I wish we may I wish we might…

heidi08 Beaver Chewing, Beaver News, Beaver-themed merchandise, Beavers and Birds, Beavers and climate change, Beavers and Forests, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Who's saving beavers now? May 3, 2016

I’ll give you a hint. It starts with a “b”. Three guesses, go ahead, I can wait. He reportedly went for his camera but when he came back the beaver had slipped away. I’m guessing they’ll both be back this morning at low tide. I’m too emotionally beaver-scarred to be excited by this, but against my better judgement, I’m very hopeful.

For mural updates, let me say that the final contract has been signed by everyone, and now we are just waiting for the updated language on the insurance that the city needs and then we can mural! I won’t even start talking about how enormously frustrating this has been, because what would be the point? I’ll believe the waiting is over when it actually happens and not a moment before. Fortunately there is a very kind soul at the city in the middle of all this and she has been cheering me through it. Last week we had a good laugh at my wicked idea to finally just spray paint “F*@# the beavers” on the bridge, because in addition to expressing my frustration:

the city would suddenly want it painted over immediately and
they’d never, ever suspect me.

(Insert story from Heidi’s childhood here, where older sister vandalizes family furniture by cleverly writing the initials of younger sister. Younger sister had nothing to do with it but gets punished anyway and older sister gets away with it.)

On to the impressively named “Clatskanie” at the very northern tip of Oregon, who received an award from the governor for working with beavers to restore their watershed.

Wetland Awards honor voluntary restoration in Clatskanie

Governor Kate Brown, chair of the Land Board, presented the award and praised the collaborative effort as a “wonderful example of how non-profit organizations worked with a private landowner to voluntarily preserve wetlands” for fish and wildlife habitat. She also commended the property owner for including people in the equation: Hunt allows camping on the property, which has 14 tent sites and kayaks available for campers.

Olsen-Hollander said the project planners used innovative restoration strategies from “The Beaver Restoration Guide Book” which touts modeling beaver behavior for restoring habitat for fish, waterfowl, amphibians and reptiles. Olsen-Hollander said that if the techniques prove to be successful over time, there could be significant cost savings in using them in designing future conservation projects.

Congratulations Clatskanie! You let the beavers do the restoration and collected an award for it. That’s harder than it sounds, because it means hours of meetings and hand-holding with anxious stakeholders who are worried that beaver will flood their driveways or eat their petunias. The beavers, frogs and fish are lucky to have you.

A final note on what a very bad influence I am on Mr. Cohn of Napa. He sent me this photo yesterday of a beaver suspended animation feat and I was most appreciative. I told him he needed to go back and cut off the branch to use for display. He replied that it was in a seedy area with a lot of transient activity and he was worried it might be unsafe. I understood. Don’t think I pressured him. I very distinctly remember how we had to get our current chew on Easter Sunday because it was the only time everyone was in church and the creek was neglected.

But a few hours later he sent me this.Wouldn’t one of those be AWESOME in the silent auction? If only we could figure out how to make it into a lamp.

Good news and a goodbye

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental, Friends of Martinez Beavers, Who's saving beavers now? June 8, 2014

Natural flood engineers

Some say beavers are a cheap alternative for mitigation

In the midst of frenzied flood prevention work throughout Alberta, some river ecology specialists are looking to the beaver to protect the province’s watersheds. A group of wildlife management organizations including the Alberta Habitat Management Society (known as Cows and Fish), the Miistakis Institute and the Ann and Sandy Cross Conservation Area are working together on a series of projects to demonstrate how beavers are integral to natural flood and drought prevention and riparian health.

I think I finally understand how Medicine Hat got so smart about beavers! I also realize I’ve been in the beaver biz for so long I re-discoved my comment about how they mistakenly used the muskrat photo from High Country News. (Let’s give credit where credit is due – it was a GREAT article. But lousy photo). I like everything else about this video except the part where it implies humans are needed to determine the appropriate beaver population. Sheesh.

Cows and Fish riparian specialist Kathryn Hull has been involved with beaver management for the City of Calgary since 2007. She says that although Calgary will still trap destructive beavers and break up dams, the city is still quite progressive in managing the animals.

“Sadly for beavers, many of our urban riparian landscapes are really no longer functional ecosystems that can sustain or be resilient to beaver impacts,” she says. “There’s a lot of rock, a lot of rip-rapping being put in along the banks to protect those banks from erosion…. That’s of course a choice and consequence of developing within the flood plain. We’re now having to do this to protect our infrastructure, but of course it doesn’t offer much habitat,” she adds.

Hmm. I know a particular city with sheetpile, rip-rap and concrete where beavers fit in just fine! We should talk.

Another kindly beaver read this morning comes from Charelston. It isn’t as positive as the one from Alberta, but remember, it’s from West Virginia and we’re grading on a curve.

Scott Shalaway: Beaver tales

Though large and common, beavers are seldom seen unless you know where to look. The best time to see beavers is at dusk on a summer evening. And the best place is on quiet water from a kayak or canoe.

Or a bridge in Martinez. This is basically a ‘beavers are fun to watch’ article, but I never discount the value of paying attention, with a very minor tweak interest can turn into caring, and caring can turn into advocacy.

Remember, that’s how I got started.

As the pond grows, the area’s soil chemistry changes and water tolerant trees such as willows and alders, invade. Not surprisingly, the bark and tender twigs of these trees are favorite beaver foods. The pond itself invites wood ducks, black ducks, muskrats, otters, mink, and trout. Fly fisherman value the locations of secluded beaver ponds.

See what I mean?

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Speaking of beaver advocates, I got word this week that friend of this website and general wildlife advocate Donna Richardson died after a riding incident near the iconic Hollywood sign. You may remember Donna was instrumental in pushing the Los Angelos Department of Water and Power in Owen’s Valley to respond to beavers in other ways than trapping. Donna discovered they had been ripping out dams with a helicopter and a grappling hook, inspiring one my favorite graphics of all times. As we strategized about various effective approaches, Donna would often jokingly refer to me as her Best Beaver-Friend Forever. Ultimately her dedication made a huge difference in the outcome. As a thank you for her heroic deeds I sent her a very small beaver chew from one of our many samples. Her partner Alan wrote me this week and said;

One of Donna’s proudest moments in her life came from her successful effort to persuade the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to end its practice of trapping and killing beavers in the Owens Valley. She was inspired by your earlier success in Martinez and she could not have accomplished her mission without the encouragement and support you gave to her. The card you sent to Donna with the wonderful beaver photo and the wooden icon you gave her still remain in the place where she put them, on a small table close to our dining area. They meant a lot to her and they mean a lot to me.

Sniff. Oh, Alan we are so sorry for your loss, and so grateful our beaver paths crossed. Thank you for your beautiful words, and I’m so glad those simple treasures can continue to mean a lot to you. Under other circumstances I might be surprised that I feel such sorrow about a woman I never met, but I have never forgotten this essential truth:

Beavers change things. It’s what they do.

Rest now, BFFF. In your honor I’m adding a new category to the post classifications. I call it “Who’s saving beavers now?”

Diplomats?

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions August 18, 2012

Capture — A Eurasian beaver is netted and placed back in its cage for further monitoring before it is released. (Photo Pearly Jacob)

Mongolia: Ulaanbaatar Signs Up Nature’s Engineers to Restore River

Ulaanbaatar is importing foreign experts to combat falling water levels in Mongolia’s third longest river. Qualifications include sharp incisors, flat tails and webbed toes. Meet the Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber). If all goes according to plan, the task of restoring the headwaters of the Tuul River will be left to these rotund rodents, with extra thanks to Germany and Russia. At home, due to poaching, their numbers have declined sharply in the past 20 years. But in May, Germany gifted 14, and Russia another 30—just for this special task.

You might remember something about this story from back in May when 14 beavers were delivered from Germany under the catchy headline “German Engineers arrive to save the Tuul river“. I guess the program’s continued apace because now they’re getting ready for releases. Apparently they are taking the long view.

Citing a beaver reintroduction project in Bavaria, he cautions this is a long-term project with little hope for immediate success. “They hunted their last beaver in Bavaria in the 1960s. After they re-introduced beavers from Russia in 1966, it still took nearly 10 years for the beavers to successfully adapt and build their dams,” he says. “Beavers are diplomats of the environment,” says Delgermaa Yunger, director of the Nature Protection Agency’s office at Ulaanbaatar’s City Hall.

Diplomats? Really? I’m a big fan of beavers, but I’m scratching my head on that one. I’ve seen their dams called ‘the earth’s kidneys’. I’ve seen them called ‘ecosystem engineers’. and of course ‘keystone species’. I’ve called them the ‘job creators of the natural world’ but diplomats? Do they help warring species get along better or are they just really polite?

As welcome as the animals are, there are still some worrying signs.

In Yunger’s office at the City Council, a furry artificial flower sits among her pens on her desk. “It’s beaver fur,” she admits sheepishly—a gift from a beaver farm in Russia she visited while scouting for donors. But this, she insists, will never happen in Mongolia, because local community support for the project will deter illegal hunting. “These beavers are strictly here to help restore our rivers,” she said.

You’re kidding, right?

Beavers on NPR

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beaver-themed merchandise, Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, Beavers or Social Ambasadors, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental October 10, 2011

Beaver friend Brock Dolman was alerted to this weekends beaver news by one of HIS beaver friends! Beaver restoration was discussed in Living on Earth – it happens to feature OUR beaver friend Amanda Parish from the Lands Council who came to dinner and a Martinez Beaver viewing last month!

Eager Beavers Engineer Ecosystems

GELLERMAN: For the past few weeks, Living on Earth has been reporting on the efforts to remove dams around the country. Well, this week, we talk about building them. On a tributary of the Spokane River in Washington state, new dams have gone up – helping to raise the water table, remove pollution and pesticides, attract fish and wildlife, and they cost: nothing.

Because we’re not building the dams, beavers are! Amanda Parrish has been busy with the new dams – busy as a, well, you know! She’s director of the Beaver Solution – a program run by Spokane’s Lands Council to protect beavers, and promote their engineering talents. We caught up with Amanda Parrish while she was knee deep at work.

Go listen to the interview which starts at 24:30.

The next segment was a reading from author Mark Seth Lender, author of Salt Marsh Diary. His description of the beaver and pond was so lovely I had to put it with footage (see below).

More treats, you ask? Well, okay “Oliver”, how about this? Remember the visitor from Utah who came to the beaver festival this year, Mary O’Brien? She just wrote me about this new site they are developing for beaver-assisted restoration. Click on the banner to check it out.

Not impressed yet? Well have a good look around and then stop off at the section titled “Interesting Web links on Beaver”. Hmmm, I wonder what’s there?

Now that’s what I call product placement! Thank for the plug, Utah!