Another fish tale

heidi08 Educational, Environmental, Friends of Martinez Beavers October 27, 2013

This has been a strange week. It all began when I was approached by Tim Robinson, the senior resource scientist at Cachuma Operation and Maintenance Board in Santa Barbara. He wanted to know if I was interested in presenting in a workshop on steelhead and beavers for next year’s Salmonid Restoration Federation Conference.

What is a salmonid? For beginners like us it’s a member of the salmon family, including salmon, trout and white fish. (Steelhead is rainbow trout that made it to sea and was changed by the experience.) The conference draws some 800 people from around the state, and last year the keynote was given by the new head of Fish and ~~Game~~ Wildlife. It is a big deal because there are a lot of dollar interests in the health of our salmonid population.

Very quickly I talked myself out of saying yes. What do I know about steelhead? Santa Barbara is 5 hours away and that would mean I need to pay for the trip and the hotel. And I would be talking beavers to people that weren’t really there to talk about beavers. I asked all the voices of Worth A Dam who all thought it was a good investment, and I laid awake at night thinking wistfully that last year’s SRF conference was in Davis and why didn’t he ask me then?

I must have worried myself into a cold, because both Jon and I woke up with the mother of all illnesses. But I did decide I should go. And that the salmonid audience was the best place to preach the beaver gospel right now. I talked to Tim and found out that the workshop would be full of friends, Wikipedia Rick presenting our research on coastal beavers, Michael Pollock on steelhead in beaver ponds, Brock Dolman and Kate Lundquist on Beavers in the North coast. So I was a little comforted, but still dazed, as I pounded out my abstract.

Abstract

In 2007 the city of Martinez was prevented from responding to a problematic dam in Alhambra creek using trapping. Public pressure forced the city to try instead the installation of a flow device which successfully controlled flooding and allowed the beavers to remain. The subsequent wetlands created drew a succession of at least 15 new species to date, increased the range of rare and shy animals to make them more observable, allowed close observation of beaver behavior with opportunities for broad field education and encouraged civic participation through ecological awareness. The effects of beaver-assisted creek restoration in an urban setting and the role of citizen science are discussed.The effects of beaver-assisted creek restoration in an urban setting and the role of citizen science are discussed.

With my cold well on its way I cancelled work and tried to remember that the conference wasn’t until March and I would worry about that when we were closer to it. It’s probably just as well I had no voice at all when I got an email from A.L.Riley, the author of the most famous book on creek restoration and someone with interest in Worth A Dam and our beavers because of a very close mutual friend. She was putting together a workshop on restoring urban creeks for the salmonid restoration conference and would I be interested in talking about the restoration our beavers did in Martinez?

Abstract # 2:

In 2007 beavers dammed Alhambra creek in Martinez California, potentially harming roadways and prompting the city to recommend trapping. A dramatic resident response spurred media attention which forced city officials to find another way to solve the problem. Expert Skip Lisle was flown in from Vermont to install a flow device at the dam site which lowered the dam permanently and prevented flooding. The beavers responded to the water loss with a series of smaller secondary dams which expanded and enriched the wetlands, drawing new wildlife to the creek including otter and mink. The group “Worth A Dam” was formed to advocate for the beavers and educate the public about their role in creek restoration. Community events and a yearly beaver festival have been celebrated since that time, and Worth A Dam has assisted other cities in learning how and why to live with beavers. The effects of beaver-assisted creek restoration in an urban setting and the role of citizen science are discussed.

So now I’m at the tail end of a monstrous cold and committed to presenting twice at SRF in March. It is starting to feel like the right thing for me to do, but honestly I’m more than a little hesitant. Beaver voices are hairdressers and teachers and construction workers and authors. There are hydrologists and scientists in the club too but we are a mixed bag to be honest. Fish people are all biologists. They are steeped in science.

Well at the moment the science is telling them to think about beavers: And that means Heidi gets to talk at their conference. But you can bet I’m going to be doing a lot of reading between now and then.

Beaver Restoration Toolbox

heidi08 Educational, Environmental, Friends of Martinez Beavers October 23, 2013

Karl D. Malcolm, Ph.D.
Wilderness and Wild & Scenic Rivers
Southwest Regional Office
333 Broadway Boulevard Southeast
Albuquerque, NM 87102

Dr. Malcolm is the author behind this lovely finished tool for stream restoration that I have made available using the toolbar at the left. Go click through the finished document and read all about how beavers can improve streams. Now that our federal government is finally reopened he was able to send Rick the final copy yesterday. As I’ve said before, I’m particularly fond of page 8.

Children can’t learn what adults don’t teach them.

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Educational, Environmental October 21, 2013

Worth A Dam was the first stop yesterday in the garden wildlife display of the Nature and optics fair at Cornerstone, Sonoma. We met people who had attended my talk at Madrone Audubon, or Valley of the Moon and knew all about why beavers were good for creeks, people who had followed the story on the news, or even come to Martinez to see them, and people who were on vacation from their water-side property in Idaho, Colorado, New York and Maine that couldn’t wait to get home and try installing a flow device on their land to manage beaver activity! Let’s just say it was a good day and well spent. Cheryl, Jon, Lory and Ron were all on hand to make things run smoothly and we invited many new folks to this years beaver festival.

Apparently they could of used at the waterside at Powdermill Creek in Michigan this week. I’ll explain:

Bessemer biology class: A river runs through it

BESSEMER — Recently, biology students at the A.D. Johnston High School in Bessemer spent the morning learning about watersheds and forestry while at Powdermill Creek.

The annual event exposes students to wildlife and fisheries biology in addition to forest ecology and succession.

According to biology teacher Dave Rowe, “the partnership that has developed between the school, the U.S. Forest Service, private businesses and community members has really paid big dividends. When my students see the practical application of what we talk about in the classroom in a real world setting, they see biology from a new perspective.”

So far so good. Students going down to the creek to learn biology from the outside. US Forest service teaching how it all fits together. What’s not to like?

“Now, the area that we sample favors game species such as brook trout because of the cold, fast moving water and the ample shade and undercut banks,” he said. “Ten years ago this same area was a meadow due to the activity of beavers and the game species such as brook trout were less common and fish such as creek chubs, black nosed dace and white suckers were more common.”

Yes, another cheerful article of rangers teaching children that the fishing is better now that we got rid of all those ICKY BEAVERS. Because all brook trout really need is fast moving water. They don’t actually need rich insect communities to eat inside that water- just the water itself. And when the fast water scours all the invertibrate-sustaining sediment off the bottom of the pond and makes over cut banks they couldn’t be happier because they need the shade. Never mind that deep pools near beaver dams cool temperatures through hyporheic exchange and have very complex insect populations for fish to enjoy and fatten while they eat other fish. Its not like fishermen like to catch larger fish, right?

Well, we worked hard yesterday, but obviously we have a lot more work to do.

This is what the cavalry looks like in Massachusetts

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental, Festival October 19, 2013

Pittsfield solves beaver problem at Wild Acres pond humanely

In conjunction with Beaver Solutions, highway… (Stephanie Zollshan / Berkshire Eagle Staff)

“Everybody in the pool,” Dan Osterander yelled out, as he and other city workers stepped into the pond and installed a fence to keep out the beavers Friday morning. The crew used an excavator to remove twigs and mud that formed the dam.

They were joined by Michael Callahan of Beaver Solutions, who was contracted by the city to find a humane solution to a flooding problem city officials blame on the critters.

On Friday, Callahan took 50 paces into five-feet deep pond waters to place a cage that will connect the pipes to where the city has its own dam to control the water.

Callahan has a thriving business thanks to a Massachusetts law which prevents the lethal trapping of beavers. Any disturbance of a beaver dam requires a special permit.

Looks like our good friend Mike is busily convincing another city that beavers are Worth A Dam. (Although the reporter continues to be under the impression that we would only install a flow device because of the evil 1996 law. Apparently he has failed to notice that beavers can STILL being trapped and killed and cities routinely get permission to do so – even with grip traps if one of nine exceptions are met. Nor has he thought about the fact that if you pay a trapper $500 to take out some beavers one year, and new beavers move in the next year, you’ll pay it again and again, adding up to way more than hiring Mike.)

Never mind. We’re always happy when public works crews have to jump in the water and help someone install a flow device.

The owner of the farm has complained about high water levels at the pond, said Jim McGrath, Pittsfield’s park and open space planner. The Bousquet Ski Area needs the water for snowmaking in the winter.

Van Derkar, a Pittsfield conservation agent and former wildlife biologist, said beavers shouldn’t be negatively impacted by the city’s work.

“It shouldn’t affect them. That’s the whole goal,” Van Derkar said. “We need to be able to work with them.

Here endeth the lesson.

When’s the last time you went wine tasting in the Autumn with about 1000 other wildlife lovers? Oh wait, never? Then you should come join us at Cornerstone in Sonoma for the 2nd annual Optics and Nature fair. Worth A Dam will be there with lots of folks you know and some you’ll be very excited to meet. You can learn about lions or owls or beavers, and if you decide to pick up an extra pair of binoculars for junior the optics folks will pay the sales tax. See you there?

Beavers on Aljazeera?

heidi08 Beaver News, Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, Earth Day, Educational October 15, 2013

You bet your sweet alif they are! Check out the episode four of Earthrise.

Earthrise: Beaver Farmer

An English farmer sets out to restore the country’s wetlands, with help from nature’s most experienced engineers.

Wetlands are one of the world’s most valuable ecosystems; as well as providing a rich habitat for plants and animals, they also store carbon and help reduce floods by soaking up excess rain. But around the world, vast swathes of them are being destroyed, and in England alone, 90 percent of wetlands have disappeared in the last 400 years.

Now English farmer Derek Gow has a novel plan to restore these precious habitats – bring back beavers, the massive semi-aquatic rodents that once played a crucial role in shaping the British countryside. Using their sharp teeth, beavers chop down small trees and branches to build dams across streams, creating a large network of pools and channels to live in, which form a brand new wetland.

Sylvia Rowley travels to Devon, UK, to see what nature’s construction workers can do, and to help release a pair of beavers into their new home on Derek’s farm.

I hope this particular episode is available on the web once it airs, because this is definately news we can use. I’ll be excited to see it in person. You will remember that Derek is the farmer in Devon (Southwest England) that has been pretty outspoken for beavers. I found out he and Duncan Ramsay (Free beavers on the Tay in Scotland) are old friends so we are working the country from both ends, (so to speak). I can’t wait to see this particular work from the beaver lobby and am excited to see this making the rounds.

And just to show you I’m a trustworthy source, here’s some feedback about yesterday’s Clemson Calamity:

Mike Callahan Heidi is right on about the historic importance of the Clemson Pond Leveler and that it rightfully has been relegated to the proverbial shelf as had her original personal computer or the Model T. Flexible Pond Levelers and Castor Masters work so much better, last longer, and are much cheaper and easier to install. Coincidentally today I am going back to the Norwottuck Rail Trail, the site of my first and only Clemson Pond Leveler installation in 1998 to adjust a Flexible Pond Leveler pipe that successfully replaced that CPL.