Ahhh the endless loop. The möbius strip of reasons for getting rid of beavers. Not nearly as much fun as this:
Last week the press reported that the beavers in Sammamish State Park in Washington had to go. The story was that they had burrowed under the road and the asphalt was collapsing. (Asphalt is to modern society what Gold was once to the 49ers: Nothing matters more.) I followed up with a letter about the value of beavers to the watershed and the tools for effective beaver management. I also pointed out that being just outside Kings County they could open their front door and find 10 professionals easily that could tell them how to solve this problem without trapping.
This morning I read that its not the burrowing, but the hazardous hardship to salmon that warrants beaver removal.
Kerry Ritland said that’s not the worst of it. “The fish can’t possibly jump over that dam or make it through a hole. So, it’s a full fish passage barrier for Coho salmon primarily, possibly Chinook salmon,” said Ritland.
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This is a picture of a salmon jumping a beaver dam. Which they do. It was taken by Dr. Kristina M. Ramstad who gave permission for its publication on Wikipedia. Obviously, we used to have millions more salmon and at the same time millions more beavers. The two species co-evolved, which could never have happened if beaver dams were harmful to salmon. In fact, since salmon benefit enormously from beaver dams during two phases of their development, it looks like the two species are going to have to co-recover. Of course the ‘salmon argument’ doesn’t have anything to do with reality. Its a symbolic argument intended to provide environmental cover for the person who wants said beavers gone. Just use the search function on this website to see examples in Canada, Oregon, Washington and Martinez. It’s “see I care about nature” paper mache, designed to cloak the intolerance in compassion.{/column2} It’s right next to the “they’ll hurt the trees” argument, because its ostensibly protecting one living thing by removing another. Never mind that both these living things depend on beavers to build and maintain their dams.
So Kerry Ritland gets a letter. The reporter at Fox gets a letter. The reporter at Kings 5 gets a letter. But I’m not holding my breath. Issaquah just did this a month ago with some beavers that were buiding too high a dam in Laughing Jacobs Creek. Clearly strapped cities that can’t afford crossing guards or hot lunches always have enough money to pay city workers to uselessly tear down a dam and ultimately hire a trapper to kill a few beavers.
Oh, and did you notice our new updated logo in the left hand corner at the top which reflects mom’s tail? Beaver-friend Jean Matuska updated the header, which if you can’t see yet, will show just as soon as your cache clears, I promise. Thanks Jean! We are grateful for the help.
