Tag: Amy Chadwick

Lee Metcalf gets a clue

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions May 29, 2014

Exactly a month ago, I posted about the wildlife refuge in Montana that was saying it was trapping beavers to protect their ducks. An advocacy group was arguing that this was yet another reason to ban traps in the state, and wrote letters to the editor and refuge. I wrote a detailed post about the issue here, and wrote them with information about how to solve this problem by bringing in local Amy Chadwork to work with Skip Lisle and install a beaver deceiver.

Guess what’s happening?

Trapping

Beaver deceiver FTW

To that end, Footloose is now in talks with the refuge to help install a non-lethal device called a “beaver deceiver”—a trapezoidal fence that angles out and away from the mouth of a culvert, discouraging beavers from damming. The design was developed by Vermont wildlife biologist Skip Lisle. Beaver deceivers have proven successful in protecting culverts in Washington state; Lisle also partnered with Missoula ecologist Amy Chadwick to install such a structure near Butte last year.

Poten adds that Footloose—which intends to push its own anti-trapping ballot initiative in 2016—may also help the Lee Metcalf refuge by installing fencing around several larger cottonwoods to protect them from beavers.

Not only is the reserve doing the right thing, (albeit reluctantly) the reporter is entirely accurate and well informed! Get the champagne, this sounds like a total victory! unless….

While Reed does feel a beaver deceiver could aid maintenance in certain areas, he says it won’t solve problems with beavers refuge-wide. The refuge’s mandate is to manage for migratory birds. It may not be his preferred option, but Reed says trapping “is a management option we’ll continue to evaluate.”

Ahhh, what was it that Hamlet said?

For virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it

Which basically means that Mr. Reed may look a little bit smarter about beavers when people are watching, but he’s still massively uninformed so keep his Montana feet to the fire.

Yesterday I dutifully made space for miles of new kit footage on my computer by installing not one, but two TBs of space. The beavers decided not to reward me with a kit yet, but they did think I was worthy of grooming footage, which I’ve never gotten in 7 years of beaver watching. So I’m pretty happy. In fact, eagle eye Jon just called me to announce that you can see teats in this footage, so that’s mom! Look above where her paw is.

The family is still in full force, and the secondary dam is amazingly maintained.

We counted six beavers last night- as many as four at once! They are obviously trying to secure the area, but two tail slaps meant no kits for us. There is so much traffic on the bridge, including two rottweilers, four bicycles and a baby, because the beavers are so visible. I was jealous for the lonely days of winter. I’m starting to wish there was a librarian saying SHHHHHH at each end because I don’t want anything to spook them!

Grooming on the dam – Photo Cheryl Reynolds 2014

Great news yesterday. Martinez Kiwanis generously sent a check for the beaver festival, and Hornblower cruises donated two dining cruises to our silent auction! I hope you’re saving up!

Backdrafts and Beavers

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Environmental, Friends of Martinez Beavers October 29, 2013

You’ll be happy to know there was lots of follow-up to yesterday’s post about Dr. Maughan’s article proposing beaver re-introduction as a partial solution to reduce wildfires. He wrote me himself and thanked me for the comments on his article, and I’m hoping to get him invited to the next beaver conference. Meanwhile I got these comments from Amy Chadwick who was less than rosy about the idea. Remember she’s the one who is working with Skip Lisle installing flow devices in Montana. She did eventually agree that we need an intermountain area beaver conference soon where everyone can talk over these ideas.

I’m not sure there’s a lot of merit to what he’s saying, at least for western landscapes, especially in mountainous terrain. I could see in some wide valleys where beaver have been removed, conifers are encroaching, and the area hasn’t already been cleared for development, that beavers could make a difference, but any effects from more beaver would probably be pretty localized, and in large fires that isn’t enough. A burning ember can travel up to a mile, they say. One could even make the case that increased humidity may increase growth of trees near the stream corridor, increasing fuels.

My point is, it’s probably over-simplified and definitely optimistic.
In my work this summer I have been looking at the other end of this issue, and seeing where fire suppression has been allowing too dense tree growth, conifer encroachment, and eventual drying up of headwaters, as well as shading out willows and aspen, so beaver don’t have the food they need to move back in even if there still were adequate flow. I have seen lots of areas with signs of historic beaver activity where there’s no longer any water, and some struggling or dead aspen or willows left under a conifer canopy. A lot of our headwaters are drying up. I have also seen a case where aspen re-sprouted everywhere and the stream started flowing again within 3 years of a big burn. We need more fire on our forests, in a big way. Most of the forest management budget goes toward fighting fire in the urban interface where people build homes. According to one model we need to thin and burn 20% of the forest for the next 10 years to restore balance. So stopping fires is the wrong goal.

Massive fires are the new norm due to a century of fire suppression and poor forest management. What beaver ponds CAN do is improve habitat and critter population resiliency under fire, and trap the increased sediment and mitigate flood flows after forest fires. The huge floods in Boulder after the fires the previous year probably would not have been nearly as severe if the wetlands in the headwaters had been intact. They probably still would have flooded where they built within the greater floodplain, but you know… that’s another issue.

Well, that’s certainly another perspective on the issue. More fires not less? I daresay that’s an opinion that would get even less public approval than beavers! Especially right now after the recent Yosemite and Idaho fires. Thanks Amy for your thought-provoking remarks, and don’t ever say we’re a monotheistic society here at beaver central.

Now onto a nice, (if somewhat invasive) look at the free beavers of the river Tay. I bet these beavers keep telling themselves it’s [slightly] better than being dead.

The Beaver Gospel

heidi08 Beavers, Educational, Environmental July 3, 2013

In the beginning was the word and the word was with Glynnis and the word was Glynnis.

Glynnis indeed baptized with her water-drought-Alberta research, and her ecosystem research and her waterfowl research, thus showing us WHY to live with beavers, but one mightier (and taller) than her cameth to teach us HOW to live with beavers.

Amy Chadwick of Great West Engineering, left, and Skip Lisle of Beaver Deceivers International install the flow devices that will allow beaver and the wetlands they create to remain as important components of the stream system.

Skip Lisle of Grafton, Vt., and Amy Chadwick, of Missoula, along with her husband, Howard Williams, have partnered with Butte-Silver Bow County to install three “Beaver Deceivers” at culverts in the creek. The structures, made of cedar and concrete reinforcement wire, take up space so beavers won’t try to dam the whole channel.

The beavers plug culverts all along Blacktail Creek, Chadwick said. The dams can cause flooding problems for nearby residents — Chadwick pointed to sandbags stacked by a home nearest to the creek — and can cost municipalities thousands of dollars to dismantle.

Lisle, of Beaver Deceivers International, has been creating the structures for 20 to 30 years, and Chadwick and Williams are training under him, she said.

For truly this beaver challenge endureth but a moment; in this favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning when the flow device is installed and nature itself rejoices.

The constructed in this pilot project are designed to last at least 10-20 years with minimal maintenance.

Chadwick has been doing watershed assessments and stream and habitat assessments for 15 years. She said beavers are important to a stream’s ecosystem, and recently have been recognized as a stream restoration tool, she said.

This is the keystone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the cornerstone.

Here endeth the lesson.

Friday is full of beaver friends!

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Environmental, Friends of Martinez Beavers June 14, 2013

Great news from Montana where a pilot project for beaver deceivers is being launched and Skip Lisle and Amy Chadwick are at the helm.

Non-lethal beaver techniques for creek

In response to high annual maintenance costs at culverts plugged by beaver, the City-County of Butte-Silver Bow and Mile High Conservation District are sponsoring a pilot project to demonstrate non-lethal beaver management techniques for preventing culvert plugging and flooding of the pedestrian walkway along Blacktail Creek.

Amy Chadwick of Great West Engineering and Skip Lisle of Beaver Deceivers International will lead installation of the flow devices, which allow beaver and the wetlands they create to remain as important components of the stream system.

This is excellent news for Montana. I couldn’t be more certain that they will find they’re saving money installing flow devices instead of unclogging culverts and I couldn’t be happier that Amy Chadwick will be working along with him. We need a new generation of young women working on beaver issues and I want Amy to lead the wave. Unfortunately I can’t find a photo of her but we did meet at the conference and exchange emails. Trust me when I say we want her on our team! And if the name Skip doesn’t ring a bell, why not listen to the podcast interview we did?

Interview with Skip Lisle, inventor of the “Beaver Deceiver”. If he looks familar he should since he was the hero that saved the Martinez Beavers about 4 years ago! (Certain ladies may not recognize him with his shirt “on”.) I apologize in advance for the static on the line, but assure you he’s worth listening to

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And another friendly face from this letter to the editor, also from Montana

Trapping: Protection theory doesn’t ring true

Scare tactics are the first resort for folks who have run out of arguments, which is likely why trappers often say that recreational trapping on public lands is necessary to protect us from disease, predators and pests.

The most commonly trapped “pest” species is the beaver. Beaver trapping is generally a private lands issue, so a block management model and trapping by trained authorities are more appropriate solutions than recreational trapping on public lands. More importantly, beaver provide vital services in an arid state like Montana. It makes a lot more sense to employ beaver deceivers (non-lethal devices that prevent beaver from damming sites like culverts), to relocate beaver or to find other creative ways to coexist with them, because they improve retention and filtration of water, soil conservation and riparian habitat.

Filip Panusz, Missoula

Filip! A fine letter like that deserves a thank you and a google search. Felip is the executive director of Footloose Montana, a nonprofit dedicated to trap free public lands.

Get it? Foot ”loose”. Hmm, smart about beavers and executive director of a nonprofit with a cleverly sassy name, might be a match made in heaven? Must go, I have a letter to write.

Montana goes with the Flow Device!

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, featured, Podcast May 7, 2013

Dam pipes save beavers and ditches

Last Sunday, a handful of people started removing part of a beaver dam from a ditch near Four Corners. But they didn’t destroy the dam. Instead, they took a notch out of the middle and inserted a large plastic pipe, which has restored the water flow down the ditch to the Gallatin River but leaves enough water for beavers to swim in.

“The normal practice is to blow up dams, but even after you do, the beavers come back,” said landowner Bob Judd.

That’s a landowner from Montana, where beaver advocacy isn’t exactly a regular occurrence. In fact the first 5 comments I read on the article were excitedly saying how much beavers needed killing. Never mind. There are clearly some forward thinkers in the state.

Fortunately for the animals, the ditch passes through the property of Judd and his wife, Kathryn Kelly, who wanted to keep the beavers around. The beaver dam has created wetlands on their 500-acre property that animals and birds are flocking to, Kelly said. Plus the standing water helps maintain groundwater levels and provides safe habitat for young trout.

So this winter, Kelly proposed the plastic pipe solution to the ditch company board. She spoke from experience. Last summer, she and Judd spent time in Maine observing beaver guru Skip Lisle of Vermont install flow devices to counteract beaver dams. Such devices have been used on the East Coast for about 25 years.

Skip! Nice to see your excellent work literally stretches from coast to coast! Well, lots of folks saw his handiwork in Martinez too! I love when good news about beavers gets broadcast to a new audience. We just need some newbies in the installation biz. The next generation who will allow cities to live with beaver for the next 50 years. Any hope on that front?

Beavers naturally repair any holes in their dams or lodges, so if people tear them down, the animals will return to rebuild. Similarly if a simple pipe is stuck through the dam, beavers will find it and plug it, said Amy Chadwick, a pupil of Lisle who works at Great West Engineering and designed the flow device.

But if the pipe end extends 15 feet or farther upstream from the dam and is surrounded by a wire cage, the beavers don’t know to plug it and couldn’t if they tried. Sometimes, such pipe structures are called “beaver deceivers,” although Chadwick said that name technically applies only to pipes going through culverts or ditches, per inventor Skip Lisle’s definition.

On Sunday, Chadwick joined Jeff Burrell of the Wildlife Conservation Society to help Judd and Kelly install their pipe. Each device has to be tailored to the specific dam, so it’s best to get an expert opinion.

Amy! Not sure whether pupil just means ‘I read about what Skip does’ or actually worked with him….but yesterday when I excitedly wrote her congratulations she wrote back anxiously saying that Skip might get annoyed because she was misquoted calling the pipe a beaver deceiver. Hahaha! She MUST have worked with Skip directly, I decided, because much like Adam himself, he is very concerned these things get the right names.

Amy introduced herself at the beaver conference this year after I presented, so we’re going to need to remember this name. And in the meantime celebrate a new flow device in Montana. It’s success is sure to change hearts and minds, which will definitely change the lives of beavers and the many species who depend on them.

Speaking of which, I just got an email this morning from a research assistant of Glynnis Hood working with her to show the cost effectiveness of flow devices. She wanted names of everyone who does this work so (in addition to many others) of course I introduced them to Amy! ________________________________________________________

No kit sighting last night. Cheryl was in attendance and her patience was rewarded only with a tail slap. We’ll be back again tonight, because tiny beavers deserve a photo shoot!