WHAT CALIFORNIA DOES NOT ALLOW

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers and Wetlands, Educational, Who's saving beavers now? June 18, 2021

The Beaver Bash is going very well, last night was Ben Dittbrenner’s debut which will be shareable on video soon, but this is Amanda Keasberry’s presentation beaver relocation – the mysterious stewardship that takes place in every single western state in the US EXCEPT california. SHerry Guzzi wanted me to verify that it’s allowed in Nevada and yes, I heard back from Fish and Game that in some situtations it is.

Of course Washington has been doing the smart thing forever. Cascade Forest is one of the partners approved for the “Pilot Project” which nearly two decades old. I especially love how they use students to assess potential release sites and really thought the eDNA studies they are working on to track how beavers move around afterwords was fascinating!

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THE BEAVER CLUB CELEBRATES EARTH DAY

heidi08 Earth Day, Flow Device Installed, Who's saving beavers now? April 23, 2021

Here’s a beaver origin story for you. Stop me of you’ve heard this one before.

In the beginning Skip Lisle taught Mike Callahan to install flow devices. Skip later taught Jake Jacobsen of Washington public works, Glynnis Hood of University of Alberta, Amy Cunningham of Wyoming and Sherri Tippie of Colorado. In between all that Skip came to Martinez, saved our beavers and made this story possible.

Meanwhilewhile Glynnis taught her students and did research proving that flow devices work and save money, Sherri taught Jackie Cordry who was working in Colorado Park District at the time. and Amy taught her friends at the wilderness federation in Montana.

At the same time Mike taught Mike Settell of Idaho, Jakob Schokey of Oregon, Ben Dittbrenner then of Washington, and went on to found the beaver institute which teachers many students from many states and four countries every year.

This interview tells you something about how far their efforts have gone.

Earth Day Special: The Beaver Coalition

As we honor Earth Day 2021, the theme running through today’s KBOO programming is the impending climate crisis, and its affect on our home planet. And we’ll be introducing you to people and organizations who are working to protect our environment, and all its inhabitants.

On today’s show, we focus on one of those inhabitants, a species of great importance especially here in the Pacific Northwest. I’m referring to Oregon’s official state animal, the beaver.

WHEN YOU WISH UPON A BEAVER

heidi08 Beavers, Who's saving beavers now? April 12, 2021

If you’re were ever 7 or 8 like I was once in a small town where the library was 6 blocks away and a great place to spend the summertime with your best friend Lori, you read plenty of books about children who found access to magic and realized by wishing vaguely that you had to specify EXACTLY what you wanted for the wish to work. I even remember a book called half magic where you had to wish for TWICE of what you wanted so that half of it would come true.

I think this is generally true with all political negotiations or shopping in Mexico.

Glenview Residents Hold ‘Rally Against Killing Beavers in Underwater Traps’ This Weekend

Glenview residents are planning to host a rally Sunday against the possible killing of local beavers to remove the animals from a neighborhood retention pond.

The Rally Against Killing Beavers in Underwater Traps will be held Sunday at 2 p.m. at the gazebo in the Glen in suburban Glenview, according to a Facebook post. The same group is also hosting a Rally to Save the Beavers at 2 p.m. at the corner of Lehigh and Thistle on the Glen.

Resident Katerina Pestova shared photos of the beavers, which often appear to be chewing on trees near the retention pond at the Concord at the Glen. The manager of the HOA said the beavers would be trapped and removed, but it’s unclear what methods might be used.

You can see of course the easy answer of trapping and killing beavers ABOVE water then that gets around that whole awkward drowning piece. Let’s hope that isn’t what the HOA is reviewing right now. Good for the residents though, for turning out and moving things in the right direction.

Wish the beavers would be allowed to live there and benefit residents with their ecosystem services. Take it from me. You have to be specific.

WILDLIFE DETERRENCE FUND PREVENTS FIRES

heidi08 Creative Solutions, Who's saving beavers now? March 31, 2021

When I was a little girl looking for a clean piece of paper to scribble on I accidentally found my mother’s Xmas shopping list in the kitchen. It had the names of all my siblings and appropriate gifts for each. Of course I can’t remember a single item on that list for anyone else but I remember MINE – and I knew exactly what I was getting that year. I was old enough to read her handwriting and feel guilty for seeing it, but not old enough to cross out what she wrote and write in what I really wanted instead. Now I remember that moment of illicit discovery. That unused and overlooked corner of the kitchen. And I think, THIS.

THISis my new shopping list. How do we make THIS happen after the first ever beaver summit? It’s the natural outcome that I want to see for water drinkers everywhere.

New nonlethal wildlife deterrence fund proposed

A bill in the Oregon Legislature would direct the Oregon Department of Agriculture to establish a grant program to explore nonlethal deterrence between ranchers and wildlife.

House bill 2689 introduced by Dan Rayfield, D-Corvallis, would establish a new grant program under the Department of Agriculture to explore nonlethal deterrence between specific wildlife species and ranchers and farmers. Big game species and wolves would not be impacted by the nonlethal deterrence grants.

Under the proposed bill grants may be awarded to nonprofit groups, counties who have established a nonlethal deterrence program and individual farmers and ranchers; this includes people who are raising crops or animals for noncommercial purposes.

This is what I’m talking about. This is it. This is all of it. It just needs a snappy new name. Like the “Natural resource preservation act” Or the “Water saving Treatise” “Fire Prevention Fund” but this is my fantasy about what comes out of the beaver summit. Even if it dies on the floor I want it to be talked about. Written about. Considered.

Money can be used to purchase a guard dog or other animal. Building or enhancing fencing around property to prevent wildlife species from entering. Money can be used to acquire visual or acoustic scare devices, or flow devices such as beaver pond levelers. Ranchers and farmers would be allowed to trap an animal in a nonlethal trap and release the animal in another area with prior approval from the Department of Agriculture. Money for the new grant program will be distributed from the General Fund.

As of press time the bill has been referred to the House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources. No public meeting date has been scheduled and no public testimony has been submitted either in support or opposition.

For more information contact Rayfield’s office at 503-986-1416.

It’s early days. We start with an idea and go from there. How do we make this happen in California? That’s what I want to know. How. How, How,

THIS TIME NEXT MONTH CALIFORNIA WILL BE GETTING SMARTER!

heidi08 Beavers and Culvert Protection, Who's saving beavers now? March 7, 2021

It’s exacly a month before the beaver summit! How did it ever get to be March 7th already? I wish I could have played list this weekend but Sonoma State didn’t send the updated version. All I know for certain is that we had some new State Park signups and that’s very good. More importantly, are you registered?

Yesterday I celebrated by playing with the audio of this NPR interview of Juli Scarmado, who was the student of Ellen Wohl and might have graduated by now. I wish every state had a couple Juli’s.

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Meanwhile there’s beaver news from Idaho in a town call “Athol” which I would have a very hard time not teasing as the name of mean people with lisps for the same reason as kids used to make you say “My father works in a ship yard” while holding onto your tongue. Remember that?

Beaver problem at busy intersection in Athol

ATHOL — Beavers caused temporary calamity late Monday at South Athol Road’s intersection with Hapgood, Sanders and Tunnel streets, causing water to rise rapidly due to heavy downpours and disrupting traffic.

The Athol Police Department received more than one call in the early evening, reporting 2 feet of water had built up at the underpass area. One caller described water as being backed up and reported that vehicles were hydroplaning in that area.

Officers responded and assisted with traffic until the Department of Public Works arrived.

Assistant DPW Superintendent Richard Kilhart said the water backup caused by beavers “was the first time this year they have caused some difficulties.” The large, sharp-toothed rodents are building a dam in the drainage pipe and stream that run under the roadway.

Being that Athol is in the same state as Mike Callahan you would think that they have several people who know how to solve this problem with a beaver deceiver but maybe not.

Kilhart said the DPW made initial breaches in the dam to release the water, but could do little else until the department applied for a special permit to address the main problem. Once the breaches were made, the water level dropped.

“The normal trapping season is from Nov. 1 to April 1,” said Kilhart, “but this is a case where it is a threat to health and safety.”

The Board of Health approved the permit Wednesday to hire a licensed trapper to remove the beavers so the debris can be dismantled and the culvert cleaned out.

Sigh.