WHAT IF BEAVER BELIEVERS WERE JUST A HOLES?

heidi08 Beavers December 13, 2024

Rest assured that I am a great fan of stories about landowners insisting on keeping their beavers. But this gives beaver believers a bad name. Of course it begins with photos of nutrias because why be accurate when you can slander?

Her Neighbors Wanted Her To Remove A Beaver Dam Because Of Property Damage, But She Refused Because The Beavers Would Only End Up Rebuilding It

If you live in an area where a lot of wild animals live, sometimes you need to treat the animals with neighborly consideration.In today’s story, the problem involves nature, including beavers, a beaver dam, and property damage. The neighbors don’t see eye to eye about what to do about the problem.Find out how the story unfolds…

AITA For refusing to remove a beaver dam on my property that is causing flooding and property damage to my neighbors

few years ago I purchased a few dozen acres of land in a rural area and built a house there.

After a lifetime of the hustle and bustle of city life, I love the peace, quiet, and serenity that rural living has given me.

Things were fine at first…
My nearest neighbors live a couple miles away and until recently I have barely interacted with them. They are a younger couple that inherited the property from one of their families.

One of the things I love best about my property is the variety of wildlife that lives here. I’ve seen deer, otter, coyote, fox, dozens of species of bird, and beaver.

There is a small river (more of a large creek than a river) that flows through my property and I live downstream from my neighbors. The beavers have built a dam just a few hundred yards on my side of the property line.

That sounds nice. A landowner who appreciates the wildlife on their creek.

Now that the snow here has started to melt, the creek has been running like crazy and the beaver dam has apparently caused quite a bit of flooding on my neighbor’s property and caused damage to some outbuildings and cropland.

My neighbors came to my house a couple weeks ago and told me about the flooding problems.

I was aware of the dam, but had no idea of the issues it was causing them.

They asked me if I would be willing to remove the dam.

Ummm

I told them that removing a beaver dam is a hell of a lot of work and unless you remove the beavers, they are just going to rebuild it anyway, so in my opinion it’s not worth it.

They asked why I don’t just remove the beavers, and I told them I like the beavers. I clarified to them that “removing” the beavers means terminating them, not just trapping them and bringing them to a new home.

They got very upset and frustrated with me because they don’t know what else to do about the water.

I understand their feelings. I’ve dealt with water damage before. I know how much it sucks.

What? The beavers will just rebuild so I won’t keep my land from damaging your property? Really? Is that an actual thing people say? I weep for you the Walrus said and deeply sympathize….

But I’m not going to go to the effort of removing a dam just for the beavers to rebuild it again, and I’m not going to remove the beavers.

I told them they are free to try and remove the beavers if they are on their land, but even if they do, it’s likely more beavers will just move in to fill the void.

The husband was getting heated, threatened to sue me and his wife tried to calm him down, but I told them I would like them to leave.

The narrator is SO close to being one of us. But so irresponsible and insane they are making us look bad. Sucks about the water damage. Beavers are a keystone species. Too bad.

No discussion of a flow device. No admission that the property owner with the beavers gets the benefit of a pond with more wildlife and the down stream neighbor gets the risk.

I think I sat behind this person on an airplane more than once.

They did, but not before the husband called me an AH.

The next day I went and found the dam and set up a handful of trail cams in the area, just in case.

In my opinion this type of thing is something you have to be willing to deal with if you live in an area that is shared with wildlife.

I understand it sucks for my neighbors and with spring rains coming it’s possible their water issues are only going to get worse, but it’s not really my problem.

Sucks to be you. At this point the author incorporates other opinion cleverly transcribed from reliable sources like reddit.

Oh my God people are going to HATE us all. Yes beavers are good and Yes if you rip out the dam they will just rebuild and YES if you kill them new ones will move in, but because we are wise enough to know all this then we are wise enough TO FIND A SOLUTION.

Pissing off your neighbors will never ever ever protect beavers.

PIKES PEAK SEEKING BEAVER

heidi08 Beavers December 13, 2024

Pikes Peak in Colorado wants beavers. Apparently they just received a grant to do some LTPBR in the area and encourage some furry engineers.

‘Yes, we’re attempting to entice beavers back to the Peak’: Colorado Springs Utilities receives grant to restore beaver meadow on Pikes Peak

According to CSU, a grant from the Colorado Water Conservation Board will be used to try and restore beaver habitat near North Catamount Reservoir. Officials said the funding will allow CSU to implement “a beaver-based, low-tech solution to supplement on-going fire mitigation efforts.”

Representatives for CSU said in the past, beaver habitats on the mountain created landscapes with “wetter” trees and meadows that acted as natural fire breaks.

As of early December, the plan was to have simulated beaver structures in the area by September 2025, and CSU said the hope is to see beaver activity in the area within a few years of that implementation.

Apparently there is a lot of interest in the BDAS but I don’t see any mention of planting willow. I hope the hills just covered in it but the photo looks pretty grassy.

2024- early 2025: Project planning, baseline data collection, and forestry management project work
September 2025: Install SBSs and PALS, collect post construction data
2026: Adaptive management of the SBSs and PALS (add, remove, modify structures as needed) and post project data analysis

Ultimately, we hope to spy actual beaver activity in the area within a few years of implementation. Regardless, the project will help protect our nearby infrastructure, increase the resiliency of North Catamount Creek, improve water quality and enhance ecosystem health.

I can’t say I’m fond of the word REGARDLESS. I’d be much happier if you were using some grant money to have young people put in a whole bunch of willow cuttings and fascines.

Then put in your special BDAs.

SERIAL KILLERS AFFECT BEAVER BEHAVIOR

heidi08 Beavers December 11, 2024

More earth shattering news out of “Wolves-Eat-Beavers-University“. This time finding that a life time of living around wolves actually makes beavers cautious. The most annoying part is how surprised they are about beavers affecting habitat for soo many species even though are so annoying.

Well I should certainly hope so. Good Lord What next? Exciting new research that putting mousetraps in children’s pockets tends to make their hands colder?

Brave or bashful: How the threat of wolves changes beaver behavior

University of Minnesota researcher Thomas Gabel discusses his research on ecosystem interactions between wolves and beavers in Minnesota. This is part of “The Iconic Beaver,” a series that investigates the influence of this keystone species in Minnesota. “The Iconic Beaver” is produced by Mark Jacobs.

KAXE’s Tuesday Morning Show strives to take an in-depth look at some natural resource-based issues important to Northern Minnesota. Producer Mark Jacobs and hosts Heidi Holtan and John Latimer discuss the problems and highlight some creative solutions.

During the third segment of the Iconic Beaver series, University of Minnesota researcher Thomas Gabel discusses his research on the interactions of wolves and beavers in Minnesota.

Perhaps no animal has been more influential on the history of our region than the beaver. Among the beaver’s unique characteristics are its large teeth that can chew through a tree, the layered fur that protects them from the cold, and their ability to stay under water for prolonged periods. Their engineering skills enable them to not only build large lodges to raise their young, but construct dams out of mud and sticks that can alter the local environment.

Gosh I though they were just annoying! Obviously more research is needed!

EDUCATIONAL ENTRANCE

heidi08 Beavers December 10, 2024

Vistaprint is offering it’s holiday prices so I thought this would make a fun yards sign for the entrance of the festival. I’ll do the new one too.

TEACH YOUR CHILDREN BEAVERS WELL

heidi08 Beavers December 9, 2024

Beaver educational programs are my favorite educational programs. I never get tired of hearing stories about children learning about beavers.

DOWN TO EARTH: Beavers and wetlands

We have just got to the end of the Gavin Lake school program, and I have spent two months teaching Grade 4 to 7s about beavers and wetlands, which includes a walk through our wetland.

There hadn’t been a single sign of fresh beaver activity all summer, until the last day of the school program, when a beaver was spotted close to camp. Soon after two old lodges were reactivated and winter food piles started.

Our best guess is that the lake level was so low this year that the underwater entrances were exposed, making the lodges unusable. The lake levels started to rise a few weeks ago, which brings up all sorts of other questions. Are they the same family that used to live here? If so, where did they go, and how did they know it was time to come back? Or is it a new family, excited to find some usable homes just in the nick of time before the lake freezes?

Beavers are such a fascinating species that I can barely touch on their sophisticated biology in the hour session I have with the kids. We race through their technical and engineering building skills and close family relationships. We talk about their role in wetland creation and the importance of wetlands to the planet; habitat, water and carbon storage, water filtration and providing natural firebreaks. Beavers are also becoming a hot topic in European countries, where they had been wiped out in many countries and are now being reintroduced for their superior engineering skills and free labour.

Hard agree! And teaching children about beavers is about the best work there is!

Beavers in the UK were extirpated for 400 years. In 2013 a pair was discovered in the wild that had escaped from captivity. They were allowed to stay, after considerable public pressure, and the growing population studied for several years to see what effects they were having on the surrounding countryside.

The beavers were shown to be excellent and socially conscious neighbours. Their dam construction reduced floodwater levels and ‘peak flow’ through a local village. They lowered the pollution levels of the river they lived on with the filtering effects of the wetlands and ponds they were creating. Species such as water voles and wetland birds flourished. Trout numbers increased by 37 per cent in beaver ponds.

Yes, they did cause some flooding of farmland, but only five times over five years in the watershed area of 250 square kilometres. They also cut some down orchard trees. These problems were reduced with relatively simple solutions and the cooperation of local landowners, such as wire around trees and occasional dam removal or ‘beaver deceivers’ that allow some water to pass through dams and lower water levels.

Yes beavers are happy to show off their mighty benefits to a host of researchers. Bring on your clipboards and nanometers beavers say. I’m going to give you a lot to measure and publish in those journals!

With many recent incidents of European towns devastated by floods and considerable loss of life, the reintroduction of this species may be one step towards climate change resilience. Droughts, fires and floods are all increasing in frequency, but beaver ponds and wetlands mitigate the effects of all three. Wetlands are also the most effective carbon sinks on Earth.

So, I wish our Gavin beavers well as they face a long winter stuck in their lodges and under the ice, and look forward to seeing them out and about again in the spring, giving our students a chance to connect with such an incredible keystone species.