Jeanette is a grand-hearted PGE employee who saw Jari Osborne’s Nature documentary on beavers and contacted me a few years back asking how to help. Since then she has been a regular volunteer at our festivals, as you can see here pictured with her niece getting into the spirit (Jeanette’s on the right). Even though she lives all the way in Auburn (the beaver killing capital of the state) she has family in Pinole and that meant she could be local enough to help out from time to time. It also meant she could attend my talk at SARSAS and get excited about the beaver/salmon connection.
Last year Jeanette worked on a prize wheel idea for the membership booth and was able to get the project accepted under the matching funds program for the company. Which meant that yesterday donations to Worth A Dam arrived from both PGE and Jeanette, which is pretty dam wonderful when you think about it.
(Also kind of full-circle considering my father started work for the company as an oiler in Oakland a million years ago and worked his way up to a shift foreman in many river plants before retiring as general manager of operations from the downtown San Francisco office. It was my father with whom I first saw the Martinez beavers, and who brought me to the Martinez plant once as a child: I remember we shared half a sandwich and some pea soup from his black lunchbox in the noisy powerplant before checking the screens to pull up the only eel I have ever seen. And it was my father who arranged for the newly emigrated Jon to have a job interview when no one else wanted to hire an ‘alien’.)
So you can imagine how happy I was when Jeanette forwarded this from a foreman in Sacramento who knows of Jeanette’s love of beavers:
Ho ho ho! Since a power pole is treated with nasty chemicals to make it resistant to termites and other invaders, we’re hoping this beaver didn’t swallow at all as he sharpened his precious teeth. But I treasure this photo and its sender. Jeanette is a genuine beaver blessing.
I am hard at work on the newsletter for our tenth anniversary, and I spent most of yesterday writing the origin story of Worth A Dam. As nothing else seems to be happening in the beaver world at the moment, I thought you might enjoy it.
It was certainly unusual to have beavers in the middle of town, as our city suddenly did in 2007. Maybe if nothing else had happened that’s all it would have been; a passing interest that eventually – passed. But when the city announced that flat-tailed residents would have to be eliminated people started talking: to their neighbors, to each other, to their representatives, and to the media.
Eventually the city was forced to hold a meeting to discuss the beavers’ fate. There were too many people interested to fit into city hall and the forum was moved to the High School Auditorium. Some 200 people showed up – coming from uptown, downtown, and out-of-town. There were representatives from the Sierra Club, the Human Society, local news and a documentary filmmaker. The vast majority overwhelmingly demanded that the city solve the flooding risk without harming the beavers.
Faced with such vocal public support, the city council agreed to form a subcommittee to study the issue further. I was thrilled to be invited aboard the task force which consisted of council members, creek professionals, beaver supporters and concerned property owners. We had 90 days to address the pros and cons of possibly living with beavers in an urban stream. We quickly recommended hiring Skip Lisle to install a flow device that would prevent possible flooding.
The success of that first big meeting originally left me with euphoric hopes for a positive outcome. I was surprised to learn that even after we succeeded in persuading the city to hire Skip and even though his device worked entirely as promised, there was still uncertainty about the beavers fate. Addressing the real (and imagined) concerns in the subcommittee soon made me realize that the fight was a long way from over. It was Skip Lisle who initially suggested that a nonprofit might be necessary to advocate for the beavers and direct funding over time. After watching the acrimony of those meetings even after flooding was averted with his help, I could see he was right.
In choosing a name for the organization I remember thinking that the struggle was too bitter for something benign like “Friends of Martinez Beavers” or “Wildlife Protectors”. It seemed the name needed to be something snappy with a little feisty backbone to get us thru the long struggle that lie ahead.
You really should watch this. It was a piece of work to put together, I can promise. But I’m fairly cheered with the result, and with the tech help from Powtoon who for some reason answer questions IMMEDIATELY and at night even if I’m using the free version. Thank you.
Now that you’re informed, maybe you’re looking to share what you know? How about a career in beaver education? Beaver Ponds in Colorado is looking for a new executive director.
Beaver Ponds – www.beaverponds.org – is a young, 501c3 non-profit that began operations in October 2012.
Beaver Ponds mission is to provide environmental education that gives individuals of all ages the tools and knowledge to become better stewards of the earth. Its vision is to become a leading environmental education center inspiring action to protect and improve the environment.
Beaver Ponds serves individuals of all ages in its experiential field-classroom setting. A significant portion of Beaver Ponds’ initiatives are developing programs that will educate young people on how to be better stewards of the earth. Schools visit Beaver Ponds to enhance science lessons through hands-on experiences in ways that strive to meet Colorado State Education Standards.
Beaver Ponds focuses on 6 program areas: 1. Beaver Ecology 2. Watershed Ecology & Stewardship 3. Sustainable Agriculture, Greenhouses & Gardening 4. Medicinal & Native Plants 5. Renewable Energy Systems 6. Healthy Forest Management
That’s right. You could get PAID for doing what I do every day for free. Who knew? The job is is in Park Co Colorado between Fairway and Alma and the center is at a cool 10,200 feet elevation. Altitude sickness might be a issue. When I was in Cuzco, Peru (11,200) a million years ago I was sick as a dog for a while. But hey, its for beavers. You can do it for beavers, right?
Of course the added bonus is that Sherri Tippie is 90 minutes away! Wouldn’t it be fun to do donuts and coffee every saturday?
This morning I’m off to meet with the Junior High principal to talk about his new neighbors. Flashbacks to 7th grade might be an issue. But hey, its for beavers. I can do it for beavers. right?
Beavers were promoted as friends of the environment and property owners during Beavers in Our Landscape workshop Oct. 12 in High Prairie.
Lesser Slave Watershed Council and Peace Country Beef and Forage Association co-hosted the event with presenters from Cows and Fish – Alberta Riparian Habitat Management Society.
“Livestock producers usually consider beavers as pests,” says Jen Allen, agri-environmental program co-ordinator of the beef and forage association. “The workshop showed that we can work and live with beavers.”
Currently the critters seem to be rampant in the northern parts of Alberta.
“Beavers will always be prevalent here, so more people need to know about them better,” says Kaylyn Jackson, watershed co-ordinator for the water council.
Cows and Fish presenters urge property owners and livestock producers to be friends with beavers, that help sustain and enhance water supply and provide many benefits to the environment, habitat and people.
One of the most remarkable things about this Alberta organization is that it marches straight into the heart of the greatest possible beaver conflict and teaches “It is in your best interest to keep beavers on your land”. Even the name itself conveys how unafraid of conflict they are. They understand that you will never convince folks to work with beaver if they feel it is not in the interest of the two things held most dear to them: so Cows and Fish is a fearless name for this fearless organization.
Earlier this year they released their very impressive publication on beaver ecosystem services which you should go read again here and resolving conflicts. It happens to have some of the VERY BEST teaching illustrations I have ever seen on the subject, crafted by their brilliant artist Elizabeth Saunders.
And my personal favorite:
Back to the article which does a less outstanding job at describing this:
“We encourage people to work together and have conversations about where beavers fit into the watersheds and landscapes and how we might expand our tolerance for them,” says Kerri O’Shaughnessy, riparian specialist. “We want to give people a better understanding of beavers so we can look at ways of living with them and reducing the conflict.”
A pond leveler maintains the capacity of water that suits the landowner and the beaver.
Wrapping the trunks of large trees with wire mesh deters beavers from cutting them down.
Other tips are offered in the section Beaver Solutions in the booklet Beaver – Our Watershed Partner, published by Cows and Fish in 2016.
-For smaller areas, excluding beaver with a mesh fence is an option to protect valuable trees and shrubs in yards. -Fences can protect young trees, often the most targeted age classes of woody vegetation by beavers and many other animals. -Circular wire mesh extending upstream of a culvert may prevent beavers from damming the flow. -The most effective deterrent is fencing coupled with moving the intake of water far upstream of the culvert with a pipe system. -Greater success will occur by increasing the area blocked from beaver upstream of a culvert. Beaver may create a dam upstream but the culvert will remain unplugged.
Honestly, I love seeing any article with their name in it because I always know I’ll be delighted by what is said. I made sure to invite their director, Lorne Fitch, to the state of the beaver conference and he said he was very interested but didn’t think he could afford the flight. Sad face. We need to hear more from them. You do such great work, Cows and Fish!
Now, if only they could start a sister organization in Saskatchewan!
Hey guess what? The Martinez beavers saved themselves and the city throws them a yearly beaver festival!
I freely admit I complain far too much. We know its true. I’d better go on vacation right now and improve my attitude. Thank god Mendocino will get me just in time. I’m not happy when we’re NOT mentioned as a ‘beaver success story’ – but ahem, this isn’t really a lot better.
One great example of this win-win approach comes from Martinez, a town that learned to embrace the beavers that moved into Alhambra Creek and threatened to flood an area of town and a major transportation hub. Citizens joined forces with the city to install a simple flow-control device that allows the water to be maintained at an acceptable level without destroying the beaver dams or removing the animals.
What might have been a liability has now been turned into an asset. The city now hosts the Martinez Beaver Festival and promotes these creatures as watchable wildlife, bringing thousands of visitors and supporting the local economy.
What a relief! I thought Worth A Dam hosted that event for the last nine years. How silly I was spending literally months planning and worrying, days with supplies in my living room, and weeks on the phone arranging things, when the city was handling all the details by itself. Whew! Maybe I’ll take a seaside vacation next August and read about it in the Press Democrat since they have made it clear Worth A Dam services aren’t required at all.
Other than these fairly irksome paragraphs its a nice article about the beaver blitz being organized by OAEC to count beaver populations in Sonoma county. I’ll share the good bits and you should think about helping out with their beaver count if you can.
Over the next several decades, conservationists began to recognize the benefits of beavers and began advocating for an end to over-trapping, even supporting efforts to reintroduce beavers to degraded stream channels. The science began trickling in to substantiate the claim that beaver dams conserve water because, as Brock Dolman explains, they “slow it, spread it and sink it.”
“It turns out that as water backs up behind small temporary dams, it flows out across the floodplain of a stream, giving it an opportunity to water riparian forests, trap sediment and slow the water so that it has time to sink into the gravel and replenish the groundwater,” said Dolman, Occidental Arts and Ecology Center WATER Institute director. And this is only the first of many benefits.
In an effort to promote beaver stewardship, Dolman and Kate Lundquist, also of the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center WATER Institute, have been leading a statewide effort to promote beaver stewardship. They work with farmers, vineyard owners, municipalities and resource agencies across the state to share emerging techniques for receiving the watershed benefits that beavers provide while preventing property damage.
“Here in Sonoma County, we see Sonoma County Regional Parks as one of the beavers’ best hopes,” says Lundquist. “Most of the recent observations have been in or near county parks, with the most consistent cluster showing up between Maxwell Farms and Sonoma Valley Regional Parks.”
With that in mind, Lundquist is working with Regional Parks and the Sonoma Ecology Center to host a one day “blitz” of the county to look for beaver signs. On Oct. 8, observers will join teams throughout the county in the first ever “Beaver Blitz.” Register at inaturalist.org/projects/sonoma-county-beaver-blitz.
I’ve heard that our own Cheryl Reynolds will be joining the efforts, which is lucky for them because she is very experienced at tracking beaver sigh. It’s fun to think of what they might find. I’m not exactly sure what system they’ll use to ‘count’ beavers, since they’ll be looking for signs, dams, chews, tracks etc and that requires someones system to convert into population estimates but I wish them all the best. Good luck Brock and Kate! I hope your count generates interest and raises awareness too.
There are a couple good beaver articles this morning. The other worth mentioning comes from Wildlife Defenders in Colorado.
Beavers don’t often go exploring. Perhaps only once a lifetime, when they disperse as juveniles and search for a new home and mate, do they really explore the boundaries of their world. But one beaver family recently went on quite the adventure. That family of nine beavers was captured earlier that week in the north part of Denver. Their final destination, and their new family home, was a crystal clear mountain stream about an hour south of Denver.
Beaver are nature’s ecosystem engineers, felling trees and building dams, and changing waterways for their own benefit. But they also benefit other species in the process, including humans as well as many species that are now in jeopardy at least in part due to the historic loss of beavers. Their dams help to control the quantity and quality of water downstream, which both humans and animals use. Their ponds and flooded areas create habitat for many plants and animals, such as fish, birds, insects, and amphibians. In fact, some species only live near beaver ponds. Beavers dramatically change their environment, and those changes can last for hundreds of years, even after the beaver have moved on.
This specific beaver family’s former home, a stream on the north of Denver, is slated for re-alignment this winter. The stream engineering will destroy the beaver’s home and habitat. But officials knew it would be a shame to lose the natural engineering benefits that these beavers can provide. So, Denver’s Department of Parks and Recreation contacted Wildlife2000, a local non-profit organization focused exclusively on beaver relocation, and Defenders to live-trap and relocate the beavers to a place where they would be safe and could help create important habitat for other species.
The family will probably move a little bit upstream or down, but eventually they will find the ideal spot. They will start to build a dam, creating a deeper pool for themselves where they can build a lodge, and creating habitat for other plants and animals as well. Within a year, the area around their home will be quite different; within five years, even more changed. New plants and animals will move in and take advantage of the beavers and all their hard work. Defenders will return regularly to monitor the results and learn lessons for future beaver restoration efforts. Relocating this family was a definitive win-win, for them and for all wildlife where they are making their new home.
I love this discussion of the valuable role beavers play in creeks and streams. But, as you know, I’m never entirely comfortable with the “yeah let’s move beavers and solve all our problems” article as a solution. I remarked accordingly in a comment that they decided not to print, but you know by now what it said anyway. Solve problems with flow devices and wrap trees and let the beavers stay were they are. Because the beaver population is going to keep rebounding and we’re going to run out of remote places to move them to eventually. Better to let them reintroduce themselves and use their own naturally territorial behaviors to keep others away.
right). Even though she lives all the way in Auburn (the beaver killing capital of the state) she has family in Pinole and that meant she could be local enough to help out from time to time. It also meant she could attend my talk at SARSAS and get excited about the beaver/salmon connection.
Last year Jeanette worked on a prize wheel idea for the membership booth and was able to get the project accepted under the matching funds program for the company. Which meant that yesterday donations to Worth A Dam arrived from both PGE and Jeanette, which is pretty dam wonderful when you think about it.
Beaver are nature’s ecosystem engineers, felling trees and building dams, and changing waterways for their own benefit. But they also benefit other species in the process, including humans as well as many species that are now in jeopardy at least in part due to the historic loss of beavers. Their dams help to control the quantity and quality of water downstream, which both humans and animals use. Their ponds and flooded areas create habitat for many plants and animals, such as fish, birds, insects, and amphibians. In fact, some species only live near beaver ponds. Beavers dramatically change their environment, and those changes can last for hundreds of years, even after the beaver have moved on.
