Animal Welfare Institute

The third grade classes of Las Juntas have some wonderful artists and very inquisitive, young naturalist minds! 60 children and other helping adults were divided into four groups so everyone at Worth A Dam did their job 4 times, which meant that by the end we were fairly well and truly spent. We put the lovely children’s banners above the tile bridge and they fit in perfectly, inspiring some great chalk art which spread from the ground to the benches, (I’m sure there will be some annoyed county workers with chalky bottoms for a day or two, sorry about that). There was a reporter and a photographer from the Pleasant Hill Record, so hopefully they’ll be a nice write up soon.

Here’s a sample of their work, we used one of the metal cutouts donated by Paul Craig to trace the outline of a beaver, but some children just made their own.

I especially like the Egyptian-looking ‘pink beaver’ in the middle of the collage. The children were really attentive and interested, and I was surprisingly merciful to them (and the mayor) and didn’t say that the city at first wanted to kill the beavers just that the city wanted them to go away. It must be the holiday spirit because I was also merciful to a certain sheetpile-protected property owner who was trying to walk through the sea of children and passing up the opportunity to have 60 children ‘boo’ at the same time is easily the most noble act of self control I’ve ever demonstrated.

Still, when the teacher asked if, for a followup project, she should send have the children send letters to the mayor about naming ‘beaver park’ I smiled widely. ( The holiday season only transforms a girl so much.)

Here is FRo’s picture of the afternoon visitor on the lawn! ”

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And in case you need some less child-focused intellectual stimulation for the morning, check out the article by Mike Callahan in the AWI magazine.

When Massachusetts citizens voted overwhelmingly in 1996 to outlaw steel jaw leghold traps, other body-gripping traps, and snares for capturing fur-bearing animals, critics of the law loudly proclaimed that disaster was imminent. Many claimed that the trapping restrictions would cause the state to be awash in beavers and flood waters because they mistakenly felt that trapping was the only effective beaver management tool.

Human/beaver conflicts occur across North America. To understand why, it is important to have an historical perspective. The North American beaver, Castor canadensis, has existed for millennia. Native Americans referred to beavers as “Little People” because beavers are second only to humans in their ability to modify their environment to suit their own needs. Beavers were revered by Native Americans who understood that beaver dams and the ponds they created support a vast array of wildlife.

Curiosity peaked? Go read the rest of the article. It even mentions us!

Every tale has its heroes and villains right? Well click on the above photo for a slide show of this particular beaver hero at work. Mike Callahan left a career as a physician’s assistant when he got interested in saving beavers near his home. He and his wife started a volunteer association and invited Skip Lisle out for a conference to train advocates in beaver management. The rest, as they say, is history. More than a decade ago, Mike left his PA work behind him, and started the business of “Beaver Solutions” in Massachusetts. He has since installed more than 700 flow devices, and is committed to sharing what he’s learned

Last year, Mike was awarded a grant from AWI to produce an instructional DVD teaching beaver management. He is about four weeks away from its final launch, and I thought today was a good day to remind you. My ‘sent’ file tells me that I first wrote Mike on November 17, 2007 after i learned that I had been appointed to the Beaver Subcommittee. I had about a hundred questions about flow devices, materials cost and beaver behavior. I am very pleased to say that 2.5 years later he has answered those 100 questions, I have about 10,000 more, and consider him a friend. I agreed to help him spread the word about the upcoming DVD because making these tools readily available means that beavers around the nation can avoid threat from the people they inconvenience. The funny thing is, I ended up writing him and not Skip because I couldn’t find an email address for Skip, only a phone number. (In those days I was shy about talking to strangers about beavers). (Wow.) Of course, Skip was eventually hired by the city and went on to become a friend too. Small beaver world.

Water flow control: Some fairly famous urban beavers

I am a resident of Martinez, CA and a member of the subcommittee on keeping our urban creek beavers. I have been in contact with BWW & Sherri Tippie. Our downtown beavers have gotten a lot of press, and may be included in a documentary on urban wildlife, but just to summarize: the state of CA does not allow relocation, our beavers were going to be exterminated, there was a huge public outcry and CFG stepped in to say they would grant a one time relocation permit and hire Ms. Tippie. Residents weren’t satisfied and wanted the city to consider allowing the beavers to stay, which eventually happened after an electric town hall meeting. Now the city will form a subcommittee to consider allowing them to stay and I’m on that subcommittee. I want to make sure the city has all the information it needs to take positive action. I wanted to approach you specifically on the relative drawbacks/benefits of the flexible leveler vs the clemson.

Our creek is small (20-25 feet wide in most places) and normally a trickle by late summer. However it has two flow exceptions that will present unique challenges. It serves as the flood drainage for the town so in hard rains it can get a sudden increase. Also we sit on the upper bay so can have an occasional high tides. When hard rain happens with the high tide we’ve historically had flooding (long before the beavers) and this makes the city very anxious about the dam.

A hydrology report issued by the city raises concern about the increased water behind the dam, and obviously lowering the level is paramount, as is reducing the dam so that when the next rain comes the surge can flow away. I wonder if you can help me identify where to start with this and what device seems most appropriate. It occurs to me this may even be useful to do in steps, with one device to start and another to maintain. Certainly the city does not lack for volunteer labor or financial contributions. I also wonder whether you are ever available for intra-state consultation/visits or can recommend someone who is.

Again, thank you for the fantastic resource and I hope my questions are clear.

Ahhh, memories! You will recognize the center photo as being the lovely image of our own Cheryl Reynolds, who has never been unwilling to share her hard work when beavers benefit! Thanks Cheryl, and thanks Mike! We’re looking forward to the finished product!