Category: Who’s saving beavers now?

MARKING THE DAY GRANDLY IN SLO

Never fear that June 27 came and went without a beaver festival. Actions to educate people and save beavers are happening in little ways all across the state. And this still happened in San Luis Obispo.

Today is a great day! I’ve been (safely, distanced + mask + outdoors) meeting so many amazing people and getting to talk about my favorite thing: beavs!

If you want to chat with me about beavs in Central or Southern California, my contact info is on my website: emilyfairfaxscience.com

Planning to do more socially distanced, mask on pond visits in the future both here and down on the Santa Ynez. Keep your eyes out for more info!

That’s right. That was Emily Fairfax leading a beaver tour on the day. And she’s wearing the very same beaver mask that I have. Because honestly, what else would suffice?

Audrey of the San Luis Obispo Beaver Brigade gathered folks together and was kind enough to remember what day it was.

It was a great day! Thank you Emily for sharing so much beaver knowledge to our county and getting folks excited about beavers here. I think we have a few more Beaver Believers after yesterday. Heidi Perryman, we honored your Beaver Festival date even with a cancelled festival!

Oh and something to keep your spirits up while taking a beaver hike in a mask. And here’s the soundtrack if you need a reminder. [wonderplugin_video iframe=”https://youtu.be/xDWAGyl3-8o” lightbox=0 lightboxsize=1 lightboxwidth=960 lightboxheight=540 autoopen=0 autoopendelay=0 autoclose=0 lightboxtitle=”” lightboxgroup=”” lightboxshownavigation=0 showimage=”” lightboxoptions=”” videowidth=200 videoheight=100 keepaspectratio=1 autoplay=0 loop=0 videocss=”position:relative;display:block;background-color:#000;overflow:hidden;max-width:100%;margin:0 auto;” playbutton=”https://www.martinezbeavers.org/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/wonderplugin-video-embed/engine/playvideo-64-64-0.png”]

BETTER CHANGE THE NAME TO “RIVER-BROKE ESTATES”

heidi08 Who's saving beavers now? May 21, 2020

Now this is just the kind of story I like best. A family that loves their wetlands built by beavers and a mean old developer who wants it drained for his parking space. If I hadn’t been so immersed in Oakley shenanigans lately it would have been all we talked about. But everything comes in good time. And they still get a letter.

Beaver dam battle pits Sandown family vs. developer

SANDOWN — Jeff and Heather Blake have always enjoyed sitting with their kids along the edge of the wetlands in their backyard and watching the wildlife, but their slice of serenity is in jeopardy.

A large portion of the wetlands on the Blake property vanished without warning last Friday when a local housing developer who owns neighboring property hired an excavation crew to tear out a small beaver dam and remove a section of a larger dam.

Jeff Blake watched in horror as the acre of wetlands quickly drained. He said the water and silt “rushed out like whitewater” as he scrambled to transfer about 40 baby turtles to the nearby Exeter River as their habitat was suddenly disturbed.

Hey I bet some baby beavers were disturbed too. Or maybe a pregnant mother since this is New Hampshire. I bet a whole lot of birds and frogs didn’t like it either. It’s hard to believe their aren’t rules about ripping out a wetland in New Hampshire. Art?

Developer Bob Villella, a Hampstead resident and owner of Boemark Construction, said he wants to sell the land for a new house lot, but the beaver dams, which are located on his property, had flooded a small roadway in an area that’s planned to be used for a driveway.

Villella said he needed to address the damming problem and insisted that he did nothing wrong as state law allows property owners to remove beaver dams on their land if done properly.

“The beavers built it up. I have the right to take it down and that’s what I did,” he said Monday.

It’s always the developers. Have you noticed this? It’s always the almighty dollar that is willing to rip out beaver dams even when very photogenic children want to protect them. I see a battle coming on. I see a million preschoolers in beaver tails on the evening news, Don’t make me come over there.

“I just felt like it was gone. It’s a piece that was so relaxing to us, especially now. I’ve been home with the kids with daycare closed (due to COVID-19) and we spend a lot of time outside. That’s what we’ve put a lot of focus on lately, just enjoying the simple parts of life,” Heather Blake said.

While the wetlands have filled up again, the Blakes say they’re still about two but he said he has no plans to completely drain the wetlands on the Blakes’ property and the several more acres of wetlands behind other homes.feet lower than they were before the dams were disrupted.

Villella has built several homes in the Riverbend Estates development and is planning more, but he said he has no plans to completely drain the wetlands on the Blakes’ property and the several more acres of wetlands behind other homes. Villella said his only goal is to reduce the flooding on the land he wants to sell, which may mean lowering the wetlands to a depth of about two feet.

“I understand they’re upset, but the beavers are doing damage to other properties,” he said.

You are fighting progress sweet family. You are demanding the right to be in nature against a well funded landloard. It’s a hard struggle. It takes stamina. Courage. And a firm belief in that a brighter future is possible. And there’s only one way to do it, With an army.

I’d advise you to fight as dirty as possible from 6 feet away. Maybe get every child in her preschool to mail the judge a hand drawn picture of their favorite animal that once lived in the wetlands. And a photo of themselves in a beaver tail.

That’s a start.

“A PASSIONATE, ECLECTIC GROUP OF BEAVER BELIEVERS”

heidi08 Beaver Book, Beavers, Who's saving beavers now? April 28, 2020

Someday it’s a great day to be a beaver-believer. This article combining Ben Golfarb’s excellent book with the recent struggles at Warner Park in Madison Wisconsin makes me proud to be a member of the club.

‘Dam It! WI Is a Backward Beaver State’

In April 2017, a quiet war was being waged over Warner Park’s resident beavers. Apart from a handful of local news articles, the dispute came and went free from the public eye.

Beavers — not exactly known to fit the human definition of orderly — made their presence evident at the park by damaging and felling trees. The city’s Parks Division contracted a trapper, reasoning the flooding risk posed by the beavers’ dam outweighed their benefits.

Unaware of the city’s plan and outraged at the prospect of beavers being removed, citizens decided to take traps into their own hands. The safety risk posed to those doing so forced the Madison Parks Division to remove the remaining traps.

While the traps are gone, whether or not the issue has been resolved is subject to debate. The positives and negatives of living with, or without, beavers have not been discussed on a city-wide scale.

However, Ben Goldfarb, the author of “Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter,” has offered a framework for doing so.

Ta-daa! Hi Ben, I am SO happy your book was written and you are willing to trot about the countryside and remind people why beavers matter.

Goldfarb, an award-winning environmental journalist, visited Madison’s Olbrich Botanical Gardens on Feb. 20 to speak about beavers and their ability to solve a range of environmental issues.

The problems Madison lakes face are products of land management and infrastructure choices, UW-Limnology wrote. Chemical run-off, chiefly nitrogen and phosphorus, is creating “unsightly and unsafe” lake conditions.

Beavers are the “landscape Swiss Army knives,” as Goldfarb refers to them, that can fix all of the above. Their dams slow water — creating wetlands — which can sequester pollution, prevent erosion and slow flooding.

Goldfarb and other self-proclaimed “Beaver Believers” not only trust in the rodents’ capacity to “tackle just about any ecological dilemma” but recognize compromise may be a part of doing so. The passionate, eclectic group supports coexistence efforts rather than removal.

Flow devices are one of the many tools being used to moderate conflicts between humans and their paddle-tailed neighbors, Goldfarb said. Most flow devices — including Skip Lisle’s Beaver Deceiver and Mike Callahan’s Pond Leveler system — consist of a water outlet and fencing.

“A passionate, eclectic group.” Aww shucks, you’ll make me blush. Yup that’s us. It takes a village. We’re a mixed bag, A heterogeneous bunch of grapes if you will.

Goldfarb concluded with the words of fellow Beaver Believer Kent Woodruff, which capture the essence of beaver belief.

“We’re not smart enough to know what a fully functional ecosystem looks like. But they are.”

Ohh be still my heart! I just love this beaver club we’re in. Don’t you? Excellent work, Ben. Sometimes I get the feeling a tide is turning.

The gentleman from South Carolina who wrote me about the beaver living under his house noticed that it had an injury so I suggested taking it to rehab. Yesterday Carolina Wildlife Care came and trapped and took it away . Maybe you have some pocket change you can send their way to thank them and help pay for its treatment and board?

MY FAVORITE KIND OF BEAVER TALE

heidi08 Beavers and Culvert Protection, Who's saving beavers now? April 26, 2020

Finally we have come upon a day chock full of beaver news. It must be Sunday, because everyone knows the papers save up their flat-tailed animal stories for the weekends. That’s good news though, because you’ll especially enjoy this one.

Battle of the beaver: Hamilton backs off plan to kill beavers causing a dam mess in Ancaster

The battle of the beaver has raged for two years in rural Ancaster.

Every year, an industrious rodent blocks a culvert under Mineral Springs Road with gnawed-off trees and mud to stop the flow of water. Inevitably, a city roads crew comes out to clean out the dam mess before the low-lying dirt road floods — only to see the culvert fill up with sticks days or even hours later.

This spring the battle took a deadly turn, with the city hiring a trapper to snare and “humanely” kill the beaver — or maybe a family of beavers? — over concerns the clogged drain is a danger to road safety.

But Castor Canadensis is winning again — this time thanks to outraged neighbours who won the beavers a stay of execution.

HURRAY! Public outcry saving beavers and stopping a city from taking the easy way out! This is my very favorite kind of story. Yours too. Grab a second cup and settle in for a nice fun read. Ancaster is in Ontario at the end of Lake Eerie and New York. Not a huge commute for Mike Or Skip if city leaders decide they wanted to solve this the right way.

Adrian Firth learned about the “beaver-drowning plan” from a trapper setting snares in the pond near her home a week ago. The nurse — who admits she already has enough on her plate in the midst of pandemic chaos — has nonetheless feverishly organized resistance for days.

“I think it is just crazy. Killing these animals is really best solution they could come up with?” asked Firth, who walked around the pond with about a dozen neighbours Friday simultaneously planning a petition while trying to maintain physical distancing.

“I haven’t seen any real road flooding. But if it’s a problem, maybe just build it up and give us a real road,” she suggested, noting the low-lying gravel thoroughfare is typically pockmarked with potholes.

Ahh Adrian! We like you a lot. And you’re a nurse which makes you TWICE as popular. And it is crazy, I agree. Although there’s an easier way to fix it than building another road and its called a beaver deceiver. Maybe I’ll send a note.

Firth noted much of the area green space, including the pond, is on environmentally protected Hamilton Conservation Authority land. “If you’re a beaver, is this not the place to be? And look around — there are beavers all over the frickin’ area. How many of them do you plan to kill, exactly?”

All of them? I mean think about it. When there are ants in your kitchen you don’t just want to discourage one or two. And if your job depends on unplugged culverts, beavers are ants. Right?

“We’ve tried many things to dissuade this beaver,” said roads superintendent Sarah Poole, who listed protective cages and iron-bar catchbasin lids as examples of failed experiments.

“Everything gets destroyed,” she said, adding the culvert is currently stuffed “six solid feet” with sticks. “This beaver is very good at what he does.”

Unlike all the other beavers. Which are such slackers. Too bad Sarah didn’t get one of those.

Trapping and relocating problem wildlife is also possible — but the law forbids moving an animal further than one kilometre. It’s rare, but not unheard of, for the city to kill beavers when roads are threatened, said Poole. “For us, road safety is something we can’t ignore.”

But it turns out angry residents are also hard to ignore.

They certainly all. Just ask Martinez. And ask Port Moody. And ask yourself, is it worth it? By the way, this is some pretty nice reporting from Matthew Van Dongen. Good work.

It’s not a total win — at least one beaver was killed before the traps were removed, say neighbours. But the city estimates there are at least 10 other beavers living in the vicinity, said Ferguson — and for now, they get a “reprieve.”

Ferguson, who also chairs the conservation authority board, said watershed agency officials will meet by teleconference with city roads managers in the coming days to brainstorm a “more humane” solution.

Something tell me a more humane solution might just be on its way. Get ready for an email.

BEAVER ART AND ARTISTRY

heidi08 Beaver Art, Environmental, Who's saving beavers now? April 8, 2020

There;s a beautiful retrospective of Rusty Cohn’s photographs at the Napa beaver pond in yesterday’s Napa register for International beaver day. What a fine body of work! And of course I mean both Rusty and the beavers. Run don’t walk over to the paper to see every image, but here are a few of my favorites.

The first might be the finest photo I have ever seen of a beaver pair bonding.

Photos: Life at Napa’s Beaver Lodge at Tulocay Creek

Did you know April 7 is International Beaver Day? In honor of the occasion, we are sharing this photo gallery of our local beaver family at Tulocay Creek. These photos are from 2017-2019 … simpler times. Enjoy!

The Tulocay Creek beaver pond is located next to the Hawthorne Suites Hotel, 314 Soscol Ave., Napa. At the creek, you’ll find river otters, mink, muskrats and herons as well as beavers. Here are some photos of the critters taken by local photographer Rusty Cohn.

“Since beavers are nocturnal, the heat doesn’t seem to bother them,” Cohn said. “They come out a little before sunset and are mainly in the water. During the day they are sleeping either in a bank den in the side of the creek bank under a fair amount of dirt, or inside a lodge which is made of mud and sticks mainly.”

Follow the link to look at the full article. Aren’t those beautiful?There is an excellent one of an adult beaver underwater which I’m partial to by Roland Dumas. Of course he didn’t just capture beavers in all their glory, he got some wonderful shots of the crowd of wildlife they supported too. Heron, otter, mink. The usual suspects. Here is a special favorite.

Unfortunately Stacy couldn’t manage a reading. So we never got the beaver song we deserve but there is fun discussion on Emily Fairfax’s twitter feed for International Beaver Day about just exactly what’s wrong with otters. I swear to God I didn’t write this. I’m referring especially to question three.

Just remember I had NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS.

She got this lovely response from Portland artist Roger Peet. Twitter handle “Wedge tailed Oogle” who is coordinating the endangered species mural project for the Center for Biological Diversity. He told Ben how to get this print from him on the feed but I don’t see it yet in his shop. It’s incredible.

The entire discussion is very well worth reading. We are so lucky to have Emily on our team. She will be leading the way when all of us our just echoes. An amazing image was posted by someone I don’t know (YET).

Finally a sad goodbye to Mr. Prine with a special song for the petulant king who brought us here.

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