Category: City Reports

How does your wildlife grow?

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental, Friends of Martinez Beavers, Video January 12, 2012

Isn’t that a beautiful front page? Chris Mclaughlin is a gardener-extraordinaire and the author of the Savvy plant, she used to be in charge of the wildlife blog for the examiner too and we became beaver buddies back in the Martinez drama days. Now she’s working with a team of others on an exciting new website called “Wildlife garden” which advocates redefining what makes a beautiful garden to include more natural appreciations.

Guess who wins recommendation in the new year?

Beavers as Master Builders of Wildlife Habitats

Turns out that North America’s largest rodent is extremely important for wildlife habitat restoration, as well as increasing bird populations. Beavers end up reviving natural stream function, repairing degraded streams, recharging local water tables, and creating wetlands that encourage the survival of numerous plant and bird species.

Chris! Welcome to the beaver-believer club! That’s beautiful, and am I blushing or beaming (or both!) when she advises readers at the end to learn more about beavers by visiting the WORTH A DAM website. She’s in the Sierras where beavers desperately need a few more well-placed friends, so I couldn’t be more thrilled.

Go read the whole beautiful article and see some adorable photos. But the money part?? Check out the comment from a reader three down.

Town Mouse says: January 2, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Great post! And let’s not forget that beavers do live in CA, even in large and busy towns! Have a look at the story of the Martinez beavers https://www.martinezbeavers.org/wordpress/ (now buried under other beaver-related news, but they really do have beavers, which you can watch while having supper downtown in summer.

Ahh TM! What a gallant comment! We so appreciate being remembered. Never mind that our story is “buried” under the tab on the menu bar reading “STORY” or that Chris herself linked to us in the article. But still, its dam sweet to read your remarks.

Speaking of our beavers, they have been doing some serious tree-targetting, finishing off the shining (rough barked) willow at Starbucks and another smooth barked morsel behind ward street, rounding the meal off with a hardy harvest of coppicing near the old lodge. January is tree month. It always has been. Maybe the tulle roots get bitter, or they need something harder to chew. Maybe they’re having a growth spurt?

Oh and if you haven’t seen this you really should. This preview of this charming National Geographic special is not to be missed – but after you watch it, beaver-savvy readers, see if you can spot the error.

I already wrote a host of suits about the mistake. Let’s see if we can get them to change the title!

Like Minds…

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Beavers or Social Ambasadors, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Environmental, Friends of Martinez Beavers January 11, 2012

The amazing case of the Stittswell beavers in Ottawa, Canada brought a host of new friends and supporters. I didn’t realize at the time just how many. This arrived over the weekend from the president and co-founder of the Ottawa-Carleton Wildlife Center.

Dear Heidi

I wanted to thank you and your amazing team for the work you do on behalf of beavers. It is not only an inspiration but your website provides an exceptional forum for supporting and promoting the value of wetlands and beavers. So often people working on wildlife issues feel isolated and alone, particularly in challenging the status quo, so the value of Worth A Dam simply cannot be over estimated.

Our Centre has been in operation for over 20 years but it has only been in

the last eight years or so, with increased development in the region, that we have become involved in beaver issues. We have worked with individuals quite successfully on beaver solutions and have attempted to get the City of

Ottawa to adopt more progressive practices, particularly with respect to storm water ponds. As you can attest, it is not easy changing mindsets within government but we are determined to do so while recognizing it will be a long battle.

As you know, most recently we have been involved with Anita Utas, a local resident, in challenging the City’s plan to trap beavers in a Stittsville storm water pond. Anita is an amazing advocate for beavers and we hope to continue working with her and to involve her in our school program wherever possible.

Most of our Centre’s efforts are directed to providing education on urban wildlife through area schools but we also have a growing community outreach

program, giving presentations to a wide range of groups on wildlife issues, writing a weekly ‘Living with Wildlife’ column in regional newspapers ( website version that features the Stittsville beavers) a website (www.wildlifeinfo.ca) that provides detailed conflict prevention information, and we do extensive work with other environmental and animal protection organizations on specific habitat and wildlife issues.

Since learning about Worth a Dam, we have been very pleased to have been able to direct a number of people to your website. Like the proverbial ripples in a beaver pond, it is spreading the message and doing much good.

We can’t thank you enough for the dedicated and talented campaign you have undertaken. We wanted you to know that it’s positive impact and influence is

being felt throughout the country.

Donna DuBreuil

Ottawa-Carleton Wildlife Centre

Donna! That’s the best letter EVER! Coming from a woman who started a wildlife rehab center with her husband more than 20 years ago after finding a baby squirrel, we take your appreciation very, very seriously. The facility helped injured and orphaned wildlife for many years, trained volunteers, encouraged humane solutions and made a massive difference. When regulations changed in the country they stopped being able to do animal rehab, and made the decision to go full time into education. I am awed by their dedication and commitment to teaching children to appreciate wildlife and making sure adults know how (and why!) to live with it.

Well, the next time I’m feeling like our flailing efforts to save beavers and teach folk about their importance to the watershed don’t make a whit of difference, I will reread Donna’s words and keep trying a little longer. Thank you, Donna, for taking the time to write a beautiful letter, giving me permission to post it, and making us feel like all our hard work really is Worth A Dam!

The opposite of “progress”

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions January 9, 2012

The Congressman learned of a flood control concern resulting from an interesting party: a new family of beavers that are habitating in Chartiers Creek. The animals have been damming up the creek, preventing the water from flowing and resulting in flooding. The beaver dams have put in jeopardy the millions of dollars invested to control overflow, and the local community has been discussing options for protecting wildlife habitat that won’t result in property loss or additional safety concerns for the area. Congressman Murphy offered to help the community work with state wildlife officials to appropriately protect the federal investment delivered through the Army Corps of Engineers.

Whoa! Did anyone else just get a weird Deja-vu feeling? Yup, Bridgeville Pennsylvania has obviously slipped into some repeat-cycle in the space-time continuum where they are reliving the Martinez story right down to the last detail of hyperbole and exaggeration. (And since when is “habitating“even a word?)

Remember the good old days when people kept saying we spent millions on the flood control project and the beavers were systematically destroying it? Unless the money was hidden in a tree that the beaver chewed through, how is that possible anyway?

Well, asking your congressmen for beaver solutions is like asking your landscaper for medical advice. It’s like asking your waiter to rotate your tires. It’s like asking your scout leader to hem some pants. I’m sure Cong. Murphy is very busy approving fracking of the entire state, undermining unions and getting re-elected so has little time to set aside for beavers. Ask us instead. We have nothing better to do than tell cities how to solve problems with long-term solutions that make a difference.

Added Bonus: Keeping your beavers will also take care of your birds your fish and your wildlife. And we’ll stop writing mean things about wildlife management in Pennsylvania. It’s the trickle down economy that works.

What Foreclosure Really Means?

heidi08 Beaver News, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Who's Killing Beavers Now? January 7, 2012

Yesterday’s Courant paper out of Connecticut sports this headline

Wethersfield Evicting Beavers From Beaver Brook

The town is evicting some beavers from Beaver Brook. In the last few weeks, a state-authorized “nuisance beaver” trapper has captured three adult beavers in the brook’s swamplands off Spring Street, Town Engineer Michael Turner said.

There may be more of the creatures to be trapped and removed, he said.It’s not clear how many beavers have been living in the section of the brook across from the town skating pond on Spring Street.

Let this be a warning to you in CT that when you receive your eviction or foreclosure notice, the nutmeg state may already have your ‘final destination’ in mind! Certainly that was the case for these ‘nuisance’ beavers which is what a city without problem-solving skills calls a problem.

Obviously Wethersfield, which is only an hour away from Beaver Solutions in MA and two hours away from Skip Lisle in VT, couldn’t possibly solve the beaver puzzle in any other way except by trapping. It’s not as if Connecticut has its own former trapper who is now a highly respected installer of flow devices himself (Skip Hilliker) or has citizens who care about the beavers and would take action on their behalf.

At a town council meeting Jan. 3, resident Barbara Ruhe spoke about the beavers, telling residents the creatures were “quite something to see.” She urged people to go see them and take children before the beavers are evicted or meet an untimely end because “we can’t live with them.”

You most certainly CAN live with them, Wethersfield. And you should. You are surrounded by solutions and we’d be happy to find you more. Aside from the needless repeat pouring of taxpayer dollars on a trapping fix that will need to be repeated again and again, there are very good reasons to live with beavers, including a raised water table, more fish, more birds and more wildlife – not to mention what will happen if you have a few volunteers lead fieldtrips down to the beaver dam.

I went looking through your town minutes for the painstakingly decision you made to solve a problem with action rather than with thought, but there wasn’t even a mention of it in this month’s meetings or the last. Apparently the proposal to kill some beavers might make public comment, but it doesn’t even require a motion to actuate.

I hope someone from Wethersfield watches this video. It might change things a bit

Offspring Springs Off

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Educational, Friends of Martinez Beavers January 5, 2012

Beaver Deceiver Now at Work on Incline Creek

In the interest of protecting water and sewer infrastructure in the Tyrolian Village area, Incline Village General Improvement District Public Works recently commissioned Sierra Wildlife Coalition to install a beaver deceiver device in Incline Creek at a critical culvert, upstream from Diamond Peak Ski Area.

This creek drainage is home to several beaver families. The beavers’ tree cutting activity was creating culvert blockages, which was resulting in stream bank erosion and washout of the culvert. The beaver deceiver is a non-lethal wildlife management tool designed to make it much harder for the beavers to block the culvert. It is designed to protect the water and sewer infrastructure without having to trap and remove the beavers. The device does not affect the beaver’s feeding, lodging, or reproduction. Info: IVGID Waste Not, wastenot@ivgid.org, (775) 832-1284, ivgid.org.

Our Tahoe friends finished their first year amid astonishing successes to show for it – Sierra Wildlife Coalition 2011. Flow Device installations at Incline and Tahoe Donner, trees painted at the request of the Army Core of Engineers, protests and negotiations at Truckee and a pesky porcupine resolution. (No, I’m not kidding.) They’re that good. Go read the whole thing and enjoy their successes.

I’m impressed with every part of their achievements and couldn’t be prouder of how they grew up or what our tiny scholarship helped encourage. But I’m frankly awestruck that Department of Public Works paid them to put in a flow device. Paid them!!!

(Worth A Dam is apparently such a bunch of slack-jawed yokels by comparison that we can only get DPW to take a beaver out of a mural.) Sigh.

Never mind. If we had enough encouraged folks to do wayyyy better than us, California will eventually be in pretty good beaver shape, which means salmon runs will be restored, bird populations will flourish and maybe we can retire.

Now if we could only get them to handle that pesky beaver festival…