Category: Who’s saving beavers now?

PATHS THAT CROSS

heidi08 Who's saving beavers now? June 6, 2018

I can mark my development as an observing human by two important radio experiences. The first was a relatively short-lived station beginning in 1981 called KTIM “1510 the big band blend”. I have zero idea how I started listening to it as a sophmore in highschool. I was in jazz band at the time, so maybe that made me curious. I suppose maybe it was a way to “listen to my parents” without – you know – actually listening to my parents. But what ever the reason, listening to the collection of big band rhythms, salient lyrics, and forgotten treasures from the 30’s and 40’s changed me forever. It gave me a sense of history, of the history of creativity, (and ultimately became the musical scores I would need for my beaver films 30 years later.)

For most of my life I have surprised people by my familiarity with that music. (Including the job interview where the wise-ass boss sang “Hi-di Heidi Ho” and I got the job by quickly answering “Cab Calloway 1934“,)

Fast forward to the graduate years. The second radio program that changed and shaped my life, (and probably many of yours too) was Forum with Michael Krasny on KQED. A literature professor from SF state, he is extremely well-read and thoughtfully spoken. Since 1993 he has hosted a talk show interviewing the important authors, thinkers and movements of the day. The station recently celebrated his 30th year. On my many long drives to internships I would listen attentively and feel my world getting exponentially larger. Jon used to joke about my getting home excitedly talking about what I learned, starting conversations with “did you know there was a shortage of bees?” Or “did you know that Salman Rushdie was born in India?”or similar observations that had surprised me.

This year when I read a copy of Ben Goldfarb’s beaver book I immediately thought BEAVERS ON FORUM!!! There must be BEAVERS ON FORUM!!! Even though the station they had always resisted the flashy Martinez beaver story in the past. I attempted to send my most persuasive letter to his producers. Citing how important beavers were to California because of drought, and salmon, and climate change. I heard nothing in return so I of course despaired.

Well, yesterday I heard from one of those producers saying they needed another copy of the book and were interested in doing a segment on beavers. !!! Stay tuned because very soon the benefits of the animal we know so well might just be coming soon to a radio station near you.

Take a moment to live the synergy.

‘

BEAVER FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS

heidi08 Who's saving beavers now? May 22, 2018

Don’t you just love firemen? With the exception of the Rodney King riots they have been almost always celebrated as heroes when they arrive. Certainly they were greeted with free meals and beers during the Napa fires. I had a delightful young patient once who stuck a metal nut on her ring-finger once and fancied herself engaged. She came to session the next day with her entire hand swollen and we called the local fire department. Five kindly men came to cut her free and she comforted her 7 year old self by calling them all charmingly “my boys!” as they rescued her from the tight band.

Jon himself will recognize this moment from getting his head stuck in the banister on the stairs as a boy. Last night in Idaho they just got to do something even more fun.

Eagle firefighters rescue beaver in bind, latest of several unusual rescues in Valley

I’m not sure why it is that we all – beavers included – tell ourselves that if we can just get our heads through the gap we will be home free. Unless we happen to be hammerhead sharks it is almost never ever true. I’m glad they were on hand to help him wriggle out. Thank goodness some kind soul called them to the scene.

Speaking of watching out for beavers, our good friend Rusty Cohn of Napa has been back on the scene, this time watching a family of beavers fittingly enough behind the firefighters museum. Apparently the first thing dad does every night is check the dam. (In Lily Pond Hope Ryden loving called this beaver the “Inspector General”) Of course the nice thing about beavers is that they always show up with their usual ‘groupies’.

Wonderful photos! Check out the size of that tail, because that beaver has survived a good many summers!

Meanwhile our good friend Susan noticed that there was a mention of the beaver festival in this month’s Mt View Monitor and the MVSD newsletter and was kind enough to send it to me. Let’s hope lots of other agencies follow their lead!

MILES TO GO BEFORE WE SLEEP

heidi08 Who's saving beavers now? May 21, 2018

Dr. Carol Johnston is the professor from South Dakota whose recent book about beavers shaping the land has been making waves, her study on the history of continuously maintained beaver dams made waves before that. She has single=handedly made a huge impact on the way folks respond to beaver in her state.

Not all folks though. apparently.

Battling South Dakota’s beaver problems

Becker is wildlife damage specialist for the South Dakota Game Fish & Parks Department. His job, otherwise known as “state trapper,” involves ridding nuisance animals like coyotes and beavers for South Dakota landowners.

Yes, beavers — those little semi-aquatic rodents that can cause “a world of headaches” — are a big problem here.…

“They’re an amazing animal, but they get themselves in a lot of trouble,” said Becker, who’s worked for GF&P for just shy of a decade.

“I don’t think most people give beavers a second thought until they go into their backyard and see $150 to $200 trees chewed up,” said Becker, whose office is based in Mitchell. “Then they’re quick to find out who they need to get ahold of to get rid of these things.”

In the spring, beaver and coyote assistance calls are split pretty evenly for Becker, he said. Beavers are a problem everywhere in South Dakota, but there are more issues in the southeastern part of the state.

The article talks about how beavers are problematic because they chop down trees and block culverts (you don’t say!) and shows a short film of Becker live trapping beaver and then (because its South Dakota) shooting it in the head. Because you know, not enough trapping these days has lead to a population boom because beavers have no more predators – we should know because we shot them already.

(Lord knows folks couldn’t actually wrap the friggin trees or anything. Because that would just be crazy.)

I’ve reviewed so many good stories about beavers in the past month this was a little shocking to me. But now I think it’s good. We need a reminder that the war isn’t over and beavers still face a massive challenge on almost every front. Dr, Johnson’s research made it into Ben’s upcoming book but her message has a long way to go to finish educating the Dakotas about why beavers matter.

Get to work, Carol.

Let’s have some good news to cleanse the palate. This blogger. a Zoology Student, reviewed Chris Johnson’s recent presentation on the new beavers in Cornwall with some good things to say.

The Beaver-Saving County

Beavers were once a native species to the UK, though they became extinct 400 years ago due to hunting. In recent years however, there has been a big desire to bring back this much-loved species so we can call them a native UK species once again!

On February 9th 2018, Chris Jones, an innovative farmer from the Woodland Valley Farm Trust in Cornwall, came to Bangor University to inform us of the amazing (and highly effective!) beaver conservation work he is doing down in Cornwall!

After 32 weeks, the programme had proven to be of great significance:

4 large dams had been constructed
2 further ponds had been created
The stream had been divided into 2 separate brooks
The female was pregnant! (unconfirmed but believed to be true)

Chris explained that there are numerous benefits that can be taken from this programme if fully successful, in particular:

Increased hope that the beaver can be adopted legally as a native species
Contribute towards evidence supporting the beaver as an important ‘gate-way’ and ‘keystone’ wetland species
Dam building will help prevent flooding in the local village of Ladock and surrounding wildlife habitats
Reversal of environmental damage to the Cornish Countryside
Restoration of the stream’s ecological health, filtering the water and essentially trapping away soil sediment and pollutants.

Chris Jones was a highly informative, entertaining and enticing presenter and his Q&A session at the end of the talk offered further study information and possible negative impacts of the project.

I believe Chris and his hard-working beavers made at least one convert! Hurray! There’s still plenty of work to do, and I’m thinking this particular zoology student will help.

I came across this yesterday by accident but it has a nice history of what happened to beavers in England and what they’re working to fix.

BEAVER STORIES THAT MAKE US SMILE

heidi08 Who's saving beavers now? May 19, 2018

Never mind that old silly royal wedding, there’s fresh new beaver romances to pay attention to. Tell me that this story doesn’t have all the passion, intrigue and challenge of any new couple starting out! As a bonus we get to see Greg Lewallen on camera who was my editor on the restoration guidebook but I never beheld before. Be patient the video takes a while to load but it’s worth the wait.

Beaver pair reintroduced into the wild after

developing fondness during rehabilitation

There now. Don’t you feel better? I thought it was funny how they emphasize that the male would be finding them a burrow as soon as possible. Such interesting projection! Our stalwart female built all the lodges herself and never had a stitch of help! I’m quite sure they have zero data for their assertion that it’s the males job to find them a nice place to live. But I wish those kids all the luck in the world on their new life!

Yesterday the universe had so much fun with me! Comcast decided to migrate my email to a new platform so I had zero email all day and spent hours on the phone trying to get it repaired. As luck would have it it was the same day Steve Dunsky and Sarah Koenisberg were finishing up the details on whether there’s going to be a premier of her Beaver Believer film two days before the festival at the Empress Theater in Vallejo. So I actually don’t know. But I’m still hopeful. I will keep you posted.

My email is fixed now anyway, so yeah! This story made me smile despite my troubles. There but for the grace of god go I.

Woman charged over sabotaged beaver traps at Komoka park

Holly Pepper was getting ready to take her dog for walk when she saw a conservation officer approaching her house.

Pepper immediately knew why the official from the Ministry of Natural Resources was paying a visit to her London home on May 10. Almost a month earlier, Pepper was walking her dog Cash, a seven-year-old labrador mix, through the

Holly Pepper holds her ticket for interference with lawful trapping after she had set off the beaver traps she found in Komoka Provincial Park west of London. Mike Hensen/The London Free Press

trails at Komoka Park when she saw a dead muskrat in a metal beaver trap in one of the park’s ponds.

Pepper started looking around the water and found four more of the deadly traps.

But it was the ministry that had hired a contractor to set a dozen of the traps around the ponds – the first time it has been done at sprawling park west of London – to kill beavers blamed for damming the area, causing high water levels that affected the installation of a municipal sewage and drainage system.

After confessing to the conservation officer about her role in trashing the traps, Pepper was issued a ticket for interfering with lawful trapping, an offence under the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act.

Seven beavers were killed during the trapping that ran from February until the end of April, a ministry spokesperson said.

No, silly, it wasn’t some free-lance sicko who set those traps Holly, it was a hired official sicko who was actually paid with your hard-earned tax dollars. There now, don’t you feel better?

Poor Holly, I just want you to know if you decide to fight this Worth A Dam has your back. If you need protestors at your trial we’ll put out some alerts. And if it turns out you go all the way to the big house don’t worry – we’ll send you a beaver cake with a file in it.

DAMMED FORTUNATE

heidi08 Who's saving beavers now? May 15, 2018

The Exeter study has been making waves all around the science community. Now it stopped by our friends in Vancouver to make it’s point with the newly most famous urban beavers on the scene at the Olympic Village.

Beaver dams can filter pollution and sediment from water, study says

Living alongside nature’s engineers can present both challenges and opportunities, say B.C. wildlife experts.

VANCOUVER—Beaver dams are natural filters for the waterways they inhabit, reducing sediment in rivers and soil erosion from surrounding areas, according to new research from the University of Exeter and Devon Wildlife Trust.

But experts say it’s unlikely we’ll be installing beaver lodges upstream from our water fountains any time soon, given how often beaver engineering and human engineering are at odds with one another.

Adam T. Ford, the Canada Research Chair in Wildlife Restoration Ecology, said the human project of changing wild places into urban space renders nearby ecosystems less able to rebound from beavers’ natural appetites.

Roughly nine colonies of beavers live in the City of Vancouver — approximately 45 to 50 animals — with many more spread throughout the lower mainland.

Oh how I wish there was anyone in Contra Costa who was tracking the numbers of beavers living here, and could count how many of them there were. (I mean other than us, that is).

Nick Page, a biologist with the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation, said beavers have begun to reclaim territories around the city they haven’t inhabited in 50 — and in some cases 80 — years. He called it part of the “re-wilding” of Vancouver.

Page said while beavers’ habitats play an important role in carbon-capture and help create wetland homes for other species, Vancouverites seem to value the sight of the animal the most.

“Seeing a beaver is a unique thing,” he said, adding creatures such as herons, eagles and orcas make people feel connected to the wild from within city limits.

“All these (animals) are points of contact with nature in a very urban city, and people really value these things.”

Hurray for urban beavers! And the special biologists who recognize the powerful impact contact with wildlife in your own city (and correspondingly contact with other people who have also had contact with that wildlife) can have. If there was one thing we learned in Martinez and that the city council should have learned. It was this.

Jesse Zeman, director of fish and wildlife restoration with BC Wildlife Federation, said beavers, like any other natural force with the power to disrupt human habitats, can teach us a valuable lesson about how we live in balance with our ecosystem.

“There’s the thought of wildlife, and then there’s integrating with wildlife,” he said, “and sometimes those two things are very different.”

Because human and beavers now find themselves in conflict when making homes in the same spaces, Zeman said humans might ask themselves whether we need as much space as we think we do Through a certain lens, he added, the issue becomes less about beaver-management, and more about managing ourselves.

“It seems like over time,” he said, “what we’re kind of learning is that some of these natural processes can actually be beneficial.”

You don’t say! You don’t say! You don’t say!

Oh it is music to my ears to read sentences like these that I have been repeating in a vacuum for the past 11 years. In Martinez we found out that having beavers move into your city makes you ~~damned~~ er dammed lucky! May your words roll down hill to all the dark places where cities wouldn’t imagine cooperating with beavers. And may they make a difference to the visibility of urban wildlife for years and decades to come.

Hey, what are you doing June 30th? Judy and Jim Atkinson from nearby Port Moody just booked their flight to come to the Martinez Beaver Festival and we’d love to have you.

Honestly when I see articles about the social impact of urban beavers I always think of this: