Category: Who’s Killing Beavers Now?

Beaver Creek Episode 8: Twig’s Tragedy?

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Friends of Martinez Beavers, Who's Killing Beavers Now? March 12, 2012

Sunday I received a beaver SOS from our favorite stop-motion movie maker in Kentucky. The beaver habitat he had been enjoying in the nearby city of St. Matthews – which he watched for inspiration to his series – had been completely destroyed, the lodge bulldozed, and the dams ripped out. Ian was horrified and dismayed to think that the happy family he had been enjoying had been ruthlessly killed.

On the left is the beaver lodge just a few weeks ago. On the right is the lodge after it was bulldozed. It was completely flattened and there is nothing left of it. — at Arthur K. Draut park.

Mind you the city of St. Matthews discussed the beavers at the city council meeting before, pledging in 2010 to relocate them and the mayor Bernie Bowling Jr. personally promised that ‘no harm would come to them’.

The beavers are back at Arthur K. Draut Park. Mayor Bowling will have someone come and remove them. Several people have inquired about being allowed to safely capture the beavers, so that they can be released in another remote location. The mayor and city council are concerned about the extensive damage that is and can continue to be done by these animals. However, it is the city’s intent to not harm the beavers in any way.

But I guess with growing inflation, a promise doesn’t mean what it use to mean anymore. I thought you might want to read what folks wrote the mayor and city council and maybe add your own voice to the outrage. Ian is a good friend to the beavers, and a good friend of ours. Your well-written letter will support him and educate the city to help make sure this never happens again.

Dear Sir, it was a sad day to open an email and find that a decision was made to remove your resident beavers in such a heinous fashion, might I add that these very beavers and your city are known worldwide through the works of young Ian Timothy. Is this the example of humanity we want to send our children and neighbors. Perhaps you should look at the influences of John James Audubon and what that has meant to the great State of Kentucky, what might have been his thoughts concerning this. We live on the west coast of the U.S. and already we have heard about this, it will be worldwide before the day is done.

There is some question to as whether the beavers were harmed and you are quoted “That no harm will come to these beavers”, are you prepared to share with the world how that was accomplished? We hope that future such actions would be more carefully planned so that you and your city will be held in high regards.

Leonard and Lois

Beaver Advocacy Committee

Tiller, OR

Dear Honorable Bowling,

It is truly unfortunate that you directed the removal of the beaver dam and the eradication of the beavers at Arthur K. Draut Park. Not only have you killed beavers and ruined your credibility as a progressive ‘green’ community leader, but you have also associated City Councilman Arthur Draut’s name with their slaughter, especially with the killing of a pregnant female beaver. The park’s name and reputation, yours, and Councilman Draut’s are damaged.

Did you believe others would forget your promise that, “no harm will come to them”? This choice is even more difficult to comprehend considering your description of this lovely park on the City of St. Matthews’ own government website:

Arthur K. Draut Park – Other amenities in Community Park include: A walking path with creek crossing bridges, stone benches, limited wooded areas, along with dedicated wetlands complete with cattails, water grasses and assorted wild life. The flow of historic Beargrass Creek meandering through this park makes this site pleasing to athletes and naturalists.

I doubt naturalists will be pleased now knowing beavers were killed. Dedicated wetlands with their assorted wildlife rarely thrive without the one creature that ensures the health of their ecosystem – a beaver.

There are proven solutions to concerns of flooding created by beaver dams. Successful installation of flow devices control pond height and resolve flooding for years. When beavers are present at a dam, their territorial behavior will discourage other beavers from remaining. Trees can be protected by wire-wrapping or painting with sand. The abrasive texture discourages beavers and is an inexpensive and visually undisruptive solution.

I am sickened further that Ian Timothy – an award winning filmmaker who was inspired by the beavers at Arthur K. Draut Park – must now realize just how cruel and dishonorable leaders in the City of St. Matthews can be. As an author of eco-literary novels for young readers, I am at a loss as to how this murderous act can be explained to my young readers, especially when there are so many enlightened and caring choices that you could have made to protect the beavers and salvage their valuable contribution to the park.

I visited Kentucky many times, and remember the parks there as beautiful and picturesque, and the people as gracious, intelligent, and caring. If your actions represent Kentucky, then my opinion can only be changed for the worse. I hope this is not the case.

Mayor Bowling, you owe your community an apology and Ian Timothy an apology. You also owe an apology to all those families with children who visited Arthur K. Draught Park and loved the beavers, their dam, and their habitat. However, you owe an explanation to conservationists who truly are shocked by your decision and the ensuing actions. But more than an apology and an explanation – if you are to remain in a position of leadership – you must pledge to follow the excellent suggestions made to you by eco-systems experts such as Dr. Perryman and other conservationists who understand the critical importance of beavers in our communities, even if you do not. And after you make this public pledge, these recommendations must be put into practice.

Looking forward to hearing from you, and seeing the reputation of the City of St. Matthews repaired.

Best regards, Jo Marshall

Jo Marshall, Twig Stories www.twigstories.com

Snohomish, Washington

I want to express my displeasure on hearing that the city of St. Matthews felt the need to destroy the beavers and their habitat at Arthur K. Draut Park. There are many other options available now for controlling any flooding and other worries when beavers move into an area, and it would have been to your advantage to look into these solutions. Another family of beavers will move in again and you then will be faced with this situation again.

Recently I had the opportunity to meet Ian Timothy, who is from your area. Ian is a very talented claymationist and the creator of the Beaver Creek series. He was on his way to the Wild & Scenic Film Festival in Nevada City, CA where his series was featured. Ian shared with us the pictures that he has taken of the beavers and the habitat they have created in Arthur K. Druat Park. Today I received the new pictures that he took of the destruction that your city has now created.

In our small town we have learned to live with our beaver family that moved into our downtown creek in 2006. We have controlled the water flow and have painted many trees to discourage any beaver damage to them. Our creek now is home to many different birds, fish, otters and even mink. The beavers also have become a tourist attraction as they are so visible, and they are famous through out the world.

I do hope in the future if another family of beavers come to make their home in your park, the city will be ready with the many solutions to keep their beavers and enjoy the beautiful habitat they will create.

Lory Bruno

Martinez,CA

I was sorry to learn that St. Matthews decided to destroy the beavers and habitat at the park after specifically promising in your December 14th 2010 meeting not to harm them. “However, it is the city’s intent to not harm the beavers in any way.” As it is March the mother in this colony would have been pregnant, which mean you killed unborn kits as well.

Besides upsetting prominent and not-so-prominent members of your community, you might worry about the misuse of tax payer dollars when you are forced to repeat a failed solution year after year. Removing beavers (whether by relocating or trapping) is a short term solution that will need to be repeated and paid for again when new beavers move into adequate habitat. The successful installation of a flow device will control pond height and resolve flooding for many years. Allowing the beavers to remain will let them use their territorial behaviors to keep others away.Trees can be protected by wirewrapping (not chicken!) or painting with sand. The abrasive texture discourages beavers and is an inexpensive, visually undisruptive solution.

I’m sure that any city that values green solutions is aware that beaver chewing of trees also produces a natural coppice cutting – an old forestry term that refers to hard cutting a tree so that it grows back denser and more bushy. This ultimately provides ideal nesting habitat for migratory and songbirds. You must also be aware of the significant habitat beavers provide for young fish and the recent fines in Alabama where a beaver dam removal destroyed habitat for the endangered watercress darter.

You may not know that these beavers were specifically watched and enjoyed by your local residents, one of which (prominent young filmmaker Ian Timothy) relied on them for inspiration in his award winning stop-motion beaver creek series, honored this year at the Wild & Scenic film festival in Nevada, the Environmental Film Film Festival in Colorado, and at your own festival in Kentucky! In addition to apologizing to Ian for this cruel and senseless act, the city should work with him to develop a humane beaver management policy for the future. In our low-lying city beaver activity required a flow device which has controlled flooding for 5 years, and the dams have exciting new fish and wildlife. We now regularly see heron, steelhead, otter and even mink in our tiny urban creek!

There are lots of reasons to do beaver management correctly, and many proven tools at your disposal. I hope that in the future the city of St. Matthews can “see the forest for the trees”.

Heidi Perryman, Ph.D

President & Founder

Worth A Dam

www.martinezbeavers.org/wordpress

The right honorable mayor has a lot of reading to do. I know he also got letters from Utah, Massachusetts and Florida, but I’m sure he still has time to read yours, and maybe Twig’s….Ian?

Helping Trees by Hurting Beavers?

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Who's Killing Beavers Now? March 9, 2012

Apparently the city of Guelph Ontario loves their trees so much that they’re willing to kill their beavers to prove it. Not exactly sure how a lowered water table and weaker riparian border helps trees, but the good folk in Guelph must know best. They’re saying it doesn’t make sense to make a plan to protect trees without making a promise to kill their ‘predators’. And don’t talk to them about coppicing and new growth either!

Coun. Bob Bell says a plan that the city is developing to better manage its trees over the next 20 years should include a section on one of the enemies of trees – beavers.

Enemies of trees? W0w. Strong language from a man who’s not afraid to call a spade a spade! So 300 years ago before Canada had killed its population of millions more beavers there was no forest canopy because all those beavers devoured them? Really? And it was only when people trapped every single last furry one and planted a few token trees in the ground that the canopy bounced back?

“It is definitely an issue, and I would hope our new forestry plan would address beaver removal,” he told a city council committee last week. Derek McCaughan, the city’s executive director of operations and transit, said city officials are looking at the problem of damage by beavers.

I’m sorry the oddly named city of Guelph is plagued by enemies of trees. Are there also enemies of information in your borders? Or will you listen when I explain how the trees you want to protect can be wrapped or painted with sand to prevent chewing? Will you try and understand that beaver chewing produces a natural coppice cutting – an old forestry term which refers to hard cutting a tree so that it grows back bushy and more dense. If you don’t have willow along your streams you should plant some because they are a preferred food and quickly rebound. And when beaver dams raise the water table they help prevent drought and actually expand the riparian border.

Before you decide to kill beavers to protect trees you should think about the fish populations that will be harmed, the otters who will be forced out, the birds who will lose feeding and nesting ground. You should think soberly about what a massive impact you would have on all this wildlife if you take out this one, disliked, actor.

That’s what “Keystone Species” means, by the way.

Oh and here’s a recent letter to the editor from one of your residents about what they think about these “Treenemies”.

Pleased to see beavers are back

Guelph Coun. Bob Bell is insisting that urban forestry management include a policy for the removal of beavers.

How sad that man’s response to nature has so often been nothing more than removal of the bother. Perhaps the urban forestry management should consist merely of all tree removal given how much leaves and branches can be a bother.

Beavers are a natural treat to watch and there are ways to fence off critical trees and allow them access to some that are less critical. Indeed, some of the damage I notice is of brush, not just grand trees.

As well, there are ways to control animal population growth short of total removal.

When I first moved to Guelph 43 years ago, there were beavers on our rivers, but the city soon hired a trapper and they were all gone for years and years.

Well, they have come back and many of us are pleased.

I thought the problem issue was being handled when I saw that some trees had fencing around them, but now Bell is proposing removal.

Surely a more intelligent approach could be taken that would leave our urban forest a bit more natural, but not destroyed entirely. Does our local university not have any better ideas than Bell’s?

Jim Mottin

Guelph

Valuable

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Educational, Environmental, Who's Killing Beavers Now?, Why We Care March 3, 2012

Let’s say (and why not) that you were a mild mannered beaver advocate associated with arguably the most famous beavers in the golden state and a fairly impressive website. What if some unnamed media outlet wanted your opinion on some internal memos obtained into the dealings between a certain beaver-stricken city and the federal agency that usually handles such things. And that after getting mad, nauseated and breathing into a paper bag every 5 minutes while you’re reading this delightful list of beaver-bashings you notice that a major contract for the city isn’t with the beaver-trappers, or with the tree planters, or even with hydrologists.

It’s with the beaver-re-education squad, who will provide brochures, website content, and even classroom visits designed to teach residents how destructive beavers can be and overcome any natural compassion or curiosity in the populace. Money to combat people like…oh..say…ME.

Let’s say that you were to find out that this beaver disinformation campaign is not unique to any particular city, but is part of most every beaver-management response once the public reacts negatively, or the media gets involved, or folks start spouting crazy-hugger humane ideas. Like Martinez for instance. Like the “expert” that suddenly showed up in our city and advised our city staff that flow devices always fail. Remember her? Let’s assume after seeing the amount of money that changes hands for a re-education campaign I have become more certain than ever that she didn’t come to Martinez for the view.

All of this is to say that information is power. And this website, with all its flaws and quirks – with all its solutions and stories and community, is powerful. The powers that be spend copious amounts of money to influence public opinion. And we have spent very little money and re shaped public opinion in a way that will affect thinking about beavers for decades to come. Every time we’re in the news-cycle, or talk to folks at Earth Day, or someone looks up the website because they want humane solutions, or children explain what a keystone species is at the beaver festival to get a charm bracelet, I’m reminded how much.

I guess after all the horrific displays of stupidly reflexive thinking, it was nice to realize that a city spends a vast portion of its time and resources thinking about the knotty problems caused by people like us.

Oh and check out Don’s lovely article about beavers in the Washoe newsletter. (Page 12) Hopefully we’ll make some new friends and I’ll find out some gossip about the beavers I’ve been watching for the past 7 years!

Would Vivaldi Trap Beavers?

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Who's Killing Beavers Now? March 1, 2012

Neighbors battle over beaver

So the Four Seasons Active Senior living community of El Dorado Hills Ca. last week got an anxious email from a resident there that the board of directors had made the decision to hire a trapper to kill the resident beaver(s) in their creek. When I saw where El Dorado Hills is located (right next to Elk Grove) I wasn’t exactly hopeful. But I gave her arm loads of information and told her to come back if she needed more.

Two days later I received a second email from a second person who didn’t even KNOW the first person cared about the beavers. I put them in contact with each other, gave him additional armloads of information after spending some time looking up media contacts in the area.

Beaver lovers Dick Parsons and Jerry Baldo, left and center, jokingly square off with fellow Four Seasons resident Ross Johnson, right, who feels that the so-called Grassy Creek beaver is destroying young Oaks and Sycamore trees growing behind his home in the popular El Dorado Hills active adult community. Village Life photo by Mike Roberts

This morning it’s beginning to pay off. I’ve been told two news stations are coming out to film the big meeting tonight.

A homeowners association decision to remove and destroy the beaver that’s set up shop in the Four Seasons Active Adult Community in El Dorado Hills has residents collecting signatures to save the creature while an intransigent HOA general manager insists the beaver’s fate is sealed.

The beaver lives in Grassy Creek, a headwaters tributary of Deer Creek that winds through the Four Seasons, serving as both flood control and a scenic wetlands corridor for the planned development.

The Grassy Creek beaver, as residents have taken to calling it, has turned the formerly well-defined, narrow creek into a shallow marsh between Covered Bridge Way and Monte Mar Drive.

Hmm. It’s almost March so I suppose it’s theoretically possible that this wayward beaver is a disperser and on his own, but given that they’ve been watching him a while it’s much more likely that he has a family or at least some help. Both emails described the creek as ‘ephemeral’ and I assured them that if the beaver stayed it probably wouldn’t be any more! Apparently there’s a big meeting tonight

Four Seasons Owners Association General Manager Scott Jefferson notified Parsons by e-mail on Friday that the eradication of the beaver was “in the best interest of the community” and was moving forward despite his petition.

“The membership lacks the necessary authority to overturn or postpone the implementation of an operational/maintenance decision of the board of directors,” he said, “regardless of the number of completed petitions that may be submitted.”

On Saturday a frustrated Parsons conceded that barring a miracle, his efforts to save the beaver had failed. “People here in our little community find this marsh and its inhabitants life affirming,” he said. “We want to live and let live.”

He lamented that his HOA board acted hastily and “entered into this with their minds made up.”

The next board meeting is 4:30 p.m. on Feb. 29 at the Four Seasons Lodge.

I love the idea that they have the authority to MAKE the decision but not to CHANGE it. That’s rich. Well I guess the managers want active adults but NOT active wildlife. I told my beaver-protecting buddies to bring some grandchildren to the meeting and try to get them on camera maybe holding a picture they drew of a beaver, so we’ll see if anything slows this killing campaign. Apparently there’s a retired forester in the area who wants the beaver eliminated because some oaks are getting flooded.

Apparently the reporter took this whole story seriously enough to do his homework. He called Fish & Game who had this to say.

State Fish and Game Warden Patrick Foy, reached by phone, reported that beaver problems in semi-rural subdivisions are common. “We can’t really take a problem beaver in one area and move it to another,” he said.

Beavers are routinely removed and destroyed, trapped underwater to drown or simply shot, he said, often over the loud objections of animal lovers.

He said the species is not endangered or protected, and is well-established along waterways in western El Dorado County, with known beaver communities along Deer Creek and Carson Creek.

Urban beaver dams can be breached with combinations of pipe and screening that lower water levels and might save some of the trees along Grassy Creek, he added.

Now it may not seem like much but that last sentence is the VERY FIRST TIME in the history of beaver watching that I have heard a quote from Fish and Game recommending a flow device. Think about that, and think about their constant refrain to interested parties that ‘those NEVER work’. I would argue that that sentence can be directly attributed to the success of Skip’s Flow device and the televised drama of the Martinez Beavers.

Of course, no gift comes without tarnish…

The so-called “beaver relievers” prevent flooding but create frustrated beaver who often go to great lengths to clog the breach and restore their habitat, or simply move on.

Beaver Relievers? I can only assume this is a direct quote from the warden and not a misunderstanding by the reporter. Beaver Relievers! Its sounds like some kind of pain killer for rodents referring to the Salicin properties in willow! Maybe fish and game hasn’t evolved at all. He’s basically saying “I don’t know its name and I know they don’t work anyway.” Sigh.

Well good luck tonight in stopping your HOA from making the beavers DOA. Of course they will say they have no choice. It’s people who don’t want to be blamed for their choices always do. Tell them about options and benefits and otter and fish and heron.Tell them about solutions and say that Worth A Dam will help with information, referrals and a possible scholarship. Remind them that if they put up with

←this they might just end up with thi s→

The Importance of Being Earnest Larry

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Massachusetts Trapping Law, Who's Killing Beavers Now? February 21, 2012

County to go after beavers

By RANDY HOGAN

The Helena World

Because farmers are not allowed to use dynamite, beaver dams have multiplied tremendously in the county. According to Larry, the district simply cannot get enough trappers to make a dent in the beaver population

Oh no! Not more exploding beavers! (One of my favorite posts ever, probably it was the ministry of hyperbole that clinched it.) Apparently the problem has spread all the way to Arkansas. Without dynamite there is apparently no way to kill these beavers fast enough, (machine guns?) and its not like anyone there knows a better way to solve problems.

“We have a very serious problem with beavers in the local ditches and road ditches that flood cropland, county roads and timberland,” Earnest Larry, representing the Phillips County Conservation District, told quorum court members Tuesday night.

Can anyone doubt Earnest Larry? With a name like that? I will more defer any additional commentary to Mr. Wilde. But I don’t suppose ‘Dubious Mark‘ weighed in? Or perhaps ‘Critical-Thinking Tom’ offered an argument at the meeting? Apparently Earnest wants a voluntary tax to provide funds for the conservation district to eradicate beavers. (Wow. The number of oxymorons in that sentence alone is like a roomful of detergents for stupid people.) See in the past the conservation district got money from the Natural Resource Committee to help trap beavers..but now there’s less money all around and the voluntary tax would help raise money for mo’ beaver killin’.

I’m just curious. Where ELSE does the money go? If you use so much of the budget for beaver eradication, is there anything left for planting trees or teaching third graders about what lives in pond water? And why on earth would a no-dynamite law make it impossible to kill beavers? You do realize that blowing up the dam doesn’t actually kill beavers right? Because beavers don’t LIVE IN THE DAM!!! I mean you could still trap them or shoot them right?

Well, it’s tempting to make an Arkansas joke, and say that people who marry their second cousins shouldn’t be expected to install beaver deceivers, BUT the problem of beaver-stupid isn’t regional in nature. Its epidemic. Just look at this article from Salem which is 19 miles from Mike Callahan of Beaver Solutions and 61 miles from Skip Lisle of Beaver Deceivers International, in other words — surrounded by beaver-education but apparently impervious to it.

Busy as a beaver

Beavers are causing problems across the North Shore, especially during this mild winter when they have been more active than usual. The most common problem caused by beavers is a flooded land area. The Mass Division of Fisheries and Wildlife offers several options for solving beaver conflicts.

A homeowner does not need a permit to contract with a licensed trapper during beaver hunting season (Nov. 1 through April 15) to place a cage or box-type trap on their own property. Trapping is highly regulated in Massachusetts. Residents are not encouraged to handle a beaver problem themselves. It is strongly suggested that a registered beaver trapper be hired.

I’m sure the home state of Harvard, Cambridge and MIT is mighty proud to be solving problems as well as Arkansas. Of course, they do possess a slightly broader skill set. Just look at the mysteriously unelaborated very last sentence.

There are ways to handle a problem with beavers so trapping really should be considered as last resort after other methods have been tried.