SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN PRAISES BEAVER DAMS

heidi08 BDA's, Beavers, Beavers and Fire Prevention, Beavers and fire runoff, Beavers and Forests February 9, 2022

Every now and then a beaver report emerges that is SO exactly what we need right now and SUCH very good news that I am torn between waving my beaver pompoms and cheering madly in the bleachers and stamping my foot in anger shouting SEE? IS THIS ENOUGH? Do you believe me now? Will you stop killing them now?

For the sake of brevity I’ll just do the first for now.

Beaver Dams Help Wildfire-Ravaged Ecosystems Recover Long after Flames Subside

Dams mop up debris that would otherwise kill fish and other downstream wildlife, new observations suggest

Oregon endured the third-largest wildfire in its recorded history last summer. The Bootleg Fire tore through the Upper Klamath Basin, an ecologically sensitive area that is home to multiple threatened and endangered species including the northern spotted owl and two fish—the koptu and c’waam (shortnose sucker and Lost River sucker)—that are culturally vital to the area’s Klamath Tribes. The fire left behind a charred landscape more than twice the size of New York City.

After the local fire season ended in autumn, Bill Tinniswood, a fisheries biologist with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, went out to survey the damage. Ash from the fire, which burned for more than a month, had clogged formerly pristine tributaries and turned them into black slurries. Thriving trout populations had disappeared, presumably choked to death by waterborne debris particles that deprived the fish of oxygen. “I was in total shock,” Tinniswood said. “It just looked like devastation.” (more…)

“RADICAL ALLY AND SPIRITUAL TEACHER”

heidi08 Beavers February 5, 2022

So it was all the way back in October that I posted about Suzanne Husky the famous French American artist who had developed a passion for beavers and wanted to feature them in her work. Well she has an upcoming show in Beverly Hills and was inspired by the cities name meaning BEAVER to create a project called “Dam Beverly Hills”. The main event was delayed due to Covid in the meantime things will proceed.

Frieze cancels sculpture element

Frieze, an international art fair, on Jan. 27 announced that the launch of Frieze Sculpture Beverly Hills, planned for Beverly Gardens Park, will not take place in 2022.

“We are grateful to the city of Beverly Hills, as well as the participating galleries and artists, for all their support,” a Frieze spokesperson said. “We continue to look forward to this year’s Frieze Week in Beverly Hills.”

Frieze Los Angeles will still return Feb. 17-20 at the future One Beverly Hills location, 9900 Wilshire Blvd., adjacent to The Beverly Hilton hotel (more…)

ILLINOIS IS OFF TO A GREAT START – MOSTLY

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Beavers, Flow Device Installed, Urban beavers February 1, 2022

Illinois is the newest beaver believer on the block but they’re catching up fast. Just check out this article from South Barrington just outside Chicago at the top of the state, There are only a few areas that need refining.

‘I don’t want to kill anything’: South Barrington looking for way to manage beavers

After a beaver dam caused Poplar Creek to overflow into nearby residents’ yards this past fall, South Barrington officials are considering hiring professional experts to prevent that from reoccurring. A company called Midwest Beaver Management has proposed nonlethal methods for managing beaver activity in the village.

Wrapping tree trunks with wire fencing to keep beavers from chewing on them is one option. Another would involve running pipes through dams so water can pass through and not disturb the animals in their lodges upstream.

Well that’s good. Isn’t that good? Although I kind of get the feeling that all this is VERY new territory for the state. They haven’t got it down just yet. Headlining the article with a photo of a muskrat and a running a quote like this one.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Obviously there isn’t water INSIDE the lodge. Beavers are mammals, not fish. The point of the lodge is being able to breathe safe from predators. Breathing being the operative word. For which the lack of water is required.

Obviously there’s a lot to learn about beavers. We’re just happy they’re starting the right way.

By clearing out invasive plant species that can clog creeks and filtering sediment from waterways with their dams, beavers increase biodiversity, improve water quality and restore the health of watersheds.

Their dams even increase habitats for fish, including endangered salmon and trout in some regions.

“Everybody should be happy” to see beaver activity on a waterway, said Midwest Beaver Management founder Jeff Boland-Prom, whose company is based is south suburban Beecher.

Good job Jeff. We like that a lot. Keep going in that direction will you?

Boland-Prom said Poplar Creek is an especially ideal beaver habitat. It has a low gradient that makes it easier to dam, he said, and the area has lots of young trees that provide plenty of food and building material.

Boland-Prom hopes to meet with village officials in February, and Palmer and others are interested. A meeting date hasn’t been announced.

Mayor Paula McCombie is eager to hear the company’s presentation. Taking steps to coexist with beavers while halting the ecological damage they can cause is preferable to killing them, she said.

Very Very good, Any city that starts here has a good chance of success. There’s just a little tweaking to do yet.

Boland-Prom takes pride in solving beaver-related problems humanely. Not only are such methods better for the animals, but they don’t require additional visits when different beavers subsequently form new dams in the same spots, Boland-Prom said.

That’ll happen over and over again, he said, because beavers look for unoccupied habitats to build their homes.

“It really saves communities money in the long term,” he said.

I’m not sure if this is an error in communication or a mistake in understanding. But obviously when you’re talking to reporters that are new at this you have to be very sure of your message. The point is that if you let your old beavers stay by installing a flow device so the water is a height you can both live with NEW BEAVERS won’t be allowed to move in. Beavers are territorial and they’ll keep out the competition.

It saves a city money because they aren’t paying to TRAP over and over again. Which they would have to because once a beaver has been killed there’s no one left to keep new ones from moving in. You got that, right?

IOWA LIKES TO LOOK BUT WON’T BUY THE BOOK

heidi08 Beavers February 1, 2022

Change happens in stages. First slowly and then all at once. Let’s take Iowa for instance. Not exactly a bastion f ecological understanding. But even there appreciating is trickling in. Not so you’d actually feel damp yet. But so you suddenly realize you’re not totally dry either. See what I mean?

Walter Scott: Beavers, love to watch them but hate when they create floods

When our lake was first built, I thought it would be interesting to have a resident family of beavers. Since a person cannot go to the local pet store or livestock auction and buy beavers, I only hoped a pair would wander in.

It did not take too many years, and that is exactly what happened. Riding along one of the tributaries that feeds the lake, I noticed a few trees that had been cut down by beavers. I was thrilled to have beavers to watch.

A few weeks later while passing through the same area, I noticed every oak, hickory and ash tree from the creek bank to part way up the hill had been cut down. The only trees remaining were honey locust with their horrible long thorns.

See now I can already see how this is going to end, but I can’t help appreciating how it starts. This is Iowa we’re talking about and we’re definitely grading on a curve. I would even expect them to be kindly welcomed and I’m sure the beavers themselves know what they’re up against. It’s nice that he started with appreciation,

The following spring, my love of the beavers is starting to turn to hate. When it rained, water started going over their dam. This caused them to raise their dam’s level by a couple of feet. This caused water to back up, flooding the crossing that enables me to get from one side of the farm to the other. Without this crossing, I must drive around by way of the road, about three miles, which is annoying.

The lake has an outlet culvert about 36 inches in diameter. When the lake gets above normal level, excess water runs out through this tube. After a heavy rain, the beavers found this and thought it unacceptable to lose water. They promptly cut dozens of logs, approximately 42 inches long and wedged them in the tube. They finished their job by sealing it over with a mud and grass mixture.

Water backed up close to a mile. The neighbors were complaining about their pastures and hay fields being flooded. Removing wedged in logs, mud and grass while lying on my stomach on top of a cement culvert is not as easy as one would think. It is also terrifying to think, at any moment, their plug might give way and suck a person through the tube. My annoyance was giving way to a strong dislike for my furry guests.

Well the honeymoon’s over. We all knew it would be soon enough. You know how it is. You find Brenda’s laugh charming at first when you’re sharing a soda at the mall, but when she can’t sit through mass with your aunt Olive without cracking a smile you know this thing has run its course.

One day I noticed beaver activity off the one corner of the island. First, they brought a few logs from upstream and started a new house at the island. They then started cutting down the trees on the island and cutting them into 42-inch lengths.

They were working at plugging the drainage tube again and were only one tree away from cutting down my flowering pear. My attitude toward the beavers suddenly turned to hate.

It was surprisingly easy to live trap and re-locate the pair. When they went in to block to overflow, they walked right into the trap.

Beavers, with all their industrious ways and construction abilities, are interesting to watch. They can also be destructive to the point of turning a person’s fascination with them to a strong dislike.

Well who in Iowa will blame you? You were inconvenienced. Having to drive a WHOLE three miles out of your way and deal with their daily disruptions. I mean it’s not like you looked for answers first before arriving at this decision. It’s not like you wrote me first and asked what we did and how to do it in Iowa. And it’s not like you learned anything at all about live trapping or successful beaver release before you stuffed them in a box and whisked them away.

But it’s slightly better that you enjoyed watching them at first. I guess.

(more…)

SONOMA ADMITS IT HAD BEAVERS ALL ALONG

heidi08 Beavers January 26, 2022

Things seem out of control with my keyboard this morning. It is better for us all I type very little until peace is restored. I will just leave you with this photo recently taken from Shocken Hill in Sonoma. You know, in the state that Joseph Grinnell wrote didn’t have beavers.