Category: Educational

Best. Headline. Ever.

heidi08 Beaver-themed merchandise, Beavers elsewhere, Beavers or Social Ambasadors, Creative Solutions, Educational, featured February 19, 2014

Senators seek plan to help bring back the beavers and protect wetlands

Wildlife biologists contend beavers could be the most low-tech, inexpensive answer that drought-plagued New Mexico has for storing up precious water and rescuing dwindling wetlands— but some of the animals are still killed every year by people who consider them nuisances.

The state Senate is considering a memorial sponsored by Sens. Tim Keller, D-Albuquerque, and Bobby Gonzales, D-Taos, asking several agencies to develop a statewide beaver-management plan to rein in conflicts between property owners and unwanted animals and to support populations where beavers are needed. Senate Memorial 4 passed the Senate Rules Committee Thursday and is scheduled to be heard next in the Conservation Committee.

Senators promoting beavers! Be still my heart! A state-wide beaver management plan to address both unwanted beavers and needed beaver populations. That sounds as much like music to my ears as any Mahler symphony. The beaver offers a real solution to the dried soils of climate change, but it’s always the last place people are willing to look for answers. Can we try pumping? Can we try seeding? Can we try buying water from another state? No? You mean we really have to try those icky beavers?

Yes. Yes, you do.

“I’d like to see New Mexico craft an intentional beaver-management plan like Utah has,” said Bryan Bird, Wild Places Program director for the Santa Fe-based nonprofit WildEarth Guardians. “It would be a solution to a lot of problems. Right now, there’s no logic to how we manage beavers.”

Beaver dams hold back streams and create ponds. Those ponds store water, create wetlands, recharge aquifers, support wildlife habitat and slow down floods, reducing erosion, wildlife biologists say. About 82 percent of the state’s streams on public land could support beavers, according to a recent wetlands habitat study Bird coordinated, which was funded by the New Mexico Environment Department.

Folks are started to get interested in the relationship between the water-savers and our rapidly dwindling water. I never heard my KGO interview on the topic but my uncle did, so I know it’s out there. I’ll be talking on Fur-Bearer Defender radio about the relationship today. It’s a happening time to be a beaver advocate, and I’m just trying to keep up.

Without beavers, the ponds that helped store up water on many stream systems dwindled, according to another recent study on the ecological benefits of beaver dams, conducted by New Mexico State University researchers. The study found only 40 active beaver dams on streams on public lands in the state in 2013, according to Jennifer Frey, an associate professor and one of the study’s authors. She said beaver were “functionally extinct” in the state because “they are so sparsely distributed that they are not able to perform the vital ecosystem services that would improve the health of our streams.”

I’m so excited this is even being DISCUSSED at the policy level in New Mexico. What’s wrong with California? There is even a comment about hyporheic exchange, which makes me feel a little faint. March on New Mexico and bring us to a new way to think about beavers. Since the Taos trading route did a massive amount of damage to the population, you owe it to them!

A cheerful donation arrived yesterday from our friends at Vancouver Bamboo. Liana donated two bolts of organic animal print fleece with beaver, moose, eagle and wolf silhouettes. Vancouver Bamboo, and it’s sister company, Kinderel, are a Greater Vancouver based companies specializing in organic fabrics and babywear. The company was launched in 2008 on the belief that parents should have the opportunity to raise their babies without products stuffed with dangerous chemicals.

I just know someone’s grandma is going to make them the coolest hoody or sleep set! Thanks Liana for your generosity and support. I’m so happy that you were willing to donate your unique fabric for beavers.

Quietly making a difference everywhere…

heidi08 Beaver-themed merchandise, Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental February 17, 2014

Oregon Minnow Is The First Fish Recovered From Endangered Species List

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Tuesday its petition to remove Oregon chub from the Endangered Species List and touting the success story of a minnow that’s no more than three inches long.

Other fish have made it off the endangered species list -– but not because their numbers rebounded. In many cases, it was because they went extinct.

Oregon chub are a different story. Their numbers have grown from less than a thousand when they were listed as endangered in 1993 to 160,000 today. In the last 20 years, the known chub populations dotting the Willamette Valley has grown from eight to 80.

And guess where they found this endangered fish? Hmmm… Go ahead, I’ll wait.

But Auer says the idea was improve habitat for salmon, steelhead and waterfowl. He didn’t even know Oregon chub existed until Bangs found the fish in a pool above a beaver dam on his land.

The chub is dependent on natural disturbances in the Willamette Valley,” he says. “That means flooding, and things that occur when you have beaver activity and wetland formation. A lot of these processes have been disrupted through human activities – agriculture, damming rivers, flood prevention. We had to figure out a way to mimic those processes and create habitats that provided those kinds of conditions for the chub.”

So every farmer and rancher who has a beaver dam on their property is helping this chub, and every farmer who doesn’t is hurting them. That seems pretty straight forward to me. How about a tax credit or a reduction in the fishing license fees for everyone who allows beavers on their land? Seems only right…

Today’s donation comes from Jess at AnimalOutlines. Beaver with a purple toothbrush on a mint green background. Hand painted with acrylic paint on a 6″x6″ by 1.5″ deep canvas. These small works of art are signed and ready to hang. Hand made with humor and love. Thanks Jess! I know several dentists in Martinez that should snap these up!

Oh and last night I got a call for a phone interview on KGO about beavers and drought. One day outta the hospital I tried to remember as much as I could about beavers and water and salmonids and why we should care. If you hear something today let me know.

Across the Pond

heidi08 Beaver-themed merchandise, Beavers elsewhere, Educational, Environmental, Friends of Martinez Beavers February 4, 2014

More good news from Britain, where Louise’s article in the Ecologist just keeps echoing. This one is from the Mammal Society on Smallholder. If you’re looking for a competent summary of beaver benefits all in one convenient place, this provides just about the best collected arguments I’ve seen. Bookmark the page and enjoy!

Bring back beavers to stop flooding, urges Mammal Society

In the aftermath of the recent severe flooding in parts of lowland Britain, with adverse impacts upon the lives and businesses of thousands of people, The Mammal Society has urged the government to consider a”bold and cost-effective” wildlife solution as part of its overall flood defence response: bring back the beaver and allow it to apply its benign engineering skills to our river systems.

Beaver activities have multiple physical and chemical repercussions for streams and rivers and the benefits of beaver dams can be considerable, vastly outweighing any minor, localised negative impacts. Water velocity and associated erosive forces are greatly reduced while large quantities of water are retained within surface, soil and groundwater compartments; this leads to attenuation of ‘flash flood’ phenomena as the stored water takes longer to travel through the catchment. ‘Beaver rivers’ do not exhibit such high and low extremes of discharge, which is regulated more evenly throughout the year, alleviating both floods and droughts.

Beaver dam building also improves water quality, through retention of sediments, organic carbon and pollutants; this could significantly reduce the cost of water purification for water companies.

Lastly, beaver rivers exhibit increased hydrological and morphological complexity and connectivity, and provide greatly enhanced opportunities for many different plants and animals, including invertebrates, fish, amphibians, birds and semi-aquatic mammals; biodiversity is significantly improved and, as a consequence, is likely to be more resilient to the effects of climate change. Recent studies in the United States have indicated that the economic benefits of beaver reintroduction into a river catchment, in terms of water storage, regulation of water flows, sediment retention and water purification is likely to run into many millions of dollars annually, and many projects are underway to re-establish the similar North American beaver into degraded river catchments throughout the country”

Oh what a glorious couple of paragraphs! It’s nice to see folks doing their homework and learning about beaver benefits. Let’s hope they are well into their tutorial by the times beavers actually bring themselves back on a grander scale. I think it really doesn’t matter much whether the country ‘decides’ to reintroduce beavers or not. Just like it doesn’t matter whether you ‘decide’ your teenager will become sexually active.

It’s going to happen anyway. All you can do is educate as much as possible. Here’s their handy bullet list:

Beavers exert many positive effects on ecosystem functioning including:
Regulation of stream flows
Flood alleviation
Increased water storage and raised water table
Sediment retention and sorting
Reduction in erosion and decreased turbidity
Improved hydrological connectivity within and between surface and groundwaters
Increased hydrological & morphological diversity
Improved lateral connectivity between channel & floodplain
Increased nutrient cycling
Improved acid-neutralising capacity
Carbon retention, pollutant retention and water purification

And on biological diversity:

Increase in habitat heterogeneity
Increase in species richness and diversity
Increase in aquatic, transition and deadwood habitats
Increase in open canopy riparian habitats and improved riparian understorey
Increased in-stream woody debris
Improved habitat for invertebrates, fish, amphibians, birds and semi-aquatic mammals
Improved connectivity and resilience

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Virgine St. Jean is the clever artist behind Green Banana Cards. She’s from from Ontario Canada and has crafted a brilliant idea for ordinary postcards. Her “Mail A Beaver” invention has morphed into “mail a lobster”, “‘mail a wolf” and “mail a panda”, missives that are a snap for travel sales. The card wryly notes “It has become increasingly difficult to clear airport security with a standard beaver” and offers a pragmatic solution. She sent a generous stack our way for the auction. Imagine how nice it will be to send some postcards to friends telling them you attended a beaver festival!

Wonder – without winter

heidi08 City Reports, Educational, Environmental January 26, 2014

Vail Daily column: Busy beavers

t’s a busy time on the mountain for us, but you might not expect beavers to be just as active this time of year. Surprise! They are busier than you’d think right around now because between January and February, it’s mating time for our furry friends. Beavers are a monogamous species, meaning they mate with one partner for life. They start reproducing around age 2 or 3, at which point they build a very impressive lodge with their mate and start their family.

A pleasant article about beavers from Kayla at the Vail Daily. (Not that it says anything about why beavers are actually useful. Instead it alarmingly opines that beavers cut down 1700 trees a year and live until 20!) But never mind, compared to all the horrible things we usually have to review about beavers it’s not too bad.

Not like Peter Fimrite’s article in the SFGate this morning that says salmon may go extinct with California’s new drought pattern. And doesn’t mention what? Say it with me now.

California drought threatens coho salmon with extinction

The lack of rain this winter could eventually be disastrous for thirsty California, but the drought may have already ravaged some of the most storied salmon runs on the West Coast.

The coho salmon of Central California, which swim up the rivers and creeks during the first winter rains, are stranded in the ocean waiting for the surge of water that signals the beginning of their annual migration, but it may never come.

You know, way back in 2008 when NOAA first reported on a regional level that said the way to fix our salmon population had four paws and a tail, I thought for sure the tide would turn. I imagined a three month period when everyone came to grips with the fact followed by an explosion of legislation with a burdensome salmon tax for cities that still trapped beavers.

Six years later I realize that things may be moving a bit slower than I had planned.

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Yesterday a donation came from the local artist behind Bird versus Bird in Oakland. Bess Petty works with recycled materials and uses urban nature in all her designs. When I asked for a donation she told me that she and her husband had been out to see the Martinez Beavers but hadn’t found them. I assured her of an easier summer viewing and said she should let us know then she wants a tour. In addition to the pouch she sent lots of other goodies so thank her if you see her at the festival!

This nifty waterproof coin purse is sewn from salvaged vinyl banner material with a sturdy Velcro closure and features my original beaver drawing on a pale cream background.

This new toy was sent to me by Bruce Thompson of Ecotracs in Wyoming. I am having so much fun playing with it I just had to share. Go try your own!

Water Managers

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental January 20, 2014

6 Scary Facts About California’s Drought

6 Scary Facts About California’s Drought. Last year was California’s driest on record for much of the state, and this year, conditions are only worsening. Sixty-three percent of the state is in extreme drought, and Sierra Nevada snow pack is now running at just 10 to 30 percent of normal. “We’re heading into what is near the lowest three year period in the instrumental record” for snow pack, says hydrologist Roger Bales of the University of California-Merced.

California’s governor has declared an official state of drought, and there is an alarming discussion about the event becoming the new normal in our state. Will this be the factor that reintroduces beavers to our conversation? I wrote the State secretary of Natural Resources this weekend. As he grew up in Vallejo, I feel there’s a thin chance he might know the something about the story of the Martinez Beavers and someone on his staff will respond. I also commented about the idea on this article at Mother Jones and someone wrote back directing me to read Eric Collier’s “Three against the wilderness” which is about the best I can hope for.

Meanwhile I woke up to discover this from our very good friend Louise Ramsay in Scotland.

Time to bring back Nature’s flood management engineer – the beaver

By Louise Ramsay

As climate change brings more rain, Britain is suffering from the extinction here of our native flood engineer – the beaver. Louise Ramsay says it’s high time to re-introduce these charismatic rodents all over Britain.

There used to be a creature in Britain which helped significantly with this effort. It was made extinct here around four centuries ago, but recent reintroductions of this rodent have shown the vital role they once had in reducing flooding – and how they could take up that mantle once more.

In spite of their reputation for causing floods, beavers also have the capacity for mitigating the impact of flooding, but on a rather bigger scale. In times of heavy rain or sudden snow melt, the water rushing down from the highlands would be slowed up and absorbed more effectively by the large ponds, wetlands and streams with flights of beaver dams, than by deep cut ditches designed to channel water as fast as possible on to the next place.

Louise Ramsay remains one of the most inspirational women on the planet. Her keynote address at the last beaver conference was one of my favorite things EVER. And I am enormously pleased that she’s hard at work on the beaver front in Scotland. In case you need a reminder about her and Paul’s amazing story, here’s my interview with Paul on the subject of the free beavers of the River Tay. It contains an interview with her from the BBC.

Paul Ramsay (Save the Free Beavers of the River Tay)

Louise ended her wonderful presentation at the conference with a passage from the 19th century poet Gerald Manly Hopkins from his work ‘Inversnaid‘. I remarked at the time it could not have been better chosen or better delivered.

What would the world be, once bereft

Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,

O let them be left, wildness and wet;

Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.