Did you ever play this game at a party or on a road trip? You say three inscrutable things about your life, like ‘I played bass in high school, My first paid job was as a peanut, and I never smoked marijuana’. And your companions have to spot the lie. It’s a fairly fun way to pass the time. (Word of advice – always think of the lie first, or your delivery will give the whole thing away.)
Well this morning we have two lovely things about beavers, and one that’s fairly dismal and packed with lies, so I’ll let you pick which one is which. The first comes with an email I received this morning from Bob and Jean of Canada who did a lovely photo essay on some beavers along the Oxtongue river in Algonquin park in Ontario. You will have to go check them out themselves because the photos don’t allow shares, but consider this an appetizer:
Promise me you’ll go look and maybe leave a BEAVERS RULE comment on the site?
More alarm from Montana Audubon Conservation Education Center. Seems the wire fencing they were forced to install (against their will when folks didn’t want them to kill beavers) hasn’t worked because those selfish beavers really, really want to eat. Oh and Apropos of nothing, the temperature today is -19.
The large rodent stirred up a fuss in October by gnawing down about 50 trees surrounding ponds at the Audubon Conservation Education Center, south of Billings close to Riverfront Park.
It’s a popular natural area. There was talk of trapping and killing the beaver to save the trees, but that idea was rejected after a public outcry.
The trees were fenced off from the busy beaver, using heavy wire and posts pounded into the ground. That worked for some trees but not for others. Bucky has tunneled under fences to reach the trees and has gone over the top of other wires, or pulled them down. Bucky is a fairly big beaver. One estimate by the center’s staff put him at close to 80 pounds.
“I’ll tell you, they are tenacious,” said Darcie Vallant, Audubon Center director.
Very tenacious, Darcie. Almost as if they’re very lives depended on it!
Sigh.
And last but never least our own Bob Rust sends this photo of one small beaver taken last night around 10 at the location of the third dam, which has been getting a lot of attention lately. A lot of building with reeds too. Reed! Is that you? (In fact, more than the secondary, which could mean that we’ll have to swap the names soon!)
When does a beaver change from our national animal to a damnable building machine? When they hear running water, according to Tom Purdy, a local expert on the chew-happy critter.
“Scientists have actually got beavers to try and start building dams by playing the sound of running water in an empty room,” Purdy told London Community News Monday (Dec. 31).
Purdy will be making the inaugural presentation of the 2013 Nature in the City lecture series, Urban Beavers, on January 15. Scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Wolf Performance Hall at the Central branch of the London Public Library (LPL) on Dundas Street, Purdy said his 45-minute talk will explore the “natural and unnatural history” of the beloved rodent.
Urban beavers? That’s MY riff! Talking for 45 minutes about beavers in cities at a nature center? And you’re not me? This is one of those moments where I’m both affronted and oddly delighted to be replaced! I can share. It’s a big world. It’s going to take all kinds of voices to deliver the message.
Assuming we’re delivering the same message?
Purdy taught environmental science at the high school level for 17 years, and spent over a decade as a resource manager at Pinery Provincial Park, where there is a large beaver population.
“My main emphasis will be on what beavers are really like: how much they actually eat, how much and where they actually dam and whether or not we can control any of that,” he said. “And to explore the biological/ecological benefit to having them around.”
Beavers have been an issue in the north end of the city, where they have destroyed swathes of trees, chewed through golf course irrigation pipes and their dams have caused unwanted flooding on commercial and industrial properties.
Purdy said he wants to give some solid facts for everyone to chew over – whether they think the beavers should be left alone, or wiped off the face of the earth, and everyone in between.
Hmm…I still can’t tell if we’re playing on the same team. Sometimes in order to sound open minded you argue from both sides before stating your actual point, I get that. But I get worried when I hear the words FACTS and BEAVERS in the same sentence. They are so rarely accurately paired. This isn’t my first rodeo. I’ve heard folks pretend to be even-handed right before they explain that beavers ruin habitat for fish and spoil riparian borders. I’ve also heard very beaver-friendly folk go a long ways out of their way not to sound like a ‘hugger’ so that people will take them seriously. What’s the Purdy’s deal?
Purdy said he would focus on the beaver in three ways: first, on its history in North America dating back to pre-European/First Nations contact, our human relationship with the beaver and what features make the critter, which has a natural habitat that stretches from Texas to the Arctic Circle – so unique.
Uh-oh. what about the important 4th way? You know, the way where they are crucial wetlands creators and responsible for enormous biodiversity affecting fish, bird and wildlife populations, filtering pollutions and raising the water table? That way. Aren’t you going to talk about that?
The beaver topic came about as a result of listener reviews from last year’s lecture series. Tripp said when the organizing team was going over feedback cards, the beaver popped up a number of times as a desirable future subject.
“So this is the first time we’ve had to beat the ground so to speak and find someone who can speak about the beaver!
London is just a 2 hour drive from Toronto, where they have had Sherri Tippie speak twice at the fur-bearer defender’s conference and Mike Callahan came last year. I’m having a hard time believing that they couldn’t find anyone who knew about beavers before. Still, I’m glad it’s on the venue. I wrote Mr. Purdy about the benefits of our urban beavers, but haven’t heard back yet. It is almost always better to talk about things than not to talk about things, so I’m very hopeful.
Oh and our good friends at the River Otter Ecology Project are in the chronicle. (again) You should stop by and read about sutro sam and their enthusiastic efforts.
The otter, dubbed Sutro Sam, has been hanging out in a large spring-fed pool along the rocky coast, munching on the many overgrown goldfish dumped into the pond by residents over the years.
“This otter is the first otter recorded in decades and decades in San Francisco, and as far as I know he is the only otter in San Francisco,” said Megan Isadore, the co-founder and director of outreach and education for the River Otter Ecology Project, which is tracking otter sightings around the Bay Area. “He’s a beautiful animal, well fed. He appears to be perfectly happy and not afraid of people”
A River Otter named Sutro Sam by local biologists searches for fish to feed on at the Sutro Baths on December 30, 2012 in San Francisco, Calif. Photo: Sean Havey, The Chronicle / SF
How about an article next about Berrellessa Beaver?
The entrance sign to the Crows Woods Nature Preserve. Credit: Shelly Castorino
You may remember the horrific New Jersey beaver tale last year, where the local animal control officer Mark Johnson went out of his way to shoot two beavers in the public park and everyone scrambled to deny responsibility for the action. Because of the location and the college town ambiance, there was enough outrage to eventually charge him with a very minor crime, but no judge would hear the case and it kept getting moved farther afield to find someone that didn’t owe him favors. Go figure.
Well Haddonfield is about 45 miles south and very beaver savvy. They have taken it upon themselves to offer us the best possible beaver story in contrast. Brace yourselves. This is a once in a lifetime gift. A woman like me dreams of this kind of fortune, but doesn’t ever think it’s really possible. Take a deep breath and inhale the coming scent of 2013: where apparently anything is possible.
After a two-year hiatus, beavers have returned to Haddonfield’s Crows Woods Nature Preserve.
Vinny and Sal Calla, students at Haddon Heights High School, spotted two beavers swimming near a drain pipe that runs under the PATCO light-rail line earlier this week.
“We were trying to get a closer look when one beaver started slapping its tail on the water,” Vinny said. Sal explained “slapping the tail on the water is how they scare away predators.” Vinny and Sal were close enough to the beavers to capture excellent pictures of the furry duo.
For months, hikers, runners and visitors to Crows Woods have noticed dramatic changes to the shoreline along the Cooper River that runs through the preserve. Trees up to 12 inches in diameter were strategically cut to fall towards the river. Curved wooden shavings surrounded the base of each tree. The tell-tale signs of beaver activity were there, but until Tuesday morning, no one had seen an actual beaver.
Look at the reporter’s name. Castor, as you know, is the latin word for beaver, and ‘ino’ is a suffix meaning diminutive. So Castorino, Shelly’s lovely name, literally means LITTLE BEAVER. I imagine that a reporter from Patch could wait their whole life for the story that represents their destiny. An automotive story for Mr. Carman, a woodcutting tale for Mrs. Carpenter, a lost feline story for Lenore Delgato. But this for Shelly Castorino is an opportunity of epic proportions. Folks will be celebrating this in the news room for years to come.
Oh and Crow woods? It’s already under the watchful eye of our beaver friend Sarah Summerville at the Unexpected Wildlife Refuge. This entire Patch article is a beaver-fan’s Christmas treasure!
By Butch Brees, Haddonfield Parks Conservancy Trail Restoration Coordinator, and former Scoutmaster of Troop 65, Haddonfield, NJ
A few short months ago, the members of the Haddonfield Parks Conservancy of Haddonfield, NJ, became aware of a beaver, or beavers, beginning activity in establishing a new lodge in the 44-acre Crows Woods Nature Preserve. Not being an expert in the activities and processes of a young beaver establishing his new home, and being the Parks trail restoration coordinator, I contacted Sarah Summerville for information and lessons in Beavers 101. It wasn’t more than a few days and Sarah made the trip to meet with me and view the area where the beavers had begun building dams. It had been a long time since I had seen Sarah since I retired as Scoutmaster, so it was nice to see her again. Her information was extremely helpful in helping us to make a decision as to whether to let the beaver remain or try to have it removed.
When a family of beavers took up residence in a retention pond in Burlington’s Centennial Woods this past fall, field naturalist Teage O’Connor saw it as a learning opportunity: His students could watch the animals up close.
But the University of Vermont viewed their new tenants — and the dam they built — as a nuisance. Worried about flooding, the university this month set lethal traps to kill the large, semiaquatic rodents.
At least one of the four beavers — an adult male that O’Connor nicknamed Melvin — is already dead. Now O’Connor and others are calling for the university to halt the trapping until spring, when the beavers could be relocated.
Remember our friend watching urban beavers in Vermont? Well he has stepped his campaign up to the media level and is making his case to the public. I wrote to make sure he has Skip’s and Mike’s contact info and I’m hoping for great things.
With this great article by Kathryn, they are well on their way to getting the attention they will need to slow this down. Remember that killing the beavers will work for a season or two, but our flow device has worked for 5 years. Burlington is about a 2 hour drive from Grafton where Skip Lisle lives. If they can’t solve this problem intelligently, it’s hard to hold much hope for beavers anywhere!
This will be the first in a series of three or four postings on the beavers that are inhabitant the detention pond under the powerlines in Centennial Woods. I’ve got some videos from a game cam as well as other information on how they prepare for and deal with the transition into winter.
This lovely post comes to us from Burlington, VT from the website Wild Burlington, run by the good folks at Crow’s path. The author is keeping a close watch on the freezing beaver pond there and noting how they are breaking up the ice to keep access open. Apparently the beavers are slated for trapping at the moment, and the author wonders how to help.
The “dam” is really just an outlet flow structure for the detention pond. You can see the open water channel running on the upper left corner where the beavers move back and forth from their lodge to the dam to do maintenance work. They maintain holes throughout the winter, or at least try to. I’m not sure the exact reason, but I would assume it has something to do with keeping an escape route in a dire emergence and also having access to land if their food cache runs low mid-winter. It might also allow them to access early spring vegetation even if their pond hasn’t frozen over.
There are lots of reasons for leaving holes in the ice. Here are a few:
Beavers breathe air like us and need oxygen!
Once the pond freezes solid it gets thicker and harder to break.
Food caches only last so long and they will try to eat reachable food as long as possible.
Beavers do not hibernate. The family needs to feed all winter long.
Depending on the depth of the pond it could freeze solid and they could be trapped.
They may need to make repairs to their dam if something happens to it during the freeze.
There is nothing that delights me more than observant folks watching local beaver behavior and thinking about what’s going on. Being outdoors encourages awareness of Nature and our place in it. Watching beavers near her home during her illness distracted and strengthened the famous Dorothy Richards. Enos Mills said wondering about beavers made children think. I seem to remember a lot of folk in Martinez that used to do that regularly. Including one woman I dimly remember who saw her life completely transformed by it.
All I can say to the author is “Watch out!” It could be you next slipping down the steep slope of curiosity into the dark forest of research and through the golden halls of fascination straight onto the brutal plains of advocacy! Because we are expecting The Hobbit any day now I am reminded of the warnings of a certain Mr. Baggins .
“Remember what Bilbo used to say: It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”
J.R.R. Tolkien
Oh here’s some light entertainment from this mornings Huffington Post. I think it may happen soon to this child.
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