DEFENDERS OF BEAVER WILDLIFE

heidi08 Beavers May 15, 2024

No rmore room at the end! The beaver festival exhibits are just about full to the rafters. What with with displays of fish, birds, bees, bats and snakes, not to mention lots of conservation friends. One group that I’m excited is joining us for the first time is Defenders of Wildlife. They didn’t have much of a footprint in California but now they’re big and they are standing up for beavers. So that seems a perfect time to connect.

Their location is listed as Washington DC. This is by their CEO.

Opinion: Congress must address the biodiversity and climate crises in the farm bill

Jamie Rappaport Clark President a of Defenders of Wildlife.

We’re in trouble: biodiversity loss and climate change are reshaping the world as we know it. We are losing species at an unprecedented rate, and climate change is causing a myriad of harmful effects that impact everything from Wall Street to Main Street. We need an all of government response to these challenges, and Congress has a key role to play.

Though reauthorization of the farm bill has been significantly delayed, Congress has a window of opportunity right now to further empower and support our nation’s hardworking farmers, ranchers, and private foresters — many of whom care deeply about wildlife conservation and are taking proactive steps to combat climate change — to conserve the invaluable habitats that support productive agriculture operations. This critical opportunity to improve the farm bill only comes about every five years and cannot be missed.

In New Mexico, with the help of EQIP, one farmer restored habitat that now supports beavers. Beavers create wetlands by building dams, which provide habitat for many other fish and wildlife species. It’s a synergy that is paying dividends, as nearly 50% of North America’s threatened or endangered species rely on wetlands for their survival, and those wetlands are also helping keep that farmer’s soil nutritious and livestock healthy.

So welcome to the beaver festival DOW! We are happy to have you aboard and have lots of things to share. It’s funny that you are talking about biodiversity because our theme this year us that beavers build neighborhoods and I’m sure you’ll enjoy our puzzle activity.

WHAT DO BEAVERS DREAM ABOUT?

heidi08 Beavers May 14, 2024

Okay, Stormy is a beaver orphan in rehab and I guess that’s interesting enough to follow on Youtube. But that’s not what got my attention.

They just found out that she has some kind of tummy parasite but that’s not what got my attention either.

This is about a minute of video watching her sleep – dreaming up a storm. Castor REM sleep. Look at her eyelid. Look at her panting chest. Look at her little paw movements.

WHAT DO BEAVERS DREAM ABOUT???

I must know. And since I can’t know I must speculate. You are welcome to participate. Send your comments below.

As a child psychologist I can’t say this dream looks entirely happy. Is she dreaming of whatever tragedy caused the separation from her family? Is she upset about rehab or missing her siblings? It doesn’t look THAT unhappy though. Is she dreaming of not being able to reach some really tasty food?

Do beavers vocalize in their sleep?

If she were an older beaver who had lived in the world a bit maybe she’d dream about a stubborn piece of wood that just wouldn’t stay put in the dam? Or that elusive tree she couldn’t chew down”?

Some sensitive souls will fantasize that she’s dreaming of the bad trap that killed hermom. Which makes sense from a human point of view, I might dream of that. But beavers aren’t like humans. So I can’t think their dreams are like ours either.

I spent hours watching beavers and can say with certainty they do not have painful inner lives. They are simplisticly content most of the time. The needs they perceive are fairly easy to solve. And I am not insulting them. I say that with great admiration.

How happy would we be if we mostly wanted the things around us that we could have?

I imagine that if you could put a microphone on their sleeping brains equipped with a translator you’d hear something like

“MMMM willow leaves“…. and every now and then “Oohh not enough willow leaves:”…. and then again“MMMMM enough willow leaves“.

MAKING SPACE FOR WATER

heidi08 Beavers May 13, 2024

This was a nice new creation by the Beaver Trust in the UK. They are doing a bang up job of promoting our little flat tails. Enjoy.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY

heidi08 Beavers May 12, 2024

STILL LAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS

heidi08 Beavers May 11, 2024

I’m so old I remember the first time I posted about the beaver problems in Milford. And the last. Funny how they don’t seem to be getting any smarter or more accurate.

Milford’s Complicated Beaver Dam Removal Plan Moves Ahead

MILFORD, MA — A group of large and industrious semiaquatic rodents have touched off a complicated legal and environmental project in Milford.

A group of beavers recently constructed a large dam across a culvert that passes under Alder Street in Medway just west of I-495. The dam caused Stall Brook to overflow, flooding Maple Street in Milford, which is about a 1/2-mile from the dam as the crow flies.

Milford Town Engineer Elizabeth Mainini went to the Select Board Monday seeking permission to approach the Medway Conservation Commission about removing the dam. Medway is requiring Milford to take responsibility for any damage to either Alder Street or the culvert while performing the work. Milford previously received an emergency beaver/muskrat removal permit from its neighbor to the east.

Yes those darn beavers making homes for themselves in your culverts. Boy I bet if you installed protection for your culverts in 2011 when I first reported about this you’d be fine and safe now. Too bad.

Although small — typically about 3 feet long, and can weight up to 65 pounds — compared to the size of municipal government, beavers routinely cause headaches in communities across the state. In 2021, a beaver dam broke near Warren, flooding the entire downtown.

Yes beavers are smaller than city planners. Good point. They are also distinguished from engineers by their work ethic.

They have one.

Massachusetts has strict beaver laws (yes, that’s what they’re called) that spell out how and when beavers can be captured, and where they can be moved to. Local boards of health are the only entities authorized to issue emergency removal permits outside the annual trapping season between November and April

Trapping and removal is often the best solution for a beaver problem, according to state wildlife experts. Destroying a dam can trigger beavers to simply rebuild, and they can do it in a few hours.

Um. You do understand that when they say REMOVAL they mean killing right? Beaver relocation is illegal in Massachusetts.

Those beavers were “removed” in exactly the same way as Cricket went to live on a farm

According to Mainini, the town has already captured and removed the beavers, leaving their empty dam in place. The structure, which is about as high as the roadway, can still cause flooding in its vacant state, she said.

She sounds so knowledgeable doesn’t the? Even without beavers living IN the dam it can still cause flooding. I bet your concerns are as valid as your information about where beavers live. No wonder you got permission to kill some already.

The town will also have to hire an environmental consultant to oversee the dam deconstruction. If removed too fast, pooled water behind the dam could cause more flooding, Mainini said.

“If you remove too much too quickly, that can absolutely cause a great deal of damage,” she told the select board.

Here’s the thing. Are we really talking about a culvert here? I have never read about blockage removal in a culvert causing a washout. But I suppose in theory its possible. I think you are just making things up and the reporter is copying them down because why confuse the issue with ACTUAL INFORMATION.