TAKING INIATIVE

heidi08 Beavers and Roadways December 7, 2017

The Bush administration owes America an apology and a box of chocolates. Not only did it bamboozle us into a never-ending war and destroy our favorite city, it also ruined the way we view policy “Naming” forevermore. Now when we read a bill coming out of the senate called “Lunches for children” for example, we immediately assume it means the bill will STEAL all lunches for children. If we see an initiative called “Respect your elders” we know for a fact that social security is threatened.

I resent that American can’t ‘mean things’ anymore, don’t you?

I know Mike Callahan does, because with this plan he sincerely wants to improve road safety. It sounds like a wonderful idea that will save taxpayers millions of dollars annually. But the Bush administration has ruined the way I read this title. I’m sorry, but it has.

Our new “Safe Roads Initiative”

If every at-risk road culverts in this country were properly protected from beaver damming, then taxpayers, road crews, beavers, biodiversity, water storage and watersheds would all benefit.

To make this vision a reality the Beaver Institute, Inc. is proud to announce our first nationwide program, called the “Safe Roads Initiative”. This program will provide beaver control expertise to any interested Highway Department in the country. As the testimonials and instructional videos at www.beaverinstitute.org/education/youtube-videos/ show, road crews can save significant time, save money, increase road safety, and improve wildlife passage and stewardship with these proven techniques.

Our Safe Roads Initiative was inspired by the highly successful Nion Robert Thieriot beaver management grant program which jump started nonlethal beaver management in a rural area of Massachusetts where problematic beavers were traditionally trapped and killed. See www.mspca.org/beaverfunding.

Whoo hoo! A trapezoidal fence in every culvert! (Not quite as catchy as a “chicken in every pot’ but it has promise.) Congratulations to Mike and the Beaver Institute Gang for finding new ways to solve problems and dream big. If every road was protected from beaver damming then drivers AND beavers would sure be a lot safer.

While we’re on the subject of good ideas, lets give a shout out to this event posted in the community calendar in the Troy New York Record.

Community calendar:

THACHER NATURE CENTER: Busy Beavers, 3:30 p.m. Late fall is when beavers really get busy! They are building up their lodge and storing food for the long winter ahead. Learn about these industrious animals and their adaptations for life in icy waters. A short indoor presentation will be followed by an easy walk to a small, well-establish ed beaver pond to quietly observe for about 20 minutes in hopes of viewing a beaver in action. This program is appropriate for adults and school-aged children. Space is limited, please call 518-872-0800 to register and for meeting place.

Great idea! Now it’s wonderful that you would gather at a beaver pond and teach children what they do, but you’re crazy if you expect to see beavers at 3:30 in the afternoon in December. All that will happen of course is that those kids will get frustrated and impatient and think beavers are boring.

I have a better idea. Why not be beaver ‘detectives” and teach the kids to find beaver clues at the pond to ‘solve’ the case! There will be plenty of chewed branches and other signs of beaver activity and it won’t be frustrating because you won’t be waiting for something that isn’t coming. Plus you’ll be teaching them that a very large part of watching nature is observing its clues and using what you learn to infer what’s happening.

Nature doesn’t come with subtitles.

In downtown Napa Rusty Cohn was a ‘beaver detective’ yesterday and took this photo of the work that’s been done on that dam recently. He notes “Water level seems to have been raised approx. 2 feet by the dam.“

The beavers don’t mind that its small. They know well that the journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step.

From the Profane to the Sacred

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Who's saving beavers now? December 14, 2014

What a dam nuisance beavers can be

EVERY DAY, George Darden digs a small ditch to drain water off a dirt road that goes to the back of the farm in Pungo. And every night, beavers dam the ditch to block the water from running off.

The Dardens also see stumps of trees, gnawed off by the beavers, and of course, they see the dam that the beavers build every night across the Dardens’ ditch. That’s because beavers build dams in response to the sound of running water.

The Dardens can’t win for losing. “Busy as a beaver” is no lie.

Ahh the patient Dardens and their exceedingly rare, rebuilding beavers. That almost ~~never~~ always happens! I really shouldn’t complain. This is a fairly gentle article for Virginia, and I’m not entirely hopeless about these beavers or the Dardens for that matter.

Pete Akers, district biologist with the department, said the beaver population has rebounded successfully in Virginia because the animals are no longer being trapped for their fur. Beavers are in just about every watershed in the state, and as the young grow up, they move out and go up or down stream.

“We like having them here,” Akers said. “They are great for the wetlands and the ecosystem, but they can be a nuisance to landowners.

“Beavers are very industrious creatures,” he added.

The Dardens have some choices. They can have the beavers trapped, which does not appeal to them. Other options include a device called a Clemson pond leveler – a pipe that would drain water off the road in a way that the beavers can’t hear the water running.

The beavers will be keeping the Dardens busy, too.

Whenever we see biologists from the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries talking about the benefits of beavers we are very, very happy. Even if their solutions are outdated, they aren’t wrong, and that’s progress in my book. I will contact Mr. Akers about updated developments and make sure he has resources for new remedies from Mike and Skip. I will try and find the Dardens too, because I already like them and want to help.

Rusty Cohn who has been photographing the Napa beavers received a nice response from the community website Next Door where he is posting about them. He gave me permission to pass it along:

Rusty, I just want to thank you for introducing me to the beaver and keeping all of us informed on his activities. I enjoyed your photos and info so much, I shared it with my 7 year old granddaughter who’s a 2nd grader at Mt. George and when she had to do a presentation on a Napa Treasure, she chose your beaver, did research on the species, copied a couple of your photos (I hope that’s ok) for her board and did her presentation this morning. She was so excited to have something so unique to share. Thanks again.

Hurray for your 2nd grader and hurray for Rusty for making this known! Imagine if this were the story all across the Bay Area, or all across California or all across the Nation. Local people watching and protecting their own beaver family and children reaping the benefit as their urban stream becomes an exciting wilderness. I believe Enos Mills liked the idea so much he included in his final chapter of In Beaver World: The original conservationists.
Wouldn’t this look great on the side of a truck? Consider this is an early Christmas present for Mike Callahan, who should really make a donation to Worth A Dam because self-perpetuating slogans are worth a peck of money. He won’t use it, but mark my words, someone in the next six months will steal it. You saw it here first.

And since its the season we got the tree and the manger up yesterday, complete with a new tiny baby beaver in the crib. Thanks Erika!

I know this is a non-denominational site but we need to celebrate the occasion because to my way of thinking pope Francis just ruled that beavers go to heaven.

During a recent public appearance, Francis comforted a boy whose dog had died, noting, “One day, we will see our animals again in the eternity of Christ. Paradise is open to all of God’s creatures.”

Theologians say Francis – who took his papal name from the patron saint of animals, St. Francis of Assisi – was only speaking conversationally. But the remark is being seen by some as a reversal of conservative Catholic theology that states because they are soulless, animals can’t go to heaven.

Making a beaver army

heidi08 Earth Day, Educational, Environmental April 27, 2014

It turns out that convincing people to think new ways about beavers doesn’t take prestigiously published papers, tables of data, award winning researchers, or successful salmon. It doesn’t mean lectures or slides or documentaries. I hate to break it to the universities and fellowships but people aren’t persuaded by science. Just look at climate change or evolution. It doesn’t matter how much you prove it or disprove it. People are persuaded by engagement. A personal experience that touches them and takes their own energy and thought.

And yesterday at John Muir’s Earth Day these children (and their parents) were engaged.

Yesterday 5 lbs of buttons for eyes, 400 forks, 250 kit tails and nearly 300 adult tails were turned into a paper bag beaver army, carefully designed to halt the enemy with a round of “AWWW” so that the subtle weapon of CARING could be neatly slipped in between the steel ribs of indifference.

We were so busy all day that we were grateful for the few momentary lulls in traffic. We saw children and parents talking about beavers, learning about beavers, understanding why adults have orange teeth, and making beavers with their own unique flair. One little girl made a pirate beaver. One boy made a cyclops. And one delightful beaver was lovingly crafted with a belly button.

Beavers were celebrated, clarified, and personalized. Adults who thought they ate fish were righteously corrected by their children who explained that they ate willow. One little girl crisply clarified that they ate “CAMBIUM”. Martinez residents wondered how its beavers were doing, where dad had found a new wife, where the young beavers dispersed to, and why other cities didn’t have beavers.

Jon and Jean were consumed most of the day, passing out bags, selecting ears and letting the spirit of the beaver take over the hardworking craftschildren at the table. Since our artist FRO couldn’t be with us this year, it was left to Jon and Jean to supervise the masses. Jon said he surprised himself by how much fun he had. Cheryl as usual was busy behind the camera taking these wonderful photos. And I was schmoozing about beavers at the booth.

Several times during the day, someone walked up to the booth to thank me for the festivals and the beavers. Sincere moms and Dads described how their children kept their necklaces from the beaver festival and looked forward to it year after year. One mom said that her daughter had never gotten the idea of ecosystems and species interaction until she made the keystone species necklace and now she completely understood.

Lots of families had seen the beavers in person, and lots more had plans to come back and look for them. John Muir stopped by and decried that horrible Hetch Hetchy dam they had built and reminded that the only dams needed in the Sierras were beaver dams. Some thanked us for saving the beavers, and gladly asked for their photo to be taken with their creation.

Highlights of the day were the young woman who said her friend was working on a proposed beaver management plan for the entire country at Oregon State University and would I like to connect with him? Council woman Delaney saying how much she appreciated all the work I had done for the beavers. Congressman Miller’s aide stopping by to talk beavers and ask about the next festival. Councilman Mark Ross coming by later to appreciate my “How to live with beavers” poster. He smiled sheepishly and said that I should have included a photo of the retaining wall.

To which I laughed back honestly and said “You probably wouldn’t want to see the poster I would make about the sheet pile”.

An excellent day all in all with remarkable children, patient parents, curious teens, 10 trekking scarves sold, inspiring conservation award winners, no rain and very little warmth and even a special visual event in the sky.

Muir’s Birthday Miracle ~ 2014 from Alhambra Hills on Vimeo.

In case I haven’t given a good enough description here’s a taste of the day:

I could write on and on. But it looks like I’ve come to The End.

The Last Word…

heidi08 Environmental, Why We Care July 5, 2011

The works of the beaver have ever intensely interested the human mind. Beaver works may do for children what schools, sermons, companions, and even home sometimes fail to do, develop the power to think. No boy or girl can become intimately acquainted with the ways and works of these primitive folk without having the eyes of observation opened, and acquiring a permanent interest in the wide world in which we live.

Enos Mills: In Beaver World