I LOVE this man! What can we give him as a present for his retirement! A brass clock made out of a beaver chew? A golden compass pointing the direction of the nearest beaver dam? A fountain pen that was once owned by Enos Mills?

Whichever it is it’s gotta be something good. Because he’s a friend of ours. I can just feel it.

Pemberton’s lone beaver caretaker stepping down

Ryszard Brykajlo has been engaged in a stalemate with Pemberton’s beaver population for the last six years. The trails around One Mile Lake are filled with evidence of his efforts to thwart the animals—stacks of sticks pulled from dams, cages around half-eaten trees and a massive rubber pipe that used to run beneath a dam.

Brykajlo does it all out of a love for the beavers.

“I keep the beavers alive and they keep me in shape,” he joked. Now, closing in on his 75th birthday, he’s retiring as One Mile Lake’s “Beaver Man” and looking back on his battle with the toothy locals.

Pemberton is in BC Canada about 100 miles from our friends in Port Moody. But he’s clearly picking yp the vibes from Vancouver and the nearby believers. Good for him. I love this story. Can they show it every Christmas?

When he moved to Pemberton eight years ago, Brykajlo signed on with the Stewardship Pemberton Society (SPS) to help manage the salmon population—a volunteer role that involved counting fish and learning how to measure the health of critical creeks. During a count six years ago, he came across a strange feature: a dam on the outflow creek used by salmon during the annual migration to the ocean.

“So I contacted [SPS] and asked, ‘Why would someone build a dam here?'” recalled Brykajlo. “And a few days later, I got a reply: ‘That is definitely a beaver dam.’”

In addition to blocking salmon, damming the outflow creek could lead to stillwater on One Mile, creating the perfect breeding ground for bacteria that could render the popular swimming area unusable.

Still, Brykajlo was initially worried removing the dams would destroy where beavers live, but a subsequent review of the literature confirmed the animals don’t actually reside in dams. Beavers build dams in an effort to raise water levels, expanding their territory and offering protection from predators. They live in lodges, mounds of branches and other vegetation that sit on water at least five feet deep. Lodges typically feature two underwater entrances that help beavers escape from predators, a food pile, and an air vent. Lodges can usually house up to 12 beavers—though Brykajlo estimates One Mile only had two when he started his work.

The lodge at One Mile is visible and located near a dog-friendly beach at the northeastern end of the lake.

A man who does his research! Be still my heart! He’s a better investigative journalist than the New York Times!

That’s not to say that One Mile Lake is now devoid of beaver dams. Brykajlo recognizes the critical role beavers play in keeping ecosystems healthy, and allowed dams that didn’t impede salmon to remain. 

“Especially when we have this uncertain weather, and we have these droughts,” said Brykajlo. “Beavers create these dams [which then] collect water.”

The inverse is true as well: beaver dams not only help prevent droughts, they can help minimize the impacts of floods. Dams help slow down the flow of water, which delays and reduces flood peaks further downstream. 

Wetland habitats are bolstered by beaver dams retaining water, which in turn create spaces for other species, including fish, mammals, waterfowl, songbirds, amphibians and insects—strengthening an area’s biodiversity.

The same goes for plant diversity. Removing trees and flooding land allows for other plant species to emerge in their place.  

“Because of how important the species are in the environment, there are all kinds of movements of people who call themselves ‘beaver believers,‘” Brykajlo told Pique.

“I’m a beaver believer.”

OH MY GOD. Do you think in pockets across North America their are mare park attendants like Ryszard ? We must meet them all. There could be a hall of fame.

SPS’ executive director Crystal Conroy said, although the society is working with the VOP on a beaver management plan, it isn’t actively looking for a replacement for Brykajlo right now.

“At Stewardship Pemberton, we will continue to advocate for ongoing maintenance of the dams in the channels to allow beavers to thrive in the area while helping to prevent vegetation overgrowth, keep the lake healthy for swimmers, and prioritize providing salmon access to return to their spawning location,” she said. “Working with the Village of Pemberton, we will continue to explore solutions that prioritize the well-being of the beavers and support sustainable management practices.

Brykajlo is optimistic about the beavers’ future. He hopes someone steps in to manage the animals to avoid a tough choice between having a growing beaver population or having healthy salmon runs and a swimmable lake.

The man must have a nephew in the area. Surely there’s some lad who enjoyed the park that is willing to work with the beaver Institute to fix this problem so it takes very little maintenance right?

“Maybe it is not very important, but this lake has a beaver,” he said. “Maybe there are some more important places for beavers. But I thought, ‘Where it is possible, every piece of work you do helps.’”

We are throwing him the BIGGEST retirement party with a beaver cake and a life time supply of bread sticks okay? This is a hero among men.

People love to think about beavers in the wintertime. Probably because everything is frozen and out of their way. When things start to thaw and melt we get much less interested.

Cool Critters: Beavers at home during winter – and maybe a muskrat or two

This time of year, it’s hard to beat having a good meal inside a warm, rustic lodge with a waterfront view.

Just ask a beaver.

Beaver lodges aren’t just by the water, they’re below and above it. When temperatures drop, these furry, buck-toothed, flat-tailed animals hunker down in their multilevel dwellings that are warm, safe and stocked with food.

You see, beavers don’t hibernate during winter. Instead, they stay active inside their well-insulated lodges built of sticks, stones and mud. Other than swimming through tunnels beneath the ice, “when ponds are iced over, beavers often spend almost all their time in the lodge,” said Joe Mouser, communications manager for Beavers Northwest, a nonprofit organization based in Washington state.

These beavers are used to icey winters. Not all beavers. Surely our beavers in Martinez never had to enure freezing winters or create a food cache.

Yet this winter is different. Here it is, mid-January, and beavers can be seen skimming across water and waddling on adjacent land. They’re still sleeping, grooming and eating in their lodges, but they’ve increased their time outside. Why?

Probably because temperatures in the Inland Northwest have been so mild, said Mouser. Consquently, our ponds, lakes and creeks remain largely unfrozen. In Western Washington, where the water seldom freezes, beavers spend plenty of time outside their lodges in winter, he said.

Whether a mild or frigid winter, beavers are at home this time of year. All the chewing, logging and hauling they do during the warm season? It’s not just about dams, said wetland wildlife species specialist Shawn Behling of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Washington knows its beavers so well they even know how the east and west differ!

“They spend a good part of late summer and the fall building lodges or beefing up their existing ones,” she said, adding that the semiaquatic rodents are skilled construction workers and ecosystem engineers.

Their jagged, dome-shaped structures, typically 6 feet high and 15 feet in diameter, resemble a tangled heap of sticks. But don’t judge a lodge by its cover.

It is a sturdy network of whittled-smooth sticks, rocks and aquatic vegetation – all sealed with a waterproof mud mixture that also provides insulation. The beavers’ living chambers are situated above the waterline, and two underwater entryways are located below. On the lodge’s roof is an opening that brings in fresh oxygen.

“On very cold days, warmth generated by the beavers’ bodies can cause steam to rise from the ventilation opening – as if their lodge has a chimney,” Behling said.

Who lives inside? A family of beavers – usually the parents, along with one to three yearlings and one to three kits born the previous spring.

The Yampa Valley in Colorado is about to put Martinez to shame.  I guess we should not be surprised. Colorado had the last beaverCon and is the home of Ben Goldfarb and Sherri Tippie.

Can you be impressed and jealous at the same time? I sure was reading this.

Community experts eager to educate about beavers

The education series this winter circles around the One Book Steamboat reading choice for 2025 called “Eager: The Surprising Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter” written by award-winning environmental journalist and Salida resident Ben Goldfarb.

According to the Colorado Beaver Working Group, the beaver is a keystone species that plays a critical role in holding together ecosystems because the large rodents are engineers that build dams that raise water levels, slow water speed and change water direction.

“Beaver ponds and wetlands are biodiversity hotspots hosting many species including freshwater fish, aquatic mammals, waterfowl, migratory birds, shorebirds, amphibians, reptiles, plants and invertebrates,” according to the working group.

Okay that sounds great. I’m super excited. But tell me about “Changing water direction” How does that happen exactly? Do beavers change gravity? That’s fantastic! I had no idea!

Wildlife Biologist Jeremiah Psiropoulos from the Routt National Forest office in Steamboat Springs said beavers have been engineering the Yampa Valley for many years with dam building and tree felling that create wet meadows and riparian corridors that host a myriad of species.

“Whether your interactions with beavers are positive or negative – a destructive nuisance depriving your fields of water, or the excitement of a fleeting encounter in a high mountain stream – they are a creature that demand our respect,” Psiropoulos said

The library staff are encouraging readers to request a copy of “Eager,” which is available in print, digital and audio formats. The library staff is promoting the viewing of the short film “Beavers in Paradise” that shows beavers as they make a comeback in London through a community-urban beaver project.

That’s nice. I’d love to see that film too. Sounds like my kind of viewing. Here’s my favorite part.

Librarians created a new outdoor Story Walk that features the children’s book “The Lodge that Beaver Built.” The family-friendly walking and reading opportunity is located in intervals along a side path off the Yampa River Core Trail near the Stockbridge Transit Center.

Isn;t that cool? A family beaver trail! Please can someone send me photos? There used to be a cr0ss country ski trail in Kirkwood called the “Beaver dam trail” that long before I ever saw a beaver filled me with excitement!

A Tween Book Club for readers of “Rescue at Lake Wild” is scheduled for 5-6 p.m. Feb. 25 at the library to discuss the adventure book about friends rescuing orphaned beaver kits.

The science talk “NASA and the Beaver Believers” is scheduled for 6:30-7:30 p.m. Feb. 27 in Library Hall featuring a conversation with landscape ecologist Nick Kolarik about using NASA Earth observations to monitor impacts of beaver-related conservation efforts in dryland systems.

Something for everyone. A science talk too for the star lovers. This is such a thoughtful beaver blitz!

A panel of local environmental experts will come together 6:30-8 p.m. March 6 in Library Hall to discuss “Beavers in the Yampa Valley.” Educators from such groups as Community Agriculture Alliance, Colorado Parks & Wildlife, U.S. Forest Service and Friends of the Yampa will discuss beaver encounters, drought resiliency, fire mitigation, biodiversity and co-habitation with beavers across the Yampa Valley.

Readers can register to participate in a community book discussion about “Eager” at 6:30-7:30 p.m. March 12 at the library.

The finale for the educational series and One Book Steamboat 2025 will be an author talk with Goldfarb at 6:30-8 p.m. March 18 at Library Hall. With a master’s degree in environmental management, Goldfarb covers wildlife conservation, marine science and public lands management and has written for such magazines such as Science, National Geographic, Outside, Smithsonian and Audubon.

I am super impressed. Well done steamboat valley folks. Now just tell me when the festival is!

And if you are interested in Beavers in Paradise you can watch it here:

 

When do you  think they will stop lying about beavers? Not anytime soon I think. Apparently this rehab center believes that all those lonely kits were “rejected” by their parents.

Um…okay. They were “rejected” because their parents and siblings went to live “on the farm”, Like that puppy your parents took to the pound when you were four. Does that make you feel better?

What annoys me is that insipid lies like that along with adorable but unsurprising beaver kit photos fund the rehab facility which instead of teaching people how important beavers are helps the media perpetuate convenient lies about vicious rodents whom occasionally reject a baby which leads to more trapping inevitably and starts the cycle all again.

Sigh.

Just once I wish a rescue center would tell the truth. “We’re raising this kit because Mr. Galter was worried that his basement would flood so he paid his nephew to kill her parents and older siblings rather than install a flow device to fix the problem for real..”