Category: Tree-Wrap Rap

PSST…BEAVERS MATTER. PASS IT ON!

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Beaver Chewing, Tree-Wrap Rap February 25, 2021

Oh lets read an article about someone who enjoins seeing beavers coming back to their city for a change. Anyone?

Natural Selections: News flash: Beavers in Roxborough!

One of the feel-good stories on the environmental scene is the rewilding of large cities like Philadelphia, where suddenly peregrine falcons nest in church steeples and on Delaware River bridges, bald eagles pull large fish out of the Schuylkill River, and coyotes amble down Domino Lane.

In that vein, members of the Roxborough-Manayunk Conservancy were somewhat startled to discover that the restoration plantings they’ve doggedly placed along the Schuylkill River have been devoured by… beavers! Wait, beavers in Roxborough?

Once extirpated– a fancy word meaning locally extinct – across Pennsylvania, hunted because their fur was remarkably valuable and because we did not appreciate their ability to rearrange landscapes to their own ends. But beavers have been returning to our state over the last century, and have been seen along Tacony and Pennypack Creeks since about 2008. And now they have taken up residence in the Schuylkill River and Manayunk Canal around Flat Rock Dam.

Now that’s what I’m talking about. Beaver perserverance and recovery where nobody would have suspected.And here they are, washing up on the Schuylkill River. Just in case you didn’t know lots of East Coast river names end in ‘kill’ because Kille is middle dutch for river. Got that?

“I first noticed beavers and their lodge in the winter of 2018,” observed Suzanne Hagner, Roxborough resident and member of the Roxborough-Manayunk Conservancy, “as I rode out the Schuylkill River Trail towards Shawmont. I could see where they had worn down a path into the woods on the far side of the trail and I guessed that was where they were going for food.” The lodge was near Flat Rock Dam, and they have been spotted– and photographed – as far down as Lock Street and as far up as past Shawmont Avenue, both in the canal and along the river.

Suzanne has become a regular reader and poster on this very blog. She recently met up with our other PA beaver friend to learn about protecting those trees the group is replanting. Because all roads lead to Rome.

They famously cut down saplings and trees with their chisel-like teeth, building dams and lodges with the branches, chewing the inner bark of trees as their favored food source. That tree-cutting, of course, can sometimes interfere with our own good work.

“Beavers have good taste in trees,” Tom added, tongue in cheek. “They ate over 60 trees we planted along the canal last year. But we adjusted. Last spring, we painted the uneaten trees with latex paint mixed with a lot of sand,” the grit distasteful to the large rodents. “Many of the damaged trees grew out again this summer,” he continued. “We wrapped those trees in cages this fall. We installed 130 cages along the canal near both sides of Fountain Street.”

Yup. That’s what happens. Someone who cares about the trees plants trees and someone who tends the creek eats them. It’s the way of the world.

The Conservancy recently hosted a walk-through of the area with a self-described “beaver believer” they brought in from central PA, and their takeaway was similar. “The other approach which I believe we will have to do,” continued Kay, “is to rethink our plantings. We need to put in more herbaceous plants on the impacted banks and see if we can add things like willows to the upper wetland areas to keep them in that area, which is better suited for them and for us.”

Yes please. Bring in willow. Because they are used to regrowing after beaver nibbles. And have done so for centuries.

Suzanne Hagner has been reading up on beaver, passing books along to Conservancy members. “They are amazingly skilled at creating waterways and irrigation systems that lead to ecological health,” she said. “Our consultant offered that the return of the beavers was a very good sign in our area, as the beaver is an ecological system in itself. I had lived in Washington state, and had heard that beavers were being reintroduced in eastern Washington to help curb the arid areas that are prone to wildfires.”

Anything else you’re reading, ahem, Suzanne? That helps you learn why beavers matter? I’m happy that there are more believers in Mayayunk and am looking forward to the people they persuade and educate in tern.

Pass it on.

PROTECTING TREES IS PROTECTING BEAVERS

heidi08 Tree-Wrap Rap, Urban beavers December 6, 2020

There are signs that a city has learned a thing or two about beavers. It’s lovely when people living on a major waterway don’t act surprised and overwhelmed every time a beaver shows up. Windsor is just across the water from Detroit in that part of canada that looks like it should be part of Michigan. Plus the article is headlined with a fairly respectable pun, which almost never happens where beavers are concerned.

City trees steel themselves against urban beavers

No sooner does a national wildlife symbol attempt another comeback in the built-up wilds of urban Windsor than city hall takes action, ramping up efforts to make their busy lives all the more challenging.

Trees being targeted by beavers along a stretch of the Grand Marais drain between Howard Avenue and Walker Road had their trunks recently clad in a strong steel mesh designed to foil the giant rodent’s powerful incisors.

My my my. Would you look at that. A tree wrapped in the appropriate wire in the appropriate way and to the appropriate height. That almost never happens. You’d be surprised how much that almost never happens.

“Safety is No. 1,” city naturalist Karen Cedar said of the main purpose behind cladding city trees in protective trunk coverings. It’s designed to reduce the danger posed to humans by some of the larger trees in the process of being brought down by beavers.

The metal “utility fencing” wrapped around the trunks of some of the larger trees along the drain’s banks “are meant to prevent the beavers from giving those trees a go,” Cedar said. Timber harvesting by beavers next to a multi-use recreational trail used by the public poses a hazard to those human users, she said.

The mind reels. The jaw drops. People actually thinking ahead and doing their job? I sure hope its contagious.

Beavers topple trees for food and to build their homes, usually related to dam-building. Cedar said city workers recently removed one such dam in the Grand Marais drain, but a second dam development is currently underway.

“These drains are never going to be a place where beavers build dams,” said Cedar. Beavers are hard-wired to build dams, but those city drains exist to collect and carry flood waters out of Windsor’s built-up areas.

Well, good luck with that. Hey maybe if you installed a flow device you wouldn’t have to rip out the dams every couple months, but I’m sure you know best. At least you know something.

Making some trees off-limits to the world’s second-largest rodent, or taking down dams that prevent water from flowing freely, won’t do serious harm to Windsor’s beavers, the city’s naturalist insists.

“They’ll be fine,” said Cedar.

Beavers are adaptable, she said, and will simply move on. Much of the beaver chewing and gnawing currently going on around the city is the work of juveniles “playing, practicing and testing out their skills,” she said. And the trees coming down tend to be quicker growing varieties like poplar, aspen and cottonwoods.

I don’t share your assurance that beavers will move on if you make some trees off limits, but good for you for thinking long term about this issue. Wrapping trees is good news for beavers. Whenever it happens it means someone has A) faced the reality of beavers and B) decided they can’t kill them all fast enough.

Oh and congratulations to Oliver Richter who is the official people’s choice photographer of the year for capturing this lovely moment.

HALF A CONSERVATION ATTEMPT IN P.E.I.

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Tree-Wrap Rap October 27, 2020

Do you remember playing “telephone” when you were a kid?

A first child whispers something through their cupped hand hotly into the ear of the child next to them. No repeats or clarifications allowed, that child needs to repeat the best they can to the next child beside them, in progression so that, eventually, (with all the giggling and spitting) the words get get slightly more garbled with each telling. By the time the message got to the end of the line it usually made zero sense so that when you repeated it aloud the room burst into laughing.

It was a fun classroom activity for rainy days. And I think describes as well as anything what happens with animal advocacy in Prince Edward Island.

Beaver evades capture, Summerside residents concerned for its welfare

SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. —

Users of a Summerside park have been sharing the space with a beaver for the past few weeks. Trees chewed down make for a telltale sign. What didn’t have a sign were the traps set nearby to remove it.

The traps are gone for now, thanks to some Summerside residents who spoke up.

Jane Pitre and Jamie Donovan-Gallant found the two conibear-style traps just off the edge of the trail in Heather Moyse Park.

“No beaver should die like that, in a conibear trap,” said Pitre. “There’s other ways to get the beaver out of there.”

Scaring him away? Closing all the liquor stores? It’s a long way across the length of Canada to P.E.I. Messages are bound to get slightly muddled along the way. The “Conibear bad” message made it through. That’s a start.

“A licensed trapper was hired, and I was advised a live trap would be used, however we’ve learned that the live trap method was not successful and the trapper under direction/approval of the department of environment was using a snare method,” Desrosiers wrote in an email. “Once we learned that a snare method was implemented, we asked the trapper stop this practice.

“What we are doing now is reconnecting with the department of environment on what options exist, what considerations should be given, what level of risk and damage could occur if not dealt with and we will go from there,” said Desrosiers. “This is very much outside of our area of expertise.”

He added, “We do need to ensure that tree destruction in this park is limited and public safety issues aren’t created.”

Of course you know that if the primary issue is protecting your trees the answer is not to put the beavers in a wire cage but to put the TREES in a wire cage. Surely that made it through the telephone game?

While not a wildlife expert, she has also read about other options like wrapping the trees with heavy wire mesh or modifying the dam to let a channel of water pass through.

“I understand they want to save the trees and the trees cost a lot, I get that, but I kind of just think the wildlife have a right to be here and we need to live with them better.”

Well that is as good as you can expect, but hey maybe you could lead with that next time. Not “conibears are horrible” but “Here’s an easy way to protect trees“.

It’s just a thought.

Some what less unclear is Kate Lundquist’s beaver presentation to the Escondido Creek Conservancy talking about the importance of beavers in our state. It’s a good overview on the issue and deserves a listen.

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Loose Beaver Ends

heidi08 Beaver Art, Burrowing Owls, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Tree-Wrap Rap August 27, 2017

Do you know that nagging feeling you get when you know you need to do something but you can’t remember what? Yesterday I finally paid attention to it and realized I was supposed to send the CCC Fish and Wildlife commission a summary of the festival with an accounting of how their grant was spent. It’s honestly really hard to remember that long ago in this beaver whirlwind. But I did the best I could.

Summary of “Working for the ecoSystem” 08-05-17

The tenth annual beaver festival was both familiar and surprising, with over 1000 attendees , 40 wildlife exhibits, a lecture on beaver benefits given BY a beaver, and for the first time unexpected beaver experts from three separate states. Each had heard about the festival and wanted to come see in person the educational component we offered. We were excited by the interest, but the many children were mostly excited about wildlife tattoos and eager to begin their treasure hunt while learning.

Rather than place the tattoos on beaver tails, we decided to help the children make nature journals with beaver chew bindings so their earnings could be proud displayed on the covers. We hoped this would let them record the nature they saw later in their own lives. The watershed stewards helped children make the journals, and Worth A Dam volunteers helped the children affix the tattoos to the covers. One of the most delightful parts of the day was watching children’s eyes light up when the watercolor images ‘appeared’ on their journals as if by magic.

About half of the children completed the simple post-test (n=48) with a 85% accuracy rating. The participating booths said that distribution was smooth and everyone admired the tattoos and wanted their own. Attached you will find the invoice for the tattoos and leatherette, as well as the printing costs for the map children used to find booths. Thank you again for supporting this wonderful eco-learning event!

This week I’m headed to Kiwanis to tell THEM how their grant was used, and give them a run down of the festival. I also plan to mention that the beavers are back and if they have any friends near Creekside Montessori to let them know to contact us to have their trees protected. Meanwhile, Jon and I are working on a little banner for the booth using our leftover tattoos. I got the idea after appreciating the neat butterfly swag they had at the butterfly garden booth this year at the festival. Why not make our own? (Although peeling off the plastic gives me RENEWED appreciation for the outstanding job Erika and Jon did at the festival.) This is about half finished – a 10 foot linen swag and we think it’s going to be lovely. We plan to use it first at the Visions of the Wild Forest Service Event we’re doing in September in American Canyon.Meanwhile I was contacted this morning by Karen Corker of Maine whose great letter I wrote about earlier. She would like access to the ecosystem poster to use for her beaver education program in Maine. In case your keeping track at home that’s three states where it’s been adopted so far.

Four if you count California.

Oh, and I included one additional item in my grant summary for the CCCFWC. This was in the New Yorker years ago. I dearly love it, but I don’t see why it’s funny at all.

Not Flooded Yet

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beaver Chewing, Beavers and water, City Reports, Tree-Wrap Rap, Who's saving beavers now? August 3, 2017

Pretty tough-sounding talk from Napatopia, until you actually read the article. This a headline is talking about for protecting trees, not killing beavers. It’s like telling the bad guys they better watch out because “The entire police for is wearing their seatbelts!”

California’s Napa Valley is home to about 400 premium wineries but Richard Thomasser, operations manager of the Napa County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, is more concerned with beavers.

“Wildlife management — monitoring beaver activity and protecting against excess tree harvesting by beavers for dams — is an important part of our work,” Thomasser said.

Beavers are just one of the things the district deals with. He wouldn’t say they are a “big” problem because many actually create beneficial habitat in riparian areas. Thomasser said he doesn’t want them to chew down all the riparian trees, so the district protects some of them to prevent that from happening.

The district doesn’t own any water supplies. It provides flood and storm water services within Napa County, including five cities: Napa, American Canyon, Yountville, St. Helena and Calistoga.

Besides beavers, these include homeless encampments in the city of Napa reach, invasive species and erosion in several areas.

Even when Napatopia tries to talk tough they still sound pretty ecologically minded! We’ll see about this threat to hide trees from beavers, but in the wine country we’re always going to worry most about the other threat.