Category: Environmental

News of the environment or beavers impact on their ecology

THAT SURPRISINGLY HEAVY THING WITH FEATHERS

heidi08 Beavers, Environmental May 16, 2019

I don’t know about you but the world is seeming pretty grim at the moment. With Alabama deciding women should be broodmares and the Bolton gunning for iran. There’s horribly grim news about Scotland with farmers having killed all the beavers they could before May 1st, and now there’s a headline saying that Koala bears have been determined to be “functionally extinct“.

KOALAS BEARS!

I ask you, how much bad news can this old woman take? Apparently not that much, because when I read this article yesterday it made me cry. Margaret Renki writes with a poignant and terrifying attention to detail. She didn’t overwhelm me with the list of horrors so much as the very last few crushing lines.

Surviving Despair in the Great Extinction

One million species of plants and animals are heading toward annihilation, and it’s our fault. How can we possibly live with that truth?

Last week, the United Nations released the summary of an enormous report that broke my heart in more ways than any backyard-nature observations ever have. The Times article about the report, “Humans Are Speeding Extinction and Altering the Natural World at an ‘Unprecedented’ Pace,” called it “the most exhaustive look yet at the decline in biodiversity across the globe and the dangers that creates for human civilization.”

Whole expanses of the natural world are disappearing. It’s not just poster animals like polar bears, tigers and elephants; it’s life on earth as we know it.

I hear a truth like that and succumb to despair. I look around at all the ways I’ve tried to help — at the reusable grocery bags and the solar-field subscription, at the pollinator garden and the little meadow of wildflowers, at the lawn mower blades set high enough to harm no snakes or nesting cottontails, at the recycle bins and the worm composter, at the nest box for the bluebirds and the nest box for the house wrens and the nest box claimed this year by a red wasp — and it all strikes me as puny, laughable, at best a way to feel better about myself. How is any of this a solution? Or even the path to a solution?

it’s a heart-wrenching and well written article, but it isn’t the panicked hopelessness that upset me. its the grim resolve that comes at the end. it’s not the giving up that makes me cry – it’s the stepping up that follows. like weak soldiers in a hopeless battle that you know you are going to lose, but you stand there anyway, at the front lines with your fists clenched and your eyes squinting uselessly into the smoke.

The odds are completely against us. This is a terrible, hopeless battle to fight.

But it’s our fight. The one we inherited from Rachel Carson and Aldo Leopold and John Muir and Cady Stanton. It’s the one the pioneers gave us and our ancestors pledged at Ellis Island or Plymouth Rock or Wounded knee. Hopelessness is horrifying and hard to bear. but it’s pre-determined, unsuspenseful, grim and simple to understand.

it’s the hope at the end of this beautiful eulogy that made me cry.

And I can remind myself, all day long every day, that there’s a difference between doing something and doing nothing. That “something,” small as it might seem, is not “nothing.” The space between them is far apart, limitless stretching distances apart. It’s the difference between a heartbeat and silence.

I feel at this particular crossroads, we should all be reminded of this terrifying invitation to redemption:

MORE IMPORTANT THAN A KEYSTONE

heidi08 Beavers, Environmental October 11, 2018

I was thinking yesterday about the keystone concept. And noticing it’s not really big enough to describe everything that beavers do, Sure they connect the the two halves of the archway and let it stand and support the weight of whatever follows, but they also build the reason for the archway to be there in the first place and make possible the other blocks that will come later.

They’re actually way more important than a simple keystone.

Which lead me to spend yesterday putting together some additions to Ms. Arnold’s lovely artwork. It involved thinking of what was needed and shopping the internet for like-colored images that matched her overall theme. Okay, crime. It involved crime I admit. But it’s for a good cause, I’m not making any money from it and it was worth it. My hope is to inspire some talented artists to do it right.

What do you think? It has already been shared a dozen times on Facebook and our beaver-loving brits are already hard at work to paint their own with comparable english species which is an auspicious start, I feel It gets the point across nicely! (h/t to Robin and Shauna who’s suggested helped make it better!)

BEAVERS AND DIRT

heidi08 Beavers, Environmental October 9, 2018

Dirt Rich – Trailer from Passelande Pictures on Vimeo.

Back in the spring of 2015 I was contacted by filmmaker Marcelina Cravat who was working on a documentary about climate change and creative solutions. She was interested in talking about the wetland work that beavers do and wondered if Martinez would be a good place to film some sequences. She and her husband came over to survey the setting and meet the fam.

At the time we were excitedly expecting what turned out to be our last group of kits and had already arranged with Suzi Eszterhas to photograph them for Ranger Rick magazine. That had been set up at the last beaver festival so I thought I better ask her how she felt about another camera on site before I answered Marci. To my surprise Suzi said ‘no’. Because in her experience it was hard to work around two visions at once. So I introduced Marci to the good folks in’ Napa, and off she went in their direction.

Dirt Rich explores strategies that re-stabilize atmospheric carbon levels and revitalize the soil in an effort to reverse the effects of runaway global warming.

Fast forward three years later, and her film premiered this year at the SF Green Film Festival this summer, got awards at Sundance and is available to watch online for a short period. Robin Ellison of Napa has a lovely snippet of footage inside and let me know about the opportunity to watch our beaver buddies online. The 6 minute beaver segment starts around 24 minutes in and stars Brock Dolman, Kate Lundquist, Eli Asarian, Sherry Tippie and some even more beautiful furry faces. I can’t embed it, but here’s the link. Dirt Rich. Lucky for you, you have three more free days to watch the whole thing.

And here’s proof of many selfless hours spent at the beaver dam. Congratulations Robin!

MAKE TIME FOR NATURE

heidi08 Environmental October 7, 2018

An interesting survey from Canada, saying folks aren’t spending as much time in nature as they used to or as they know is good for them. I can’t even imagine this poll being conducted in our country. I bet however little time they spend outdoors it’s still way more time than Americans.

Canadians too lazy, busy to go outside and play: survey

A survey released last week confirms grown-up Canadians still like to groan about going outside to play, often because they find outdoor activities too uncomfortable or time-consuming.

The Ipsos poll asked 2,000 Canadians to report how often they traded urban comforts for a natural setting. Although nine out of 10 agreed they’re happier when surrounded by wilderness, three-quarters admitted they find staying inside “easier.”

That answer varied considerably by age, with 80 per cent of millennials agreeing to the statement, compared to 68 per cent of baby boomers.

Rain, extreme temperatures and work pressures topped the list of reasons people avoided the outdoors, with a full third of respondents saying they don’t like the bugs and a quarter claiming they can’t find the motivation to leave the city.

I so want to know what these poll results would look like in this country. I’m sure they’d be so much worse! Maybe there should even be a “nature index” you can consult before moving to an area? The fact that a poll was issued on the topic at all speaks volumes about how much nature is valued in the country.

On average, the survey found Canadians spend just over an hour in nature on weekdays, going up to two hours on weekends.

Is it just me, or does that sound like a lot (or a lie)? When you think about the shorter days and longer work weeks, and you classify nature as “away from human environments” it’s hard to think how people steal an whole hour.

Neilson said the average was likely skewed up by a few people who spend lots of time outdoors. The vast majority, she explained, spend very little time outside.

But Neilson found it concerning that four out of 10 Canadians say they don’t spend any recreational time away from human-made environments at all.

“That’s a little alarming,” Neilson said. “There’s a saying — ‘People will protect what they love, and love what they know.’ If they know nature, and love it, they’ll protect it. There’s a chain effect.”

Okay I understand why this matters. And it brings home more vividly than ever why green spaces within urban environments matter. Like beavers in a city creek, for example. Of course this was the line from Vancouver that got my attention.

‘But she’s also noticed more excitement over the beavers, otters and other wildlife in recent years, with visitors eager to encounter critters firsthand.”

“We’re seeing a boom because of that authentic experience. You’re not just watching a movie about exotic birds, you’re seeing baby eagles with their heads popping over the sides of their nests,” she said.

Exactly! It seems to me that getting folks outside increases when they have a chance of observing wildlife firsthand. And they only way that is possible is for us to allow pockets where nature can thrive even in urban cities. Which means we can’t use up every ounce of space we might be able to sell for parking lots or big box stores. Ahem.

Speaking of urban nature making a difference in people’s lives, I finished tweaking this yesterday and wanted to share. This is a short version of my interview with Marcus Smith on BYU from last month set as a slideshow. I had to snip and snip to get it short enough, so I sound rather breathless at times. Enjoy!

A CRAZY BEAVER ARGUMENT

heidi08 City Reports, Environmental October 15, 2018

I had a funny dream snippet this morning that I was introducing author Ben Goldfarb to Mitch Wagner, the attorney who represented the friends of Lake Skinner case. And I realized this ancient history was actually wild-foresight-crazy-progressive, It made me wonder whether the Western Environmental Law Firm who sued Wildlife Services in Oregon for trapping beaver last year even knew about it. And it definitely seemed like time to talk about it again.

So Lake Skinner is a reservoir and recreational park in Riverside County in southern California. It has trails and a campground and a boat launch. And way back in the nineties some beavers made there way on the scene.

Now the park is part of the Riverside Country Park District, but since it is part of an important water supply, Metro Water has a hand in it too. All together they decided it wouldn’t do to have beavers taking down trees and mucking things up there. So they announced they had permits from CDFG to trap them.

There were regular users of the park who loved watching the beavers. They didn’t want them killed so they made a fuss. The park came up with a list of bogus reasons why it HAD to be done. The beavers were cutting trees and there would be no place for the Bell’s vireo to nest they argued. (Which happened to be a listed species on site), They had to kill beavers to save birds!

Well the protesters made friends and had supporters, and one of their friends just happened to be attorney Mitchell Wagner, a sole practitioner in Riverside. He wasn’t an environmental lawyer, he wasn’t a biologist. He just ‘happened’ to think this was a bad idea so he signed on to represent these Friends of Lake Skinner beavers. And just like me, since it wasn’t his field, and wasn’t something he knew anything about, he talked to a lot of folks to learn what to do next, And he read. And he listened.

Mitch cared about animals and had handled some animal welfare cases in the past. But maybe if Mitch had been a seasoned environmental attorney who was used to how all this works and the slow inches of progress one could expect he would have taken a different approach, But he was used to thinking for himself and doing things his own way. The other side was represented by the attorney generals office at the biggest firm in the area. But he was not daunted. He did what in retrospect I now realize was the most crazy and long shot thing he could possibly do.

He argued that removing beavers violated the environmental qualities act.

In his studying and talking to people Mitch learned that beavers were good for the environment, for fish and birds and water quality. And he figured if they were GOOD for the environment removing them for no reason must be bad. It made perfect sense in a crazy way, The parks department and water companies weren’t supposed to do things that were BAD for the environment. Were they?

So off they went to court. He sued the parks department, Metro water and the California Department of Fish and Game for good measure.

Late breaking. I just got an email from Mitch who read this and offered an improved paragraph saying,

“A more accurate account would be that I, as a sole practitioner, litigated the Lake Skinner beavers case against three government agencies, including the California Department of Fish & Game, out of conviction for the plight of the beavers and equal conviction in the law and my ongoing animal welfare advocacy. Indeed, as a sole practitioner, I, like the beavers, have always been accustomed to David v Goliath battles, having litigated against government agencies and large corporations.”

!!! Much better! Thanks, Mitch

It probably surprised no one when they lost their initial suit. But Mitch was a fighter and appealed. At this trial he brought in the big guns, wetlands expert Donald Hey from Chicago, and beaver expert Sherri Tippie from Colorado. Can you even believe that? This was 18 years ago. Before Ben’s book, before the nature documentary, even before Michael Pollock was releasing any salmon research.

Mitch argued that removing beavers violated CEQA and he won.

To everyone’s surprise, the appellate court ruled that the decisions weren’t justified. That they should never have trapped the beavers in the first place and that the parks department and Metro and CDFG, that they had caused the lawsuit with their actions and would have to pay all his attorney fees and the expert witness fees.

More than fifty thousand dollars! Not to mention the time and attorney hours they had to spend trying to fight it.

To this day there are still occasional beavers in Lake Skinner. And this was such a wild unbelievable outcome, that it was never tried again as far as I know. Even thought it’s still true that removing beavers hurts the environment, No environmental attorney was crazy enough to argue that.

It took Mitch,

Because sometimes you have to be out of your element to do something that’s never been done before. Which we in Martinez know first hand.

If you haven’t read this yet, you really should.

LAKE SKINNER REMITTITUR