More and more often these days I am approached by a starry eyed beaver believer with impatient exuberance saying “WELL the tide is turning isn’t it? That’s the beginning of the end for stupid beaver arguments:” and I slowly shake my head like the wizened believer I am and say, hmm not yet young grasshopper, Not yet. And the newly converted get SO frustrated with me as if my hesitance makes the world slower too. But there’s a dam good reason for my skepticism. I’ve been hurt soooo many times before.
Thankfully this fine column was printed in Virginia today confirming skillfully that it ain’t over till it’s over.
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Commentary:Considering the beaver…
One of the waterways on our property is a perennial stream with a 3-acre pond and an island. Over the years, beavers have come and gone with minimal activity. Once their habitat was protected, they became more active and more destructive — and there were more of them.
Over time, they clogged the outflow pipe from the pond and barricaded the spillway, causing water to run over and erode the dam. They have flooded mature trees and cut down others planted as part of the CREP program. Most heartbreaking, they have destroyed the dogwood and flowering cherry trees planted on the island.
Ohh pulleeze. And there were more of them? Just how exactly did you count them sir? And did you also count the number of trees that flourished or coppiced because of the added water in the pond? Of course not, I know.
Recently, in an article in the Rappahannock News [“Coexisting with castor canadensis,” May 13, 2021], it was reported that the Virginia Department of Transportation estimated beaver damage in 2008 cost an average of $29,000 per incident.
On the other hand, in the same article, Rappahannock resident Bill Fletcher was reported as seeing benefits of beaver activity returning to his property this year, including re-emerging springs. It was also reported he would like to see a government-funded program to pay to build manmade beaver dams that would attract beavers on the streams of Virginia farms.
I believe this is the part where you say “My mind’s made up. Don’t try to confuse me with the facts!.”
I know Bill Fletcher has good intentions, so I make this offer: He can take as many beavers as he wants from our farm, free of charge. It is a violation of the law in Virginia to relocate beavers, but trust me, I’ll never tell.
See what he did there? He made a funny at the beaver’s expense and he demonstrated that every one worth two cents knows that farmers will accept ecological funding directed at saving water or preserving habitat and continue to do exactly what they have always done because they know best. Sometimes it will be a well kept secret and sometimes every body knows,
