BEAVERS IN VERMONT ARE DAM LUCKY!

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Beaver ecological impact, Flow Device Installed March 12, 2022

Now this is a delightful read about our old friend Skip Lisle in Halifax Vermont. Enjoy every paragraph because you don’t wake up to this every day.

Bothersome beavers bedevil Halifax

HALIFAX — Keystone species are those that have a disproportionately large effect on their habitats. “They help maintain biodiversity and there are no other species in the ecosystem that can serve their same function,” wrote Amy McKeever, for National Geographic. “Without them, their ecosystem would change dramatically or could even cease to exist.”

When a keystone species is removed from its natural habitat, the result is known as a trophic cascade, a disruption of a natural food web in a particular ecosystem.“Beavers are a keystone species that help with flood resiliency and create environments for a full range of creatures from salamanders up to moose,” said Stephan Chait, the chairman of the Halifax Conservation Commission. “They are important neighbors we need to learn to live with.” (more…)

ILLINOIS IS OFF TO A GREAT START – MOSTLY

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Beavers, Flow Device Installed, Urban beavers February 1, 2022

Illinois is the newest beaver believer on the block but they’re catching up fast. Just check out this article from South Barrington just outside Chicago at the top of the state, There are only a few areas that need refining.

‘I don’t want to kill anything’: South Barrington looking for way to manage beavers

After a beaver dam caused Poplar Creek to overflow into nearby residents’ yards this past fall, South Barrington officials are considering hiring professional experts to prevent that from reoccurring. A company called Midwest Beaver Management has proposed nonlethal methods for managing beaver activity in the village.

Wrapping tree trunks with wire fencing to keep beavers from chewing on them is one option. Another would involve running pipes through dams so water can pass through and not disturb the animals in their lodges upstream.

Well that’s good. Isn’t that good? Although I kind of get the feeling that all this is VERY new territory for the state. They haven’t got it down just yet. Headlining the article with a photo of a muskrat and a running a quote like this one.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Obviously there isn’t water INSIDE the lodge. Beavers are mammals, not fish. The point of the lodge is being able to breathe safe from predators. Breathing being the operative word. For which the lack of water is required.

Obviously there’s a lot to learn about beavers. We’re just happy they’re starting the right way.

By clearing out invasive plant species that can clog creeks and filtering sediment from waterways with their dams, beavers increase biodiversity, improve water quality and restore the health of watersheds.

Their dams even increase habitats for fish, including endangered salmon and trout in some regions.

“Everybody should be happy” to see beaver activity on a waterway, said Midwest Beaver Management founder Jeff Boland-Prom, whose company is based is south suburban Beecher.

Good job Jeff. We like that a lot. Keep going in that direction will you?

Boland-Prom said Poplar Creek is an especially ideal beaver habitat. It has a low gradient that makes it easier to dam, he said, and the area has lots of young trees that provide plenty of food and building material.

Boland-Prom hopes to meet with village officials in February, and Palmer and others are interested. A meeting date hasn’t been announced.

Mayor Paula McCombie is eager to hear the company’s presentation. Taking steps to coexist with beavers while halting the ecological damage they can cause is preferable to killing them, she said.

Very Very good, Any city that starts here has a good chance of success. There’s just a little tweaking to do yet.

Boland-Prom takes pride in solving beaver-related problems humanely. Not only are such methods better for the animals, but they don’t require additional visits when different beavers subsequently form new dams in the same spots, Boland-Prom said.

That’ll happen over and over again, he said, because beavers look for unoccupied habitats to build their homes.

“It really saves communities money in the long term,” he said.

I’m not sure if this is an error in communication or a mistake in understanding. But obviously when you’re talking to reporters that are new at this you have to be very sure of your message. The point is that if you let your old beavers stay by installing a flow device so the water is a height you can both live with NEW BEAVERS won’t be allowed to move in. Beavers are territorial and they’ll keep out the competition.

It saves a city money because they aren’t paying to TRAP over and over again. Which they would have to because once a beaver has been killed there’s no one left to keep new ones from moving in. You got that, right?

AVERTING BEAVER PERIL

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Beavers, Flow Device Installed January 3, 2022

Ever wonder how to build a flexible leveler? Well the Beaver Institute has given a blow by blow description right out of the gate in 2022. Here’s the video which will walk you through every step.

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BAFFLED BY BEAVERS NO MORE

heidi08 Beavers, Flow Device Installed September 27, 2021

Well finally thanks to Ann Cameron Siegal who alerted me to this video I can see what they’re taking about.VDFW often installs beaver ‘baffles’ and I guess they trying to use a term without getting sued by Skip. Interesting this appears to copy Skip’s castor Master design like we had in Martinez AND Mike’s rounded top filter AND use Canada;s term :Baffle which is something totally different that protects culverts,

Stealing from several souces at once makes it less obvious?

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Oh and here’s a question for you. What do they call the device installed by the California Department of Fish and Game?
You’re right, Trick question.
They call it NOTHING.
Because that’s what they do to keep beavers on the landscape.

SKIP, MIKE, ZANE, BEAVER UPDATES

heidi08 Flow Device Installed May 12, 2021

There is news in the beaver world this morning. And its mostly good. Apparently Vermont fish and wildlife will do anything to help people coexist with beavers as long as it doesn’t rely on the teachings of one Mr. Skip Lisle who lives in Grafton 2 hours away from where this happened.

Beaver baffle installed along Hosford’s Highway on Mad River Path

“As the beavers continued to do what they do best — build dams to create ponds — water began to flood the boardwalk decking, making it impossible to pass by without getting wet feet. While this is certainly an inconvenience for the Mad River Path and everyone who uses the boardwalk, the benefits that beavers provide to the natural world and humans are too great to ignore: new habitat for brook trout, wood ducks, turtles, frogs and many more critters, reduced flooding downstream, trapped nutrients in sediments that would otherwise harm fish in the Mad River and contribute to Lake Champlain’s algae blooms and more water sent into the ground for our drinking water, just to name a few,” explained Mad River Path executive director Ross Saxton.

After trying to keep the water down through creating dam breaches, almost every day the beavers would immediately repair, Mad River Path and the landowner Lawson’s Finest partnered with the Vermont Department of Fish & Wildlife to install a beaver baffle. Also called a beaver deceiver, a baffle allows water to drain via a hidden culvert through the dam where the upper end is caged and underwater so the beavers are befuddled to how the water is draining. The beaver baffle helps to keep the pond at a consistent level that in this case is ideally below the boardwalk decking. The water level is also intentionally left high enough so that the beavers can safely travel below the water to their food sources; thick ice during the winter is taken into account. It’s a balance to co-exist that’s very doable and worth the little bit of effort, Saxton said.

Hurray?

We are SO HAPPY that Vermont fish and wildlife installed a flow device rather than trap out the beavers. But what they installed is NOT a Beaver Deceiver. Any more than your scwinn is a mercedes. Or your single JJ shot is a dose of pfizer vaccine. A beaver deceiver is a trademark design invented by SKIP LISLE who lives across the street from you and whom you pretend does not exist.

But good luck with your baffle thing.

There was a great story about our Saskatoon friend, Mike Digout yesterday. He’s definitely making waves.

Saskatoon man gets look at secret life of beavers

When the pandemic forced Mike Digout to put life on pause, he found a new hobby swimming in the river.

The Saskatoon resident spotted a beaver on April 1, 2020 and decided to spend the evening following it home. He reckons he has now spent hundreds of evenings out by the river and a local pond, capturing the secret life of Saskatoon’s beavers.

“The more I watch them, the more I realize that they’re quite interesting. They have families. They have routines. And they’re fun-looking — their tails and their teeth. I just find them entertaining now,” Digout said.

Ahh Mike, We are all lucky you gave a year+ of your life to beavers. I agree it’s fun to watch a family over time and get to know their habits and foibles.

After more than a year of being photographed, they don’t seem to mind their new paparazzo.

“They do allow humans into their world, as long as they’re respectful. I don’t know if I have any special treatment,” Digout said.

His pastime has brought him a small fan club. He shares photos of the semi-aquatic critters online and has had his photos featured in ABC News and the New York Post. Photos of baby goslings he captured also made a splash online, and he has even got photos of mink while staking out his big-toothed subjects.

Digout can often be found by the riverbank or a beaver pond near the Meewasin Trail when the sun begins to set, armed with a simple digital camera and overly large tripod.

Could anything better be said about any of us? Really? Don’t we all want to be found on a riverbank or a beaver pond in the end?

Oh and look who dropped by to visit the site of his thesis before his final orals? Zane Eddy who next Monday will be presenting his Thesis on the Martinez Beavers.