Raising beaver awareness is hard. Sometimes people have good design ideas and excellent graphic abilities but depend entirely on stealing other peoples photos and then sticking their own watermark on them. Sheesh. Nice company in Illinois though with some fantastic ready for sale interpretive sighs. Boy I would love to see what they do with our Ecosystem poster.

Beaver Lodge
And Building a strong family home

Other organizations have original and EXCELLENT ideas but are not so hot on the design side. Never mind. That will come as you get inundated with excellent beaver photos. They are off to a great start. Check out this excellent plan and program from Beaver Works in Eastern Oregon.

Think Wild’s Beaver Works Oregon Program Launches River Neighbors Initiative

Beaver Works Oregon, a program of Think Wild, invites people who live and play along the Deschutes River to get to know beavers as shapers of wildlife habitat and protectors of precious water in a dry land. To launch its River Neighbors initiative, the group will offer a trail camera loan program, a wildlife photo contest and guided river walks at the Old Mill District of Bend.

“Living on one river, we are linked to one another,” said Reese Mercer, program director of Beaver Works Oregon. “Our new River Neighbors initiative invites people to share perspectives, find common currents and learn about the ecology of the Deschutes River.”

Getting people to think about their wild neighbors is a great goal. And our friends at Beaver Works have some fantastic ideas about how to go about it. The image doesn’t do much for me. But just look at this:

River Wildlife Photo Contest: Charge up your digital cameras, smartphones or auto trail cameras to enter and share your best photo or short video recording taken from your property if you are a river neighbor resident, or along the public lands by the Deschutes. The contest runs through October 15. Prizes awarded via a raffle include a gift certificate to WinterCreek Restoration and Nursery and one of our favorite trail cameras.

EXCELLENT! Get people to see the nature all around them by luring them into photographing it. It’s how I started caring about beavers. And how Rusty started.

Trail Camera Loan Program: Residents along the Deschutes River can reserve infrared trail cameras to enjoy riverine wildlife activity, from beavers to otters and mink. The video cameras record what animals are doing while people are away or sleeping. They provide vital insights to animal patterns and behaviors that in turn can inform ways people and wildlife can live harmoniously on the river.

Good. Sometimes people aren’t up for 4:30 alarm clocks or braving mosquitoes. Let technology show them what they’re missing. People are more likely to care about it if they see it. We learned that in spades.

Guided River Walks: Join a small group for socially distanced walks along the Deschutes River to learn of the wildlife along this riverscape and the benefits of beaver in our riparian ecosystems. The first monthly hour-long walk will be held Sunday, September 22 at 8am. Registration, which is free, at the Beaver Works website is required.

Outstanding. Get people out and seeing it in person. People care about what they’ve seen. Teach them how to watch and what they’re seeing means. Let them bring their children and their questions. This is a great way to get folks to care.

Happy father’s day to all the beaver dad’s out there! And congratulations on another year shepherding the brood. Rusty Cohn took a nice photo last night that reminds me of everything father’s do for their children. I thought you’d appreciate it.

And happy birthday to the beaver response team.

Think Wild launches Beaver Response Team

Think Wild, Central Oregon’s new wildlife hospital and conservation center, is excited to announce the launch of its “Beaver Response Team.”

The response team is an integral part of Think Wild’s program Beaver Works Oregon, which works to build awareness of beaver as a keystone species, enhance habitat and mitigate beaver conflicts.

Every spring and summer, homeowners in Central Oregon — especially those living along a river or stream — may experience fallen trees, property flooding or culvert blockages.

This is thanks to the hard work of a large, tree-gnawing, aquatic rodent — the beaver.

While tree chewing and dam building may disrupt one’s carefully landscaped yard or pose a risk to a nearby structure, these activities are actually critical to maintaining Central Oregon’s watershed health and create essential habitat for native wildlife.

Congratulations, beaver friends! And all beavers of Eastern Oregon who might get a fighting chance at survival with your help. I’m so glad this is on its way, and just in time!

The Beaver Response Team helps homeowners mitigate beaver damage through proven tools and techniques such as exclusion fencing, sand paint, flexible flow devices and culvert protective fencing.

People experiencing beaver conflicts — whether on private or public land — can call the Beaver Response Team, and within 24 hours, field technicians trained in beaver mitigation solutions will provide an initial free consultation.

Further resources and support are also available, to include on-site assessments and field implementation services, for a nominal fee on a sliding scale.

Beaver are valuable to Oregon’s high desert watersheds. Environmental economists estimate that ecosystem benefits of improved water quality, water availability, vegetation and even flood control amount to $120,000 per beaver.

Not just the high desert. Beavers are valuable in the green belt too, and cities that care about biodiversity, water storage and aquifer recharge should be singing their praises!

Oregon native wildlife (and many endangered species, including the Oregon Spotted Frog, Redband Trout and Sage Grouse) rely on the favorable habitat conditions created by beavers.

By educating individual landowners and land stewards on these benefits and providing viable, alternative solutions to lethal removal, Think Wild hopes the program will help both humans and wildlife alike to coexist and even thrive.

To learn more, visit www.beaverworks.org or contact the Beaver Response Team (541-362-1024) for a free 30-minute phone consultation.

Beaver Works’ mission is to support beaver and native wildlife habitat on Oregon high desert landscapes in four different focus areas: Education, Support, Habitat and Policy. Beaver Works is a program of Think Wild, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and a licensed, insured member of the National Wildlife Control Operators Association

Excellent work. Bring on the beavers-champions and let’s do this thing right.