavers are considered a nuisance if they cause damage to public or private property or cause a threat to flooding. IDNR further said beavers rarely survive relocation.

On March 8, traps were set to capture the beavers, and two were captured, one on March 9 and the other on March 10. According to the district’s release, “the type of trap used to capture the beavers did not allow for live capture.”

After the beavers were captured, the dam was removed.

“The district understands that some members of our community are having difficulty accepting that beavers were removed in such a manner,” the release said. “Thus, while the IDNR and other naturalists say that it is difficult to relocate beavers, the district is willing to try and develop successful strategies for doing so in the future.”

The release went on to say that the district plans to replace the trees downed by the beavers, as they provide a canopy for the recreational area surrounding Striebel Pond. The district is asking for volunteers to help with these efforts. Anyone interested can contact the Sanitary District at 874-7799.

Now that wasn’t so hard, was it? I mean it’s not like there were any challenges or follow-up questions to your excuses, were there? Just be thankful, for example, that I don’t live in Michigan City. Or you know I would have asked to see the 20 chewed stumps and asked to see a photo of the ‘dam’ they were building, which since this is a pond not a stream, I’m SURE was a lodge and not a dam. Where they were hoping to raise a family before you changed all that.

But you are willing to do this differently next time so I only hope that someone who was upset about this did their homework and found out there were many ways to solve beaver problems besides trapping. Hopefully they will hold you to that promise and ask you to take some longer-term solutions next time.

One of my favorite all time moments at the “Great beaver meeting of 2007 ” was when a woman I don’t know was questioning then city manager Don Blumbaugh about flow devices. She mentioned that she had read they existed and asked why the staff report didn’t mention them. He waived his magical hand like city officials always do and said they “wouldn’t work in THIS case” and waited for her to give up, go away, and just roll over for his expertese. The wonderful woman, whom I will always love, stepped closer to the microphone in exasperation.

“But you KNEW about them? You knew about them and you didn’t put it in the report?”

Ahhh, there are few things in life I remember more fondly than his squirming red face as he pointed to the mayor and urged anxiously “Talk to him!” hoping to get her attention away because city managers just run things, they don’t answer questions. And of course the mayor stepped in and said something deflecty and truthless. But it was THAT moment. It was THAT moment things turned in our favor. The sharks were in the water and they weren’t going home without their supper. We knew we were going to win. When he retired a few months later he cited this meeting as one of the things that pushed him over the edge.

(The following year, working the farmer’s market, I found out from the city treasurer that she had happened to see a program about Skip Lisle when this was happening and had invited the entire city council and public works over to watch it. So they all knew about flow devices. They all knew there were options. They just didn’t like them.)

Which just goes to say that “Keep it up Michigan City. This is starting to sound like success.”

Because why not Blame the Beaver?

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beaver Conference, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Educational, Environmental, Friends of Martinez Beavers, Who's blaming beavers now?, Who's saving beavers now? March 24, 2017

Oh those crazy beavers with their penchant for sinkholes and collapsed roads! When are they going to stop harassing us with their rodent ways and let us live peacefully. On ALLIGATOR lake.

Beavers the culprit in 30A road collapse

“We’ve always had problems with beavers where we don’t have a bridge,” said Chance Powell, an engineer for Walton County

One of the great mysteries early Thursday morning was solved after it was determined that beavers were the most likely culprit for the sinkhole that has closed Walton County Road 30A near County Road 283.

Beavers? Beavers!

The Walton County Sheriff’s Office received a call just after 5 a.m. Thursday about a sinkhole on 30A at Alligator Lake.

According to County Commissioner Tony Anderson, who was present as county crews began to fill the extensive hole, a GMC pickup was crossing the section of road when the asphalt began to cave in. The vehicle made it across, but the pickup was damaged and the man driving it was taken to Sacred Heart Hospital on the Emerald Coast with minor injuries, said Walton County Public Works Manager Wilmer Stafford.

“The water that flows under the road became too heavy on one side and caused it to fall in,” said Stafford, who also was at the scene later in the morning.

The section of CR 30A surrounding the collapse site has been closed until the road can be repaired.

On the surface, the hole appears to be about 4 feet wide and takes up three-quarters of the road in front of Alligator Lake. But officials calculate that crew must deal with a much larger area of damage under the road.

But wait, how do the beavers make the sink hole exactly? Are you saying they tunneled under the asphalt to get away from the alligators, or chew holes in the road with their huge incisors, or that maybe the road was stuffed with willow and they ate it? The article is a little vague on the actual mechanics of destruction. But I’m sure they’re telling the truth, right? People would never blame a rodent for something just to explain away a problem that their carelessness caused in the first place.

I guess it will stay a mystery, like how beavers live near ALLIGATOR lake in the first place.

Come to think of it, maybe they can sign up for the flow device WEBINAR coming soon from our friends at Furbearer Defenders and Cows and Fish. It will be taught by Adrien Nelson and Norine Ambrose and you are ALL invited. It’s a bargain at 5 dollars. Make sure to save your space now.

Learn how to successfully implement flow devices for beaver management in your community with our upcoming webinar, Beaver Flow Devices for Managers.

On April 6, 2017 at 3:30 pm EDT / 1:30 pm MDT / 12:30 pm PDT, Adrian Nelson of The Fur-Bearers, and Norine Ambrose from Cows and Fish will co-host this engaging webinar that will focus on the “whys” and “wheres” of implementing these devices. Managers and supervisors from a range of backgrounds will learn to better understand the applicability of these devices, as well as analyze sites requiring beaver management, and address which type of flow devices are most appropriate.

Adrian will walk through the different types of devices, and how to make each one successful, as well as various obstacles and needs that may need to be addressed before deployment. The presentation will also touch briefly on ordering and supplies to ensure teams have the right materials for success.

Norine will tell participants of her first-hand experience in learning about and installing these devices in Alberta, and let participants know about the broader beaver collaborative work on education, social science, and management Cows and Fish is involved with the Miistakis Institute, local partners, and support from The Fur-Bearers.

Participants will come away with a better understanding of flow devices, but more importantly why they are useful to successfully co-exist with beavers. A question and answer period will follow.

I actually didn’t know these good folks knew each other, so I might watch just to learn more about their interaction. We will definitely learn things!