Category: Creative Solutions

Beaver Gossip

heidi08 Creative Solutions July 4, 2016

Scotland visits our friends in Vermont to learn how to coexist with beavers.

The View from Heifer Hill

Willow, the beaver whose life I have been documenting in this column for many years, had a visit from a special guest a couple of weeks ago, Roisin (pronounced RoSHEEN, she’s Irish) Campbell-Palmer, Field Operations Manager for the team working on the reintroduction of beavers to Scotland.

The project in Scotland has been one of the most carefully controlled reintroductions of a native species anywhere. Over the course of the five-year study period, five family groups from Norway were released in a forested area in the center of Scotland. These beavers were introduced as a trial, and their probationary period ends this year. Roisin and the other researchers involved have demonstrated that the beavers can survive in the landscape of modern Scotland, and bring the many blessing beavers bring, including a greater variety of habitat types, greater numbers and types of plants and animals, and increased economic revenue from beaver watchers. With flood and drought becoming increasingly common, beavers are also valued as an ally in retaining water on a landscape, and reducing the impact of floods.

While this carefully monitored project was going on, an illicit beaver reintroduction occurred in another part of Scotland, a more agricultural area. Roisin is now also part of a team studying the impact of beavers there, and because the beavers in the farmland have not been as welcomed by the locals, she travelled to Vermont to find out how we manage conflicts with these industrious creatures.

Illicit beavers! Somhow I kinda doubt that there could be a population of 150 if it had only happened during the sanctioned trial. Don’t you? Still it’s nice to read about our beaver friends from the other side of the world visiting the other side of the nation.

Naturally, she sought out Skip Lisle of Grafton, proprietor of Beaver Deceivers International. Skip has been solving beaver conflicts for years, and has learned how to modify beaver works in ways that allow them to do their wetlands restoration without causing undue damage to human property.

I joined Skip and Roisin on a visit to one of Skip’s job sites—a picturesque site with an old red cape, a striking view to the south, and cows grazing tranquilly on the hillsides. The three of us agreed that the best part of the scene was the series of beaver ponds tucked into the middle. When we arrived, we watched one of the resident beavers towing a bundle of fresh plants to the lodge, a good indication that kits were inside. We went down to the roadway to inspect the device Skip installed to keep the beavers from damming the culvert. All was working as expected, and not only kept the beavers on the landscape, but saved hours of time and headaches for the Halifax road crew. As we admired the scene, a mink loped past us, another of the beneficiaries of the work of Skip and the beavers.

At dusk we hiked into the woods to visit Willow. Because it is Roisin’s job to trap, measure, weigh and take samples from the beavers in Scotland, she had never met one that was happy to be with people. She was delighted to meet old one-eyed Willow, who flopped down beside us to eat an apple and offer herself for comparison to the Eurasian beavers.

Now, back in Scotland, Roisin is awaiting the final decision on whether or not the beavers will be allowed to stay. Willow and I are optimistic. In fact, I can almost hear the ceremonial bagpipes welcoming the beavers back to their ancestral lands.

How exciting to read about Roisin’s visit with Skip and Patti! I’m sure the solutions to Scotland’s disgruntled farmers won’t be hard to find. The funny part is that there has always been a weird, salty competition between Skip Lisle of Beaver Deceivers Int’l (Vermont) and Mike Callahan of Beaver Solutions (Massachusetts). Even though they started as buddies, and Skip trained Mike, things went wrong somewhere along the way when Mike either helped or stole a client (depending who you talk to) and now the two most important men to the beaver-saving campaign can barely stand each other. This is how Martinez (in the middle of nowhere) found itself so quickly in the middle of everything (because Skip was our hero in person and installed the flow device and Mike was our virtual hero online and gave us tons of advice along the way). It probably was no accident the two coincided, since both happened to be interested in the high profile case of the other.

I don’t know the much about original grudge, Suzanne Fouty at the beaver conference last year was ready to try an ‘Intervention’ to get them to shake hands and be friends – for the sake of the beavers if nothing else! I’m thinking its entrenched by now like Gaza or the beginning of Fiddler on the Roof. The shouting crowd of ‘Horse’ ‘Mule’ is the defense of the people who have stood on one side or the other. We are all the ‘villagers’ and now the feud has extends overseas because our friends of the Tay invited Mike out to do a training in Scotland, and our friends at the official trial went to Skip to learn the trade. Tradition!

Never mind though, because my position has always been that we all need to get along. There aren’t enough beaver defenders in the world, I always say, to pick and choose the ones you ‘like’. We all have to get along and do our part if this is going to have any chance of working, right?

Happy Fourth of July from the beavers, btw from our forefathers. Play safe out there!
I always am eager for an excuse to post this, which I think represents a window between technology and legislation that opens once in many lifetimes.

Milestones

heidi08 Beaver-themed merchandise, Beavers, Beavers and Birds, Beavers and climate change, Beavers and Forests, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental, Who's saving beavers now? July 1, 2016

Our friends at Occidental Arts and Ecology Center just released their new ‘beaver guide’. It’s well done and beautifully presented. You can download your free copy here, or pick up a hard copy for 10.00. It’s definitely worth checking out!

Sometimes I see glossy productions like this and feel guilty that Worth A Dam hasn’t done more of lasting value that you can hold in your hands. But then I remember than maintaining a beaver website for a decade and literally flooding the internet with information ain’t nothing. And then there’s that other thing we do. The part that makes me laugh is at the end where they list ‘what can you do to help’. I especially like the last one.

Heh heh heh. Been there. Done that. Literally have the tee shirt.

Speaking of new releases, Love Nature just released a beaver video for Canada Day with a photo of a nutria, so I made them this helpful graphic. Unfortunately the video can’t be embedded, but click on the link if you’re curious. I expected better from a country with a beaver on their money! (I bet no one has nutria on their money.)

WATCH: Historic footage of magical animals returning to the English countryside

The endearing youngster with its lavish coat was filmed swimming in Devon’s River Otter, marking an important milestone to bring the rare creature back to the countryside.

Beavers were hunted to extinction in Britain 400 years ago but conservationists are striving to see them return to quiet waterways and play a positive role in natural cycles.

In CS Lewis’s The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, a family of beavers help save the lives of four children transported to the magical world of Narnia.

Footage captured by wildlife expert Chris Townend shows how the endearing creatures are themselves being nurtured through an reintroduction project to establish them back as native British mammals.

His delightful clips show a nursing mother and her cute kit, one of the triplets she has recently produced.

Triplets! So exciting. I want beaver triplets! You know when I first posted the beaver kit news article on the english facebook beaver group they asked me to take it down, because they were worried about the media bringing foot traffic. I said, okay but um, cats outta the bag? Use this moment to educate people about how to behave around wildlife? But they were sure the story was in a tiny paper and would die down.

I think they forgot that baby beavers have been missing from the english countryside for 4oo years and are going to make news. The video first shows mom grooming and then the kit hurling himself indelicately underwater.

It’s July First! And end of Map day! Who hoo, after rearranging and squeezing I’m finally done arranging the festival map, and any one else who comes just has to tag along at the edge and deal with being unlisted. We are about as big as we can be anyway. See for yourself.
Oh and Suzi Eszterhas is donating an archival quality matted print to the auction. And guess what which one she is choosing?

Oh Canada!

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers and climate change, Beavers and Forests, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Who's saving beavers now? June 24, 2016

News this morning out of Canada that puts the “Find your park” campaign of the US National Parks 100 anniversary to shame. Lets start here.

Parks Canada helping dam beavers with technology

Beavers are regarded as ecological engineering wonders – and now Banff National Park is relying on some manmade engineering solutions to retain vital beaver habitat in the Bow Valley.

Parks Canada is embarking on a $26 million project to replace an aging wildlife exclusion fence along the busy Trans-Canada Highway, but the fence runs through several areas that beavers have turned into impressive wetlands.

Officials say there are two beaver dam areas that are causing particular concern – one along the Legacy Trail and the other by the Norquay interchange where culverts beneath the highway are being affected.

“Where we’re able to, we’re going to re-route the fence design to keep out of the wetlands beavers have created,” said Bill Hunt, resource conservation manager for Banff National Park.

26 million dollar project? Did I read this right? Culvert Protection along the entire TransCanada highway – all 5ooo miles from sea to shining sea? The mind reels. The jaw drops.

Beavers are known for unprecedented feats of ecological engineering – building dams, ponds and wetlands that can flood and damage human infrastructure – and are persecuted by humans as a result.

But they are also considered a keystone species, creating ponds that consistently have higher waterfowl diversity, more complex invertebrate communities, and provide critical habitats for amphibians. The buck-toothed creatures also create habitats that provide flood mitigation and resilience to extreme drought.

Hunt said when beavers cause problems for human infrastructure, the traditional go-to solution has long been to live trap or kill beavers, or go in with heavy equipment to destroy their dams.

“None of those historic remedies are very appropriate these days,” said Hunt. “We’d like to come up with solutions that work to ensure water flows through the culverts, but also preserves the habitat for the beavers.”

Beavers probably see a culvert beneath a road as a hole in an otherwise good dam, so they try to plug the hole. Parks is using flow devices, which are relatively cost-effective, low-maintenance solutions that regulate the water level of beaver dams and keep culverts open.

It talks about trapezoidal culvert fences AND beaver deceivers, pond levelers and clemsons. It even goes into how and why they work. Then after truly blowing our minds for several paragraphs it interviews Dr. Glynnis Hood to check that all this is true.

Glynnis Hood, author of the Beaver Manifesto and an associate professor of environmental science at the University of Alberta’s Augustana Campus in Camrose, said she was pleased to hear about the work that Parks Canada is doing.

She said she has installed 29 flow devices since 2011 in various places, including at Cooking Lake-Blackfoot Provincial Recreation Area, as well as in the rural municipality of Beaver County.

“I think what Parks Canada is doing is great, especially in a national park,” she said. “I’ve installed many of these devices in various places and the success rate has been very high. There’s been minimal to no maintenance on most.”

Hood, who studies wetland ecology as it relates to wildlife habitat and management, said she started to look into some of these flow devices because she was tired of seeing beaver habitat destroyed.

“I’m an ecologist, but over time I’ve turned into a wetland plumber because I was tired of seeing these wetlands, and specifically ones that are occupied and modified and transformed by beavers, with the highest biodiversity, disappear,” she said.

“I would be at a beautiful pond, with nesting songbirds, tadpole, frogs and waterfowl and then the next day I would go back and it would be drained because of management concerns. I thought ‘there’s got to be a better way.’ ”

Beavers play a vital role in the environment and are referred to as a keystone species.

“When beavers are in areas, it ends up supporting many other species that otherwise wouldn’t have habitat,” said Hood. “They do remarkable things.”

Parks Canada is hoping to showcase the work to be done at the beaver dam by the Legacy Trail to educate how important beaver habitat can be saved instead of destroyed.

“It’s one of the best beaver dam viewing opportunities in Banff National Park, and it’s completely and totally accessible,” said Hunt. “It’s like a demonstration project. We really want to show there are ways to allow beavers on the landscape without having the detrimental effects people often associate with them.”

This article just calls for this anthem. Timely because Jon and I are still reeling from Brexit which kinda symbolically unmarries us (we met in Germany where he was working as a British citizen, lo these many years ago).

Maybe we should all move to Canada.

‘Roll that Keystone Away’

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers and water, Creative Solutions, kits, Who's saving beavers now? June 18, 2016

Sad news yesterday in the field of ecology. Robert Paine passed away at the age of 83. If you don’t know why it matters, Paine was the one whose research originally coined the term “KEYSTONE SPECIES” in the late 60’s. Our friend the beaver would be called this without him! Thanks Robin of Napa for sending the article. I can only wonder what our bracelets would have looked like without him!

Bob Paine, ecologist who identified ‘keystone’ species, dies at 83

Bob Paine, an ecologist who conducted seminal experiments along the coast of Washington state in the 1960s, pulling starfish from the rocks and tossing them back into the ocean to demonstrate the consequences of disrupting an ecosystem with the removal of a single “keystone” species, died June 13 at a hospital in Seattle. He was 83.

Dr. Paine was regarded as one of the most significant ecologists of his era, a scientific adventurer who trekked across wave-battered shores of the Pacific Northwest to observe, document and explain the forces that govern and sometimes upset the complex network of creatures in an ecosystem.

His concept of “keystone” species, named after the stone at the apex of an arch that supports the other blocks in the structure, refers most strictly to predators such as sea otters, wolves and lions with outsize influence on their communities. A groundbreaking idea when Dr. Paine introduced it in the late 1960s, the “keystone” species is today a fundamental of ecology textbooks.

Dr. Paine published his findings of the event, which he called a “trophic cascade,” in a now-classic article in the journal the American Naturalist, “Food Web Complexity and Species Diversity” (1966). Three years later, he introduced “keystone” species as an ecological term.

I actually had no idea that the concept of ‘trophic cascades‘ came first and from the same bright mind. Nearly everyone I meet trained recently goes out of there way to explain that the term ‘keystone species’ isn’t used much anymore and the field is more interested in ‘trophes’. Which, as it turns out, are all courtesy of Dr. Paine. Thank you so much for showing us the world and teaching us how it works!

Now I know we’re all feeling the burden of kit-season-without-kits of our own for the first time in a decade. So I thought I’d share a little Mountain House comfort with you for cheer. Caitlin was surprised that the beaver kit was out early an braver than his family, all of which Martinez has come to understand well over the years.

Dam Useful

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers and Birds, Beavers and climate change, Beavers and Forests, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Environmental, Who's saving beavers now? June 15, 2016

Two beavers this morning at 5:00, one noisily chewing near the hole and the other swimming across. When it was still not quite light he or she plunked down toward the edge of the water and munched something with their back turned to the intrusive humans. We are on day 1 of “Project habituation” where we are trying to get the beavers acclimatized to us by repetition. I’ll let you know how it goes.

The only thing I was able to capture in with enough light was this feral cat making his own particular use of the beaver dam. It makes you think about how many species were affected when the beavers left, not just fish and ducks, but raccoons and deer. Beavers and their dams make such a difference that I’m sure many creatures come to rely on them.

One idea that Jeanette Johnson suggested at the meeting was scrabble tile earrings, which I of course had to try right away. I amused myself a great deal with these.

Hmmm do you think an etsy shop is in our future?

Very nice article from our friends in Devon, England that several folks sent my way. It deserves our only slightly divided attention. It doesn’t list the author, but its featured in the “rewildling britain” magazine.

Devon beavers are officially working their magic

As an ecologist, it’s clear to see how the beavers have had a huge impact within the enclosure. Habitat variety and structure are the first things that have changed – wet areas, ponds, deadwood, open grassland, scrub and trees and areas of sphagnum. Visually, there also seems to have been overall improvement in biodiversity.

But not everyone is an ecologist and sometimes we take it for granted that everyone sees what we do. Others may just see an electric fence, or a flooded area, or not really see it at all. So how can we influence political and economic decisions if we can’t relay this message to those who don’t appreciate or see nature and wildlife in the same way? How can we say for sure that biodiversity has been improved? Based on our experience, we would expect this to be the case, but in what way has change occurred? And how does this relate to other disciplines such as hydrology?

Beavers and biodiversity

We picked the most relevant indicator groups related to change associated with the beavers: bryophytes, bats and aquatic invertebrates

Ecosulis, driven by its shared vision of rewilding Britain, uses a Biodiversity Quality Calculator, developed by Dr Alan Feest, which measures change in biodiversity quality.

The bespoke calculator has been used in many ways to measure change as a result of management prescriptions and to gauge the effectiveness of biodiversity off-setting schemes. More recently, it was used to measure the change in biodiversity quality, using a range of indices, as a result of the beaver reintroduction at the experimental site in Devon.

Particular focus was given to finding out if the beavers could help maintain the open grasslands in the face of encroaching scrub species. This could allow us to see how biodiversity changes over time and could also be linked to other environmental changes, such as nitrogen or hydrology. This could then also be used to influence decisions on whether reintroductions should be undertaken on a wider scale or if management plans and prescriptions should be modified.

To do this we picked what we agreed to be the most relevant indicator groups related to change associated with the beavers: bryophytes, bats and aquatic invertebrates. One of the key benefits of the calculator is that historical as well as current data can be analysed, allowing for trends to be determined. We measured the changes in biodiversity quality between 2012 (one year after beaver introduction) and 2015 data collected by Ecosulis for bats and bryophytes (invertebrate data yet to be assessed). The data revealed some very interesting trends:

Bats

+ Increase in species richness
+ Increase in species evenness, indicating less dominance of common species
– Decrease in species dominance
+ Increase in species rarity scores on the site, including rare grey long-eared and barbastelle bats
+ Increase in biomass, indicating an increase in invertebrate prey species on the site (and number of bats)

Bryophytes

+ Increase in species richness
+ Increase in species evenness, indicating less dominance of common species
– Decrease in species dominance
+ Increase in biomass
+ Increase in nitrogen intolerant species (indicating lower nitrogen levels)
+ Increase in species associated with well-lit areas, and species associated with acidic soils

Invertebrates

+ Increase in species richness
+ Increase in species evenness
– Decrease in species dominance of any one species
+ Increase in population density
– Slight decrease in species rarity\

Rewilding – right here, right now

After an absence of 400 years, beavers are back in England and, within a few short years, are having an amazing effect

The scale and direction of the changes have been compelling. By taking a relatively simple, cost-effective and standardised approach to collecting biological records, a clear picture of biodiversity change has been recorded at the Okehampton site. The increase in indices such as biomass and species rarity reveals that habitat structure and the carrying capacity of the site have increased. A rise in biomass for bats indicates higher levels of invertebrate prey, which in turn benefits other species including birds.

The beaver have turned what was an area of dense scrub and simple channel into a mosaic of scrub, pools, dead wood, banks, culm grassland and habitat piles. After an absence of 400 years, beavers are back in England and, within a few short years, are having an amazing effect. Associated species are now diversifying and thriving, instead of declining – this is rewilding in action!

The full results are due to be published in the next Devon wildlife Trust Beaver Project update.

Beavers build nitrogen sinks

One unexpected consequence of the beaver was a potential reduction of nitrogen levels at the site, as indicated by the bryophyte assemblage recorded. By linking bryophytes with their nitrogen sensitivity we discovered that our data supports recent research that indicates beavers produce nitrogen sinks (Geographical. October 2015). This could be a handy additional tool in the argument favouring the reintroducing of beaver to Britain.

Clearly one of the fundamental principles of rewilding projects is that there is no ultimate destination. Rewilding is a journey and one that is to be shared both by people and wildlife. Like any journey, it makes sense to have a reference point to determine whether you’re heading in the right direction and are not back in the same place you started.

Our assessment measures the changes in biodiversity quality without the added value judgement of one species being more important than another. Instead, it tells you whether you have a dominance of any particular species, if you’ve recorded all the expected species present, what the spread and biomass of the species are and how this can be interpolated against the expected outcomes.

Once this quantitative assessment has been made, it can be incorporated into biodiversity and rewilding decision-making related to issues such as the location of rewilding projects, appropriate management regimes and the effects of externalities.

The next steps for the method are to help inform the debate regarding the decision to reintroduce beavers more widely back to Britain. We can also consider if this method might be applicable to other potential reintroductions such as those for pine martens or even lynx.

How’s that for a thorough recap of beaver benefits? Honestly I almost hope the United Kingdom never approves beaver reintroduction because it make for such fantastic efforts by the media to convince them – which benefit everyone! Go read the whole fabulous article, and share it with your friends or nonbelievers.

The city of Vallejo had such success with their Nature celebration last year for the anniversary of the State parks that they are working with USFS and FWS to do it again, specifically celebrating”Wild in the City”. Steve Dunsky has already asked me to give a Martinez Beaver intro and yesterday the project put out the plea for corporate sponsors. Uh oh. Check out their photo for the ‘Beaver sponsors’.

You would think that a team of scientists would know better than this, but you’d be wrong. Because I was three feet away from Dr. Michael Pollock of NOAA fisheries when he proudly displayed a photo of a nutria in is beaver talk. I of course wrote them they might want to make a correction, and supposedly they will. In the mean time their mass email asked us to share it on social media and I see no reason not to oblige.