Category: Educational

Free, furry nitrate-removal kits.

heidi08 Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental May 15, 2015

Wetlands continue to reduce nitrates

Wetlands created 20 years ago between tile-drained agricultural fields and the Embarras River were recently revisited for a new two-year University of Illinois research project. Results show an overall 62 percent nitrate removal rate and little emission of nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas.

“Slowing down the rate of flow of the water by intercepting it in the wetland is what helps to remove the nitrate,” says Mark David, a University of Illinois biogeochemist in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences. “The vegetation that grows in the wetland doesn’t make much of a difference because the grasses don’t take up much nitrogen. It’s just about slowing the water down and allowing the microbes in the sediment to eliminate the nitrate. It goes back into the air as harmless nitrogen gas.”

I’m so glad Illinois is looking into this. We really need to understand the ways to fix our streams. The EPA says that nitrates are leftovers from all the fertilizers and rodenticides farmers use. And that if the get into wells or groundwater they can cause illness in children or cancer at higher levels.

Exposure to nitrates and nitrites at levels above health-based risk values has adverse health effects on infants and children. The health effect of most concern to the U.S. EPA for children is the “blue baby syndrome” (methemoglobinemia) seen most often in infants exposed to nitrate from drinking water used to make formula.

Exposure to higher levels of nitrates or nitrites has been associated with increased incidence of cancer in adults, and possible increased in cidence of brain tumors, leukemia, and nasopharyngeal (nose and throat)

As a rule Americans are against turning our babies blue or giving ourselves cancer. So we really, really want to get rid of nitrates when we can. And it turns out that just slowing down the water by making wetlands is a better way to do that than just about anything else. Even better than plants. Even better than building expensive bioreactors.

“Farmers generally prefer to install bioreactors because they don’t take up much space,” Gentry says. “A wetland requires about 3 to 4 percent of the drainage area. So, for a 100-acre field, you’d need about 4 acres in wetland. Although bioreactors don’t use much land, they also don’t slow the water enough during high flows. Research on their performance is still underway. Because water tends to be in the wetlands for a much longer time period, they are more effective.”

Wow, wetlands work harder for longer and they are supremely effective at getting rid of nitrates. We really need them! The article doesn’t mention it but they also have all these added benefits as a buffer zone for huge storms, and a stopping place for migratory birds, or habitat for wildlife. We should be working hard to protect them since they do this important work. Maybe giving a tax credit to farmers that allow them?

The article also doesn’t mention a certain rodent that actually makes and maintains these valuable wetlands for free. Its name escapes me now. What was it called again?

I think it started with a ‘B’?

Thanks to BK for sending this my way.

Getting ready for Beaver Mother’s Day

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers and Birds, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Beavers or Social Ambasadors, Educational, Environmental, Who's saving beavers now? May 4, 2015

What a headline!

5 pesky animals you might see this spring around Calgary

Spring is here, and BBQs and flowering gardens await. But just as we are waking up from our — albeit mild — winter slump, so is nature. So be prepared to see some furry, not-so-welcome visitors.

While it’s unlikely for someone to have a problem beaver in their backyard, the critters still can cause problems with their tendency to flood an area. To create their homes, beavers will build dams that block water flow, sometimes flooding pathways and other public infrastructure. There is also the issue of tree management, since their food of choice is bark and leaves. Calgary Parks management deals with this by wrapping wire around trees, to stop them from chomping on them. Also, since the flood in 2013, the beaver’s environment has changed, and can now be seen in places they weren’t before.

When near a beaver dam, be sure to keep your distance if you see a beaver. These are territorial animals, and though they will leave you be if you extend the same courtesy, they have been known to attack dogs and humans and to hold up traffic.

Seriously? Keep your distance because beavers might bite or hold up traffic? You know I’m a busy woman, it’s Monday and I have to get ready for another presentation. But this is too good to resist. I literally can’t help myself.

There are more things to mock in the article, but this is most glaring. Now we have other things to talk about. Greg Kerekes from the Urban Wildlife Research project in San Jose is coming to interviewme for a short film about urban wildlife this weekend. I mention it because he went to Lexington Reservoir this weekend and took this amazing photo of a beaver moving a kit:

moving jr — Beaver moving kit – photo Greg Kerekes

Look at that adorable face! When I first saw it it almost looked like a koala bear! Greg a great job of sitting patiently and even waited behind a blind to get this shot. In Martinez, our new mother has moved the kits every year but we’ve never gotten lucky enough to film it.

Yet?

Saturday we’re off to Safari West where I’ll be presenting after dinner to the families staying there. Then we get to stay overnight in the luxury tents and tour in the morning. Since Sunday’s mother’s day I’m going to talk about beaver mothers and the way that beavers act as “Fairy Godmothers” to the creeks. I had a lot of fun making this, and any excuse to download new fonts makes me happy!

Beavers to the left of us, beavers to the right of us,

heidi08 Beavers and water, Educational, Environmental, kits May 3, 2015

Last night we saw at least five family members, two coming from up above the marina vista bridge and two or three coming from above the footbridge. It was one of those days when beavers appeared from so many places at once they were hard to keep track of. I told Lory it reminded me of this cartoon:
We were craning our necks at every turn struggling to catch a glimpse of teats that would assure of us a new generation – no luck on that front yet. Their impressive dam reassures us that new family members are being protected. But I personally can’t understand why the 2 year olds haven’t dispersed yet if there are new kits in the mix. We will just have to be patient, and give the beavers time to show us the answer at the leisure.

Entering the water – Photo Cheryl Reynolds

Speaking of things I hate to do, here is another doozey. Not talking about something really, really exciting. I mean even if there’s a perfectly good reason not to talk about it. And you promised people you respect very much. I remember being a child and going christmas shopping for my mom with my older sisters. They would sternly warn me as to the pact of secrecy and I would promise over and over again not to tell what we got her and explain that I was older now are reassure them I understood. And off we would go shopping to Cost Plus or Penny’s and pick out whatever pretty trinket I could afford.

But as soon as we came back I would burst open like a confetti balloon and explain how wonderful the earrings or vase that we had picked out were going to be. Even before they were wrapped I had to tell her. It was just too exciting. The thought of having my mother’s undiluted attention for the entire twenty seconds it would take to deliver the message was just too much for my little brain to resist. My sisters would be furious. And swear I was never going with them next time. I would feel horrible and immature. But the next year the whole thing would happen all over again.

Now that was a long time ago. Why bring up this old story?

Oh, no particular reason.

Beavers head for Belly of the Beast

heidi08 Beaver News, Beavers, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental, Who's saving beavers now? April 20, 2015

No rest for the beaver-y. Now I have 6 whole days to get ready for my upcoming talk at SARSAS next monday. SARSAS stands for Save Auburn Ravine for Salmon and Steelhead. I met the founder/director Jack Sanchez at the Salmonid restoration conference in Santa Barbara last year, and he asked me to be part of the dynamic and packed list of speakers they host. (In fact he mentioned that they already had a beaver expert but she wasn’t very positive about them, and I knew at ONCE who he meant.

Jack accompanied me to the meeting we had with CDFW last November after a review of depredation permits showed Placer issued 9 times more permits than anywhere else in the state. I am thrilled to be marching boldly into enemy lines to deliver the beaver gospel. We might even have a few friendly faces at the meeting as Sherry, Ted, and Janet aren’t far away.

This is from the Placer County E-Newsletter:

I’ll relax when we get the TIME CORRECTED. (Sheesh!) And if it’s not corrected I’ll just stay there and give the talk again to anyone who shows up! In the meantime I am busily working on graphics for the talk. I especially like this one. Don’t you? The background is the beloved drawing of a series of dams in a gorge from Morgan’s book. Overlaid with swirling column of fish.

Nice video from Rusty this morning of beavers eating their spring diet. Enjoy!

Conservation Awareness

heidi08 Creative Solutions, Earth Day, Educational, Environmental, Friends of Martinez Beavers, Who's blaming beavers now?, Who's saving beavers now? April 17, 2015

What a great article from Troy Alabama. I won’t say of all places because Alabama is the site of the most important fine EVER for removing a beaver dam and destroying the habitat of the rare watercress darter. Looks like the city of Troy learned nothing from their northern cousin’s misfortune.

Dam destruction raises concern

The city of Troy tore down a beaver dam beside McKinley Drive near the walkway that connects the Edge apartment complex to campus.

Vaughn Daniels, environmental services director for the city of Troy, said the city worked with the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to make sure the dam removal was environmentally safe.

The beavers were not killed, Daniels said. According to Daniels, the dam was a threat to the road.

After the beaver dam was removed, the pond it created drained.

Members of Troy University’s Environmental Club moved animals from the remains of the pond to the Lagoon.

“In one day out there doing a visual survey, we saw 3-foot grass carp, sunfishes, red-winged blackbirds, belted kingfishers, musk turtles, pond sliders, gray and green tree frogs, Eastern garter snakes, as well as a huge female great horned owl,” said Tanner Stainbrook, a senior ecology and field biology major from Huntsville and a member of the Environmental Club, in an email.

Members of the Environmental Club have voiced concern about the effects tearing down the dam will have on the area. “The big thing is that this eliminated the major wetland ecosystem in the area,” Stainbrook said. “This mud hole, in two days, will be just that. There’ll be no water left.”

Group members said they were concerned that this may harm the great horned owl’s habitat, as the owl fed on the frogs in the pond.

A university, an environmental club, and a sympathetic reporter. Something tells me these beavers might be making a splash. I spent time yesterday tracking all the major players so I could make sure they new about solutions and consequences of dam removal. I haven’t heard anything back, but I’m hopeful. And it gave me a new idea for responding to these stories. Since we review every beaver report that’s written every year, we may as well give notice to the best and the worst beaver articles of each caagory. Gradually notify contenders that they’re in the running and pick the winners in January. I already got Robin excited about the idea and she’s going to help! I took the liberty of inspiring myself for the project with some graphics this morning. Hahaha! Aren’t they fun?

A less pleasant article came out of Norway yesterday about one of the many hazards of beaver life. It’s nice to see it written about respectfully though (except for the headline).

Timber! Beaver crushed by tree it was felling

7fcbe58b21bbdf87d9928ca0b87d7c8725f277a21c837eca694e7115f78d3d64 — The unlucky beaver trapped under a birch. Photo: Beate Strøm Johansen

A beaver in Norway has been crushed to death after misjudging which way the tree it was gnawing down was going to fall.

Beate Strøm Johansen, a Zoologist at the Agder Natural History museum in Kristiansand on the southern tip of Norway, was called to the scene after a local logger stumbled upon the unfortunate animal.

“This beaver has been extremely unlucky,” she told The Local. “I hope it’s not something that happens very often for the beavers’ sake.”

Johansen said that beavers normally have an uncanny ability to predict when and where a tree is likely to fall.

“When the tree is falling they have to jump aside so the tree doesn’t hit them. Instinctively, they should know where it is falling, but sometimes they don’t know which way to jump,” she explained.

I might be strange, but it seems almost kind of sweet to read this article. As if it mattered that a beaver was killed by a tree when we all know sooo many are killed on purpose. Yes trees are unpredictable, and I’m not sure beavers have any uncanny abilities to know where they’re falling except practice and luck. As the old saying goes, that which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

Now it’s time to invite you to the birthday Earthday event at John Muir tomorrow. The event information is here for you to print. The guest speaker is going to be Beth Pratt for the wildlife federation, the winner of the conservationist of the year is going to be our friend Camilla Fox, and the non-profit of the year is going to be our friends at the River Otter Ecology Project. My congressman is getting a lifetime legacy award, which we hope he will be able to pick up in person. At the moment my office is literally surrounded with art supplies for our ‘build your own totem’ project. Rusty from Napa is coming to help with our booth and 57 other environmental exhibits will be on hand to celebrate the day. Plus Frank Helling as John Muir, which is sooo appealing. Whatever your planning tomorrow stop right now and plan to come. It will be an amazing day.

My graphic for the award winners will be a big sign. The background is Muir’s letter to Enos Mills congratulating him on his conservation work and inviting him to the house. See for yourself.