To be-aver or not to be-aver

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions July 21, 2011

City busy as a beaver finding humane solution

Problem solved: A beaver baffle has been installed along the Gibson trail near Marysville to deter beavers from building dams that flood the trail.

Two residents concerned with Fredericton’s wildlife policy in wetland areas are praising the city for its decision to stop killing beavers that have been damming the culvert and flooding the Gibson trail. Gabriela Tymowski, a year-round trail user, said the city’s installation of a beaver baffle – a device designed to confuse beavers and stop them from building dams in wetland areas – is a positive step toward sustainable beaver management.

“The beaver baffle works by tricking the beaver into thinking that they are successfully damming a culvert, when in fact, they can’t because water can still successfully get through the baffle,” she said.

Tymowski, who’s been using the Gibson trail year-round for the last 12 years, said she contacted the city after coming across a dead beaver that drowned after getting stuck in a trap. After it was confirmed the city hired someone to kill the beavers, Tymowski said she requested a meeting with staff to come up with an alternative.

This article starts out with such a bang I got very excited. Fredricton is over at the very edge of Canada in the area that’s looks like Maine’s hat. Just miles away from Vermont & Massachusetts, it’s not very far from real solutions, but clearly accurate information has a very hard time flowing up hill.

“This means that the area will no longer flood, and because the beavers need a certain amount of water in order to survive – their entrance and exits to their lodge must be underwater – they will be forced to relocate.”

Since installing the baffle, Murray said the city hasn’t had any problems with beavers. “We put that in and they packed their bags and left,” he said.

Ahhh, Gabriela & Don you were THIS CLOSE!!! You were almost beaver advocates manque! Well, listen up young grasshoppers. The point of installing a flow device isn’t to get them to leave. The point is to control the water at the height you can tolerate so that the beavers STAYYY. If they leave, new beavers will move in and put a new lodge in a different area and dam the whole thing all over and you will have wasted your time and money. Let the beavers stick around, maintaining valuable wetlands, augmenting fish population and improving habitat for birdlife.

And always remember, to paraphrase Hamlet

“Better to bear those beavers you have than fly to others you know not of.”

In the mean time can you get me the name of that expert at UNB? (I’m assuming University of New Brunswick!) I clearly have some education & explaining to do.

Good News

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers, City Reports, Creative Solutions June 30, 2011

Every now and then people surprise you. This morning I received an email from the Supervisor of Animal Services in Brampton praising our efforts to save beavers and assuring us that they have used beaver bafflers in the area successfully. I forwarded her email to Tyler and hopeful they can sit down and work out a plan to take care of the beavers at Maitland Park. Nice.

Then last night, (after honoring a ‘beaver tour commitment’ for the silent auction at earth day, I saw this posted on the Beaver Management Forum Facebook page. Aside from being a heartwarming, compassionate example of men using their brains and effort instead of reflexively hiring a trapper, his presentation is technologically impressive and frankly adorable. (I’m thinking that condo has more than a couple newly retired engineers?) Click on the square to see the presentation from Art Wolinsky of Sherwood Glen Condominiums in New Hampshire.

Don’t you wish they were your neighbors? Nice work, Art. I couldn’t understand WHY the beavers would bother building a dam along the road if they could get the same effect by just plugging four culverts. Art explained the road and culverts are new, so that made a little more sense. I am sure this group will figure out a solution in no time.

Oh and this made me smile last night. You might enjoy it too.

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The First of Many!

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Friends of Martinez Beavers May 13, 2011

Our friends Mary and Sherry at the newly-formed Sierra Wildlife Coalition have developed such a taste for saving beavers they installed their first-ever flow device in Truckee while there was still snow on the ground. This is the group who received our first -ever beaver management scholarship, and it looks like we couldn’t have chosen a better recipient! I received these last night:

Here, finally are a few photos from our flow device installation last Monday – and yes, the white dots are snow… It went very smoothly, thanks to all the good info from Mike. Ted’s in the green hat, Patrick (who arranged this with his wife Elaine) is in the yellow, and Bill, Forester for the subdivision, has the red hat. Bill is ready to install more, as needed! Tahoe Donner is the largest residential subdivision in California, and they have 2 creeks with active beavers.

Mary and Sherry went from casual involvement to full-bore beaver saving with a road trip to Oregon for the conference! They sand-painted trees in the snow and made tails with children on earthday. They swooped a community along with them and this is the result in a neighboring town. I honestly couldn’t be more pleased or proud, and reading the remark from the subdivision forester that he’s ready to install more may very well be the best news I read all month.

All this was possible because of the clear guidance from the installation DVD produced by Mike Callahan under a grant from the Animal Welfare Institute. I think this kind of beaver heroism is exactly what they had in mind!

I’m hoping the success of this installation leads to a domino of flow devices all across the sierras. Oh and I’m hoping that someone from Fish & Game owns one of the subdivisions and notices how WELL this worked!

MARTINEZ BEAVER UPDATE:

Cheryl saw two this am and snapped this liquid picture.

Rare Culvert-Blocking Beaver Confounds Connecticut

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Uncategorized, Who's Killing Beavers Now? April 29, 2011

Gosh this NEVER happens. Some inexplicable and uncanny beavers are blocking a culvert in Salem and threatening traffic. Because this kind of behavior is extremely rare and no one EVER has invented a proven solution for it in the past, the authorities need a special permit so they can kill these animals right away, even though trapping season is over. Do you think they’ll be able to get one in time? I’m on pins and needles.

Salem leaders have hired a trapper to remove beavers from a stretch of Rattlesnake Ledge Road that nearly flooded last week after the animals blocked a pair of drainage culverts that run underneath the street. It’s a recurring problem that officials say creates a safety hazard for motorists and leaves the town liable if there’s an accident.

First Selectman Kevin Lyden said the town is working with the state Department of Environmental Protection on the effort, and a long-term solution could be in place soon to keep the animals away permanently. Read more: Beaver dams create potential road flooding hazard in Salem

You’ll be happy to know that Department of Environmental Protection took it upon themselves to protect Salem’s culverts from its beavers and allowed the family to be exterminated. I’m told the selected selectman assures us that even though this is a temporary solution he will be planning a permanent solution for NEXT TIME. I can’t wait.

Okay, I’ve only written about this about this 438 times, in counties from Georgia to Saskatchewan, but maybe its time for an easy visual syllogism instead:

If this

Then this

Still too esoteric and subtle? Just watch the movie version:

Sunshine Beaver Week

heidi08 City Reports, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental March 15, 2011

This lovely article from the Sacramento Bee highlights the good work that citizen-watchdog groups do in government, education, and environmental awareness. Listen to how it starts, and then go read the whole thing. Just looking at it again now I get goosebumps.

They have been called gadflies and kooks and names not suitable for publication. They have also been called heroes. Say what you will about these plucky citizens who champion open government, but you’ll have to agree: They are persistent. And how.

As California and other states observe Sunshine Week – a national initiative to promote government transparency – we offer a closer look at citizen-watchdogs who have blazed the way

It made me think of course of beavers and of this article posted two years ago after Superior court ruled that the city of Martinez could install some sheetpile through a beaver lodge. Let’s enjoy a walk thru memory lane.

Let Slip the Watchdogs of War

So there were some sad and worried faces at the dam tonight, a few smug ones at the city council meeting, and one irrationally cheerful one on the bridge. Beaver supporters should know that Worth A Dam will continue to represent the best interest of the beavers, and to keep you informed about how the work is affecting them. Even though we were disheartened by the ruling, it would be a mistake not to notice the few shreds of good news that trickled through today.

Heard from Skip tonight. He is returning home tomorrow morning, staying in Vermont for a few days and then coming back next week to keep an eye on the work.
The sheet metal installer agreed to “vibrate” each piece at the top of the lodge before installation to give the beavers warning.
There will be a vibration sensor installed in the creek to measure impact.
The marked height of the topped trees is very encouraging, and shade will be left for the beavers lodge.

At tonights pre-secret meeting meeting, Worth A Dam spoke up about the need for public participation and oversight. I pointed out how, as unpopular as we were at the moment, we had actually served a very useful role for the city in getting them to think more protectively about the beavers. I also pointed out that the report from our Fluvial Geomorphologist had identified a serious risk area in the creek that the city had ignored. Yesterday Jon showed it to Igor Skaredoff and today the city assigned staff to take care of it. Our expert, whose report they didn’t want to admit into evidence, actually saved the city time and money.

I emphasized that this useful role of a watchdog agency would continue as the work was done. They were chatting on the bridge today about how to keep the crazy beaver people out of the way during the work. In the long run they will be much safer and more successful if they make space for us and tolerate our looking over their shoulders. Laying aside any delusions of compassion or civic responsibility, the media attention on this issue has proven that it would be hugely damaging for the city to let anything happen to our beavers. They need all the help they can get.

Who let the watchdogs out?

[youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=y7PtSsbkGdM]

In the meantime, this particular watchdog is off to the airport to pick up NOAA fisheries biologist and researcher Michael Pollock and show him around the dam-aged dams before driving with he, wikipedia Rick and Cheryl to Yosemite to talk to State Park Rangers about the benefits of beavers. Hopefully we’ll convince a few rangers to try using tools that let beavers stick around in State Park Lands. At the very least I’m expecting hours of beaverish conversation on the way up and back. Wish us luck!