When the wall crumbles and the polarities shift (and they will shift) and folks across the country start to advocate for beavers because they are so good for wildlife and wetlands and habitat and climate change and salmon and drought and you know-EVERYTHING. The very first federal agency to change their stripes won’t be fish and game, or the secretary of the interior, or god forbid USDA. The first ones to the ‘reasonable stewardship table’ will be these guys. USFS. The forestry people who say things like this:
A unique relationship exists between moose, beaver and willow communities, with each component influencing the persistence of the other. Browsing of willow communities by the inflated moose population of the 1960s and 1970s was detrimental to willows at that time, especially in the absence of beaver. Today, a more vigorous beaver population has helped willow communities proliferate, and the Forest Service is interested in maintaining the health of these communities in order to benefit the declining moose population, which is highly dependent upon willow, especially in the winter months.
Did I hear that right? Does the state of Maryland actually consider that beavers chewing trees to be a “rather unusual case?”. Hmm. Maybe there are some more “anomalies” you might want to look into. Dogs chasing cats? Birds emerging from eggs? And snakes born with absolutely no fur!
Sheesh.
Nice to see that the good citizens of Salisbury took the time to learn their customary lines for the annual beaver pageant. Do you remember when we did ours hear in Martinez lo these many years ago?
“Move them to a different location where they will be more at home,” Parks said. There are others, however, that believe the beavers should be left alone as they are only doing what comes natural to them. “They need somewhere to live. This is the place where they find trees and resources so I really don’t see too much of a problem with it,” said Salisbury resident Jam’al Washington. “Unless the park wanted to help them out, they can always do that. But if they don’t, then a beaver is going to do what beavers do.”
Will someone please explain to the state that beavers chewing trees is not unusual? And that trees can be protected by wire-wrapping or painting with sand? Apparently the state of “Manly deeds, womanly words” needs a lesson or two in animal husbandry.
Yellowknife is the capital of the North West Territories, about 1500 miles north of Montana. It’s the kind of place that when you look at it on a map you think ‘Holy tomale, Canada is BIG’. The Northwest Territories were added to the Canadian Confederation in 1870 (Since HBC had killed all the beavers, they really didn’t need it anymore) and it is so far north that about half of it sits above the tree line. It is the location of the first Diamond mine in Canada, and an unbelievable amount of other gold, silver and increasingly sinister kinds of mines, including radium and uranium. Winter temperatures of -25 are not uncommon and it is fair to say that the population, as a rule, is required to be somewhat hardy.
So I was very interested to read this from the 4-term mayor of Yellowknife in a recent story about whether to trapsome local beavers that have been chewing trees. Gord Van Tighem has been a popular mayor of the most populated town in the region (about 20,000 – half of the entire population of NT). He actually used to be a trapper for the government of Alberta and recently warned that the animals can be dangerous.
“They can use their tails like a trampoline and will launch themselves at you. If they get a hold of you, they will snip your arm in one bite.”
Trampoline? Launch? Really, Gord?
Oops. This seems as good a time as any to note that the appropriate way to address a mayor of the North West territories is “His Worship”. So let me correct that and say, “trampoline, launch, really, your worshipfulness?” Now I have no doubt that an animal that chews through a poplar or maple in a matter of minutes could just as easily slice through a humerus. And I’m pretty sure that when you’re trying to kill them beavers can put up a fight. But I can’t help myself, as much as I’ve tried to make allowances, I’m just going to have to take issue with “trampoline“.
Wikipedia notes that ‘according to circus folklore, the trampoline was supposedly first developed by an artiste named du Trampolin, who saw the possibility of using it as a trapeze safety net – the story of du Trampolin is almost certainly apocryphal, and no documentary evidence has been found to support it. There is also an old Inuit tradition (Nalukataq) that involved bouncing an individual on a walrus skin to celebrate the hunt. The community all gathered together to launch the lucky member in a gravity-free homage to the divine who provided for them.
These are colorful, historic and fairly plausible stories. A beaver making a pogo stick of its own tail, (which is not made of rubber, has no springs and happens to have a skeletal structure that looks very much like vertebrae) to propel itself – whether in attack, greeting or amorous advance – is simply NOT plausible. Or, as any self-respecting paleophysicist would argue: possible.
Which is not to say the city of Yellowknife is without beaver comprehension. After a resident found a dead beaver on the trail last year, they have agreed to ‘relocate’ the beavers humanely. Check this out:
Ian Ellsworth, a renewable resources officer, oversees two wildlife officers who check suitcase-like live traps at the lake every day. He said the department is trying to relocate the beavers but people are interfering with the traps. Signs are now posted warning people to stay away from them.
“We check them in the morning and we are finding that someone throws a rock or stick into the traps to set them off,” said Ellsworth. “That is the issue we are kind of dealing with right now.”
Ah, you have to love anyone out walking their dog in the morning who goes out of their way to trigger a trap so that beavers roam free! Of course, one never knows whether these valiant actions are pro-beaver or anti-magistrate, but as we learned firsthand in Martinez, both forces often play for the same team. I imagine that the NT attracts a somewhat libertarian, live and let live, populace. But there is this:
Colleen Zorn, a resident on Ballantyne Court, is one resident who said she wants the beavers to stay. Her backyard backs onto the lake but she does not have a lot of poplar trees that attract the rodents. “I have three young kids and we love to go for walks on the trail to see the beaver,” she said. “My two-year-old comes home with beaver sticks on a regular basis. He walks on that trail every single day and goes to see the beaver.”
She said the beavers should not be removed because they have been residing on the lake long before people arrived. “The beavers were there first and we are in their yard,” she said. “They are only going to eat up the food source and move on. They will go to another little pond where there are poplars and stuff to eat. I also think (the beavers are) only going to improve the trail because now you can see the lake.”
Colleen! We like you already! Have you ever considered the possibility of starting a beaver festival in YK? Since your elected officials are busily preaching the kind of coffee-spitting misinformation from the pulpit that is so LOL-worthy it will likely be forwarded again and again from Ottawa to Ohio, it might be time for a little community education and common sense! We’d be happy to help out with ideas and planning.
In the meantime tell the tree-suffering residents of the lake that wrapping with chicken-wire would only work if beavers were the same size as chickens. Use galvanized fencing wire or abrasive painting and read here for details. Any city smarter than a beaver can keep a beaver, and if you move these animals more will just come take their place.
A final note: Readers of this website will be happy to know that two Martinez beavers were seen this morning mudding the primary and secondary dams respectively, and thankfully neither of them happened to use their tail as a trampoline to launch a vicious, de-limbing, attack. Whew.
Goodness Gracious! ROGUE Beavers? You mean beavers doing something atypical to their species and threatening our very existence? What are they doing? Robbing grocery stores or threatening old women at ATM’s? Carjacking? How terrifying! What an awful threat! Thank goodness the paper was here to tell us about it. Let’s read more.
Beavers have taken up residence under boat docks and damaged or killed trees and shrubs along the shoreline.
Um, that’s it? Where’s the “Rogue” part? I mean don’t beavers normally take trees? Isn’t that like the bottom of the pyramid chart on their four food groups? I’ll keep reading. Maybe the Rogue knocking-over-convenience-stores part is down further in the article.
Mike Castleman knows firsthand. He lost a large shrub and two mature trees in a matter of days. The beavers stripped the bark from his trees to a height of about 3 feet off the ground.
“From what I understand, these trees are dead. This guy killed them,” Castleman said. “I got some pruning spray to seal them and chicken wire to protect them, but everyone who sees them says they are going to die.”
The beavers also reduced a 20-foot-high bush in his yard to a bundle of pointed sticks.
Pointed sticks! That can’t be good. Weapons maybe? Crude hand to hand tools for their eventual world domination? Or planning ahead for a great deal of vampire slaying? Either way, it’s never a good thing when your enemy starts the battle with a bit pile of sharpened sticks. Remember Lord of the Flies? Gasp. Were they sharpened at both ends?
This so rarely happens. Unless, of course, your enemy is a beaver.
Well I’m sure you know about that. I’m sure you studied what beavers TYPICALLY do before you made an effort to describe these particular beavers behavior as ROGUE.
Yep. Looks pretty typical to me, except the paper describes these trees as Shingle Oaks which aren’t beaver favorites by any means. I can only assume this means your lake has a dismal riparian border, no willow or aspen and hardly any vegetation to speak of. No wonder you’re so worried about the trees.
Well, the paper says some residents are wrapping trees and some are talking about trapping. Any other solutions on the table?
Removing beavers is only a temporary solution, according to “Missouri’s Beaver, a Guide to Management, Nuisance Prevention and Damage Control,” published by the Missouri Department of Conservation.
“Once a colony of beaver establishes its territory in a pond, lake or stream, it is virtually impossible to make it move somewhere else through the use of nonlethal techniques,” the manual says. “It is sometimes possible to enjoy beavers in the area while still preserving property.”
Virtually impossible! Better tell all those crazy beaver relocators that they are wasting their time! The sad thing is that Missouri PROBABLY gleaned this little “factoid” from the fact that when you move beavers out new ones move in. Which, by the way is what happens when you kill them too. Better to bear the beavers you have than fly to other’s you know not of.
In case you want a solution besides wire and tar and traps, read here about sand painting the trunk. You’ll be surprised how it helps tame “Rogue” beavers. Oh and get together with your neighbors and plant some willow so that the trees can coppice and regrow. Your bird population will thank you for it.
Beaver loyalist Lory Bruno has been in Tahoe this week, where our good friends from the Sierra Wildlife Coalition have spotted both a new beaver dam AND a new beaver kit! They toured the area on a sunny afternoon and I thought I’d share this. (Shhh, don’t tell our beavers they’d be SO JEALOUS!!!!!!!!)
Sierra Wildlife Coalition Visit new Tahoe Beaver Dam
In the mean time, while her sisters go to the ball, Cinderella has been slaving away sewing the new beaver flag that children will be asked to illustrate at Sunday’s Peace Day event at the Oakland Zoo. That’s right, our own FRogard Butler has volunteered to be the Besty Ross of Beavers and has created this eye catching emblem. Imagine it covered with creatures after the children get to populate it!
New Worth A Dam starter-flag by FRo
She made sure to add this mascot to give the piece heart. I can’t wait to see what it becomes.
Mom's tail
And after I sent Sherri’s epic article around yesterday Stan Pietrowski (the method behind the state of the beaver Madness-meaning a technical and announcing wonder) offered to help her put up a website and they’re talking domain names as we speak. Soon we may get to visit Sherri’s beaver relocating website, which will be cool. She wasn’t entirely comfortable with EVERYTHING printed in the Westwood article and I can understand why. I’m trying to decide whether its indiscretions were the fault of dazzled adoration or grimly unconscious sexism but it is still MOSTLY good for Sherri and good for beavers so I won’t complain.
Just show me the article that talks about Skip Lisle’s sex life and we’ll call it even.
When the wall crumbles and the polarities shift (and they will shift) and folks across the country start to advocate for beavers because they are so good for wildlife and wetlands and habitat and climate change and salmon and drought and you know-EVERYTHING. The very first federal agency to change their stripes won’t be fish and game, or the secretary of the interior, or god forbid USDA. The first ones to the ‘reasonable stewardship table’ will be these guys. USFS. The forestry people who say things like this:
