DETROIT ISN’T EXCITED ABOUT BEAVERS ANY MORE

Remember when Detroit was excited to see beavers again after a century of setting the river on fire? Well that’s over. Short welcome committee eh?

DNR kills some beavers on Detroit’s Belle Isle

A decade ago, beavers returned to Detroit’s Belle Isle for the first time in a century, causing celebration among environmentalists. But now it seems the rodents have worn out their welcome on Detroit’s island park, or at least with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, which has run it since 2014. On Thursday, the department announced it had killed some beavers during a Belle Isle Park Advisory Committee meeting.

Ron Olson, DNR’s chief of parks and recreation, confirms that the department killed four beavers on Belle Isle and the nearby Milliken State Park. Olson tells Metro Times the DNR isn’t trying to exterminate the aquatic mammals from the parks, but only trying to keep their population in check. Each pair of beavers has around four young, and around this time of year, they start moving out of their dens and establishing their own territories. (more…)

REVENGE IS A DISH BEST SERVED WET

heidi08 Beaver ecological impact, Beavers, Creative Solutions, Urban beavers, Who's saving beavers now? February 17, 2022

Wednesday’s have always had a special place in my heart ever since Nov 7, 2007 when I tremulously attended the very first city council meeting on beavers I believe Martinez has ever held. It definitely changed the fate of this city and it certainly changed my life. It may have been the first meeting about beavers but it apparently will not be the last. Tonight the city moves to approve the plan for the Lower Alhambra Creek Watershed Management, which discusses guess WHAT?

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HBCF: IT PAYS TO COEXIST

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Who's saving beavers now? November 29, 2021

Here’s something to be grateful for. I meant to write about this months ago but it sat in my “potential posts” folder for so long because there was a glut of beaver good news. Now we can finally get caught up to this important news.

Human-Beaver Coexistence Fund

The Human Beaver Coexistence Fund (HBCF) will educate the public about the benefits of coexisting with beavers and provide resources and financial support to address human-beaver conflict using nonlethal management strategies.

We will accomplish this mission by establishing a cost-share incentive program to help landowners and managers pay for beaver coexistence projects of two types: tree protection and flow device installation.

We currently serve Maryland, Virginia, Washington D.C., and West Virginia, with plans to expand our reach throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.
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BEAVERS ARE GOOD FOR CALIFORNIA

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Beaver ecological impact, Urban beavers, Who's saving beavers now? November 13, 2021

This article is so nearly everything I ever hoped it would be. The author Carolina Cuellar did a great news piece for KQED about Emily and contacted me back in April. I introduced her to Virginia and Fairfield and she visited in May. She attended the California Beaver Summit and was fairly convinced that they matter, I later gave her the depredation reviews we have been working on with Robin.

Beavers Can Help California’s Environment, But State Policy Doesn’t Help Them

One month into 2020’s shelter in place order, Virginia Holsworth and her family decided to change things up by walking in the opposite direction of their usual daily stroll through suburban Fairfield. That’s when she first encountered the amassment of sticks blocking the path’s adjacent creek, Laurel Creek.For the next few months she watched cormorants and blue herons among the cattails and tules. Supposedly the creek even contained so many rainbow trout, a member of the community — illegally — caught 40 of them. The way the beavers and their dam had changed the landscape and reinvigorated the habitat enthralled Holsworth, and she became devoted to preserving them in her community. (more…)

BEAVERS ON SCIENCE FRIDAY

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Beavers, Beavers and climate change, Who's saving beavers now? October 31, 2021

So beavers were on science fucking friday yesterday and Emily did a fantastic job. I will also say Ira asked excellent question. Especially asking her to describe the states with the best beaver policy. Of course I would have answered differently, maybe Washington and Vermont which installs flow devices to keep beavers on the landscape, or Utah which took the unheard of step a decade ago of creating a beaver management plan for the entire Forest service, but you get the idea. There are states with good beaver policy,

And it ain’t California.