Category: Who’s saving beavers now?

A LESS TRAP-HAPPY INTERNATIONAL BEAVER DAY

Happy International beaver day! I asked Stacy Studebaker yesterday to post a reading of her wonderful book for the occasion and she said one was forthcoming so expect an addition soon. (I of course tried but my arms aren’t long enough to film and read at the same time.) In the meantime feel free to share Suzi Eszterhas wonderful photo far and wide. It’s about time we celebrate the beaver!

And just in time, the state of California has banned most federal wildlife trapping in our golden state. Which is a kind of good thing even though we all know most beaver trapping isn’t federal and there will be plenty killed anyway, it doesn’t apply to our county and there is still plenty of wiggle room. But still. Hurray for today, right?

California Court Approves Ban on Federal Wildlife Poisoning, Trapping

SAN FRANCISCO— In response to a lawsuit filed by wildlife advocacy groups, a federal animal-killing program must restrict its use of bird-killing poisons in Northern California and stop setting strangulation snares and other traps in places like the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex.

The agreement, approved today by a San Francisco federal court, also directs the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services to analyze the environmental impacts of its killing of coyotes, bobcats, mountain lions and other wildlife in California’s “Sacramento District.” This 10-county region covers Colusa, El Dorado, Lake, Marin, Napa, Placer, Sacramento, Solano, Sonoma and Yolo counties.

So the idea is if they have to actually evaluate the effects of their actions they will come to their senses? Or find it easier to just give in? This is the part we care about most.

The court order further ends most beaver-killing in waterways where endangered wildlife depends on beaver-created habitats.

Of course there’s a catch, right? There’s always a catch.

APHIS-Wildlife Services agrees not to engage in lethal beaver damage management in natural lakes, rivers, and streams within the Critical Habitat, as set forth by FWS, of the southwestern willow flycatcher, tidewater goby, Chinook salmon, Coho salmon, and Steelhead, except where beavers have blocked culverts, water control boxes, or other transportation crossings to the extent that fish passage is prevented.

So we the undersigned agree NOT to kill them EXCEPT for when we would want to kill them anyway for doing the rotten things that get beavers trapped in the first place. Oh and did you know fish passage was prevented by beavers? Well now its in a court document. It even specifies they can’t remove dams UNLESS they block fish passage.

Let’s not chill the champagne just yet. okay?

The whole ruling is here if you want to read all the fine print.It doesn’t include Contra Costa though. Some day our prince will come.

When I sat down this morning there was a beautiful pink moon setting. It reminded me of this look of one of my favorite places on earth that we used to spend the first part of every summer. The wildflowers will be insane this year.

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LANDS COUNCIL SPEAKS TO MONTANA

heidi08 Who's saving beavers now? March 24, 2020

The Lands Council in Washington State was one of the first real sources of beaver ecology. They got to the right answer a lot faster than all of us, and I remember being so happy I cried a little when their water PSA came out. It seems like a million years go now.

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Well they are still plugging along with beaver good works. Like this letter to the officials of Beaver Creek Park in Hill County Montana.

Lands Council offers help on managing beavers in Beaver Creek Park

The Lands Council is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Spokane, Washington. We are dedicated to the preservation and protection of forests, water and wildlife in the Inland Northwest.

Since 1984, The Lands Council has been a community leader, promoting responsible recreation in wild places inherently valuable to the region. We are inspired to preserve nature’s legacy for future generations.

As part of our restoration ecology program we actively relocate nuisance beavers. To date, The Lands Council has relocated over 140 beavers in the Inland Northwest. Throughout the American West, beavers are increasingly recognized and utilized as a solution to various natural resource concerns. Science and traditional knowledge conclusively demonstrate that beaver ponds and wetlands create fish and wildlife habitat, thereby improving recreational opportunities; capture nitrogen, heavy metals, and other forms of runoff; mitigate destructive flood and fire events; sequester carbon; and perform other crucial services. Beaver populations, though growing in some places, are dramatically reduced compared to pre-trapping levels.

Pretty good letter huh? Ben is listed as one of the authors. which should surprise no one. Not sure how they got involved with the Montana case, but I bet someone who cared about the issue wrote them and asked.

We acknowledge that beaver impacts to human property need to be managed in certain circumstances. However, we caution that lethal beaver trapping is only a temporary fix: Because beavers reproduce readily and disperse widely, they quickly recolonize vacated territories, forcing trappers to remove beavers in perpetuity. Many communities around the country have therefore turned to a non-lethal solution known as a flow device, a pipeand-fence system that drains beaver ponds to an acceptable level. Flow devices have been shown to resolve flooding concerns up to 97 percent of the time. Furthermore, because they are one-time installations that require little maintenance, they are extremely cost-effective compared to annual trapping (see, e.g., Boyles & Savitzky, 2008).

We are heartened to learn that the Hill County Park Board has been in contact with noted experts David Pauli of the Humane Society of the United States and Skip Lisle of Beaver Deceivers International. We strongly encourage the Park Board to attempt non-lethal beaver coexistence efforts at Beaver Creek Park, and offer our technical input should you deem it helpful.

Chris Bachman, The Lands Council, Wildlife Program Director Board of Directors

Ben Goldfarb, The Lands Council, Author, “Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beaver and Why They Matter”

Hurray for beaver nonprofits that stick their two cents in! Hurray for concerned citizens that ask experts for their opinion! We are so glad to have cousins in the beaver world, doing such great things, why yesterday our beaver cousin Derek Gow in Devon shared this fine piece of art he’s been working on.

FIRST THEY IGNORE YOU

heidi08 Beaver Conference, Beaver ponds, Who's saving beavers now? March 2, 2020

A week ago Friday I told you was the fish and game commission meeting in Sacramento where they considered the rule change for beaver depredation. Well not so much considered as ‘heard’. Since Tom Wheeler of E.P.I.C. who authored the rule change didn’t want to drive down from Oregon. the Center for Biological Diversity had Lalli Venkatakrishnan there to read a position statement. And it was good. Now we don’t know the outcome because they referred it back to Bonham’s desk and we can only hope he doesn’t leave it in a dusty pile in the corner of his desk or light it on fire, but at least, for one brief shining Camelot moment, we made them think about it.

Remember what Gandhi said:

First they Ignore you.
Then they laugh at you.
Then they fight with you.
Then you win.

Well we ain’t on step one, anymore.

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I have been trying to hunt down photos of cascading beaver dams for Amy to use in her artwork, and I thought you’d want to see these.

The Slate river, near Crested Butte, CO, swollen by a pair of beaver dams; with flowers in the foreground and a snow capped mountain in the distance, combine to make a perfect landscape scene

MAKE WAY FOR BEAVERS: YOU CAN COUNT ON THEM

heidi08 Beaver ecological impact, Who's saving beavers now? February 3, 2020

What do you know? Yesterday was ‘World Wetlands Day”. Gosh if there were ONLY an animal that made and maintained wetlands everywhere for free! But that’s a crazy thought. It’s not like the World Wildlife Fund or any of the big money conservation groups know about that at all.

You’ll not in this poster Wetlands clearly make homes for beavers. Not the other way around.

The good news is there are still a few clear=sighted heads in this topsy turvy world. Like Mike Settell for instance.

Volunteers count beaver population in Mink Creek area

POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK) – A group in Pocatello is trying to increase the beaver population in local wildlife areas.

“Beaver fill such an important role in the ecosystem and the watershed in general, that they are really undervalued in terms of what they do,” said Mike Settell, theexecutive director of Watershed Guardians.

Watershed Guardians is a local conservation non-profit focused on helping the American Beaver thrive in southeast Idaho.

On Saturday, volunteers gathered for the ninth annual beaver count at the East Fork Mink Creek area. Beavers are an integral part of ecosystems. They help control floods, suppress wildfires and improve water quality.

“They’re really good for supporting native fisheries, especially Yellowstone cutthroat (trout),” Settell said.

Oh Mike, Mike Mike. You are the hero of EPIC proportions. I am so glad you have done this important work for nine years.

Settell said the group hopes to decrease the amount of beaver trapping in the area.

“We think by showcasing all the amazing things that beaver can do for our community, we can try to shift that discussion and shift that paradigm,” Settell said. Beavers are mostly trapped due to being nuisances. They don’t have a high commercial value, according to Settell.

“In order to fix (a) really really small problem, they have to trap out colony after colony after colony. What that does is makes it more and more difficult for the colony to re-establish,” Settell said.

With the help of a passionate community, Watershed Guardians is helping beavers make a come-back.

Nicely done. Again. For the ninth time. Thank goodness for little sparks of light like Mike!

NONE SHALL PASS

heidi08 Who's saving beavers now? January 28, 2020

What do you know? It’s dead beaver Christmas. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has, in their infinite wisdom, deigned to release copies of all the depredation permits they issue for beaver in 2019. There are 143. With a healthy portion being good for ‘unlimited’ beaver once again. After eight hours I am about half way through making them into a spreadsheet that will let me see the big picture. I look forward to many more keystrokes and miles to go before I sleep.

What I can see straight away is that Merced is a VERY bad county to be a beaver in, Placer is looking much better, one was issued in Contra Costa and there was even at least one permit issued for Riverside down south. There are WAY MORE permits issued for USDA trappers, I guess to give them something to do after the salmon lawsuit.

The best new development so far is that the records include longitude and latitude numbers for ever single permit, so you can see EXACTLY where the wicked beaver in question was living. It has allowed me to spot some insane problem areas where the attending officer wanted to cover all the bases by issuing permits good for 99 beavers on both sides of a stream so that any beaver passing through could be easily killed without more paperwork all year.

Take these issued for the Sacramento District of Water Resources. Two permits issued on the same day and time within six blocks of each other.