And in case you want to sing along…(Verse 6 is my favorite!)
Now for some follow up to the week’s news, Mike Callahan is in Washington having his first meeting with Ben, Mike and Jake this morning about installing flow devices that allow salmon passage. Doug and Brien wrote me back this morning from Indiana to say thank you for the helpful information about managing beavers in DePauw Nature Park. And Bonnie from Texas who convinced a developer to pay for installation of a “beaver deceiver” that would drain the pond and make the beavers leave has thoughtfully pointed out that my article on the effort was sarcastic.
179 W. Broadway, to be precise. That’s the address of Fur-bearer Defenders in BC where our good friend Adrian Nelson is putting in flow devices faster than they used to kill beavers. (And that’s pretty fast.) Just read this great story from yesterday
Don’t believe me? Check out this fantastic article:
Beaver dams threatened to flood a section of Highway 101 in Egmont, but thanks to two days of volunteer efforts, the road is now safe — and the beavers are, too.
“The resident in Egmont with the acreage really liked the beavers being there. The habitat they created was bringing in elk, which he really loved, and even when we were there we saw gorgeous song birds,” Fox said. “So he didn’t want to harm the beavers, but it was a little too close for comfort. The dam was built near the roadway.”
Members of the Furbearer Defenders group Lesley Fox, Jim Atkinson and Adrian Nelson and Friends of Animals member Dave Shishkoff travelled to Egmont on July 31 and Aug. 7 to install two pond levellers and some exclusion fencing to appease the beavers and protect the roadway.
Hurray for Adrian and FBD! And our new friend Dave Shishkoff all of whom drove three hours both ways two times to pull this off! I’m thinking they have earned some beaver love for their hard work so go donate what you can and remind people that beavers are a good thing to take care of.
Cheryl sent an army of excellent photos from her visit to the beavers on Saturday. If I had any impulse control at all I’d eek them out by sharing one a day. But you’re in luck, because it’s always Christmas morning around here. There was lovely fresh willow to keep them occupied and a cast of characters made their appearance.
Kit chases adult with Willow – Photo by Cheryl Reynolds
Did you see that little straggler behind? Looks like he is working hard to catch up!
Kit catches up to Willow – Photo by Cheryl Reynolds
Wait for me! I was especially happy to see this familiar face – although given the current state of our dams I know he’s around and feeling fine! You’ve heard of bad hair days right? Well, our patriarch has what I’m going to call “DAD HAIR DAYS”.
Father Beaver’s unique do! Photo Cheryl Reynolds
Ha! Great to see Dad in all his glory! He must have VERY powerful Castoreum! There were various close encounters of the beaver kind:
Beaver Nose & Whiskers Photo Cheryl Reynolds
And finally something that looks uncannily like a beaver kit waiving!
Beaver Kit Waiving – Photo Cheryl Reynolds
Which was so adorable I had to go marching back through the archives to show that, yes, Martinez has the most friendly beavers on the entire planet. Thanks so much Cheryl for this closeup meet the beavers! Am I wrong or shouldn’t this be the new billboard as you come off the Benicia bridge?
RICHARD COCKLE/ Loren Stout, a John Day ex-logger and ex-rancher, inspects a beaver dam along Deer Creek in Grant County. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife opened up at least one beaver dam along this busy tributary of the John Day River System last spring to enable migrating steelhead to pass. Biologists say beaver dams benefit fish, but low water made it impossible for steelhead to get past some dams. Stout claims he freed two 29-inch steelhead that became caught in a dam. (RICHARD COCKLE/THE OREGONIAN)
JOHN DAY — Here in Grant County, bumper stickers sometimes proclaim, “Beaver Taught Salmon How to Jump,” a light-hearted commentary on the lowly animal’s place in the biological hierarchy.
But the North American beaver, the world’s third-biggest rodent, is more abundant today in the Beaver State than you might expect. And a thriving beaver population can be too much of a good thing, according to biologists for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, who partially dismantled a beaver dam southwest of John Day in May to open up Deer Creek to migrating steelhead.
“We got reports from two or three members of the public that there were steelhead stacked up below this beaver dam,” explained ODFW biologist Jeff Neal of John Day. He blamed a disappointing winter snowpack and undersized springtime flows for making it impossible for threatened steelhead to get past the dam.
Don’t you just hate when steelhead get backed up behind a beaver dam in low flow conditions! Those poor fish! If only there were NO beaver dams and all the streams were dried up entirely! Then those fish could just ride trail bikes up the creek bed in comfort. Good lord this article annoys me. Why on earth do cattle ranchers get interviewed about their unfounded fears about steelhead? And why do those fears get written down as if they had some kind of merit?
But ranchers like Stout and Stangle argue that summertime water in the pools behind dams turns warm under the sun’s heat, which they say can’t be good for steelhead. “The holy grail of the steelhead is the temperature of the water,” said Stangel, adding that beaver aggravate that problem by gnawing down trees, alder and underbrush that otherwise would provide cooling shade.
Wrong, says Corrarino. Beaver dams force the ponded water down into the soil, where it is cooled. The water then recharges summertime river channels, providing fish with chilly, plentiful water, he said. In winter, rain and snowmelt wash woody debris into beaver ponds where it shelters fish, “so they don’t use all their energy fighting the current and avoiding predators,” says Corrarino.”
Of course not all beavers are busy ruining our fish with their traffic-jamming-dams. Some beavers that don’t build dams are like an entirely new species and have crazy unpredictable habits.
ODFW biologist DeWayne Jackson of Roseburg said many beaver don’t build dams, and thus go unnoticed. Known to biologists as “bank beavers,” they are nocturnal and hide in underground burrows that sometimes extend 50 feet back from a stream, with an underwater entrance, said Jackson.
50 feet back from the stream? Really? To paraphrase Jerry Maguire, “Show me the DATA”. Funny story, in Martinez folks were certain that beavers tunneled miles from the water and undermined the city, and when Skip dug up the lodge he found one hole the size of a bathtub. Period.
Neal, the state biologist in John Day, would like to see more beaver and more dams in Oregon’s high country. Many intermittent streams in the John Day River Basin that are dry this time of year could have year-around and late-season flows if beaver were present, he said.
That, Neal said, would benefit ranchers and rural residents. “Out here, water is everything,” he said.
Some ranchers aren’t so sanguine. Still convinced beavers harm fish more than they help, the cattlemen worry they’ll be stuck holding the bag. “There is a lot of fuzzy math when it comes to the government, period,” said Harry Stangel, 68, of Dayville. “Cows are always gonna be blamed.”
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is what it looks like when when information is knocking at the door and STUPID is still holding it tightly shut from the inside. I suppose it’s nice to see this argument taking place in Oregon where there are at least voices of reason in the mix. But honestly, should we even be having this discussion in John Day of all places? Have you ever seen this 2010 report?
There are two remarkable stories today to share with you. They involve very hard work caring for beavers and trying to explain what they need to people who should know better, and bending the media into an ally that works with you instead of against you. One of them involves a Diesel Spill and lots and lots of towels, and the other a suspicious town that was practically the subject of an Arthur Miller play. Don’t miss either of them, honestly.
Uinta Mountains • Utah’s famous Willard Bay beavers got a new home and a happy send-off Tuesday after nearly five months of living in an Ogden wildlife rehabilitation center.
“I’m sad to see them go, but it is for the best,” said Brayden Child, a Roy volunteer. “I’ll miss them.”
There were periods of trepidation, fleeting moments of success, lots of baths and the never-ending hunt for fresh aspen to feed the buck-toothed creatures.
“It has been a roller-coaster ride of emotions,” Erickson said. “We came in every morning holding our breath while we peeked in and hoped they were still alive. It was hard not knowing what we would see or what new problems may have come up. We celebrated the tiniest bit of progress.
Beavers, Douglass said, are great habitat creators and will be a welcome addition to the river drainage in the Uintas where they were released.
One beaver injured his toe in captivity and will be released with the others later after it heals. Mom gets her own makeshift lodge at the other end of the pond, and the four yearlings will be cozy together. Congratulations DaLyn and her many, many volunteers. I know these beavers cost time and resources, but they must have brought a lot of visibility, resources and hopefully your next crop of volunteers along the way. Worth A Dam is very, very proud to have helped you a little in the process and I have only one question.
When do I get my signed copy of the “Beavers in towels” calendar?
As if that wasn’t good enough news you will NEVER guess who wrote me this week, after reading my comments in their local paper and wanting to learn more about flow devices. Go ahead, I’ll wait while you scan past my disbelieving posts for the past few days. Did you find it? It involved some grave-robbing turtles and a trapper who wasn’t allowed to remove dead bodies. One of the town planners for Danvers Massachusetts, that’s who. So I wrote her about our flow device and showed her options and resources. And cc’d Mike who wrote her himself! And this morning we see this article.
With the water rising, town officials hired a licensed trapper, and the Department of Public Works partially removed the dam and set traps, Saunders wrote, adding that a “more permanent solution” is needed.
Saunders suggested the use of “beaver deceivers,” a system of large plastic pipes and mesh fences that would allow the water to flow and is hard for beavers to block. They are in use at the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary in Topsfield.
The next step will be to create a management plan to find a long-term solution to flooding from beaver dams. Trapping beavers and knocking down dams will not solve the problem, Carleo said.
“When you kill the beavers off, because they are territorial creatures, new beavers will move into the area,” said Carleo, who said that the DPW will also be involved in finding a solution.
He said “pond levelers,” pipes that allow water to run through them but don’t allow beavers to detect the running water, might make a difference, but he said they do not work in all instances.
She wrote me a few days ago and said that Mr. Carleo should be copied in our correspondence because he would be the one handling it. Looking at his lovely quotes I can see he carefully read every word.
I’m hopeful that this means good news for Danvers and their beaver learning curve. But I don’t take anything for granted anymore. Way back when we were still working the farmer’s market I learned first hand that when our town was worried about beavers our then city treasurer saw a documentary on Skip Lisle and flow devices and she was so excited about finding the answer she invited the city manager and director of public works and the entire city council into her living room for a watching party. Finally a humane solution! No flooding and no danger and no dead beavers! It’s the perfect answer.
Guess how many of our fine city minds in Martinez came for the viewing? I’ll give you a hint, it’s a round number.
The good news is that this story is already being repeated to the media, which makes it very hard to pretend later you didn’t know about it. I’m guessing Danvers will be smarter than Martinez, and I’m very, very proud to have played a tiny part in helping them get the right answers.
Still, I’ll be keeping the turtle graphic just in case.
In the days immediately following a successful beaver festival I am suffused in a warm glow of fuzzy good feeling. Things are changing little by little for beavers, and we are helping in our little way. Martinez got smarter and other cities can too. Gradually the nation’s beaver IQ will go up and then we’ll all benefit.
Even with this heady insulation, a few shockingly disturbing articles manage to float to my in box (like the woman who made baby beaver dolls out of ACTUAL baby beavers) and I think, NO. I won’t write about that. I won’t pollute this good feeling I worked so hard to have with that artless sadism. The arc of environmentalism is long, but it does bend towards beavers. We are moving in the right direction.
Over the years, beavers have built dams on the stream that runs between that neighborhood and Endicott Park. The stream runs down under Maple Street and eventually to College Pond.
“The wetland is behind our property,” wrote David Saunders of 12 Brentwood Circle. Saunders was unable to attend the meeting, and neighbor Mary Jalbert read his letter to the selectmen. “We have never seen flooding as bad as it has been this year in June and July. In the past we have had many temporary flooding events in the springtime — but they receded very soon after the rain fall subsided. This year they did not recede.”
Jalbert explained to the selectmen that the health inspector had visited the area twice this summer and on the second visit ordered a licensed trapper to remove the main dam. While the water level dropped some after the dam was removed, the water has now become stagnant.
Did you get that? This is a classy neighborhood just 5 miles from Salem, and the home-owners complained the beaver dams were backing up too much water. So the city removed the dams (and the beavers) and now they’re complaining that the water is too stagnant.
“Unless something is done to get this water moving, we are going to have more water back up to property,” said Ryan. “That’s going to seep into property. Mold will develop. And we will have a health issue in that regard as well. Not to mention damage to personal property.”
He added that the stagnant water is also a prime breeding ground for mosquitoes.
“When the dam was there, water was actually flowing,” said Soles. “Since they have removed the dam, I can agree the water doesn’t move.”
Let me get this straight. When the beavers were alive there was too much water. And now that the beavers are dead there’s not enough flow? And you’re in Massachusettes? Where solutions from both Mike Callahan and Skip Lisle are about 2 hours away from you?
“The wetland is behind our property,” wrote David Saunders of 12 Brentwood Circle. Saunders was unable to attend the meeting, and neighbor Mary Jalbert read his letter to the selectmen. “We have never seen flooding as bad as it has been this year in June and July. In the past we have had many temporary flooding events in the springtime — but they receded very soon after the rain fall subsided. This year they did not recede.”
Gosh, worse flooding than ever before. Those dam beavers! Moving in and ruining everything with the furry ways. Oh wait,
Rainfall was the headliner this year. June gave us copious amounts. We had 17 days with rain, much of it from tropical downpours that flooded streets and homes locally. From the 6th to the 8th, we had over 3 inches of rain here in Salem. Thunderstorms were no strangers. We had six days that produced these storms, some with an abundance of thunder, lightning and damaging winds.
So you had more rain than usual and even though the beavers built up their dams to keep the water, some flowed over while the dams were there. But you didn’t like all that water and hired a trapper and lo and behold in August the water isn’t flowing anymore! And now you’re worried about mosquitoes and mold. Oh and something worse.
He said algae was covering the wetlands now, and worse yet, a dead beaver was causing an awful stink. He said the trapper had told him dead beavers are not allowed to be removed but they can be buried, which was done.
“They buried it and supposedly turtles brought it back up,” said Soles. “And it’s rotting and we can’t open up our windows.”
I think I am more fond of this graphic than any I ever made. I suppose a healthy turtle would eat carrion. But even with my vivid imagination it is hard for me that they would unbury a beaver corpse and chow down. It was even harder for me to imagine that dead beaver bodies couldn’t be removed in MA. The entire state would be drowning in them if that were so! I asked our resident MA expert who happens to be married to a trapper. “Not true and completely ridiculous” was his answer. Apparently the reporter of this story didn’t bother with the cumbersome burden of verification.
Grave-robbing turtles, mold and mosquitoes, you would think this story couldn’t get any better. But gentle reader, you’d be wrong.
Jalbert raised another concern. A “floating” sewer was installed in that neighborhood and she wondered if the rising water levels would affect its performance
Floating sewer? A sewer that floats? Now how could that possibly go wrong? This entire town seems woefully unready for the demands of civilization. Honestly this whole story is rumor after heresay after gossip after imagination. I seem to remember this area was famous once for believing impossibly crazy things that their neighbors uttered and taking it for fact. You would think that in 321 years the region would have learned at least to look for a smidgeon of evidence before taking irreversible action.
And in case you want to sing along…(Verse 6 is my favorite!)
