There are two reasons for which you should immediately buy a copy of this issue of Bay Nature Magazine. The first is this stunning cover photo by Steve Zamek of Feather Light photography. When I first saw it I thought it must have been taken underwater because how else would that fish be suspended in mid air? Then I realized that that merganser had speared the fish and was flipping it to swallow. It’s a hair’s breadth of a split second of a snapping shutter in time during which Steve had the presence of mind to catch this photo. The title “hooded merganser contemplating lunch — or a stickleback contemplating mortality ” endears him to me greatly.
Of course I immediately invited Mr. Zamek to come photograph beavers. I’ll let you know what happens.
The second reason to buy this issue of Bay Nature is the Letter to the editor by a certain familiar beaver supporter. I’ll give you just a taste:
I enjoyed Allessandra Berjamin’s article on the San Jose beavers, but was disappointed that the issue didn’t use the opportunity to highlight the impact of beavers on biodiversity. Daniel Mcglynn’s article on outmigtation of steelhead could have triggered a discussion of beaver benefit to salmonids in general. The issue has been so consistently demonstrated by NOAA that the Methow project in Washington relocates beavers for this purpose and houses them temporarily in unused fish hatcheries.
Oh dear, turtles and frogs will die Oh dear, there’ll be no fish to fry Oh dear, Farmer John’s well will dry Beavers are not in the creek.
They were here first, tell the trappers to pack and scram They will need help so they move in and start a fam Ponds team with life because beavers are Worth A Dam Beavers belong in the creek.
In the heart of San Jose, nestled between the glass and steel of HP Pavillion and a busy highway, some long-unseen locals have moved back to town. Beavers have returned to a spot at the confluence of Los Gatos Creek and the Guadalupe River for the first time in 150 years, setting off a scurry of excitement among conservationists.
“I was elated to hear about the beavers,” said Leslee Hamilton, executive director of the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy in San Jose. “The Guadalupe River seemed like a prime candidate [for beavers] so I wasn’t surprised when they appeared, merely ecstatic.”
Close your eyes for a second and just imagine a world where every mayor and every city manager and every conservancy who finds beavers on their property reacts in exactly the same way as Leslee. Imagine what it would be like if every state park and every city park and every national park got ECSTATIC to have beavers in their borders. You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m apparently not the only one any more.
When beavers arrived in Martinez seven years ago, an influx of other species came in on their coattails. Sacramento spittail, a member of the carp family seen most often in the Central Valley, and American mink made an appearance along Alhambra Creek. Perryman attributes this to the beaver’s role as a “keystone species”—a species that has a disproportionately large effect on its environment.
“Beavers do these really specific behaviours that create the conditions for the next species that will follow,” explained Perryman
The reporter Alessandra really did a nice and thorough job talking to the major players for this article and it will be in the magazine version in July. There was lots of information that never survived the editing room floor but I’m thrilled she really seemed to take the coppicing message to heart. Play this video all the way through.
To be honest, I’m a little bit disgruntled by the wary approach this article and others have displayed about beaver effect on fish. In my castor-centric opinion Bay Nature has been overly slow to get the beaver-salmon-steelhead memo. I personally talked to the editor about it in 2009 at the JMA awards dinner and directly talked to the publisher about it in 2011 flyway festival. They both said, send us the articles and we’ll look into it but when I gave them multiple sources and Michael Pollock’s personal cell phone number, nothing happened. One might think their foot-dragging has something to do with this:
In some situations, beaver dams can benefit native fish species including chinook salmon and steelhead trout by creating ideal conditions for juvenile fish (smolt) to mature in deep water ponds. “We would look at it on a site specific basis with consideration for the threatened steelhead, and get a professional opinion from a fishery biologist to see whether the benefits would outweigh the impact,” said Titus of the water district.
(Because you know, sometimes it’s good for fish to have deep pools of cooler temperatures, more food so that they can get bigger before they swim to sea and stand a better chance of not getting eaten while they grow to maturity and swim back, and sometimes you know, there are some fish that, for reasons of their own, are just suicidal and want to end it all, and we want to make sure beavers don’t get in the way of that.)
For goodness sake. I will admit there may be some portion of some stream for some fish species in the broad complexity of the planet where beavers produce a negative effect but I expect my water district and NATURE MAGAZINE to be familiar enough with the science to know that when these unlikely circumstances arrive they are going to have to PROVE it. Doug needs to come to the beaver festival. I’d like to introduce him to some folks. Especially the winner of last year’s golden pipe award. (Which he received for spreading the good news about beaver and salmon and steelhead)
Okay. I’m done ranting. This was a still a delightful article, I love seeing Cheryl’s photos so prominent, and Alessandra is about the only reporter that I’ve been able to impress the bird relationship on, so I’m very happy that this survived the cutting sheers. Thanks so much for your good cheer! I look forward to the print copy, and if you have time go comment on the article and thank her.
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Martinez Beaver Update Cheryl was down last night and took some lovely photos of our family who has been working up a storm to feed new hungry mouths, taking a tree in the annex and primary dam.
Adult brings willow to lodge: Photo Cheryl Reynolds
I was down at 4:30 this am, where one adult beaver was literally on sentry, prowling back and forth across the creek, until he saw me in the shadows and then SLAP! The alarm was sent to our mystery kits. Jon and I eventually saw one black sausage paddling in the darkness beside the old lodge who ducked and wasn’t seen again. Nice to know they’re being healthy and guarded, but I can’t wait for photos! And nice to see mom spending quality time with Jr. Am I the only one who thinks she’s reassuring him, “Don’t worry. You’ll always be my first baby”.
Do you remember being a kid and running home so excited to tell a story that you could barely find the breath to carry your announcement? Maybe you wanted to get home before your brother so that you could tell it FIRST! This is how I feel this morning, but I will exercise a modicum of self control and tell you the most exciting news LAST because that’s the kind of girl I am.
Yesterday I received my April-June copy of Bay Nature and guess what I found on page 11? Very nice colors and eye-catching location. The undeniably first of its kind advertisement for a beaver festival they have ever had. Indeed, probably the first ad for a wildlife festival of any kind. Nice.
I know what you’re thinking. How can you possibly top that? Well, how about a positive beaver article from Texas? Yes, Texas.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, beavers were hunted extensively for the value of their pelts. By 1910, their populations became dramatically low in many parts of the United States. So low that strict regulation of their harvest was implemented. Their value as soil and water conservationists is well known by many educated land owners and sportsmen.
Mind you, its no High Country News or Canadian National Geographic, but its definitely note worthy from a state that is generally known for beaver badness. All good things have to start somewhere, and I hope we see more and more beaver ecology coming from the Lone Star State.
Which leads me to our third good news of the day, and the most exciting piece yet. First some context. Back in 2010 I was invited to speak about our beavers at the Santa Clara Creeks Coalition Conference, which was a delightful day that introduced me to some fantastic advocates. One of the folks who attended my talk and got excited about beavers was the executive director of the Guadalupe River Conservancy in San Jose. She introduced me to some folks who introduced me to some folks who got me invited to the California State Parks conference that year. She donated handsomely to us in 2011 and also really, really wanted to build a network of support for beavers in the Guadalupe, just in case she could get permission to introduce some down the road.
Um.
Guess what was just spotted beside the river near a certain aquatic-predator named team’s silicon valley stadium?
Oh and it looks like the world might be changing today.
Yes, as it happens. Because we’re going to advertise the festival this year in the April-June issue of Bay Nature, which means we need the artwork in by February. Team beaver must have bought enough martini glasses to coax her into helping us again – (though more wouldn’t hurt!). We’ll also do a web ad on their site for July and hope it brings all the right sort of people!
Susan Kirks, an acupuncturist by day, became mesmerized by the plight of the American badger. Photo by Elizabeth Proctor.
Recognize this smiling face? Susan Kirks of PLAN and badger fame was the featured article recently on the Bay Nature Website. It is such a grand read I am sure your heart will feel better at the end of it than it does right now. I may have to start a whole new podcast series! Badgers of Change!
By Elizabeth Proctor — published February 20, 2012
In west Petaluma, a hilly, treeless plot of land will be declared the Paula Lane Nature Preserve next month because of the tenacious work of local residents who were inspired by an equally tenacious creature — the American badger.
At the forefront of the effort is Susan Kirks, who co-founded the Paula Lane Action Network (PLAN) in 2001 in order to keep the 11-acre property out of the hands of housing developers. The 10 year land battle is coming to a close, but to Kirks there’s still work to be done. At 58, Kirks, an acupuncturist by day, has made a life’s mission out of studying, protecting, and providing PR for this much maligned member of the weasel family.
Inspired yet? You all understand by now what it means when someone gets summoned by an impulse to make a difference and devotes their life to it even when it has nothing to do ostensibly with their own self-interests or training or day job? I recognized Susan as a familiar (s)hero many years ago when she wrote some lovely articles about the Martinez Beavers.. She’s been an indispensable display at the festival for three years now and her cheerful articles first from Petaluma 360 and now from Petaluma Patch have been a reliable beaver defense from the North.
Always willing to provide a pithy quote to the media, beaver friend Brock Dolman (who is basically Susan’s neighbor but the pair had never connected until I introduced them) had this to say to the reporter.
“I think there is a symbolic connection to make around the tenacity that she has shown, that badgerly spirit of digging in and not being deterred,” said Brock Dolman of the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center. “She could see the value of Paula Lane, and the badger became the totem species that represented a lot of that value.”
Badgerly spirit indeed! Susan’s spirit is the uber-badger! Her persistance never fails to take my breath! Long time readers of this blog will already know the surreal story that as a toddler I was given a stuffed real badger by a quirky neighbor. I’m not sure I knew it was dead, but I thought it was the most furry, beautiful and ferocious thing I had ever seen. I of course demanded to be allowed to carry it everywhere – even to bed. Calvin and Hobbes had nothing on Heidi and her badger. As weird as it is, I have often thought that that early badger alliance imbued somehow a tenacious spirit. Of course its one of the first things I ever told Susan which immediately made us fast friends.
No word yet on whether she ever had a stuffed beaver…
Just how Kirks fell in love with badgers, of all creatures, dates back to her arrival in the neighborhood 12 years ago. Having moved to west Petaluma with her two rescued horses, it wasn’t long before Kirks began to notice holes in the ground. A friend told her they were badger dens, which piqued her curiosity. She began to spend much of her time observing the land.
Kirks said her connection to the badgers at Paula Lane is healing and has reignited her childhood passion for the outdoors.
“The funny thing is, I never intended to become a naturalist that has a body of knowledge about the American badger,” Kirks said, laughing. “But the more I came to understand the species, the more I realized what a significant role it plays in ecosystems.”
Go read the entire, lovely article and tell your friends to do the same. It’s a beautiful description of what graceful tenacity looks like up close. I’m so glad Bay Nature has started to give her the credit she deserves, and so very happy Susan is in the world taking care of badgers!
Now just in case you can’t face Monday without your daily dose of beaver-trivia, I have a great story from Florida. This weekend I happened upon the tale of an unexpected visitor in Tallahasee, where apparently Luke Barnhill came home to find a beaver cooling in his swimming pool. He promptly called the St. Francis Wildlife Association which came and removed the animal and will find it someplace better to reside I hope. (Can’t you hear the beaver now? You want me to go where? There’s alligators out there!) I gave them a donation this weekend and told them where to look for more information, but this fun story is as good an excuse as any to post my Very Favorite Beaver Photos Ever.
Years ago they were posted on the internet by a couple from Dallas who may have started out bemused about the visit but were told by a wildlife company that beavers carry disease and eventually chased this little fellow out of their yard with a pool scrape. Never mind their mean-spirited response. These lovely photos make the entire episode worthwhile. Whenever I fear beavers may have taken over my life I always look at them fondly. I especially like the one of the beaver at the bottom of the pool. Remember when you were two and you’d close your eyes and think no one could see you? He’s hiding from the photographer! Sneaky huh?
There are two reasons for which you should immediately buy a copy of this issue of Bay Nature Magazine. The first is this stunning cover photo by Steve Zamek of Feather Light photography. When I first saw it I thought it must have been taken underwater because how else would that fish be suspended in mid air? Then I realized that that merganser had speared the fish and was flipping it to swallow. It’s a hair’s breadth of a split second of a snapping shutter in time during which Steve had the presence of mind to catch this photo. The title “hooded merganser contemplating lunch — or a stickleback contemplating mortality ” endears him to me greatly.
