Because the beaver isn't just an animal; it's an ecosystem!

Category: Beavers or Social Ambasadors


BP.orgMore good beaver news from our friends at Phys.org. This time especially referring especially to urban beavers.

Contact with nature may mean more social cohesion, less crime

Numerous studies have demonstrated the benefits of contact with nature for human well-being. However, despite strong trends toward greater urbanization and declining green space, little is known about the social consequences of such contact. In the December issue of BioScience, an international, interdisciplinary team reports on how they used nationally representative data from the United Kingdom and stringent model testing to examine the relationships between objective measures and self-reported assessments of contact with nature, community cohesion, and local crime incidence.

The results in the report, by Netta Weinstein of Cardiff University and others, were notable. After accounting for a range of possibly interfering factors, including socioeconomic deprivation, population density, unemployment rate, socioeconomic standing, and weekly wages, the authors determined that people’s experiences of local nature reported via a survey could explain 8% of a measure of the variation, called variance, in survey responses about perceptions of community cohesion. They describe this as “a striking finding given that individual predictors such as income, gender, age, and education together accounted for only 3%” of the variance.

The relationship with crime was similarly striking. According to the study results, objective measures of the amount of green space or farmland accessible in people’s neighborhoods accounted for 4% additional variance in crime rates. The authors argue that this predictive power compares favorably with known contributors to crime, such as socioeconomic deprivation, which accounts for 5% variance in crime rates. “The positive impact of local nature on neighbors’ mutual support may discourage crime, even in areas lower in socioeconomic factors,” they write. Further, given the political importance placed on past crime reductions as small as 2%-3%, the authors suggest that findings such as theirs could justify policies aimed at ameliorating crime by improving contact with nature.

You can read or download it here. Anyone who is surprised by this finding should have stood at the footbridge watching beavers while people of very, very different walks of life conversed about them. It was not at all uncommon to chat with toothless homeless, cycling yuppies, families pushing strollers, commuters getting off the train, and aging grandmothers together in that gathering. And I’m sure that amount of social cohesion affected crime rate.

I was working all day yesterday on the foundations of my section of the urban beaver paper, and kept asking our retired librarian friend BK from Georgia for help, which he nobly provided along with this article.Turns out there is a solid and growing body of evidence that having nature in your city is every bit as good for your physical and mental health as air quality, crosswalks and libraries.

To which we say,  duh.help-me


waterboardsOnce upon a time, lo these many months ago, the SF waterboard decided to help Martinez with some tree planting for beavers. It invited me out to present in December and got so inspired about beavers it decided to share its Watershed Stewards Program Interns from Americorp to help.

(Stop me if you’ve heard this story before.)

LoadedSo Corie and Rebecca came out for a meeting with Worth A Dam and the city engineer, then obtained a permit to take willow cuttings from wildcat canyon, then came to Martinez for a day of planting. Cheryl, Lory and Jon showed up for a day of hard work at the end of March. Is this ringing any bells?

So they spent a day planting and Jon spent the evening wrapping trees and the beavewillowrs gazed wistfully at the forbidden fruit like children eyeing their presents under the tree, and life was good. The planting was even on channel 7 news.

Then guess what? Funny story. (Not really).

Public works got a divine inspiration (or a phone call from you-know-who) and ripped every planted stake out. They piled them to one side by the road. Jon just happened to notice as he drove by.  I called the engineer in a panic to ask WTF and he called the foot soldiers who had done the dirty work and by evening these poor stakes were all back in the ground. No kidding. Shades of Alice in Wonderland painting the roses red.  Some of the trees were upside down, some barely planted, all looking the worse for wear.

It suppose it goes without saying that they all died.

IMG_0441Well, the SF Waterboard was not very happy with that. And our good friend Ann Riley swore that we would REPEAT the planting next year, this time before thanksgiving, when they’d get more water, using the help of their next intern. And these trees had better not get pulled up.

But in the meantime our beavers died or scattered to the four winds and the city launched its grand bank destabilization project, which Riley was super not happy about either, so she negotiated with the engineer that our replanting should happen exactly there, where they had pulled out all the other living things.

Riley & Cory plan the attack!
Riley & Cory plan the attack!

The new intern’s name is Brenden Martin. And he and Riley are coming friday with some helpers to replant. This time they are going to use willow cuttings from here. Meanwhile, oddly enough the film crew from Middlechild productions will be out from the UK and filming it for the part of their documentary about how cities can live with beavers. Then heading to Napa to follow up with some beaver footage.

Rusty Cohn has boldly volunteered to come help Jon and Lory with the effort, and Ron will kindly take some photos for us. Oliver Smith, the assistant producer i’ve been chatting with, is probably interviewing Lara or Mark as well as interviewing me that day. The crew  arrives SFO tueday night and supposedly the gang is staying at the John Muir Lodge.

Honestly, two months ago I was feeling like if we didn’t have beavers we should cancel the planting and let the city be responsible for their own damn trees. But Jon persuaded me to be patient and now I feel differently.  Besides it’s working out well for Urban Beavers everywhere, and that makes me happy. I ask myself, if I were a beaver living in exile and saw a bunch of tasty morsels planted in my absence, wouldn’t I think about  coming home?

I certainly would.

beaver kit eats breakfast
beaver kit eats breakfast: Cheryl Reynolds

Beaver Backers paint trees in Fargo to protect furry friends

Thief River Falls resident Nina Berg, a member of the Beaver Backers organization that sprung up to defend the Fargo beavers, said the large-scale tree painting Saturday will hopefully spare the beavers.

The board voted to cull beavers after hearing concerns from residents and staff about the animals destroying trees and costing the city thousands of dollars. Park District officials said later they were open to non-leathal options.

The painting is a solution that will appease beaver backers and those concerned with the trees, Berg said.

“(The mixture) will be very unappealing to the beavers, and they will avoid those trees that we’re trying to protect,” Berg said.

The group spent several hours on Saturday painting more than 1,300 trees on the Fargo side of the river. The group will paint about 75 percent of the trees in the park and save 25 percent of the trees for the beavers to munch on and build dams


Hurray for the sensible, compassionate folks of Fargo who held a kickstarter to raise funds for the project and got 30 volunteers out in November to sand paint trees! 1300 is A LOT of trees. They are officially the tree-painting capital of the world now. I’m thrilled that this was able to happen, but still a little confused about the color choice.? Why not match the trunk? We’ve certainly marched into Home Depot with willow branches for them to match. But heck, maybe mint green was on sale.

Michelle Peterson said the painting will save beavers and the trees and hopefully sway the Park District to allow the beavers stays of execution. “If they come out here and see that it’s working, then hopefully they’ll let us keep coming out and doing this every year,” Berg said, adding that the group had permission from the Park District to paint the trees.

Nina and Michelle ROCK! They got tons of media for this project and volunteer support. Fingers crossed they used enough mason sand to really discourage those beavers. Jon always found that by the end he was using his hands to really get the sand to stick.

And because remarkable stories like this deserve a treat, I’m sharing the stunning photo found by Ann Cameron Siegal on Creative Commons. It was taken by Elizabeth Haslam and posted yesterday on the US Fish and Wildlife Facebook page. And some lovely human said, “I just saw this fantastic documentary on all the great things beavers do”.

Guess what the nation’s wildlife experts commented. Go ahead, guess.

great mother kit beaver
Elizabeth Haslam: Creative Commons

“Awesome! Do you remember what it’s called? In case folks are interested.”

That’s right, even though all of America and parts of Canada watched Jari Osborne’s incredible documentary in 2014, and all of Canada watched it in 2013, even though it had the highest ratings of any Nature program on Public television that year and was the one that PBS sent for Emmy consideration, the experts at fish and wildlife didn’t even know about it. Because, I guess, busman’s holiday. They already know it all. Why learn more?

If they wanted to learn more they should come to the beaver festival this year. I spent yesterday finishing the grant application for this year’s children’s activity. It details how Mike at Wildbryde will design charms shaped like rail cars to for children to fashion into a bracelet. I can’t help being a little proud of this.

all aboard

 


I never ever thought I’d live to see the day that we heard about beaver benefits from Arkansas! But what do I know, anyway?

Busy Beavers: Pests or Heroes?

Amanda Bancroft

Beaver habitat is riparian zone, and these vegetarians are good creators and maintainers of wetlands. First they create the dam (which they can rebuild overnight if necessary) with mud, stones and timber. Once the water level begins to rise, they turn their attention to building their lodge. Interior rooms are hollowed out after the structure is finished. They take in lodgers who live in the same rooms as the beaver family: muskrats, frogs, insects, deer mice, fungus, and more. This sort of community hospitality is unique.

They can be pests to farmers currently benefiting from fertile land that was once a beaver pond. When beavers return and build a new dam, they cause flooding. But beaver whisperer Michel Leclaire has found that placing a recording of running water where you want beavers to build their dam entices them to build in places convenient for people. Other advice for farmers, road crews and the general public for getting along with beavers can be found on Beavers: Wetlands & Wildlife’s website at BeaversWW.org.

Whooohooo! Give Amanda a hand for spreading the beaver gospel AND teaching how problems can be managed. Never you mind that she doesn’t mention a certain beaver-saving group that shall remain nameless, she does a great job anyway. I guess I shouldn’t be so surprised because we had a great donation to the silent auction for the beaver festival last year from Arkansas. Remember these from our friends at ozarkmtnhomestead?

There was only one part of the article that worried me a little bit. And it came at the end.

Beavers create a wetland habitat which is great for a plethora of species but not so great for species like the endangered Arkansas darter, a small fish that does not need a beaver pond bringing in predatory species that may eat it. Beaver ponds are also not so great for climate change, contributing a small percentage of methane gas into the atmosphere from their ponds. That’s a pretty small downside for an animal that provides big benefits to North America overall – particularly in areas prone to drought.

 OK, first of all you’re wrong about climate change. I mean in the big sense, the only one that matters. And second of all I’m not so sure about the darter. You might want to check out what happened to the near by state of Alabama when they removed a beaver dam and threatened the rare watercress darter. I believe their fine for doing so was in the millions.


Now it turned out that Scott didn’t start the website upgrade, because terrible things (as you know) happen when you do that sometimes. So he would never  do it unexpected. WordPress just dragged me kicking and screaming into the future. And eventually we’ll straighten it out.

‘m feeling at the moment like I’m extraordinarily lucky to be able to depend on others to help the parts that I can’t reach. I was worried about making it in Sonoma yesterday and thought we’d need to cancel because of the heat.

CaptureRusty volunteered and will be ending the day with Lory and Cheryl and bringing stuff back to Martinez after. This morning we’re off for a children’s photo shoot making beaver puppets with Suzi for RR and tomorrow I will turn 50 doing what I love to do.

I already got the best present: IMG_0396


Don’t know what’s happening with the Utah beaver festival this year, but we’re on for Idaho again. The Watershed Guardians are proud to present their second annual Beaver Dam Jam.

 Beaver Dam Jam is Sept. 26 at Scout Mountain, Pocatello

The Beaver Dam Jam, a music event to support beaver conservation, will feature the bands Cure for the Common and Wire Mama on Sept. 26 at Camp Taylor on Scout Mountain.Pocatello Regional Transit bus rides from Holt Arena near Bonneville Park at 5 p.m., and Old Town Pavilion at 5:30 p.m.; the music starts at 6 p.m. Suggested donations for attending the event are $30 for singles, $50 for couples and $20 for Idaho State University students with valid Bengal ID cards and seniors age 65 and older Camping options are available, on a first-come, first-served basis at Justice Park on Scout Mountain (make reservations at recreation.gov), by renting a cabin at Camp Taylor or staying at the Mink Creek Pavilion. For complete event information, including purchasing tickets, finding more information on camping and transportation options, visit www.watershedguardians.org. More information on the event is also available by contacting Mike Settell at 208-220-3336 or mr.settell@gmail.com

I’m so excited for them and proud of what they’ve accomplished I thought they deserved a graphic.

beaver dam jam

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