And a very happy birthday to you too. I woke up with a cgi cancellation to this site for some god known reason and they wanted 500 dollars to bring it back. For the record my site renews in NOVEMBER so I have zero idea what this was all about. I will spend the day in bluehost purgatory trying to find out. But let’s distract ourselves with a nice letter, shall we?
Letter: Time to enlist the beavers’ help
[A prior letter recommended solutions to save our salmon population] Another helpful solution is to encourage the repopulation of our public-land watersheds by beaver — and it wouldn’t need any federal appropriations. It would cost nothing.
Halting commercial and recreational beaver hunting and trapping on federal public lands would free these industrious hydraulic engineers to increase their numbers and reoccupy former habitat throughout vital watersheds, thus cooling water, reducing sediment, alleviating rapid runoff, storing water and raising water levels, and providing shelter and refuges for immature salmon, steelhead and other aquatic species. The positive changes in riparian habitats would increase biodiversity and the food base for birds, fish and other wildlife and would be fire resistant.
And all these benefits would come at no cost to the taxpayer.
It’s obvious the climate changes in the West are dire. It’s time to wise up and take drastic action — or else.
Wally Sykes, Joseph OR
Letter to the Editor | Was killing beavers necessary?
Was killing beavers necessary?
Living in Ironwood since 2009, I have enjoyed regular walks around the two drainage ponds that lie south of the Copper Slough and just north of Windsor Road, east of the dog park. About six years ago, I saw the construction of a large beaver lodge on the east pond. Over the years, I have enjoyed walking about the ponds looking for the beavers, seeing up to three or four at a time.
Then I spoke to a neighbor who had witnessed the trapping and killing of the beavers by trappers who explained that someone had complained about the risk of tree damage. Lawyer friends tell me Illinois law allows only killing of trapped wild animals rather than relocation.
Now that the beavers are gone, the lake will fill up with water lilies and the beaver lodge perch used by great blue herons will gradually disappear. I may never again enjoy this viewing of wild natural life. Is it always necessary for us to prioritize our human “welfare” over wildlife?
CURTIS KROCK
So well said, Curtis. No it isn’t a matter of putting humans over beavers. Or beavers over humans for that matter, BOTH can survive if a little long term planning will let both survive quite nicely.
