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!”
Beavers be dammed, district cares for Napa watershed
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.
