Category: City Reports

More Meddling

heidi08 Beaver News, City Reports September 18, 2008

Just got this email from Tim Tucker, City Engineer:

On Monday, September 15^th the Engineering and Public Works staff took a quick look along the banks of Alhambra Creek from Main Street to the Intermodal. We observed additional burrowing near Bertola’s Restaurant. We feel is it prudent to have an employee probe the extent of the burrows. To complete the work safely we would lower the water approximately one foot. This would be done by notching the beaver dams. This work would be done in the morning to avoid disturbance to the beavers. We would expect the beavers to repair the notch within a day or two. We plan to do the work on Wednesday.

‘”Avoid disturbance to the beavers?” You mean besides taking lots if their food and their water? So tomorrow the water level drops and the banks will be checked again for holes. Never mind that if the amount of time that staff has spent checking holes were to be used to install fencing like we recommended all along, there wouldn’t BE any holes.

Update:

Linda says she had a conversation with Mark Ross who is hoping the lowering can be delayed until after the council meeting tonight. How full is your wednesday looking? Protective eyes in the morning at the dam, and protective voices at city hall tonight. I expressed concern that the project would lower water level and expose their lodge entrances and place them in harms way. Here’s my recommendation to Tim Tucker…

There is a simple alternative that will allow you access and allow the beavers water both. Treat this project like any other interruption of a water line. Stop the flow above the target area, examine or fix what you need to once the level is changed to your liking, then let the beavers fix the dam and return the flow to normal. Draining the entire creek to do this one small job is the equivalent of turning off the city main line in order to fix a leaky faucet in a single home. I’m sure you have available materials to isolate flow, and doing this would demonstrate recognition for the needs of the beavers and concerns of the community, as well as responsibility for bank concerns. As always, members of worth a dam would be happy to help with labor or materials.

If you have time today, you might just send your own thoughts to the the city engineer and city manager. It might help to clarify their thinking…

Update II

Stopped by the dam on my way home from the coast and happened to run into Julian and a meeting with the City Manger, Tim Tucker, Don Salts, and Bob Cellini. They were talking about their concerns for the creek and what the intended project would be. The area of concern is behind the lodge, and specifically they would like to know how far down the wall extends. I reiterated my concerns, and discussed the possibility of a plumbing camera. Julian advocated for using wire mesh (chain link) over the bank to discourage further digging, and I clarified some of the beaver vagaries for the city manager. (Will there be 16 next year? 32 the year after that?)

I will tell you the most striking finding of the day: staff had not considered the impact of the tides. They were so high that no one would have been able to “drain” off that water. I was asked, “is this because of the secondary dam?” No, I explained.

This is because of the moon.

The Dreaded Dredging Project

heidi08 Beaver News, City Reports September 12, 2008

If you’ve stopped by the farmer’s market you’ve seen the plans for the dredging project to widen the lower flood plain in Alhambra Creek. The plan is to remove all vegetation (100 foot width) from the east side of the bank from the Marina Vista bridge to the train bridge with the exception of a two foot border where a silt fence will be installed during the work. Our position all along has been that we support the widening as good for the health of the creek but have asked for the city to leave a 10% strip for the beavers to feed. (10 feet instead of 2). We have not yet been assured that this will happen, although there has been a committment to replant willows that are removed. Work starts monday and it would be good if you could come check in so that the contractors are reminded that there are lots of concerned eyes on this project.

Today’s guest blogger is city engineer Tim Tucker who describes the project:

City of Martinez’s

2008 Silt Removal Project

Guest Blogger: City Engineer Tim Tucker

In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s the City of Martinez widened Alhambra Creek, created a flood terrace and constructed a new train bridge and pedestrian bridge for approximately $3.2 million dollars at the new Amtrak Station (Intermodal) site. These improvements increased the capacity of Alhambra Creek, north of Marina Vista, to a 100-year flood level. The New Years Eve flood of 2005 deposited large amounts of silt on City streets from Highway 4 to the downtown railroad tracks. This storm also deposited approximately two to three feet of silt on the flood terrace. The raised elevation of the flood terrace not only reduced flood capacity but also changed the dynamics of the plant and animal habitat. The area no longer experienced the environmental benefit associated with occasional inundation from very high tides. Invasive weeds and non-native grasses can better sustain themselves in this higher, drier zone.

In July the City Council awarded a construction contract for the silt removal. As part of the contract award the Council directed staff to evaluate the possibility of preserving vegetation and still meet the objectives of the project. Several volunteer willows are in the removal area.

Removal of the silt from the flood terrace is scheduled to begin on September 15^th. City staff walked the site to evaluate vegetation preservation. The plans called for vegetation from the waters edge to two feet beyond the top of bank to be preserved. This will provide an approximate 8-10 foot swath of vegetation in the area with the highest density of cattails. In addition staff concluded that several of the willows can be easily saved. Preserving the willows will not affect the function of the flood terrace. As the contractor’s excavator encounters a willow tree to be saved the tree will be scooped up and replanted to an adjacent area already graded. Willows are very hardy plants and will quickly take root this time of year. Trees planted as part of the original project will also be saved. Lastly the City has hired a biologist to supplement oversight of the vegetation removal and construction oversight.

This is the sentence that most confuses me; “for vegetation from the waters edge to two feet beyond the top of bank to be preserved. This will provide an approximate 8-10 foot swath of vegetation in the area with the highest density of cattails” and for which I have asked for clarification without success. Since the area is a steep (not sloped) bank, it sounds to me like 2 feet of vegetation will mean 2 feet of vegation, period. Here’s hoping I’m reading something wrong.

At any rate, work starts monday, so expect to see bulldozers and heavy equipment camped out. If you’re down in the morning you can help by making sure our beavers have cleared the area before work begins. Remember they still have lots on the west bank to feed on, including blackberry, cottonwood and poplar.

Beaver Mythology South American Style

heidi08 Beaver News, City Reports, In the News September 10, 2008

Every now and then I am stopped at the farmer’s market by someone who mentions a story they read about the South American beavers. I always correct them instinctively that they must mean another species. Beaver range doesn’t even extend as far south as Mexico. Maybe they’re talking about capybara? Still, when Dr. Stack mentioned it again I figured I’d go google hunting, and lookie what I found! 45 breeding pairs of Castor canadensis (our beavers) introduced into Tierra del Fuego Argentina in 1946 for the purpose of starting a fur industry.

(Never mind that the very fur you are pursuing makes beavers a bad candidate for the temperatures there. Who cares if the beavers overheat as long as they breed and make nice felt for hats. Brilliant plan. How could it possibly fail?)

Now of course, they are complaining that the beavers are “wreaking havoc” on the ecosystem, have crossed the straights of Magellan into Chile and threatening the trees at Torres del Paine National Park, a UNESCO reserve. Hoards of angry beavers whose numbers have sky-rocketed because they have “no natural predators”, chomping their way towards the rainforests. How can they ever be stopped?

As if this wasn’t scary enough, the story goes on to describe that these uniquely destructive beavers have moved away from their traditional herbivore diet and are now eating fish! Their new diet makes them larger and ever more destructive with dams that stretch more than 100 meters! Super-beavers!

Where to begin?

Lets start with “no natural predators”. I understand since they are 5000 miles away from their natural predators they are not likely to get eaten by a bear. But hmm I wonder if there are any predators in Argentina and Chile that might like a little exotic beaver meat? Let me just check what’s around there, “87% of South America’s carnivore population occur in Argentina”. The maned wolf for one, and a variety of others. This book outlines seven species of carnivores living in the Pampas. Not to mention a dozen different kind of Caiman (crocodiles) that can be found anywhere there’s water. I guess no “natural predators” but a host of “unnatural” ones. And It’s not like beavers can offer much self defense.

Now for this “beavers eat fish” nonsense I went to the experts. I wrote our friends Skip Lisle, Sharon Brown and Jake Jacobsen. Is it possible? Have they talked to anyone who saw this? Here are their responses:

I wouldn’t be surprised if beavers eat a piece of carrion occasionally, but they don’t typically make a habit of eating fish, on any continent. I haven’t heard any Argentina beaver discussions with anybody for a few years.
Skip Lisle

The part about eating fish is not credible. We’ve heard other stories though that they’re downing trees in a reserve etc. All that needs to be balanced with the planned human devastation of that area—perhaps we’ll do an article about it in the next issue.

Sharon Brown

The wrecking havoc part is correct. Biology of the animal does not support the fish eating scenario. Beaver wreck havoc wherever they go. They are ecosystem engineers. That’s what that means. They change environments. The environment complains, but then adapts, and is improved (but only if you value wetlands). People are less adaptable.

Jake Jacobson

I don’t know anyone working on the introduced North American beavers in South America. I think the reported numbers may be credible, and no doubt they cut down trees in ecosystems that are not accustomed to such, but I do not believe they are eating fish. utterly no reports anywhere in the voluminous beaver literature of that. Their teeth, behavior, and digestive systems make that extremely unlikely.

Steve Boyle

Okay, so that seriously challenges the fish rumor. Who said that anyway? Hmm, the paper quoted John Holding of Schomberg Ontario. He must be a brilliant beaver biologist right? Well-respected for his countless hours in the field and his breakthrough research on the new carnivorous beaver? Um, no. He’s an attorney and former civil servant from Canada who practices mediation.

HOLDING, JOHN
Until retirement in 2002, John Holding, of Schomberg, practiced civil litigation with Borden & Elliot (later Borden Ladner Gervais). He currently practices mediation at ADR Chambers. Mr. Holding is former Director and Treasurer of the Advocates’ Society and Chair of the Committee on revision of rules of civil procedure. He is the author of the Canadian Manual of International Air Carriage, and an active member of the McMichael Gallery Volunteer Committee. Mr. Holding attended the University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall Law School. He was called to the Ontario Bar in 1959, and subsequently called to the Bars of Alberta and Yukon. In 1971, he was appointed as Queen’s Counsel.

And R. Garth Kidd? The other name in the article? Also an attorney at McTague Lawfirm in Ontario Canada. Hmm. Well okay, maybe they got lead astray by the beavers eating fish story and the “no natural predators” line, but they’re right about the “wreaking havoc on the trees” aren’t they? I mean beavers must be the most important threat to the trees of Argentina and Chile, right? It’s not like large money is cutting out forests everywhere to plant soya and other biofuel crops?

Oh.

And there you have it. Alarming lies about beavers told by attorneys to an obliging media who performs its steno-sue function and dutifully prints the unexamined story as it is explained to them.

I’m sure glad that never happens here!

Footprint

heidi08 City Reports, Creative Solutions, Educational August 15, 2008

If there were any question before, it is becoming more and more clear that the Martinez Beavers are leaving their footprint on the community, and far beyond it. If yesterday’s EPA post needs to be corrected that its CalEPA and not the Feds (and the environmental curriculm for K-12, not a free calendar) then look beyond our borders at the city of Surrey British Columbia. Remember them? They got a whole lot of attention for their beaver killing spree, and our friend from New Zealand stopped by for a chat with the council. Now the city has decided to hire an “expert” about behavior management. Some areas will be altered with flow devices and some beavers will be relocated to carefully selected sites.

Its almost a victory, although Carrie Baron drainage manager is still no friend of the beavers. One report said that they were paying the consultant 15,000 dollars and she hoped “some of the beavers could be saved“. Some? They also said that they’re going to keep these desireable locations a secret from other communities so they don’t try to dump off their beavers first. The mind reels. How about using the 15,000 dollars to do an EIR and learn which areas would benefit from habitat repair and water management, ranking the need for beaver introduction? How about using the beavers to increase the salmon runs and wildlife homes and working with neighboring cities to introduce the position of Watershed Steward that can manage these issues over time?

Surrey, it’s possible that your first plan for the secret killing of beavers, and now your second plan for the secret saving of beavers, lacks some of the transparency that your ecologically minded residents require.

So what does Surrey have to do with Martinez? Well lots of us wrote Ms. Baron, and we get a steady stream of traffic on the site looking up information for them. Like Kern county, it’s another example of beaver visibility forcing better beaver decisions, and we are a large part of that. If you need to be reminded, check out Mike Callahan’s letter on why we fight. It seems like it was written a hundred years ago, but its worth reading over now.

More evidence of our beaver footprint comes from the Chowhound of all places. If you’ve never heard of it you should know it’s a National website reviewing local eateries and foodstuffs. A couple of weeks ago their SF blogger stopped by the Farmer’s market and really appreciated what s/he saw. Apparently we chatted about beavers, although there is no way to know which conversation sparked this. (I’m reminded of the old myths of Zeus visiting villagers in the disguise of a tattered old man, so that he could test the hospitality of his followers.) Anybody can be a visiting blogger with a national following: it’s a good idea to answer all their questions and be polite!

I agree the beavers are every bit the tourist attraction that the sea lions are at Pier 39. It made me stop. At the farmers market there is a stand with beaver info and pictures of where to look and what to look for … main dam, secondary dam, beaver lodge and beaver deceiver (to keep the stream from flooding). It was very interesting. Martinez is much more beaver educated than it once was. There is much more info and cute beaver pictures in the next link. An amusing page is Beaver Myths: More dam rumors.” rworange Chowhouds

Once you start following the footprint left by the Martinez Beavers, you see that the ripple effect is all around us. Even Vacaville, with their prehistoric beaver-beliefs, is feeling the effects of our effort and enthusiasm. We should comfort ourselves with the fact that for every colony we preserve, we are also helping countless, fish, heron, otter and muskrats who benefit from the habitat the beavers create.

That’s a return on investment everyone of us can get behind.

Flood Plain & Simple

heidi08 City Reports July 17, 2008

Yesterday I met with city engineer Tim Tucker to discuss the plan for sediment removal from the bank near the secondary dam. There is good news and bad news. The good news is that the work will not touch the dam or the creek area, and the city seems willing to hear input from beaver interests. The bad news is that it is slated for the entire bank from the Marina Vista bridge past the foot bridge and down as far as the train bridge. The area which is measured at 100 feet wide will be protected with a short silt fence and then scraped to remove all vegetation and soil. This means the beavers primary source of foraging will be destroyed, and although it will ultimately be replanted, the habitat won’t be returned to its current state for a year or more.

The plan proposes leaving a two foot strip around the area, and a few trees up by the parking lot. Last night I discussed this at the City Council meeting and said this would be hugely impactful for our beavers, at the very time that they have four new mouths to feed. I pointed out that the city was removing 98% of their habitat and proposing to leave them 2%. Julian Frazer spoke with the good suggesting of removing the area in patches “like hair loss treatment” so that the habitat could recover more easily.

There was some willingness on the part of Ross, Delaney & Tucker to consider allowing more habitat to be saved, say ten percent rather than 2. However, Schroder and Kennedy both expressed concern that human interests would be deterred by beaver interests. (Menesini wasn’t there). It was left that the city planner was going to speak with the project planner to see whether the effort could be made to preserve more habitat without reducing the flood benefit, which is the goal.

It was hopeful that beaver interests were discussed, but concerning that a seeming undercurrent is still to minimize the attractiveness of our creek and hopefully send the beavers packing. This morning I woke up thinking about the “silt fence” the plan proposes, and realizing that the beavers will be HIGHLY motivated to get through that fence and access the feeding areas. Usually these fences are important for meeting regulations about disturbed materials getting back into the waterway. If it’s simple wooden stakes and plastic (as it often is in construction) they will chew right through with little effort, and the contractor will have to repair that fence every morning. If its something more substantial, the beavers may still tunnel under and this could undermine worker efforts to keep the sediment away from the water.

As it stands I can see no way that a two foot berm will be sufficient habitat for eight hungry beavers. Obviously some minor changes to the project can leave them their feeding range and still improve the flood plain. Plain and simple.