“Can be wonderful”, Mae West said and I have to believe her this morning in particular. We are apparently in an ‘eddy’ of good beaver news, so I thought I’d let you wade in the riches today. The first is from our own backyard. The very smartest River watchers in the Golden state.
$3.6 billion plan could help coho salmon; meeting on proposal set for Thursday
A federal fisheries agency has plans to spend $3.6 billion over the next 25 years to save coho salmon from extinction in northwest California and southwest Oregon.
The plan lists dozens of proposed projects to improve coho habitat in 39 rivers and creeks from near Ukiah in the south to north of Grants Pass in Oregon. The coho face a high risk of extinction in 19 of the 39 rivers, according to the plan, called the Draft Recovery Plan for Southern Oregon/Northern California.
Cash for Coho! But wait – it gets better. It also includes Bucks for Beavers!
“Some of the Upper Trinity projects include helping beavers flourish”
Helping beavers flourish! Helping beavers flourish! Is that the best sentence you ever read, or what? This comes from our beaver folks up North, including Eli Asarian who was personally involved in making sure the language included beavers. This is about as good a way as any to convince the powers that be that taking care of beavers is good for coho. And the corollary which is nearer to my own heart: NOT taking care of beavers is BAD for Coho.
Brock Dolman sent this map of the area this morning so you can see what’s involved. As you can see it’s a pretty big area.
Go read the whole article and think about a similar project in our area. It will happen.
Now this news from the good folks up north is fairly predictable. When anything good happens for salmon or beavers it will happen first in the Klamath and the knowledge will seep downwards till it gets through the very tip of Southern California. No one is surprised when good news comes from where you expect.
But everyone is surprised when good news comes from where you NEVER would have guessed.
Cuyahoga Valley volunteers as busy as beavers
The return of the beaver to the Cuyahoga Valley has created more wetlands, in turn creating habitat that is highly desirable for other wildlife.
The park’s beaver census began in December and will be completed in March, Plona said. The park’s last beaver counts were in 1991 with a total of 200 and in 2006 with a total of 115.
The drop was probably triggered by the beavers “eating themselves out of house and home,” Plona said. They probably moved elsewhere along waterways out of the park, she said. Plona said she is expecting a slight increase this year, perhaps 115 to 125 beavers.
The count is being conducted by six volunteers who will survey 100 spots in the 33,000-acre park where beavers have been active before.
A National Park in Ohio counting beavers because they are good for wetlands? Be still my heart. I think I might swoon. I don’t want to be like that mean Aunt who could never compliment your successes without listing the reasons people had always thought you would fail – so I won’t mention the fawn or Josh or the tigers – BUT this is a great article and definitely deserves your full attention.
For the volunteers, counting beavers in the middle of winter is fun. “Just being outside is great,” said McQueen, who is assigned to check for beavers in isolated pockets of the park. “Doing this is a fun thing to do.”
He also helps out on park surveys of birds and butterflies and has logged 2,000 hours as a park volunteer. “If there’s running water, you are going to find beaver,” he said with a smile.
Biscan, a retired high school English and art teacher, helps check on the nesting bald eagles in the Pinery Narrows in the northern part of the Cuyahoga Valley park. She also tracks river otters and counts butterflies. She has logged 1,000 hours.
“It’s fun to be out in the park and hiking everywhere,” she said. “There’s a sense of discovery involved.” The beavers are fun to watch because they’re “so enterprising,” she said.
The volunteers rarely see the animals. “We’re just too noisy and they hear us coming,” she said.Bobel said she is fascinated by the beaver and its dam-building activities. She attributed her interest to the fact that her husband, Rob, is an engineer in the Cuyahoga Valley park.
She said the beavers are “so resilient, so adaptable, so fun to watch. They can alter their environment and create habitat for other species. I just enjoy them.
Beaver friends in Ohio! Not just the fantastic volunteers of the Cuyahoga Conservancy but the Rangers who set this in motion and the thoughtful reporter, Bob Downing of the Beacon, who put it on paper. This is a remarkably inspiring effort and I’m sure you know that I’ve already written everyone involved.
Beaver Festival in Ohio? It could happen.
The last bit of goodish news is that I’m off this am for a group interview with the Contra Costa County Fish and Wildlife Commission which reviews issues relating to funding and regulation enforcement for wildlife. I am not exactly hopeful a I have no wildlife background, am not associated with the most popular animal in the watershed, and not exactly beloved by city officials, but it’s as good a time as any to try and make them hear nice things about beavers and think where they fit in the broader watershed. It shouldn’t take long. Wish me good cheer.
UPDATE: okay not surprisingly the commission decided to reappoint all its old members and take on one new one who is not me. Well it was worth a shot!
