Category: City Reports

Even Steven with Beaver Stories

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers and Birds, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental, Massachusetts Trapping Law, Who's blaming beavers now?, Who's Killing Beavers Now?, Who's saving beavers now? January 12, 2015

Two steps forward, two steps back. I don’t think we’re moving at all. But I guess good news takes a ton more work to get published, so it matters more. We should be content to see the positive paired with a couple stinkers. Especially in January. Let’s be good stoics and save the good news for last. Before the sugar we need two spoonfuls of bitter beaver ignorance from Massachusetts.

City gets approval to trap beavers causing flooding in South Lowell

LOWELL — A bucktoothed menace reared its furry head in South Lowell last spring, turning Charles Tamulonis’ backyard into a mosquito-infested swamp.

“There’s always this thing about ‘save the beavers,'” Tamulonis said. “But it’s the greatest nuisance in the world depending on where you live.”

Soon after the dam appeared, he began writing to every city official he could think of. For almost a month, nothing happened,

But eventually he spoke with Ralph Snow, commissioner of the Department of Public Works, and the city embarked on the arduous task of securing the proper permitting to breach a dam and trap the beavers — not to mention actually taking on the dam itself.

It took more than five months for the city to secure the proper approval. During that time, a trapper caught 12 beavers behind Tamulonis’ property, some of the weighing more than 50 pounds.

You asked public works last? I would have asked them first. They are notorious for hating beavers! Lessons learned I guess. So you killed a dozen beavers. 2 parents, 5 yearlings and 5 kits. Now the water won’t drip into your basement any more. Never mind that Mike Callahan of Beaver Solutions is 100 miles away, and could have fixed this problem for the long term. Never mind that he just emailed that he gave a TALK last year to the Lowell Conservation Commission. You wanted those 12 beavers dead, and now they are.

Je Suis Castor?

(Mike just added that 12 beavers would be HIGHLY unusual for an urban setting. 5-6 is more common. Sometimes trappers lie to inflate their fees. Which is pretty comforting, but I still need to post this:)

On to the next lie:

Towns to discuss mosquito control budget

The Central Massachusetts Mosquito Control Project also runs a program to breach beaver dams, which cause rivers and streams to become stagnant and attract mosquitoes.

“Those impede water flow,” said Oram.

The $2 million budget, which is a 2.1 percent increase over the $1.9 million fiscal 2015 budget, includes a $20,000 increase for pesticides, garden tools and supplies, $10,000 more for spraying equipment upgrades and $70,000 more in salary increases.

Obviously they need more money. It’s hard work thinking up lies that good! And all those mosquitoes won’t kill themselves! I suppose if Northboro is good for the money they should ask for the moon and see what happens. It’s not like anyone will point out that if more fish and invertebrates are found in beaver ponds, they’ll be lots more trying to eat that larvae. Why worry your pretty head about details like that?

Bring us some good news. I’ve had my fill of liars and murderers this morning. Okay, how about this from New Hampshire?

Beavers help environment, but conflicts with humans can arise

Moose and deer, wood frogs and salamanders, mergansers and great blue herons, otters and weasels – all thrive in the habitats created by beavers.

“I think of them as great little wildlife managers,” said Dave Anderson, a naturalist and director of education at the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests.

Beaver is a “keystone species,” Anderson said. “If we were to eliminate their activity, we’d lose wetlands that are critical habitats.”

Anderson, who also co-writes the “Forest Journal” column in the New Hampshire Sunday News, said killing all the animals in an area isn’t a long-term solution to beaver problems.

“You can’t trap them out of existence,” he said. “If you make a gap and the habitat’s suitable, there will be (other) beavers moving in.”

How much do you love Dave right now? Hurray for beaver wisdom in New Hamshire! Dave is also a forest columnist for the New Hamshire journal, so he has a great platform to preach the beaver gospel. But he needs to be a little less passive with his solutions for land-owners I think:

As long as a well or septic system isn’t threatened, homeowners can just wait out the beavers, Tate said. Once they exhaust the available food supply, they’ll move somewhere else, and new ones won’t move in for another seven years or so.

Well, I think I will write Dave about fast-acting solutions that will let land owners cooperate with beavers. In the meantime thank you SO MUCH for your great promotional efforts! I think this is probably the VERY BEST article we have had on beavers from the state.

Let’s conclude with some very cheerful beaver reporting from Kent England. I can’t embed the video but if you click on the photo it will take you to where you can watch three minutes of the delightful story unfolding Enjoy!

Beaver Colony Flourishes in Kent

“We’ve never seen anything like this”

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Who's blaming beavers now? January 9, 2015

Apparently this was such an unexpected calamity in Woodinville that there are no fewer than 20 articles on the subject this morning. Traffic stopped because of an actual beaver blocking an actual culvert! That ~~never~~ (always) happens! I suppose this beaver built his dam far inside the culvert, where it was harder to remove. (Pretty smart actually. More privacy AND protection). Valiant Washington Transportation Crews worked all day using grappling hooks and security lines. Reporters stood by faithfully reporting on their every progress. “He’s inside the pipe. We have first contact”.

Honesstly, you would think they were free climbing El Capitan’s Dawn Wall.

At least its not as bad as Hamilton, Ontario where, out of the blue, unexpected beavers are suddenly taking established trees for no reason at all!

MAHONEY: A trail of beaver dam-age

The beaver finds many trees at hand. Along the Waterfront Trail, for instance. So now we have a problem; not so horribly divisive as, say, the one-way/two-way street debate over which Hamilton families have torn themselves asunder, but it’s a puzzler. We’re losing arbour by the harbour-ful.

“He’s incredible,” says John Smith, half admiringly, half resentfully, pointing out a bare patch in the beautiful screen of trees between trail path and water.

“Look at the gap he’s cleared away.”

I count 12 stumps in a four-metre stretch, but everywhere along the trail one finds ample evidence of the beaver’s xylophagic efficiency (sit back down; it means “wood-eating”).

Beavers chewing trees in winter? Say it isn’t so! I mean you cover the beaver beat for a few years, and you think you’ve hardened to the horror of it all. You think nothing can penetrate that thick skin you’ve developed after all the damage and brutalization. But then something like this happens and just throws everything into chaos.

First the culvert, and now this!

There must be some way to solve this problem. Some clue to a solution. But where? The article kindly mentions that walkers like the beavers so killing them isn’t an option. But what else can they do? If there was only some indication of a solution that they could go on, just some hint or shred of evidence of what might possibly work,

Too bad the article was only published with this ole’ photo.

BUSY BEAVERS John Rennison,The Hamilton Spectator John Smith marvels at the work of our national emblem, the beaver. But as an avid user of our water front trail, he's noticed a drastic decrease in the tree population along the shore and islands of the trail because of beaver damage.

Rally and Defend

heidi08 Beavers and Birds, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Environmental, featured, Friends of Martinez Beavers, Who's saving beavers now? January 4, 2015

“Race against time” to raise £20,000 needed to secure beaver family’s future on River Otter

AFTER staggering £30,000 was raised in three weeks, a leading conservation charity is appealing for help to raise the remaining £20,000 needed to secure the future of a family of River Otter wild beavers.

A public meeting has been arranged by Natural England in Ottery St Mary this month and public support has been dubbed “vital” in securing their return to the river banks near the town. Backed by East Devon MP Hugo Swire, the Devon Wildlife Trust applied for a licence from Natural England for their re-release in October.

The licence would give the charity permission to set up a five year monitoring project called the River Otter Beaver Trial. The project will oversee the population, range and health of the beavers and the effect they have on the local landscape and people.

It will focus on the beavers’ impact on wildlife, vegetation, water flow, water quality, communities and infrastructure. But it will cost around £50,000.

Devon is leaping into action to save its beavers, and I couldn’t be happier. As I am that beaver instigator Derek Gow will be coming with Paul and Louise Ramsay to the State of The Beaver Conference! We might even lure them over for a barbecue when its all finished.

Let it be clearly said that it all started with the farmer who had the foresight to let an environmentalist install a night cam. None of this would have been possible without that. People care about what they can see. And the media never does anything without a good photo. These were the very best beaver photos in 5 centuries. Think about that.

We have had a number of donations, some as large as several thousand pounds, and this shows the depth of feeling out there.

“But we now have a race against time to secure the remaining amount to ensure a viable longer term project and enhance the chances of the beavers having a longer term future on the River Otter.”

The public meeting will take place on Wednesday, January 14, at 6.30pm, Ottery St Mary Scout Centre on Winters Lane.

You can add to their donations here:

the countryside of my ancestors, and I hope that meeting is even more crowded than the first. But in my head – from a strictly pragmatic view – it has been wonderful for beavers everywhere that DEFRA has been such monstrous idiots about this whole process. I have loved reading people extol beaver benefits from all over Europe and even Australia. Having something to prove has been amazing for the beaver public image. I’ll almost be sorry to see it go.

Almost.

I’m looking forward to what happens next. In the mean time, I spent yesterday working on adding a Napa section to my urban beaver talk for Oregon. Rusty Cohn was kind enough to give me great photos and I think it shows elegantly the vibrant effect of beavers on a neglected city creek.

“The beatings will continue until morale improves.”

heidi08 City Reports, Who's Killing Beavers Now? January 3, 2015

Chelan utility steps up beaver-erradication effort

WENATCHEE — The Chelan County Public Utility District wants to get rid of pesky beavers destroying newly planted trees and shrubs in Entiat Park and shoreline vegetation in Walla Walla Point, Confluence and Riverfront parks.

#So, the utility is expanding its contract with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to trap, remove and destroy beavers.

“The trapping will cease when the vegetation destruction stops,” the statement said.

How far the mighty have fallen. Wenatchee is in the very middle of Washington state, one county over from Snohomish which has had the best beaver management for 20 years. But Wenatchee just paid to plant trees in the park and can’t think of a single thing to do except kill those dam tree-chewers once and for all. Well once anyway. New beavers will be back in the area soon, and they’ll have to wash rinse and repeat. Never mind that they’re an hour north of Yakima and two hours south of Methow, the only option is killing.

“At this time of year, the only alternative is to remove and eliminate the beaver, since relocation wouldn’t be viable during the winter because the beaver would be unable to rebuild their dens,” a written statement released by the utility last week said. “If the beaver remain a problem in the spring, the PUD will work with Okanogan County officials to relocate the beaver in an area where their dam-building could be a beneficial erosion control method in fire-destroyed areas.”

meet it is I set it down,

That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain;

At least I’m sure it may be so in Washington.

Hamlet I:V

And there you have it, ladies and gentleman. What it looks like when people who know better lie through their smiling lips. We can’t possibly MOVE the beavers because they might starve and freeze in the cold winter. Much kinder to crush them to death now, when their warm and well fed. And no we can’t possibly protect the trees any other way. Why do you ask?

Good news from Jon who saw our own truant beavers building the secondary dam this morning at 5 am. Rusty caught this in Napa a couple days ago. Keep your eye on the bottom third of the video.

Last but not least, a stunning photo from our beaver friend Ann Siegal who has been similarly beaver-deprived in the long winter. I guess three great blue herons will do in a pinch.

ann blue hernons — Juvenile Great Blue Heron flies while siblings watch.
Ann Cameron Siegal

MMXV

heidi08 Beaver Art, Beaver Behavior, Beavers and water, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Who's saving beavers now? January 1, 2015

Happy 2015! We can celebrate the new year with some great beaver stories and two fantastic images. The first is from Alberta and made me smile.

Broken beaver dam in Ont. leads to fines for Alberta company

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry says it has fined an Alberta mining company for breaking a beaver dam near Savant Lake, in northwestern Ontario.

Pacific Iron Ore Corporation of Calgary pleaded guilty in court on Dec. 9 and was fined $1,500 for unlawfully destroying a beaver dam, according to a news release issued by the ministry on Wednesday.

The incident happened in 2013.

That’s when the ministry said Pacific Iron Ore contracted an excavation company to remove a beaver dam near Six Mile Lake Road so it could drill in the area. Breaking the dam caused the road to flood.

Ahh I love it when people get fined for removing beaver dams! Especially when they’re mininng companies! Apparently you can just send a contractor to rip out a dam and call it a day. It wasn’t a very big fine though. I’m sure the company made lots more than 1500 dollars after they got rid of the obstacle.

Goal for 2015? Bigger fines!

This story from Devon was even better:

OTTERY: Community rallies to back beaver appeal

The creatures’ plight has stirred residents into action and the Devon Wildlife Trust says it has received overwhelming support from local people in its efforts to ensure the family of rare animals is returned safe and sound after testing.

In recent weeks a renowned local wildlife artist has donated proceeds from the sale of a unique portrait to the trust, and youngsters across the parish have been learning about the animals and in school lessons.

The fundraising appeal was also given a high profile boost by TV wildlife presenter Chris Packham, who took to Twitter to highlight the appeal to his 112,000 followers.

Artist Emma Bowring, who was named among the finalists in the BBC’s Wildlife Artist of the Year in 2012, produced a one-off oil painting of one of the animals.

The portrait, titled ‘Eager Beaver’, was developed from a photograph taken at Escot, near Ottery St Mary.

Whoo Whoo! Go Devon! There isn’t anything better than a city protecting its beavers. We should know. I’m really starting to think those Devon beavers have a fighting chance. Oh and that Emma Bowring donation discussed at the end of the article is the SAME Emma who just donated to our festival. (Thanks Emma) Her painting drew 700 pounds, which is almost 1000 dollars which will be used for the court case to keep beavers. Great work Devon, and Emma. I’m sure her stunning sketch at the festival will be popular too!

As will this, just donated yesterday by Gene Sherrill. It’s called “Sunset at beaver pond” Check out those fallen trees in the center. What a heavenly view!

Gene is a talented photographer from Indiana. He’s sending it as a 24 x 36 canvas ready for hanging.Thank you Gene! And now we know there’s at least one beaver supporter in Indiana!

Finally, I happened to be hunting down someone who stole Cheryl’s photo without permission yesterday, and came across this which I found literally years ago but never saved and didn’t know how to find again. It is a stunning uncredited photo, and I’m going to guess its European in origin.

How could anyone NOT love an animal that does this with its young?