International beaver day did not disappoint. It produced an excellent article from Wildlife Defenders, some amazing video and one classically civic story that will reminds us all of our humble beginnings. Let’s start with the fun stuff for a change and end with the call to action.

Coexisting with Beavers

Today is International Beaver Day, so let’s celebrate my favorite ecosystem engineer and the ways that Defenders helps people coexist with beaver.

First, Why Beaver?

 

Beavers are an important part of a healthy wetland and forest ecosystem. Beaver cut down trees and shrubs, eat wetland plants, and build amazing dams and lodges. These activities raise water levels, slow water speed, and change water direction, creating a dynamic wetland complex. In doing so, they can increase a wetland’s area, biodiversity, and water quality, as well as maintain more stable water temperatures.

Isn’t that an amazing photo? Yesterday I looked at with adoring eyes and thought it probably wasn’t in a natural setting because the water under mom looks very shallow. It’s unlikely a beaver would put herself in such inescapable conditions if there were another option. I looked up the photo credit (Chris Canipe)  and found this video of beaver relocation which me smile very much,

So cute going to their new home, which means my theory about an ‘unnatural setting’ is likely correct. It’s a great article though so lets take in some more.

Beaver are an important ecosystem engineer and the habitats they create benefit many native species. In the west, for example, 90% of species are dependent on wetlands, such as those created by beaver, at some point during their lives. In beaver ponds, freshwater fish can find more food or a larger variety of food. They can also spend the winter in the deepest parts of a pond. The shallow pond areas are great for young fish to find food and shelter while they grow. Migratory birds can use beaver ponds as “stepping stones” while they migrate to and from summer breeding grounds. Each pond can also support several different kinds of birds with the large variety of habitats created by damming, flooding, and tree felling. In spring, beaver ponds are a nightclub for amphibians, whose eggs and young tadpoles like the warmer water temperatures and shelter provided by vegetation near the shores.

Beaver are so important and have so many benefits for other species, including many species that are now imperiled, that Defenders works to restore them to places where they will create and enhance habitat for all the other critters we also care about. In the Rocky Mountains, boreal toad and native cutthroat trout are some examples of the imperiled species benefiting from our beaver restoration projects.

Yes they are,  And given that fact and the fact that the title of this article is “COEXISTING WITH BEAVER” it would be a mistake to focus on relocation of the animals wouldn’t it? Even with live trapping instead of killing?

It’s not easy being a beaver in some places. In urban areas, such as cities or towns, beavers sometimes cause conflict by building dams which cause unwanted flooding, or by taking down charismatic trees which people value. In many cases these “nuisance” beavers are killed because of their actions, but sometimes simple tools can be used to prevent these conflicts, create more acceptance of their presence by people, and keep beaver where they are. For example, to prevent beaver from felling trees they can be wrapped in fencing or painted with a mix of sand and paint. Beaver, just like us, don’t like the “gritty” feeling of sand when chewing. To minimize flooding, flow-devices can be installed which limit the water level of beaver ponds by using a combination of pipes and fencing.

 

Oh alright then. I’m a very picky beaver consumer. But I do like happy endings and stories of beaver successes. Go read the entire article if you need more good cheer and I’m going to save one treat for last. Next up is a variation of the story we’ve all come to know and hate – this time in Schenectady NY.

Schenectady officials decide to trap beavers after Woodlawn Preserve flooding

Problems have steadily mounted over the past half-decade as beavers have set up stakes, including blockage of a drain pipe that ran underneath the railroad. City workers were being deployed nearly every other week to clean out the culvert. A series of beaver-built dams also led to elevated water levels in the basin.

Stakeholders met with beaver consultants, who recommended a trapping company.“

Trails were so flooded, people couldn’t fish,” said Janet Chen, president of the nonprofit Friends of the Woodlawn Preserve.

Oh no! You mean there as so dam much nature in your nature park that it is inconvenient to exploit it? Gosh, no wonder you called in the Friends Enemies of Woodlawn preserve use. Gee I wonder what the trapping company will suggest?

“We observed a very high amount of beaver activity in the preserve,” said City Engineer Chris Wallin. “It was determined we needed to trap the beavers.”

While the 135-acre site serves as a nature preserve — part of the Albany Pine Bush ecosystem — the site has more practical roots as a retention pond first constructed in the 1950s to alleviate flooding in the city’s Woodlawn neighborhood.

You know how it is. We never intended this park to have nature IN it. Just to provide somewhere for the water to runoff when it floods. Beavers are icky, and never mind that it’s spring and the family is having babies.

Trapping beavers is rare and largely ineffective, said Sharon T. Brown, a biologist and director of the Dolgeville-based non-profit Beavers: Wetlands & Wildlife (BWW).

I’m sure that’s a typo or miscommunication. She didn’t mean trapping is rare right?

“It’s often counterproductive, and will create a vacancy,” Brown said. “It’ll probably be re-settled unless they want a cycle of trapping over and over again.”

Water devices like the “Beaver Deceiver” — mesh enclosures paired with a series of pipes running under or through dams — are a better way to prevent flooding and avoid harming the creatures, Brown said.

“There’s no reason not to consider these.”

Good job Sharon, and congratulations to the reporter for getting her input. There’s no reason NOT to consider nonlethal solutions, is there? Oh yes there is! Beavers are icky! And we’re the enemies of the preserve! Just look at our outfits! Shhh wait, this is my favorite part!

Friends said the device was cost-prohibitive. Chen said the beavers haven’t historically served as a public draw to visit the site.

“People to go to the preserve generally go to take a walk in the quiet,” she said.

That’s right. People come to a park because of the QUIET!  Like Thoreau on the famously quiet Walden pond. They don’t want some icky rodent tail-slapping in the water and disturbing their solitude. They want peace! Something tells me Ms. Chen is going to get a letter to make her own life of quiet desperation  a little more interesting in the very near future.

And besides, people never visit a park just to see beavers.

 

Okay, I promised a treat if you  were patient and here it is. Chris  Carr from the beaver management Forum shared this yesterday taken with his night camera. This is why beavers need to carry around those few extra pounds.