GIANT BEAVER AS STATE FOSSIL?

heidi08 Beavers March 17, 2025

Time for a state fossil in Minnesota. What? You didn’t know there was such a thing? Well listen up.

Giant beaver could become Minnesota’s official state fossil this year

A bill before lawmakers would name the Castoroides Ohioensis, also known as the giant beaver, as Minnesota’s official state fossil.

The giant beaver became extinct around 10,000 years ago, but once reached lengths of up to 7 feet and weighed up to 200 pounds. As the largest rodent ever in North America, it also would have existed with the first people ever to settle in Minnesota, according to a representative from the Science Museum of Minnesota.

Minnesota is one of only four states without a current state fossil designation.

Wait just a doggone minute there. Does California have a state fossil? Why yes it does. The saber-toothed cat, Okay I guess it’s a thing.

What they’re saying:

“I see state symbols as a wonderful educational opportunity, where we can introduce new things to our kids as they’re growing up,” said Dr. Alex Hastings of the Science Museum of Minnesota during the House State Government Finance and Policy Committee on Thursday.

According to Hastings, the science museum carried a vote two years ago in order to make a nomination decision on what the fossil should be, with the giant beaver receiving more than 11,000 submissions.

Minnesota is currently one of only four states that does not have a designated state fossil.

“There was a very clear winner – none other than the giant beaver,” Hastings said before the committee. “One of the fascinating things about this animal is not only was it the largest rodent ever in North America, it also would have existed with the first people settling in Minnesota. There’s even some folklore that suggests some personal interactions with them.

I first heard about this a while ago when Emily Fairfax posted about the castoroides brew label being developed in St Paul.

I guess if you spend sometime promoting what beavers are NOT anymore you might be able to highlight all that they are.

A skeleton of the giant beaver is currently on display at the Science Museum of Minnesota – found just seven miles from St. Paul, Hastings said.

Historians believe the giant beaver was far larger than the current common beaver – reaching lengths of up to 7 feet and weighing up to 200 pounds.

Common beavers seen today are around 31 to 47 inches in length, and weigh around 24 to 66 pounds.

The bill would also include indigenous translations as part of the designation.

Well I guess it’s going to happen. I love my castoroides skull. Maybe now school children will collect them!

Unlike modern beavers that make dams and lodges, scientists believe the giant beaver was unable to adapt to the changing landscape.

What’s next:The bill was laid over by the committee on Thursday for possible inclusion in a larger collection of bills – known as an omnibus bill – to be approved later in the legislative session.

IN ALABAMA, EVEN JESUS TRAPS BEAVERS

heidi08 Beavers March 16, 2025

St Patrick is celebrated for driving the snakes out of Ireland. Maybe Starlight Baptist church will be remembered for trapping the beavers out of Alabama.

Beaver builds a dam that floods Starlight Baptist Church

MOBILE COUNTY, Ala. (WALA) – Starlight Baptist Church has a unique pest problem. Beavers have made a dam underneath a railroad sewage drain causing flooding in the area.

- Mobile looking to control nuisance beavers

The Original Starlight Baptist Church was established In 1867. The church will be celebrating its 158th anniversary this coming weekend. Pastor Joseph Barren Sr. told Fox 10 how concerning this flooding is starting to become.

“We have this problem this flooding problem. Out of the 26 years I have been here I’ve never had this much water before. I had no idea that beavers were out there, but this is what I was informed that this was a beaver problem that was causing the dam up under the railroad track.”

TROUT IN UK DISCOVERED TO SWIM OVER BEAVER DAMS

heidi08 Beavers March 15, 2025

I sure hope you’re sitting down, because this is going to come as a huge shock. It turns out that beaver dams in England affect brown trout pretty much the same way as they affect trout in America! Who could possibly have seen that coming? Not me that’s for sure. Next you’ll be telling me that gravity works the same way in China that it does in Wyoming and we know that’s not true because they are upside down!

Brown trout proven to successfully navigate beaver dams

Findings are published in the journal PLOS One.

The research monitored trout movements in two streams in Scotland — one modified by a series of four beaver dams and the other unaltered.

The scientists observed the trout as they navigated the barriers during critical spawning periods (October to December). The fish were tracked using telemetry technology, where trout are tagged with microchips that are read by antennae spanning the dam structures.

The researchers found that high river flows, triggered by rainfall, significantly increased the likelihood of successful upstream passage. Additionally, larger fish had greater success at navigating the dams. Conversely, during low flow periods, beaver dams posed a more significant obstacle, delaying or sometimes preventing trout movement upstream.

Dr Robert Needham, Restoration Manager at Beaver Trust and former University of Southampton researcher, said: “Our findings highlight how adaptable brown trout are under favourable conditions, regularly passing beaver dams and with certain individuals making multiple repeat passes. However, as climate change continues to bring warmer and drier weather, the risk of migratory barriers may become a concern on certain rivers.”

I don’t know about you but I am GOBSMACKED that the trout across the pond can make it over those nasty monster beaver dams just like they can in America. Who would have guessed?

I guess it has something to do with water flow though. Fish need water. I’m totally shocked about that.

“Our findings indicate how fish response to river modification through the construction of dams by beaver can be nuanced,” says Professor Paul Kemp, the project lead at the University of Southampton. “In general, and if rivers are allowed to respond naturally, the benefits of beaver activity can be substantial from an ecological perspective. However, under some circumstances beaver dams can pose barriers to fish movement, particularly under low flows.

“More research is now needed to understand how beaver dams might impede fish movements in more modified lowland rivers, such as in the south of England.”

True. Our research shows that water mostly runs downhill. But there’s evidence that if there’s a little bump it can stop flowing for a while. More research is needed.

Please give me a grant.

SOLVING BEAVER PROBLEMS IN NJ

heidi08 Beavers March 14, 2025

If you’re feeling exasperated by too-short beaver articles that never get to the heart(s) of the matter, you will be much impressed by this rotund report from New Jersey. It talks about the problems beavers cause. the folks who lethally fix them, and their benefits on the horizon. I’m not completely satisfied with its tone but it doesn’t fail for trying.

This N.J. town declared war on its beaver neighbors. Boy, did they misunderstand the enemy.

In the farmhouse committee room, the humans huddled together and spoke of the evidence.

The whispers were true. Things were escalating.

Not just trivial teeth marks on twigs or muddy paw prints on paths. Entire trees felled. Stumps that foretold the same. Reports of one bold enough to trespass on someone’s front lawn — near a playground, no less.

“Some people were even afraid. Like, some residents were afraid that beavers might attack their children or their pets,” former mayor Rita Romeu remembers of the discourse that shook the town of Chesterfield seven years ago.

This is not how things are supposed to be in the young neighborhood of Old York Village. Here you’ll find nearly identical single-family houses that crisscross streets named after old farmers, freshly manicured lawns, glossy vinyl fences and neat rows of white mailboxes. The one-square-mile development sprung up on 500 acres of farmland in the early 2000s — a postcard-perfect community designed with ball fields, a public green, and a paved walking path.

Well if there’s one story I recognize its the “Community reacting to beaver” story. Let’s just say I cut my orange teeth on it.

The complaints started piling up around 2016. Newly planted trees abutting the sidewalks had been destroyed or stolen in the dead of night. A tangle of sticks and branches piled into a dam, likely built in the pre-dawn hours, had blocked a drainage pipe needed to stop the neighborhood from flooding. One brazen beaver had crossed a road and scared a homeowner.

At least one resident took matters into his own hands. He shot two beavers who had the gall to show up on his property. Yes, shot ‘em.

The town’s stakeholders gathered, meeting after meeting, taking turns at the microphone — business owners, Boy Scouts, politicians and parents. Surely a few pesky rodents were no match for a group of New Jersey homeowners determined to keep unsavory visitors out of their town.

What happened next was more than just an unhinged melodrama of neighbor versus neighbor versus beaver.

Well I know which one would worry me the most and it doesn’t have a flat tail.

But is coexistence even possible, or is beaver history destined to keep repeating itself, as previously untouched corners of the state give way to the march of modernity?

NJ Advance Media spent more than a year on the hunt for anecdotes and answers. We watched as a generation of gruff trappers sold the animals’ pelts at a fur auction. We spent two days at a wildlife refuge where beaver colonies and their cute little kits live unbothered. We pored through public records to learn about our furry foe’s history.

And we trekked through Chesterfield, years after the beavers first showed up in the suburbs, in search of dams and damage, where soldiers on both sides see no end in sight.

Full disclosure, I’ve been swapping emails with Nancy for a long time. The idea she came up with to drive the beavers away by removing all the food is her own invention though. I would never advise such a thing.

When a den was found “that was the crisis point,” she said.

It was proof the beavers moved in. (We’re not going to use the word “infestation,” because beavers are cuter than, say, rats. But we’re not not going use the word “infestation.”)

The beavers, of course, may argue that our framing here is all wrong. Long before we built our McMansions and McDonalds, our warehouses and our Wawas, the beavers were plentiful. Beavers were once as prevalent along America’s waterways as squirrels are today. That was until the European fur trade almost wiped them out to satisfy a never-ending need to outfit countless heads with countless fuzzy felt hats.

But beaver repopulation commenced in 1934 (by way of, no joke, a state program that relocated 1,500 beavers from the middle of the country). And these days beavers are now found in nearly every New Jersey county.

That 12,000 population estimate may in fact be way low, said Peter Stark, a biologist who specializes in furbearer species for the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife.

“They’re quite prolific and they’re not going anywhere,” Stark said. “We have a very, very healthy population of beavers now.”

Very Prolific? What does that mean exactly and on what is he basing his data? I don’t believe we describe a mammal that can reproduce once a year and raises its young for 2-3 years as Very Prolific. Are mountain lions very prolific? Or elephants?

But to legally kill a beaver, Driver has to hit the lottery. Only 200 beaver trapping permits are issued each season and Driver’s only lucked out once. (This year, 543 people applied, state Fish & Wildlife data showed). Even if he, or his wife — who both had to prove they could skin an animal to become state-licensed trappers — get a permit, more obstacles await.

The season is just over a month long. There are regulations about what types of traps you can use. And trappers are assigned to hunt in specific parts of the state.

All the rules are there for a reason, the state says — to ensure a “sustainable consumptive use of beaver populations.” It’s been like that since legalized trapping came back in the 1970s and the state has stuck with it ever since — with minor adjustments — because they say it works.

“We do look at those long term harvest trends, because they do …. help you sort of keep your thumb on the pulse of what trappers are doing, where the population of beavers itself may or may not be headed,” Stark, the state biologist, said.

A beaver key chain at a Chesterfield Township Environmental Commission meeting in Chesterfield, NJ on Tuesday, January 28, 2025.

Honestly this whole thing reads like a novel. It goes every direction with so many twists and turns I got dizzy with flashbacks. You should go read the entire thing because its worth it. I will just share my favorite part. I was especially pleased with the part where the beaver team wrapped neighborhood trees with wire and gave them a beaver keychain to thank them for being part of the solution.

Barely a scruffy nose poking out of the water at first, one such beaver could be seen running errands an early morning in November. The adult rodent quietly waded back and forth from a den wedged into the pond, a long oar-like tail helping it glide and gather sticks for the feed pile.

Attempts to interview said beaver were met with a defiant tail splash.

D.J. Schubert, an expert with the Animal Welfare Institute, was happy to speak on the beaver’s behalf.

“Beavers are known as sort of nature’s engineer because they have such immense value to the ecosystem,” said Schubert, while visiting the refuge. “It’s not just the fact that they create dams and they create wetlands, but the fact that wetlands are so biodiverse.”

It’s good for the turtles and frogs, but it helps the humans living nearby, too. All that vegetation helps pull greenhouse gases from the air and trap them in the ground.

“So beavers,” Schubert said, “because they create wetlands, are one of nature’s means of sequestering carbon to help us deal with the climate crisis that we’re currently facing.”

Yet it remains to be seen, beaver supporters like Schubert contend, if people will see the forest through the trees.

What if we humans not only left them alone, but actually created more hospitable places for beavers to do their work? Indeed, have we been framing this — not just the battle in Chesterfield, but our entire, adversarial approach to these creatures — all wrong?

If humans can successfully put dogs, horses and livestock to work, why not these scrappy wonders, too?

Schubert doesn’t blink at the notion. More beavers “would be fantastic because they would spread across the landscape and their value would be extended,” he says.

If more move in, even better, said Schubert. Not just here, but the rest of New Jersey.

“As they recolonize areas where they were trapped out a long, long time ago — let’s deal with the nuisance complaints on a sort of case by case (basis) and educate people on how to do it,” Schubert said. “Help the people if they need help and try to find that harmonious balance that we need for people and beavers to coexist.”

I quite like his quotes. People are going to need to live along side beavers because they will always need to live along side water.

It wasn’t until public works drained the waterways late last year for maintenance purposes that they were discovered.

“They are in a place we would not have thought they’d be,” Scarafile wrote to me in December, including a map marked up in red. “They must have moved here this summer.”

What comes next isn’t just up to Scarafile. It might mean trapping, might mean shooting, might mean killing — what has long been the solution, but just maybe, is part of the problem.

She reached out soon after the discovery to talk over the news.

“It’s simply amazing that they are right here,” Scarafile said, her tone a mixture of wonder and exasperation.

The pair of new beavers were, by Scarafile’s guess, preparing for the mating season.

For the life of me I cannot guess what the author means by DEN. Does he mean lodge? Does he mean Dam? Does he mean ban hole? It’s anyone’s guess. But the article is generally cute and delightfully presented so GO READ THE WHOLE THING and tell me what you think.