Category: Who’s saving beavers now?

THE NEW BEAVER GUARD

heidi08 Who's saving beavers now? March 28, 2019

I”m thinking it’s time for another beaver hero article with good strong folks working to solve problems. Skip Lisle and Mike Callahan are both great, but they’re the old guard, bringing up the rear. Who’s new to the field and making waves?

Listening to the Land: Oregon’s threatened wildlife

For several years, wildlife biologist and Beaver State Wildlife Solutions owner Jakob Shockey has developed and implemented anti-lethal solutions to help property owners deal with beavers and the challenges they can present when they take up residence.

Shockey, who grew up on a farm in the Siskiyou Mountains, shared various ideas and solutions during his presentation “Resolving Conflicts with Beaver Using Natural Science and Design” at the Necanicum Watershed Council’s Listening to the Land event at Seaside Public Library on March 20.

Hurray for Jakob Shockley and Beaver State Wildlife Solutions! I remember the buzzing excitement of his recruit at the state of the beaver conference in 2013. Everyone was eager to see the torch being carried to the next generation and Jakob was more than up to the task. Plus we were grateful to finally have someone doing this work in Oregon.

Beavers can create problems for land owners in two primary ways: Building dams that block waterways and/or cause flooding, and tree mortality, or cutting down trees, in particular. To resolve these conflicts, land owners have a number of options, including trapping, relocating or killing them.

Shockey’s goal, however, is to help residents instead pursue predictive management, which includes working within the ecosystems of streams, rivers and wetlands and implementing long-term and cost-effective solutions that serve as alternatives to bullets and bait.

“If you’ve got beaver at your site, that means it is good beaver habitat,” he said. “If you open that niche up, there is going to be another population at some point. … You start getting on a treadmill of removal — doesn’t matter if it’s lethal removal or relocation. If you’re taking animals out of a territory that’s been deemed high-value by the animal, there are going to be more that come in.”

Well now doesn’t that sound reasonable? If a beaver is on your land it’s because it’s land that supports beavers. Killing one won’t solve your problem. Killing five won’t either. Identify the problem that needs solving and let the beaver stay like a kind of watch-beaver to keep others away.

When it comes to tree-cutting, Shockey said, effective solutions include surrounding the base and root collar with welded 2”-by-4” wire at least 30” inches above the ground and 24” above the snow line; and covering the surface of a tree base with a mixture of latex paint and clean, dry sand. For large areas, such as orchards or crop fields, land owners also can consider electric fences, as long as they maintain the vegetation beneath the fence.

To address flooding—the other primary conflict, which can cause impoundment and damage to urban infrastructure and cropland—Shockey suggests installing flow devices. They fall into three main categories: flexible pond levelers; trapezoidal culvert fences; and fence and pipe systems.

In all cases, the devices capitalize on natural science and beaver behavior to address potential negative ramifications of damming without relocating or harming wildlife. Shockey pointed out a potential issue with flow devices is property owners can be held liable if they alter a beaver dam and it causes flooding on neighboring property.

What a fantastic article. Jakob must be very good at explaining his case to reporters because the writer has picked up all the salient points. Use natural science to take on beavers, and get Jakob on your side!

The endeavor is worthwhile, in Shockey’s estimation, because beavers are a keystone species in the Pacific Northwest. Their dams create wetland ecosystems that provide nesting sites for birds and increase fish and waterfowl populations.

“There is a myriad of animals that depend on the systems the beavers build,” he said. With beaver being an animal whose presence is quantifiably proven to increase water supplies, suitable habitat and fish populations, he added, a question to ask is, “How can we kind of get out of their way and let that happen?”

WONDERFUL! We here at Worth A Dam are all about getting out of a beavers way. They bring benefits we just can’t and they do it for free. If we can let them do their job we will be the happier for it. I believe I said something like that myself.

FRIENDS, WITH BEAVER BENEFITS

Well, Mike Callahan confirms he did, in fact, do a training for the staff in London Ontario a few years back, but he has no speculation on the flow device where the outtake pipe goes uphill. Our filmmaker friend from Windswept, Doug Knutson says that London is the wildlife management ideal they’re working for in his city and shares this report. You can tell by the nutria on the over photo that Belleville has a long way to go.

Councillor McCaw says Friendly City shouldn’t be killing wildlife

Belleville is delaying any move to adopt a new policy on how to deal with wildlife in the city, including beavers.

City council had called for a new policy, following an incident last fall, when residents in the east end rescued a beaver caught in a trap and drowning. The policy presented to council by staff this week included rules that live traps should be used as a first step, and killing traps only as a last resort.

In public areas traps would be set in the evening and removed in early morning to avoid danger to the public and pets. The proposed policy indicated that when animals are found in live traps, they are to be humanely euthanized.

Did you catch that? Our old policy is that beavers would be trapped. But our new one is that beavers can either be trapped and killed right away or trapped and killed later. The timing changes. The killing, you see, does not. In addition the city will remove the traps in the morning and post signs to warn residents.

Mighty white of you, says every beaver, ever.

This just isn’t good enough for Doug, who is still pushing for better options.

So the city will agree to take care of resident’s delicate fee-fees, but what about using a flow device or solving the problem without killing?

The city would evaluate the area for potential options such as Beaver Baffler or Beaver Cone, prior to any trapping activity. Councillor Kelly McCaw said she couldn’t support it, adding “We are a friendly city and shouldn’t be killing our way out of a situation.”

That’s the best part of the article. We love Kelly. There’s a scene in Hamlet where he’s trying to pry information out of his school friends that have been warned by his parents not to cooperate. He innately senses that one of them is about to crack and zeroes in on that guy.

Hamlet: Be even and direct with me whether you were sent for or no.
Rosencrantz: (to his friend) What say you?
Hamlet: Nay, then I have an eye of you – if you love me hold not off!

And in my mind, even now, this phrase springs into my mind when I think I have found the proverbial weak link in the chain, and thus the way in. As I believe Doug very clearly has found with Ms. Kelly McGraw. I would stick by her side and feed her all the information she needs and maybe throw in some very cute photos of beavers as well. Maybe some kids drawings beavers too. You are welcome to any of ours.

Doug has bravely moved the train from “We’ll kill beavers whenever we like” up the tracks to “We’ll be thoughtful about public impact when killing beavers.” Which is hard to do. But if you want to force it to the next station, which is the hardest part of the climb, I would stay close to Kelly.

Because it all starts with a willingness to think that killing isn’t right and there should be a better way. And where it goes from there is up to people like us.

BEAVER FAIRYTALES

heidi08 Who's Killing Beavers Now?, Who's saving beavers now? March 26, 2019

Sometimes in my travels I come across a beaver article that is confusing, even for me with everything I’ve seen over the years. I can’t decide if its the wisest most progressive policy in all the land, or a monstrous set of lies getting ready to justify some really nasty trapping, or some combination of them both. Well, brace yourself, because if a city like this REALLY exists, we might all have to move.

Busy beavers a challenge for London officials

Workers with the City of London and the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) are being kept busy these days managing the beaver population. It’s important work if the city is to maintain its infrastructure and prevent flooding.

Now before you start getting confused we’re not talking about THAT london. This is London, Canada which is right across Lake Eerie from Cleveland. The river that flows through the city is called the Thames. It is about 170 miles long.

“I will say that the population of beavers that we’ve seen in London has grown exponentially over the last four or five years,” said Brandon Williamson, land management technician with UTRCA.

But, the city has a beaver protocol to ensure that beavers are “treated in a respectful and consistent manner, balancing the various needs to protect the beaver and [its] habitat; the overall environment; city infrastructure; people and property,” according to a city document detailing the protocol.

Right now, the city and UTRCA workers are aware of about 50 sites where beavers are living in the city.

Now, I’m scratching my head a little at that. I sincerely doubt that public works is close observers of every colony, knowing family size for example like we did. I’m not sure whether their gues-timate comes from seeing fifty lodges along the river? Fifty dams? Or fifty trees that have been chewed? I mean that would be a beaver colony every 3.5 miles and that’s a little hard to believe since they would ALL need to eat.

One way the city is trying to stay ahead of the beavers is to install so called “beaver deceivers.” “It’s when they’re in our storm water management facilities or ponds in neighbourhood,” said Shawna Chambers, division manager of storm water engineering.

It’s believed that if the water continues to flow, the beavers will move to a new location.

Um, no. The purpose of installing a flow device isn’t to drive them out like st patrick and the snakes. How did it happen that London is smart enough to install flow devices and still too stupid to know how they work? I’m not sure whether the reporter is just confused or the entire public works chain of command is like one giant game of telephone and that’s the message that got through.

Looking at that photo is beyond confusing. The fencing looks right, right distance from the pipe and rounded top like Mike Callahan uses. But what’s it function of the fence? There’s no dam visible. And what is that board? Why is the pipe going uphill? Is there some understanding that if the pond gets very, very deep then water will suddenly flow up hill hit the board, disturb the beavers and make them leave?

Another piece of the protocol is feeding the beavers, although not human food, of course. Instead, fast growing, inexpensive, native species of trees are planted in areas to provide food for the beavers.

“If you plant these trees, like a poplar tree, that’s really quick growing and a low value tree. The hope is the beavers will choose them over sugar maple and black cherry and hickory and some of the more desired trees that we have,” said Williamson.

Having said that, beavers still go for some of those more desired trees. When that is happening, steps are taken to protect the higher value trees by wrapping them in a wire cage, according to officials.

Something about this entire article is fuzzy. Like those cotton candy dreams where everything seems perfect but you find out it’s really NOT. So an entire city plants trees for beavers to eat but can’t find time to protect the valuable ones until after their chewed? I’m starting to smell a fox in our hen house.

When asked if the city would consider a cull to reduce the beaver population and prevent damage or flooding, that isn’t the plan.

“Ever since the protocol has been enacted in the city we haven’t had to resort to those measures,” said Chambers. “We have definitely not been talking about anything to the extent of killing the beavers.”

“I think in the future there may be some other ideas that we may have to look at because we can’t always put a flow device or a beaver deceiver in but before a cull is even considered there’s going to be lots of other options that we’ve got,” said Williamson.

Suddenly I get the feeling that this entire article has been gently leading readers by the hand to this conclusion. We tried our best, they woefully say, installing flow devices and planting low value trees, but there’s just TOO many of them. There’s only one way out. And reasonable people will agree that unless we all want to be drowned in our beds, it’s time to reach for the trap.

Instead of killing the animals, there’s a commitment in London’s beaver protocol to increased public education.

“We need to let people know we’re trying to work with the wildlife and trying to live cohesively with wildlife to make sure that both sides are happy in this,” said Williamson. “Beavers are known for being creators of wetlands,” said Chambers. “In nature it can be quite nice to set up that blockage and the water is dammed behind it. It creates biodiversity.”

“Education is huge,” he said. “We’ve got people who say [the beavers] are cutting all the trees down so we’ve got to get rid of them. Well that’s their food; that’s their habitat. They’re allowed to be there.”

I haven’t stopped scratching my head through this entire article. Do you have any people shouting “Why the hell is our city LETTING the beavers chop down trees instead of wrapping them?” Any action by beaver loving residents that was big enough to result in THIS policy I would know about. But I don’t. Unless it happened more than 11 years ago when a massive city protest resulted in huge changes, because it’s nothing I covered on this website. And there’s nothing written about it on the internet, I don’t know. Doing a beaver deceiver demonstration at earth day is remarkable and if a city were really committed to coexistence it would be a good idea. But I’m a naturally suspicious person and there are a ton of errors in their thinking. Could this be true?

Is London a beaver city on a hill?

HAMPTON FALLS IN WITH THE RIGHT CROWD

heidi08 Who's saving beavers now? March 10, 2019

It’s good to have friends. I’ve been in the beaver biz for so long that when I read a great article like this from Hampton falls I have a beaver rolo-dex that I can scroll through and think, hmm who do I know in New Hampshire? Can they help?

And of course they can.

Teen Works to Tackle Hampton Falls Beaver Dam Problem

HAMPTON FALLS — A local teen is working on an Eagle Scout project to alleviate the flooding problems beaver dams are causing to the town’s culvert system.

Boy Scout Joel Pontbriand said he plans to construct four Clemson Beaver Pond Levelers to stop beaver dams from backing up the flow of the town’s culverts. A Clemson Beaver Pond Leveler is made mostly from PVC pipe and allows water to flow through a beaver dam or plugged culvert.

″(Clemson Beaver Pond Levelers) are suspended in the water at the desired water level of the pond,” he said, “and they mask the sound of flowing water, which is how beavers find drainage points. Consequently, they confuse the beavers and render their dams ineffectual.”

To raise funds for the project, he is hosting a pizza fundraising dinner from 5 to 7 p.m. March 8 at the First Baptist Church. Admission is $8 per person and $25 per family of four.

Hurray for Joel! We LOVE eagle scouts who help beavers, and thoughtful people who realize that there are better solutions with longer term benefits than just trapping. I wish Joel had access to some more modern tools though than the Clemson, which is expensive, unwieldy and frankly not nearly as successful as the many inventions that have come along 20 years since.

So of course I immediately emailed the story to our friend Art Wolinsky who says he wrote the reporter and lives about 20 minutes away. He’d love to help out. I’m hoping this can all take place. It seems to me a retired high school science teacher is the perfect kind of help for this valiant pursuit.

The pipes will also eliminate the creation of unwanted wetlands, as well as minimizing flooding by promoting continuous water flow of the Taylor River. Furthermore, he said, this method of dealing with beavers is “conservation-minded” and has proven successful nationwide.

“I chose to do this because I was looking for ways to help a local institution or the town itself, in a manner consistent with the guidelines of an Eagle Scout Service Project,” he said. “When I heard of this potential project, it struck me as an opportunity to do something different and possibly overlooked by many residents of Hampton Falls. The idea of implementing something unconventional but certainly needed was exciting to me.”

Eagle Scout projects mark the culmination of a scouts’ career and customarily includes providing a public service that improves their local communities.

Wonderful! This is a great project to take on and it will have great results if you use the right tools. I know Art will be happy to help. Of course if we’re really talking about protecting four culverts a beaver deceiver is much more suited to the job, and I also happen to know a selectman in Vermont who will be the right man to consult.

Now let’s just hope that Joel spends a little time using the internet to find out why beavers matter and what kinds of good things they can bring to his town if he just helps them not cause problems. We’ll be more than happy to help that story get told!

BEAVERS : THE NEXT GENERATION

heidi08 Beavers, Who's saving beavers now? February 24, 2019

In keeping with our only good news Sunday theme, I thought I’d share this very convincing essay Molly Foley penned after attending her first ever State of the Beaver Conference. Molly is the next generation of beaver supporters and will be here to do this work long after we’re gone.

Here’s what I have to tell you people about beavers. Beavers shaped this country, and the wildlife that co-evolved with them for milions of years. Want to know why our birds, fish amphibians, and insect populations are plummeting? Loss of habitat. About half of endangered species rely on wetlands. When we decimated beavers during the fur trade, then drained the land for agriculture and development, we sentenced our ecosystem to death.

Beavers, humble creatures they are, can re-create that habitat. Its not just the Coho salmon and the red legged frog that need beavers either. From a self interested human point of view, WE NEED BEAVERS TOO. In the west, beaver ponds are helping to store water on the landscapecharge ground water, provide fire breaks and habitat

refuge. In the east beaver ponds provide flood protection and improve water quality.

So if you are lucky enough to be graced with beaver in your neck of the woods, I beg you, let them be! We have a blooming field of professionals prepared to non-lethally handle any beaver problem you might have, whether its to keep the flow going, or prevent loss of trees. There are solutions. Killing them isnt a long term solution because there will be new ones to take their place. Be smart monkeys and learn to co-exist.

Well said Molly! I’m so glad you’ve been thoroughly bitten by the beaver bug. We first met when she was taking the California Naturalist Course in Santa Rosa and presenting on the Martinez Beavers. She swung by the festival last year and then made her way to the conference this year. Beaver acolyte! Hmm, just asking but do you want to inherit a festival and website when I die?

As if that wasn’t wonderful enough, Ben was back on the radio yesterday talking about saltwater beavers in “Living on Earth” where he did another amazing job. It’s a very fine listen but for my money the best part is at the beginning where host Bobby Bascomb’s four year old is delightfully searching for “Beavehr twees”.

I’ve always been a sucker for four.

Saltwater Beavers Bring Life Back to Estuaries

Until recently, biologists assumed that beavers occupied freshwater ecosystems only. But scientists are now studying beavers living in brackish water and how they help restore degraded estuaries and provide crucial habitat for salmon, waterfowl, and many other species. Journalist Ben Goldfarb speaks with Host Bobby Bascomb.

What will I ever do when these Ben-terviews about beavers stop rolling delightfully onto my doorstep? I can’t even imagine that dark hour but I know it’s coming. He is already working on his next book, which is not about beavers, or not solely about beavers. Shudder. Let me not think on’t!

Today let’s end with two wonderful donations from Sparrow Avenue in Toronto. Barbara crafts original textiles and silkscreens and was my first generous YES in this year’s asking for beaver donation. Her enthusiasm gave me the courage to keep asking other poor souls. She donated an adorable little coin purse AND a pillow from her incredible store. Thank you Barbara!