Category: Who’s blaming beavers now?

Ohh, Did the widdle beaver dam make it hard for your canoe?

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers and water, Educational, Environmental, Who's blaming beavers now? March 27, 2016

Yes I know I typed ‘widdle’ instead of little. I did it to communicate a certain infantile whining that this article reminded me of. You know the sort, people who rip out a beaver dam and then complain that it slowed them down, even though it was the only thing keeping the water there in the first place.

Paddlers overcome low water, beaver dam at St. George River Race

SEARSMONT, Maine — In their years of paddling together, Barry and Lori Dana of Solon have overcome plenty of obstacles, and have established themselves as perennial favorites on the local whitewater racing scene.

But the veteran canoeists were in for a surprise shortly after beginning the 37th annual St. George River Race — the first of the racing season — on Saturday.

“We found a beaver dam, and we got quite hung up on it and we wasted about a minute and a half trying to paddle backward into the current,” Lori Dana explained. “We got out of it by grabbing the beaver sticks and alders along the side and pushing off the bottom to get backwards enough to get our bow around it.”

Barry Dana said he’d heard some chatter about the beaver dam just before the start, but didn’t realize how much of an obstacle it would present.

“[Nobody said] that right around the next corner, a 90-degree corner, you’re going to be facing a 3-foot opening [in a beaver dam], but all of the current’s going hard right,” Barry Dana said.

“I’ve been working against the beaver all week, but the beaver, I think, won,” Cross said. “We try not to disturb the river too much. We try to make it so you can get down through. But this beaver, … is working very hard. Harder than I was.”

Those pesky beaver dams! Not even the three foot hole they cut in it helped enough. I can’t tell you how many times I stood at the dam and watched in horror as kayaks or canoes tried to pass thru the dam by ramming the sticks out of the way. Now that Martinez has no dams (and no water to speak of) I bet they don’t even come. That’s called irony I guess.

This part of the article also interested me;

“I grew up on Indian Island, Penobscot Nation, and canoeing was life, Barry Dana said.

Guess who else got his start in the Penobscot Nation? That would be Skip Lisle, it was where he invented the beaver deceiver and started his important beaver work. It was ages before he trained Mike Callahan of Beaver Solutions. Decades before he came to Martinez to install our castor master. Small world eh?

Those pesky beavers change so many lives.

Podcast Powered By Podbean

Subscribe to all episodes in iTunes here.

Whew, is that all? We worried it was something important…

heidi08 Beavers and Birds, Beavers and climate change, Beavers and Forests, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, What's killing beavers now?, Who's blaming beavers now? March 23, 2016

In some states a tannerite blast is so common that nobody lifts an eyebrow when Bubba blows out a couple dams. Heck, I’ve heard some folks pack a picnic to go watch because it’s the best date night in town and better than Viagra at getting cranky old men in the mood.

However, in more civilized climes it can come as quite a shock.

Reports of explosion in Oswego County were beaver dam demolition

NEW HAVEN, N.Y. — Dozens of people across several Oswego County towns reported hearing and feeling an explosion Tuesday night that rattled windows.

Oswego County 911 said it received multiple calls about a possible explosion, but the matter was determined to be non-emergency in nature.

State troopers from the Pulaski barracks responded to a location in the town of New Haven where a subject was trying to dismantle a beaver dam, 911 said, which was apparently the noise and shaking people reported. Dispatchers had no other information.

Listen to the 911 dispatch:

Megan James lives on Miner Road in the town of Scriba. James, a nursing student at Crouse Hospital College of Nursing, was studying for a test around Tuesday night.

“And out of nowhere I heard and felt a huge bang,” she said. “My entire house shook and it sounded like someone was either breaking in or drove a car into the side of the house.”

Firefighters searched roads in the towns of Mexico and New Haven for signs of an explosion. After about an hour a dispatcher reported that someone had called and said they had set off Tannerite.

So the terrorist bomb plot of upstate New York turned out to be just a farmer who had watched too many Duck Dynasty episodes. And everyone was relieved and the police could go back to their donuts or speeding tickets and get to work.

Explain to me again why people blow up beaver dams?

Theoretically they believe they are blasting away an obstruction, but given the fact that a shocking number of people mistakenly think beavers live in the dam, I’m assuming they think they’re getting rid of them too. They’re also blowing up fish and ducks and stirring up a host of debris and mud that they’ll blame the beavers for later.

Which makes this call for a tail bounty in North Carolina fairly commonplace when compared to yesterday’s surprising request to have a beaver expert at the wetlands conference.

I’m so foolish I got all excited when I saw this headline.

Beaver help sought

LUMBERTON — A farmer who is concerned about the increase of beavers in the Saddletree community is asking the Robeson County Board of Commissioners for help.

“I bet we have the World Book of Records for beavers in a two- or three-mile area,” Ronald Hammonds told the commissioners on Monday. “We’ve had a record rain and that’s conducive to increasing the beaver number.”

Hammonds told The Robesonian that 30 beavers have been trapped around Saddletree in recent days. He said that dams are popping up everywhere, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimating there are 15 within four miles.

“We need a beaver management program like they have in Columbus County,” he said. “That program offers a bounty to those who will trap beaver. Any successful program needs to include a bounty as an incentive.”

Robeson County already contracts out with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to supply a wildlife specialist to administer the Beaver Management Assistance Program in Robeson County. That program has been conducted in the county for the past two decades and is credited with saving the county money in beaver-related damage to timber, crops, roadways and drainage structures.

Lumberton is so far south in NC that it is almost SC. Wikipedia lists it as having .1 square mile of water, which makes it pretty hard to imagine 30 beavers being trapped. He says all the rain has made the population increase. (You know, because beavers breed more frequently in damp conditions.) Say what you will about the beaver IQ of this farmer, he’s right at least about one thing.

Just destroying the beaver dams is not the solution.

Something else to blame beavers for?

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Who's blaming beavers now? March 18, 2016

It’s bad enough America is constantly killing beavers, but yesterday the national zoo tried to blow some up! I got a stream of headlines and reports on this incident whose cause remains a mystery.

National Zoo looking into chlorine ‘boom’ near beavers and otters

The National Zoo and fire officials are looking into an apparent chlorine accident along the outdoor American Trail exhibit Thursday morning that created a “loud boom,” but caused no fire.

“There was an incident related to chlorine on American Trail, near the otters and beavers,” said zoo spokeswoman Devin Murphy. “There was a loud boom. No fire. No smoke.”

“No humans were hurt,” she said. “No animals were hurt. We cleared the area and D.C. fire is on scene and they’re investigating.”

Another spokeswoman, Pamela Baker-Masson, said the incident happened at 10:55 a.m. inside a small building that houses machinery that supports the beaver and otter exhibits. Chlorine is used in the water filtration system for the exhibits, she said.

A contract employee was inside the building. He smelled chlorine, and left. Then there was the boom. The fire department was summoned. Baker-Masson said she did not know what work the contractor the contractor was doing in the building.

Did you follow all that? The contractor was the only one exposed to the chlorine leak so we’re not responsible for his medical care. No one was hurt. And everything’s fine. FINE. Go look at the panda who’s doing something really cute and don’t worry about all the firemen. As soon as they give us the all clear we’ll go check on the otter and beaver and count how many are left.

See everything turned out fine! And zoo’s are good! We’ll be questioning witnesses to find the cause of this temporary inconvenience. I’m sure it wasn’t the otter’s fault. Everyone loves otters. They’re so playful! Beavers on the other hand are responsible for a great many calamaties. Floods, fires and power outages. West Nile Virus. In fact we really can’t trust them at all.

Better go bring in him first, he’s looking shifty.

Dams and Damages

heidi08 Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental, What's killing beavers now?, Who's blaming beavers now?, Who's saving beavers now? March 10, 2016

So yesterday the Swiss Canton of Thergau was declined compensation from the government for the woeful beaver damage it had sustained. They were seeking repayment for what they claimed were damages to roads and infrastructure from a population of what they describe as 500 beavers.

500 beavers!

Remember the entirety of Switzerland is only around 16,000 square miles (about twice the size of New Jersey). I can’t easily find the water stats for Thergau (which admitedly has the river Ther and some lakes) but the entirety of Canton is only 383 square miles. So imaging a population of 500 is a bit of a stretch. The parties somehow failed to convince the government with their persuasive argument of “We’ll like the beavers more if you pay us”.

I can’t imagine why.

The funny thing is that yesterday when the bad news broke, the paper ran the story with an accompanying photo of two otters. To which I helpfully pointed out that if their photos weren’t accurate how did we know the article was? And lo and behold today it has magically changed to a photo of a beaver.

Lucky for us I thought ahead enough to take a screen capture at the time.

(I may well have few really special uses in life, but saving embarrassing stories about beavers is definitely one of them.)

On to more bad news from Roosevelt Forest in Connecticut, where apparently public works installed beaver deceiver that never worked and now they have no choice but to kill the beavers.

A dam problem

Town trapping beavers to stop flooding in Roosevelt Forest

Some pesky beavers are causing some flooding problems for homes near Roosevelt Forest. So the commission that monitors the town’s only forest have voted to get rid of them, though the decision was far from easy.

Beaver traps have been placed in Pumpkin Ground Brook by Wild Things LLC after the Roosevelt Forest Commission voted last week to approve trapping and killing the beavers, which have caused a nuisance in the forest and threatened nearby homes.

.The town’s Public Works Department had installed a flow device, sometimes referred to as a “beaver deceiver,” into the dam to prevent flooding. But David said the beavers reinforced the dam by putting rocks and dirt in there. Public Works later breached the dam several times. But David said the beavers always fixed it.

“I’m very distraught that this was a solution to eliminate the beavers. I didn’t want to kill them,” said Roosevelt Forest Commission Chairman Bob David, one of five commission members who voted in favor of placing the traps.

At first glance this is the kind of story I hate most of all. A city that did the right thing, and installed a flow device – and a commisioner says he likes the beavers and wanted to keep them! But the darned thing didn’t work and now they have no choice but to hire WILD THINGS to kill them. Ugh.

But lets look closer, shall we? The flow device ‘that is sometimes called a beaver deceiver’ was installed by Public Works. Obviously they had zero input from Mike or Skip other wise they wouldn’t use that inaccurate language. The article implies it didn’t work because of ‘rocks’, what difference would that have made to our castor master? DPW probably made up the technology on their own and stuck in a pipe or a bit of hose. Which the beavers promptly plugged.

And as for the ‘distraught‘ Forest Commission chairman? I was quite moved by the quote last night but this is what I thought of when I reread this morning:

“I weep for you,” the Walrus said:
“I deeply sympathize.”
With sobs and tears he sorted out
Those of the largest size,
Holding his pocket-handkerchief
Before his streaming eyes.

Lewis Carrol

Well it’s not all bad news. Spring is nearly upon us and beavers everywhere are thinking it’s about dam time. Everywhere people are starting to see beavers break from their sleepy winter fog. This is from Art Wolinsky in New Hampshire who made his first beaver stakeout of the year and was lucky enough to capture FIVE swimming beavers on film and two tail slaps.

This makes me jealous and I would be heartbroken if watching it didn’t also make me SO VERY HAPPY.

A good old-fashioned beaver rant

heidi08 Beavers, What's killing beavers now?, Who's blaming beavers now? March 6, 2016

Last night at dusk we were one of 16 special houses to experience a very localized power outage. Fortunately it arrived with just enough waning moments of daylight to scramble for the candles and flashlights before we settled into very pretty darkness. We managed to bring it up to 6 whole candle power and kept warm with the cozy fire, but it was still very dark and the storm was raging outside. We suddenly understood why the pioneers used to go to bed so early. Fortunately, thanks to some hardy linemen, power was restored in 90 minutes and we were thrust back into the 21st century.

Too bad North Carolina isn’t so lucky.

As beavers move in, dams cause destruction in town

It seems the critters that clog country creeks and turn farmland into swamp have gone big city in Fayetteville. And when nature’s engineers encroach on man, trouble rises faster than the water behind one of these impressive dams.

Most recently, a beaver dam on Clayton Road in Sampson County ruptured after heavy rain, flooding the road. The road was closed to traffic until water receded.

Homeowners across the Cape Fear region have found more dams blocking culverts and backing up water this winter than in years past. Part of that, wildlife experts say, is because North Carolina’s wet winter has created new opportunities for beavers.

And once they’re set up, beavers just don’t take a hint and leave. Bust a hole in their dam, and they’ll have it fixed overnight. Blow the thing up, and they’ll start rebuilding. Trying to chase them off is a Sisyphean task.

There’s only one option, unpleasant as it seems.

Adams noted that in the past, “we have tried both nonlethal and lethal methods. We found that nonlethal methods are ineffective. Live trapping and relocation is against state law, so that leaves lethal removal with the use of specialized traps.”

“If you want the dam building to stop, the beavers have to go,” Backus said.

“In the past, they’d try relocating them. But any place you’d put them now already has beaver. There’s nowhere to go.”

A generation ago, the beavers could have been put almost anywhere. By the end of World War II, beavers were all but extinct in the Cape Fear region, hunted out of existence.

In fact, several were relocated here to get the native population started again.

Cumberland County was an area selected for beaver restocking. They were considered a “renewable resource,” since wildlife experts figured farmers and trappers would catch them for pelts and keep the population constant.

By the 1970s, roughly 1,500 annual licenses for trapping beavers were issued in the state. It quickly became apparent that beavers do two things very well.

They build dams. And they make baby beavers – lots of baby beavers. Statewide, the current beaver population estimate is more than 500,000.

Ahh memories! There is nothing quite like a good ol’ beaver panic article! We haven’t had one in ages. This one hits all the right notes, exploding populations, flooded towns, and useless nonlethal methods. Nicely done, Fayettville and Chick Jacobs of the fofayobserver.com. You repeated all the lies you were supposed to and then some! Just for folks at home, lets consider the population estimate of 500,000. Wikipedia tells me that North Carolina is about 53000 square miles, or which 9.5 is water. Which means that they are claiming they have around 80 beavers per square mile of water, which is pretty dam hard for me to imagine.

It would be funny, if the dams weren’t so destructive. There’s no way to put a dollar total on damage statewide, but officials say thousands of acres of farmland and timberland are flooded annually. Septic tanks are rendered useless as water tables rise.

In the five years between 2008 and 2013, more than 3,500 Department of Transportation projects were damaged or delayed as USDA Wildlife Services workers destroyed dams.

The state pays more than $1.1 million per year in beaver control efforts, mainly to catch the animals and destroy dams in urban areas and along highway projects.

I’m so old that I can remember when John McCain joked about North Carolina using stimulus money to blow up beaver dams! I guess it takes a lot of money to do things badly. And I guess you would know.

“For now, it’s all we can do here,” Backus said. “We’ve got to catch all of the guys living here before it makes sense to take this one down. I figure that’s at least a dozen of them here.

“When that’s done, we’ll be able to drain the water slowly. Then we can use dynamite. Remember, all those booms you may hear around here aren’t coming from Bragg!”

I guess if you’re a beaver trapper in Fayetteville, business is booming!

Yesterday I worked on photos for the urban beaver chapter. The funny thing is that I want photos as urban as possible, and pretty much every photographer (including Cheryl) takes frames as natural as possible. I put out a special plea to our friends for urban photos, and this was a favorite that came from Robin Ellison of Napa.