RIDING THE DRAGON: THE PASSWORD IS “FLOW DEVICE”

I remember being in a media storm. Back when the Martinez Beavers were first THE NEWS and channel 2,3,or 7 or the Chronicle was always on the phone looking to talk. I remember how crazy it all got. How there were so many people saying so many things that it was next to impossible to stop the inaccuracies from blossoming. Someone reporting the mayor wanted the beavers or that a child was bitten by the beavers or that beavers eat fish.

It was impossible to control the narrative. The best we could manage was to just hang on.

It was like riding a dragon. There was no telling when it would go and when it would stop and which direction it might turn next. All your could do is cling tightly to the scales and hope you didn’t fall. What I learned is that the media is like sharks. Once they see other sharks biting they all join in. They al want to say just what the other guy is saying and everything happens at once.

Until it stops.

We are in a beaver shark moment right now. But not about Martinez. about how beavers can benefit the planet as we cope with climate change. About California in particular. Yesterday the LA Times and LA magazine, Phys.org and Yahoo news ram the story. Everyone is saying the same thing. And every cringing mistake is being repeated at gale force.

We are riding the dragon, Hang on.

California says the beaver can be superhero in fighting climate change

California launches beaver restoration effort to fight climate change - Los Angeles Times

Okay raise your hand if you see the quote that will drive me insane when every news castor in the world repeats it.

Here it is: “Alternative strategies are underutilized or simply not considered, said Lundquist, who added that landowners could save time and money they spend trying to unblock beaver dams.”

Trying to unblock beaver dams? TRYING TO UNBLOCK BEAVER DAMS? How could a sentence like that possibly happen? Was Kate talking about a flow device and the reporter just wrote it down wrong? Do you honestly think farmers and ranchers HAVEN’T tried to unblock beaver dams? It doesn’t work because beavers FIX them. That’s why the killing happens.

Please please please please say the magic word flow device the next time the phone rings. Who ever it is. Whatever they ask you. You can always spot the seasoned politician in a crowd. Whatever question you ask they are going to answer by saying the thing they wanted to talk about in the first place. Be seasoned. Control the narrative. Say Flow Device. Or Pond leveler. Or Beaver Deceiver. Or Beaver Baffler.

Pretty please. For me?

EVERY DAY IS LABOR DAY FOR BEAVERS

heidi08 Beavers September 5, 2022

Let’s celebrate labor day by praising the ever-working beaver shall we? Never a day off and no supervisor needed. Beavers do all the work of their own accord. Molly Alves is a name we should recognize allowing beavers to do their work. Let’s hear what she has to say today.

CALIFORNIA INVESTS IN BEAVERS?

heidi08 Beavers September 4, 2022

Happy Sunday! Beavers are back in Maven’s notebook. Take a look this was written by our buddy Lisa Owens Viani.

California will spend big bucks on beavers to try to boost their numbers and reap some of the benefits—including slowing wildfire—these ecosystem engineers can provide.

After years of advocacy by beaver “believers,” the state has allocated funding for a beaver restoration program. The $1.67 million in license plate funds for fiscal year 2022-23 and $1.44 million the following year represents a new way of thinking about beaver management in California, says Kate Lundquist, of the Occidental Arts & Ecology Center.

“Until recently, the Fish and Game Code has focused on recreational and commercial beaver trapping and permitting the depredation of nuisance beaver,” she explains. “I am excited that the Governor, the Natural Resources Agency, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife are recognizing beaver and process-based restoration as legitimate nature-based solutions that can restore our watersheds, recover listed species, and make our state more resilient to droughts, wildfires, and climate change.”

Lundquist’s organization was one of more than 100 groups—including conservation and agricultural organizations, tribes, and others—that advocated for the funding allocation and for recognizing the benefits of beavers. The beaver restoration line item funds five new permanent CDFW positions and equipment for managing and monitoring the health of the state’s beavers, as well as relocating beavers as necessary. Chad Dibble, Deputy Director with CDFW, is particularly excited about the potential for beavers to help stem wildfires.

“Beavers are incredibly good at engineering dams that slow water down and spread it out,” he says. “This can help wet a larger area of land that is much greener and more lush than your typical side channel growth in water-restricted areas.”

That greening, says Dribble, can help stop wildfires moving through an area.

Well I wouldn’t say BIG bucks. I’m sure she just wanted the alliteration. I’d say Bite-sized bucks. And I wouldn’t say that “CDFW has focused on recreational trapping” Because our fur trapping industry hasn’t been a big problem for beavers in 50 years. I’d say CDFW has focused on “Inconvenience” trapping. But I agree that it’s time to do something new.

This is better.

VERMONT LETTER TO THE EDITOR SPEAKS VOLUMES

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Beaver ecological impact, Beavers September 3, 2022

Another great letter to the editor from Vermont.

Letter: Why are we killing the one animal that can increase wildlife habitat?

To the editor: “The conservation of the fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the people of Vermont.” That is the official mission statement of the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife. There is one animal that greatly facilitates the achievement of this mission: the North American beaver.

Beavers create some of the richest, most biologically productive habitats on earth, comparable to rainforests and coral reefs. For this reason, they are known as a “keystone” species for biodiversity. Yet recreational trapping, licensed by the Fish and Wildlife Department, kills over 1,000 beavers a year, on average, throughout the state. This recreational trapping is directly inimical to the Department’s stated mission, to conserve good wildlife habitat, because without the presence of beavers to maintain dams, they quickly erode and the valuable wetland habitat is lost.

To the editor: “The conservation of the fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the people of Vermont.” That is the official mission statement of the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife. There is one animal that greatly facilitates the achievement of this mission: the North American beaver.

Beavers create some of the richest, most biologically productive habitats on earth, comparable to rainforests and coral reefs. For this reason, they are known as a “keystone” species for biodiversity. Yet recreational trapping, licensed by the Fish and Wildlife Department, kills over 1,000 beavers a year, on average, throughout the state. This recreational trapping is directly inimical to the Department’s stated mission, to conserve good wildlife habitat, because without the presence of beavers to maintain dams, they quickly erode and the valuable wetland habitat is lost.

Well sure, if biodiversity and that kind of thing are important to you. Don’t forget to mention storing water, reducing fires and slowing floods too. That seems pretty important.

Moreover, recreational trapping is completely separate from the issue of how to deal with “nuisance” beavers whose dams block culverts, resulting in the flooding of town roads and private driveways. Almost all such conflicts can nowadays be resolved non-lethally, by means of water-flow control devices (WFCDs). Trapping is not a “solution” at all, since new beavers almost always move into the empty conflict site within 1-2 years. Only WFCDs can provide long-term, non-lethal solutions that are in fact far more cost effective than trapping.

From almost any perspective, beavers are far more valuable alive than dead. But a similar argument can be made for almost any other furbearer that is currently trapped. For example, foxes, coyotes, mink, weasels, bobcats, and other predators of mice are our first line of defense against Lyme Disease, which has its second highest incidence right here in Vermont. Moreover, Vermont’s apex predators such as coyotes and bobcats help prevent runaway population growth of herbivore species that can decimate local vegetation cover necessary for sustaining many other species.

Ahh well wfcg! I never heard them referred to that way before. But I agree with your point. In Martinez we installed a WFCD and it solved our problem for TFY.

Ten fricken years!

Wildlife belongs to all Vermonters, which is why it is important that ordinary citizens get involved in issues that impact their welfare. Trapping is one issue where a solid majority of Vermonters — 75 percent — agree that its harmful impacts upon animals —which include domestic as well as wild, since dogs and cats are routinely caught in leghold traps — far outweigh any perceived benefits to humans and therefore should be banned. Contact your local elected officials and ask them to make wildlife protection a priority!

John Aberth

Ahh nicely done. Now I would never weaken a good beaver argument by combining it with an anti=trapping statement, but I have to respect a good point when I see it. Nicely done, John. Beavers deserve lots of chances in Vermont.

MAYBE THERE SHOULD BE BEAVER VIGILANTES?

heidi08 Beaver ecological impact, Beaver Helpers, Beavers August 27, 2022

I was daydreaming yesterday about the horrific vigilante law in Texas that allows friends and neighbors and gossips to turn women they suspect of seeking or helping a woman seek an abortion and collect the reward in court. It’s promotes deep mistrust under the guise of being PRO LIFE. And I thought, HEY if we could turn in friends and neighbors and cities for trapping beavers off their property or even applying for a depredation permit, and then take them to environmental court and collect the reward money which can then be used to install a flow device that would be pretty PRO LIFE too. I mean we know that beaver dams create biodiversity and store water to keep things alive so anything anyone does to threaten them destroys that right? And we’re not SO far away that any act to waste water is an act against the state, right?

Suddenly the vigilante law seemed to have more promise,

Well until those dark days come lets hope to persuade folks with lots and lots of carrots.

Support for Federal Funding for Beaver Coexistence

AWI is working to develop federal legislation that would establish a national beaver conflict-mitigation grant program to help tribes, states, agencies, local governments, landowners, conservation organizations, and others pay for nonlethal beaver-conflict solutions. More than 100 small businesses, wildlife groups, and tribes representing 33 states have joined a letter in support of this idea. In addition, some organizations and tribes have drafted separate letters of support.

That’s really good to hear. You may not know this but a million years ago when Mike Callahan was just dreaming about doing his instructional video to teach people how to install flow devices, he received a grant from AWI to make it happen. They are the power player you never hear about on the beaver stage so I hope this works out. They have a long list of supporters for this idea, which includes some folks you might know at the end.

Let’s wish them every success, although I’m kinda liking my viglante idea, swooping to drop some justice on every intolerant farmer and city manager