Because the beaver isn't just an animal; it's an ecosystem!

Tag: Beaver Solutions


I always remember enjoying my astronomy class. I liked staring up at the constantly rotating planetarium ceiling, and I liked writing notes with a flashlight. I even enjoyed the weird math procedures necessary to add hours of ascension, which is almost unheard of in my “math is hard” brain. I remember one night the teacher telling us to look for the nebula near the spiral and me whispering to my classmate in a panic “What’s the spiral?” Was he referring to our galaxy? Some weird space shape newly documented? We generated anxious questions along the whole back row until a very calm person in front of us said that by “spiral” he was referring to the binding of the notebook.

Oh.

Anyway, notwithstanding that memorable bit of panicked stupidity (or perhaps because of it) I liked astronomy. I especially liked the idea that certain constellations, like the big dipper, were “circumpolar” meaning if your latitude was high enough they never set at all for you but simply rotated around the sky like the lable on a record. I mention this because one of our most important beaver friends, Mike Callahan of beaver Solutions, is this very day in Juneau Alaska under a circumpolar (but very rainy sky) and getting ready for some beaver management training next week.

You’ll remember that Bob Armstrong got together a group of volunteers to work on keeping the pathways and culverts clear when some Mendenhall Glacier beavers started to outwear their welcome. Like all problem solving involving beavers, the only solution offered was the final solution, and Bob wasn’t willing to let that happen. So he and a group of scrappy beaver-saving friends showed up on weekends to mitigate the damage. I read about this wildly familiar dedication and wrote Bob to start a dialogue. I learned that their primary concern was dealing with the beavers in a way that did not block salmon passage. I put him in touch with Skip Lisle and Mike Callahan, and talked about solutions.

Mike and Bob talked about beavers and big pictures and longer term solutions that helped, rather than hurt, salmon. They arranged for Mike to come to Juneau this week, and he’s even staying in Bob’s home and getting the inside view. Two weeks before he was leaving he got word that he had received the AWI grant, and agreed with my suggestion that Juneau training would be an ideal place to film, so his videographer friend is coming with him and will catch the training for posterity.

In the meantime beaver friend LB is happy to hear that Bob is a nice guy in person because she’s meeting him for a blitzkreig beaver tour of the Mendenhall Glacier when she visits Juneau next month.

Just in case you forgot the lovely view those beavers wake up to each evening, here’s a reminder. Imagine this with dripping rain and 50 degree weather and you’ll have some idea how it looks to Mike right now.

Photo: Bob Armstrong from The Mendenhall Glacier Beavers


Back in the murky grip of winter, when Californians were waiting for the temperature to drop and East Coasters were trying to remember what the earth looked like under its white blanket, beaver friend Mike Callahan of Beaver Solutions in Massachusetts was hatching a plan. He wondered about making a series of DVD’s to train willing people to do sensible beaver management. His idea was to create something accessible and hands-on enough to be used by public works crews and maintenance workers across the nation.

He thought about learning to make the video himself, and asked me if I could help. I told him my video expertise ended at the three minute mark, and I had no experience (or even computer space for!) longer projects. I suggested he talk with some of the wildlife groups in his area, who might have a videographer already as part of their own marketing. Mike talked with the Humane Society and Audubon who were very excited about the project and directed him to apply for the AWI Christine Stevens Grant. Which he did, arguing convincingly that teaching cities to take care of beavers would take care of waterfowl, take care of amphibians, take care of muskrats and minks and otters and improve water quality.

His request had a familiar personal history section that I hadn’t known before, involving his and his wife’s early days as compassionate B&B owners turned volunteers who were trying to save some beavers in their area. They brought in Skip Lisle to help and Mike spent time training with him. You know of course that beavers change things: it’s what they do. Soon Mike’s compassion became a passion, then a career and the B&B was sold and the business of Beaver Solutions was born. It’s a pretty interesting story.

Anyway, back in murky January, he composed his request and he waited.

He waited a long time. Winter is an idle time for a Massachusetts beaver man, with months that he couldn’t get in the water at all, followed by months that he just wished he couldn’t. Last night, after 8 months of waiting, Mike finally got the news.

His grant was awarded! To the tune of 10,000 dollars! Since it didn’t exactly fit the requirement for the Stevens award, the money will be taken from another source, but they said it was a very worthy project and now he can move forward. Just in time for his trip to Juneau at the end of the month when he’ll be helping the mendenhall glacier beavers (remember them?) not wear out their welcome.

This is big big beaver news. If the training series was cheaply available around the country, there would be far fewer excuses for directors of city works everywhere. We are so happy for Mike, and we really couldn’t be more pleased for beavers.

[youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=3Bk2RF3j9fg]

The Medford Transcript

Just two weeks after 100 people crowded into City Hall to find a solution to flooding and blocked access to a fire road caused by a beaver living at Whittemore Brook, city and state officials were expected to visit the site of the problematic dam behind Winford Way.

Seems some pesky beavers have found some pesky advocates and are demanding realistic solutions for solvable problems. Lucky for them they picked Massachusetts as their watery residence, because Mike Callahan of Beaver Solutions is just a two hour drive away.

(We had to fly ours in 3000 miles!)

Read the cast of characters that inspected this problem, and fondly recall the major hoopla that we went through two Novembers ago.  At least they have actually mention the word “Wildlife” in their equivalent of Fish and Game.

I was ready to watch a little must-see TV so went searching for video of their meeting two weeks ago. Unfortunately Medford doesn’t video tape and their minutes aren’t yet posted. Still its a familiar story.

I loved this part especially:

Ryan said the beaver issue has taken on a life of its own and residents far and wide are coming forward to volunteer their service.“People want to not only save the beaver, but also help the neighbors,” Ryan said. “The idea is to move quickly with professional help.”

Beavers change things. It’s what they do. Remember?

[youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=X7-i6MiGvbw]

PS That first image in the video isn’t a beaver, you all caught that, right?


If there were any question before, it is becoming more and more clear that the Martinez Beavers are leaving their footprint on the community, and far beyond it. If yesterday’s EPA post needs to be corrected that its CalEPA and not the Feds (and the environmental curriculm for K-12, not a free calendar) then look beyond our borders at the city of Surrey British Columbia. Remember them? They got a whole lot of attention for their beaver killing spree, and our friend from New Zealand stopped by for a chat with the council. Now the city has decided to hire an “expert” about behavior management. Some areas will be altered with flow devices and some beavers will be relocated to carefully selected sites.

Its almost a victory, although Carrie Baron drainage manager is still no friend of the beavers. One report said that they were paying the consultant 15,000 dollars and she hoped “some of the beavers could be saved“. Some? They also said that they’re going to keep these desireable locations a secret from other communities so they don’t try to dump off their beavers first. The mind reels. How about using the 15,000 dollars to do an EIR and learn which areas would benefit from habitat repair and water management, ranking the need for beaver introduction? How about using the beavers to increase the salmon runs and wildlife homes and  working with neighboring cities to introduce the position of Watershed Steward that can manage these issues over time?

Surrey, it’s possible that your first plan for the secret killing of beavers, and now your second plan for the secret saving of beavers, lacks some of the transparency that your ecologically minded residents require.

So what does Surrey have to do with Martinez? Well lots of us wrote Ms. Baron, and we get a steady stream of traffic on the site looking up information for them. Like Kern county, it’s another example of beaver visibility forcing better beaver decisions, and we are a large part of that. If you need to be reminded, check out Mike Callahan’s letter on why we fight. It seems like it was written a hundred years ago, but its worth reading over now.

More evidence of our beaver footprint comes from the Chowhound of all places. If you’ve never heard of it you should know it’s a National website reviewing local eateries and foodstuffs. A couple of weeks ago their SF blogger stopped by the Farmer’s market and really appreciated what s/he saw. Apparently we chatted about beavers, although there is no way to know which conversation sparked this. (I’m reminded of the old myths of Zeus visiting villagers in the disguise of a tattered old man, so that he could test the hospitality of his followers.) Anybody can be a visiting blogger with a national following: it’s a good idea to answer all their questions and be polite!

I agree the beavers are every bit the tourist attraction that the sea lions are at Pier 39. It made me stop. At the farmers market there is a stand with beaver info and pictures of where to look and what to look for … main dam, secondary dam, beaver lodge and beaver deceiver (to keep the stream from flooding). It was very interesting. Martinez is much more beaver educated than it once was. There is much more info and cute beaver pictures in the next link. An amusing page is Beaver Myths: More dam rumors.” rworange Chowhouds

Once you start following the footprint left by the Martinez Beavers, you see that the ripple effect is all around us. Even Vacaville, with their prehistoric beaver-beliefs, is feeling the effects of our effort and enthusiasm. We should comfort ourselves with the fact that for every colony we preserve, we are also helping countless, fish, heron, otter and muskrats who benefit from the habitat the beavers create.

That’s a return on investment everyone of us can get behind.

 

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