Category: Who’s Killing Beavers Now?

THE OREGON BEAVER DEFENSE

heidi08 Beaver ecological impact, In the News, Who's Killing Beavers Now? September 13, 2020

Oregon deserves all our prayers today with 10% of the population evacuated for wildfires that are burning out of control. So I’m letting them take the reigns. On Thursday the Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the department of Fish and Wildlife to stop allowing beaver trapping on federal lands. Here’s the press release.

Oregon Urged to End Beaver Trapping, Hunting on Federal Lands

PORTLAND, Ore.— Conservation groups filed a petition today asking the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission to permanently close commercial and recreational beaver trapping and hunting on the state’s federally managed public lands and the waters that flow through them. Beavers are Oregon’s official state animal, but they can be legally hunted and trapped with few limits.

Cascadia Wildlands, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Conservation Angler, Defenders of Wildlife, Northeast Oregon Ecosystems, Umpqua Watersheds, WaterWatch of Oregon and Wetlands Conservancy filed this petition along with Dr. Suzanne Fouty, a retired hydrologist with the U.S. Forest Service, who has been studying beaver influences in the West for 25 years.

The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission discussed this request in June as part of its review of the state’s furbearer regulations. But it was rejected then as being outside the scope of that rulemaking notice. Today’s petition initiates a new rulemaking process for the commission’s consideration.

“Federal and state agencies, watershed councils, utility companies, conservation groups, and private landowners spend countless hours and millions of dollars every year to restore Oregon’s waterways, mimicking the natural behavior of beavers,” said Nick Cady, legal director of Cascadia Wildlands. “At the same time, Oregon’s Department of Fish and Wildlife permits limitless commercial and recreational trapping of beavers and does not even monitor populations. The department’s beaver trapping and hunting regulations are outdated and directly undermine the extensive, ongoing restoration of our water resources and efforts to recover imperiled salmon populations.”

Beavers are a keystone species and offer widely recognized ecological, economic, and social benefits, today’s petition notes. Beaver-created and maintained habitat improves water quality, decreases the impacts of floods, and restores natural water flows. This benefits humans and a wide variety of fish and wildlife, including highly endangered coho salmon. Beavers therefore play an important role in improving Oregon’s water security and minimizing impacts of climate change on human and wild communities.

“Beavers are our natural allies in the fight against climate change,” said Quinn Read, Oregon policy director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “We live in the Beaver State, and it’s appalling that beavers are still hunted and trapped. This cruel practice favors a few people and deprives other Oregonians and endangered salmon of the benefits of beaver-created habitat.”

Few people in Oregon trap or hunt beavers. But today’s petition points out that the annual culling of the species has significant negative effects on beaver populations and their corresponding social, economic and ecological benefits. The petition’s requested changes wouldn’t affect hunting and trapping opportunities elsewhere but they would allow beavers to thrive on federally managed public lands.

“Many people don’t know just how critical beavers are to functioning watersheds that, in turn, benefit hundreds of other plants and animals, including threatened and endangered species,” said Sristi Kamal, senior northwest representative for Defenders of Wildlife. “Beaver conservation on federal lands could be key to the conservation success of such species and their ability to survive and adapt to climate change impacts.”

Beaver populations have been significantly reduced from historic levels through hunting and trapping. These ongoing practices suppress population growth and expansion into large swaths of unoccupied suitable beaver habitat.

The full Petition from the Center for Biologic Diversity is available for review and does an excellent job of pulling together the research in a compelling beaver treatise. I’m hoping it is used to inform california as well. I’ve embedded the link so just click on the title to go see for yourself. I hope you go read through it because it will really help inform your next argument persuading folk to cooperate with beavers.

*Joe Wheaton: Emerald sanctuary in Idaho firescape*

INTERNATIONAL COURT, COPYRIGHT LAW, AND BEAVERS

heidi08 Who's Killing Beavers Now?, Who's stealing photos now? September 7, 2020

You may recall that there are two sets of beavers in Scotland. One ‘official trial’ in Knapdale in a landmass they can basically never escape, and one “unofficial” in the Tayside where our friends the Ramsays live. And after much hemming and hawing they were both granted permission to stay in the country. But there was a catch. They could only stay if there could be a legal permitted way to kill them when they caused issues for farmers. Scottish National Heritage was put in charge of the process.

There has been a massive scandal in recent days as a hardworking reporter from the Ferret, Rob Edwards obtained a copy of the training slides Scottish National Heritage used to educate the chosen few. The slideshow so horrified thousands of countrymen that there have been more than 15000 signatures to a petition to stop the killing. Remember Scotland is a small country. They haven’t ever had that many people sign anything.

This is from the final slide and partially explains the alarm.

It took all my breath when I first saw it. Not because of the dead beaver, lord knows we’ve seen enough of them over the years. But because of the joyful children in juxtaposition. Obviously having a fun day out with Dad. Killing funny things with flat tails,

And when you’re a child and your dad is a racist or a trapper or a terrorist, you don’t know any better. How could you? When I was a child and my father used to spray chemicals into the elm tree to avert dutch elm disease. I didn’t know any better. I would sit on the stairs and collect all the dying caterpillars that dropped out in a little container with leaves, hoping to keep them as pets. Every year I was surprised that they stopped moving within hours. And I didn’t understand until much later that my father spraying chemicals had killed them.

So I went though the slide show grimly reading how to kill beavers by catching them where they lived or worked and getting entire family groups. I downloaded it for your education if your stomach is strong enough But it was the third slide that REALLY got my attention. Maybe you’ll see why.

If that picture in the lower right corner looks familiar it should. Because its the photo of one Cheryl Reynolds taken of our kit and dad beaver in 2013 in Martinez California.

Our beavers used to teach snipers how to shoot family groups.

Of course I was beyond incensed. I contacted the reporter who said that the slideshow was prepared by the Scottish government and that he would find out how they got our photo. In the meantime he was willing to mark it as stolen on their website where I found it. Even though for him it was the middle of the night.

I believe this entire slideshow and decision to train authorized beaver killers was, what we candidly would call in America, a royal clusterfuck. The idea that some perky intern sat down on their laptop and made a power point about how to kill every last beaver (don’t forget the little ones) is beyond horrific. And the idea that they would browse the internet(s) like looters and choose photos from OUR WEBSITE where we teach how to NOT kill beavers is outrageous.

I wrote the board of the Scottish Natural Heritage as much and will let you know if I or the reporter hear back. If they wanted to do this right they could have used any of the thinly respectable trappers organization or even the USDA. Obviously they didn’t take this job seriously or they would have been more careful in how it was presented and not finished with a photo of two little girls having a dead beaver tea party

Stay tuned. I think there will be more to this story.

JUST THE FACTS, MA’AM

heidi08 Flow Device Installed, Who's Killing Beavers Now?, Who's saving beavers now? August 25, 2020

Well, we survived yesterday’s smoke bomb and thunder threat. The inside of my house doesn’t smell quite as bad this morning. That’s a kind of progress, right? And I learned how to backup my ipad. That’s something. And this happened at the Winnepeg humane society:

Your Phone Call Can Help Save Winnipeg’s Beavers

Can you help us save beavers from being cruelly killed within our city?

Beavers are an integral part of Canada’s waterways, and are commonly associated with our country. However, when beavers choose to reside in populated areas, they can damage property, or pose a risk for flooding to occur. Currently, the City of Winnipeg is using lethal methods as a form of urban beaver management. Problem beavers are killed with firearms, or through trapping via conibear trap systems. The Winnipeg Humane Society opposes this type of wildlife animal management and we need YOU to help us get the City to use alternative approaches for this issue.

Well you got my attention, yes. Why is killing beavers a problem?

Though relocation is not a viable solution, research shows that lethal methods only make way for neighbouring beavers to move into the killed animal’s territory. In fact, removing beavers increases population growth, by stimulating beavers to become sexually mature earlier in life. Beavers are not only a wilderness staple, they are also crucial for keeping ecosystems running smoothly. Beavers play a critical role in keeping wetland ecosystems symbiotic, by improving water quality and availability, ultimately resulting in large levels of local biodiversity.

Now that’s a new one. I never heard that. I don’t even think it can be true. It’s probably one of those facts that has been applied from other species, like rabbits, to beavers without thinking. Doesn’t that mean that every beaver in rehab raised alone would be ‘triggered’ to mature earlier? I really hate efforts to save beavers with the wrong science. Then when it fails we ALL pay the price. But that’s what happens when your whole point is not to kill things, you get a little careless with the facts.

For these reasons, the Winnipeg Humane Society is urging supporters to phone their city councilors, and ask that the City of Winnipeg stop killing beavers. And yes, we need you to CALL, not email or message on social media, because a phone call is the most powerful way to show our elected officials that this issue matters. Join the Winnipeg Humane Society in asking the City of Winnipeg to adopt a beaver management plan similar to countless other municipalities, where humane pond leveler systems, wire mesh, and culvert protectors are utilized, which allow for beavers and humans to co-exist peacefully. We are providing a list of phone numbers for you to call in support of our request to start using humane methods to manage beavers in Winnipeg.

Here’s the thing. If you don’t know what your talking about and you call the city who also doesn’t know what they’re talking about then they just make things up and hope you’ll go away. One of things I really respected about Martinez is that enough of the people really paid attention and did their homework. Not all, but enough.

If there are a handful of you the city just tells you to go away or waits it out. But if there are enough to scare them with volume they might give you something like this. A bizarre mechanical engineering that makes everyone feel better, is not based on any science, but just looks like effort. Then wait a while for it to fail and then kill the beavers anyway. Next time they can say “We tried your humane solution and it failed, now we need to do it our way.”

Believe us in Martinez when we say, saving beavers is really serious business. Pottery Barn “you break it you buy it” stuff. The rewards are enormous, but the costs are pretty enormous too. The mistakes you make will last decades. But the success can dissolve in a heartbeat and has to be carefully guarded every day.

Just remember what playwright Tom Stoppard said;

“There are no commitments, only bargains. And they have to be made again every day.

BLOWING UP BEAVERS TO SAVE TROUT?

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers and trout, Who's Killing Beavers Now? August 7, 2020

I know what you’ve been thinking. The beaver news these past days has been so excellent and positive, beaver benefits are so well understood even around the world, that the tide has finally turned. Why would anyone need to fight for them any more? Clearly everyone’s on the same team now, playing for the good of the planet. You might be thinking “It’s finally over! The battle’s done and we really won! Lay down my sword, unbuckle my armor and rest my shield against the hearth. Let’s all have a jug of wine to celebrate. Because there’s no need to be a beaver warrior any more.”

But on that day, when every place in the nation and most in Canada understand the importance of beavers and values their presence on the landscape, when the people of the world can finally see the forest for the trees, and the water for the flooding —

There will still be Wisconsin.

How To Maintain Local Trout Streams? Often, It’s Through Explosives

Jeremy Irish, an assistant district supervisor with the USDA’s Wildlife Services program, triggered the blast, undoing some of this year’s construction by beavers in the area. In the process, he cleared another portion of one of northern Wisconsin’s best trout streams.

Hundreds of miles of northern Wisconsin’s best trout streams flow freely, providing excellent fish habitat and great fishing. But if beavers, and they dams they create, had their way, the landscape would be much different. Often, it’s humans like Irish who have to help strike the balance, doing it using fuses, detonations, and explosions.

“Beaver are a very unique animal. They can alter their habitat to suit themselves, and in the north here, they definitely need to do that to make it through the winter,” he said. “The difficulty is, in altering their habitat, they also create problems for other species. In this case, we’re talking about a cold water ecosystem to support brook trout populations and spawning habitat.”

Apparently the USDA has not yet released it’s ground breaking (ha) research on why trout in the state of Wisconsin would have evolved differently than the trout in every other part of the world, but apparently they have the proof. Because why else would they ever be spending all that money and time? Oh and did you know Wisconsin thinks they have more beavers now than they used to before the fur trade? And that these two species didn’t actually co-evolve because the situation got WORSE. Yup.

Maybe it’s the cheese curds.

Whatever the cause. there are clearly a few battles left to be fought in the state. There are really places that believe trout are happier with explosives in their water than with beavers. I wrote the reporter on this story yesterday and I’ll let you know i I hear anything back. But I wouldn’t put down your armor just yet.

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THE GOVERNOR’S PARDON ARRIVED TOO LATE

heidi08 Beavers, Who's Killing Beavers Now? May 20, 2020

Any beavers’s death diminishes me,
because I am involved in beaverkind;
and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
it tolls for thee.

Why are all beaver victories Pyrric and sad? Because beaver death happens so fast, faster than beaver alarm and concern. Yesterday I was sent a beautiful photo of the little dam the beavers had made in Marsh Creek. And then I cajoled my Oakley sister to paying it a visit and learned it had been ripped out. The little dam was on a public path, next to a park and two blocks from an elementary school. It was in the perfect place for a teachable moment. But it was too late.

I heard from the woman from American Rivers working on a large project in the area that CDFG had granted a depredation permit at the beginning of April good for up to five beavers taken over the year, and I knew that we were probably too late.

Later that night supervisor Burgis called to say she had talked to the head of flood control and learned that two beavers had already been dispatched. Weeks ago. Probably the only beavers there which is why the dam hadn’t been repaired. Unless God forbid there were kits already born and they just starved to death in their little bank hole.

It makes me SO SAD. That was such a tiny beautiful dam. It wasn’t hurting anyone.

We had seen the bosses name on depredation permits over the years. I remembered her because it always frightened me that the address was Martinez. But it was the county address, where the head of flood control manages flooding all over Contra Costa. Not our little sleepy creek.

The good thing, and there IS a good thing, is that the supervisor told the head of flood control that killing beavers wouldn’t be a option anymore. For any city, and definitely not for Marsh Creek. She then said that the head of flood control needed to have a meeting with herself, the project manager from American Rivers and that woman from Worth A Dam to learn about options for keeping the creek flowing and still saving the beavers.

So that’s being set up. And its very good news for the next beavers that come to Marsh Creek. I cannot stress enough how entirely rare and unheard of it is. And what a fluke of all forces known to God and man it relied on. Victory happened. And we’re grateful for it.

But its no reprieve for these beavers. Because beaver victories almost always come too late to make a difference. It’s like the governors pardon arriving three minutes after the switch on the electric chair has already been pulled. It’s always too late.

Except for in Martinez.