Tag: Beavers and drought

Oh no, another drought – Time to kill the beavers.

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Who's blaming beavers now? November 28, 2016

It seems like only yesterday FEMA was paying southern states to relieve their emergency drought conditions. Now the south is facing low levels again, and things are getting colorful.

Brown water, beaver battle among early signs of water woes

ATLANTA (AP) — Beaver dams have been demolished, burbling fountains silenced, and the drinking water in one southern town has taken on the light brownish color of sweet tea.

Though water shortages have yet to drastically change most people’s lifestyles, southerners are beginning to realize that they’ll need to save their drinking supplies with no end in sight to an eight-month drought.

Already, watering lawns and washing cars is restricted in some parts of the South, and more severe water limits loom if long-range forecasts of below-normal rain hold true through the rest of 2016.

The drought arrived without warning in Chris Benson’s bathroom last week in Griffin, Georgia.

“My son noticed it when he went to take his bath for the evening,” said Benson, 43. “The water was kind of a light brown color and after we ran it for a while, it actually looked like a light-colored tea. A little disturbing.”

The problem was that Griffin’s reservoir is nearly 8 feet below normal, leaving “a high level of manganese” in the remaining water, but not making it unsafe, city officials told residents in a Nov. 16 “water discoloration update.” Benson watched that water turn from brown to “kind of a light green tint” before clearing up, he said.

It’s no better in Tennessee, where about 300 of the state’s 480 water systems serve areas suffering moderate to exceptional drought, the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said.

Across the South, communities relying on depleted watersheds can’t afford to waste what they’ve got left, said Denise Gutzmer at the National Drought Mitigation Center in Lincoln, Nebraska.

She also tracked a mass mussel die-off due to low water in southwestern Virginia, and described how hundreds of volunteers removed beer bottles and car parts from the bottom of Alabama’s Lake Purdy, which has 20 feet of water, three-fourths of its capacity. She even heard how workers dismantled beaver dams to increase water flow in west Georgia’s Tallapoosa River.

“That really underscores the desperation of the situation, like ‘Ok, we’ve got to clear the beaver dams,'” Gutzmer said.

That’s right. Before you actually stop washing cars and watering lawns, trap beavers. Because we all know beaver dams ‘steal water’ just like piggy banks ‘steal’ pennies. I hate when they do that, robbing the change in my pockets that I was going to carelessly let drip away or lose. Gosh. I’m so glad the the Associated Press took down this unchallenged quote as gospel and republished it in all 50 states across the country so that everyone can read how beavers steal water, the little kleptos. One of my very favorite things about the AP is how everyone syndicates what they say verbatim and there is no way to confront the clever reporter who in this case is the very ecologically wise, Jeff Martin.

Grrr.

Oh and 9 times less drought!

Any way thank you Linda of Oregon (formerly Martinez) for sending me this article on yahoo and thank you to my new beaver alert program that I’m loving very much (especially with retired librarian Bob Kobres of Georgia’s excellent help with my ‘boolean’ terms):

((beavers OR beaver) AND Martinez) AND “worth a dam” -football -soccer -track

Google Alerts has become laughable in how many important articles it misses, I have fired them, my new freeprogram is Talkwalker and I very highly recommend them. I can’t tell you how lucky I feel to get deliveries of important beaver news without having to go hunt them down. So thanks again for a wonderful addition to the beaver battle!

Good news and a repair

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental, Who's saving beavers now? November 3, 2015

Let’s start with the repair first. A few days ago I wrote about the the Fork Factory Brook installing some pipes to ‘make the beavers leave.’ It was badly written report from the local paper, and I heard back from nearly everyone involved. clarifying that the didn’t just install pipes and had training and consultation from Mr. Beaver Solutions himself. I couldn’t be happier.

Actually I thought Mike Francis of The Trustees of Reservations did an excellent job of beaver ‘splaining. However, this is a classic example of a reporter writing an inflammatory article to excite readership. Trying to create an issue when there isn’t one. The author quoted people not directly involved who had inflammatory things to say about beavers. Nowhere in the article did it say that a few weeks ago Mike hired me and we met on site with the Highway Superintendent, Board of Health Agent, and Conservation Commission for an hour and a half. I made suggestions to improve the Pond Leveler pipes TTOR installed, and the Highway Super. was very satisfied with the plan. Try to find that info in that crappy article. – Mike Callahan

Thank you for sharing your comments and concerns on the beaver deceiver. To clarify, the two culvert pipes that The Trustees installed have cages on the inflow end, for the reasons that you pointed out. We’ve worked with Mike Callahan from Beaver Solutions in the past and he visited this site to share insight and recommendations. The Trustees will be installing a third pipe and expanding the size of the fence/cages to prevent the beavers from sensing water flow around the cage. Thank you for sharing the link to the book. -Mike Francis

And from Wayne:

I would appreciate it if you actually visited the site before publicly deriding our work to mitigate the beavers in Fork Factory brook. We do have a cage, something you would have know if you had gone to check out the site yourself instead of relying on a poorly written newspaper article. – Wayne Clullo

Well, you got me there. It is a poorly written article.

I did visit the site, it took a bit of doing but I eventually found your beaver management plan. And full marks for your saying trapping would be used ONLY as a last resort. There were no photos I found about beaver installations. I’m just thrilled BEYOND MEASURE that you took appropriate measures, consulted Mike, and didn’t do it wrong on purpose so you could kill them later. I’ll afford you the benefit of the doubt and not suspect ill intent even though the article quotes you as saying ‘the real long term solution will be trapping’. You have earned a retraction. Consider it done.

Now that this housekeeping is out of the way I can share the EXCITING new from our Southern California Beaver friends.

(Photo by Piotr Kamionka via Shutterstock)

There’s A Proposal To Bring Beavers To L.A. To Help With The Drought

In the midst of the devastating Californian drought, one woman is proposing that we reintroduce beavers to L.A. County to mitigate our water problem.

A couple of weeks ago, Britt Sheflin, a 37-year-old private chef for software startup company Oblong Industries, submitted her beaver campaign to GOOD Maker—a platform for social action—as one of the over 70 proposal entries for its “LA is the Best Place to Live” competition. The challenge encourages people to submit ideas, projects or programs that would make L.A. the best place to live today and in 2050. Voting for the competition ends on Nov. 3, and the winner will receive $100,000 to work on their project.

Sheflin’s plan is to reintroduce the North American Beaver (a.k.a. castor canadensis) to “to key areas where we need to control drought, flash floods, and further loss of fish and wildlife habitat,” she writes on GOOD. Sheflin suggests that the ways these “hydro-engineers” could benefit L.A. County includes “intensive water filtration, drought ‘savings accounts’ created by the deep, topographically varied ponds, and naturally rich soil that is dispersed throughout regions where beaver reside.”

If she wins this challenge, she would use the money to conduct research, work to advocate with policymakers, manage the project, and bring people who have handled the beavers on board.

How cool is this? Beavers make front page news in LA! If you’re anywhere in the vicinity you have about three hours left to vote. So DO IT! The article goes on to talk about her thinking that doing this will create better conditions for her 15 month old daughter, and refers to the recent water article and the Methow project. But the coolest part about this article is that ALL THIS isn’t even the coolest part yet. That I’m saving for last:

Sheflin also refers to the the beavers in Martinez, California as an example of a successful watershed program involving beavers. Back in 2008, a family of beavers began living in the area’s Alhambra Creek, according to Bay Nature magazine. While some were afraid the beavers would cause flooding and wanted them out of the area, the City Council voted to let them stay. Since then the beavers have helped create habitats for other species, and keep a healthy watershed.

And that, as they say, is some mighty good promotion of Martinez as a beaver-lovin’, problem-solvin’ community! Your welcome, Mr. Schroder. Can I expect my key to the city in the mail? Or will you just drop it off yourself on your way home?

Beavers, Saltwater and Salmon

heidi08 Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Earth Day, Educational, Who's saving beavers now? February 16, 2015

If it’s February, it’s time for dispersers! This story is from Burien Washington.

Meet ‘Valentino,’ a Beaver rescued at Three Tree Point on Valentine’s Day

One local resident quipped, “It takes a village to heal a beaver.” For several hours on Valentine’s Day afternoon, nearby neighbors gathered around a large beaver that was beached, likely injured, at one of the public access points just north of Three Tree Point.

Big questions circulated:

-How did this fresh water-inhabiting mammal end up on the salt water shoreline?

-Where did it come from?

-Was it sick, injured, in shock, in pain?

-Would it survive?

Some imagined that it had been a stowaway on a barge and somehow got dumped into the Sound. Others thought it had been washed down one of the local streams. No one remembered having ever seen a beaver in this area.

We know the answers to those questions, right? That beavers disperse at this time of year to find their own habitat, and that these fresh water animals often use salt water passages to get around. Three tree point is an easy 1 mile swim across Puget sound to or from Vashon island. And there’s a lake and stream nearby as well. I’m sure he was fairly docile to pick up. Beavers usually are. (Unless you’re from Belarus.)

Two great ‘finally’s this morning, the first some new research out of Australia examining the fact that wetlands actually sequester carbon. (I believe the word your looking for here in response is “Duh!”) And the second a story I’ve been waiting for since Maria Finn contacted me way back in October. Apparently it’s been so long in the making that all sign of Worth A Dam’s contribution has been eroded from the story but trust me, we’re in there!

Leave it to Beavers

Once considered a pesky rodent, the animals are busy saving California’s salmon populations.

In an unexpected twist to California’s drought saga, it turns out that beavers, once reviled as a nuisance, could help ease the water woes that sometimes pit the state’s environmentalists and fishermen against its farmers.

In California, where commercial and recreational salmon fishing brings in $1.5 billion a year, and agriculture earns $42.6 billion annually, farmers and fishermen have long warred over freshwater from the Klamath and Sacramento rivers. Dams built for reservoirs on these rivers have cut off many salmon from their breeding areas, which has severely depleted the populations. Typically, up to 80 percent of the diverted water is used by agriculture, much of it sent to the arid Central Valley region where moisture-demanding crops like almonds are now being intensively farmed.

Beavers, which were almost hunted to extinction in California during the 1800s, can help restore this watery habitat, especially in drought conditions. Fishery experts once believed the animals’ dams blocked salmon from returning to their streams, so it was common practice to rip them out. But, consistent with previous studies, research led by Michael M. Pollock, an ecosystems analyst with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, shows the opposite: Wild salmon are adept at crossing the beavers’ blockages.

In addition, the dams often reduce the downstream transport of egg-suffocating silt to the gravel where salmon spawn, and create deeper, cooler water for juvenile fish and adult salmon and steelhead. The resulting wetlands also attract more insects for salmon to eat. In ongoing research that covered six years, Pollock and his colleagues showed that river restoration projects that featured beaver dams more than doubled their production of salmon.

Can the animals help bring back the Coho salmon? “Absolutely,” Pollock says. “They may be the only thing that can.”

Hurray for Pollock! And hurray for beavers! Now let’s get this story picked up in more places and keep repeating the message until even Trout Unlimited stops ripping out dams! Maria said her original article was intended for the Guardian, but I guess there was beaver saturation with all the reporting in Devon so they never wanted to follow through. Of course SATURATION is the point. Ahem. And the point that California should care about.

But don’t worry, there are still the usual nay-sayers.

But California Department of Fish and Wildlife environmental scientist

Matthew Meshriy says North America’s largest rodent is still often unwelcome in the state’s agricultural areas, particularly the Central Valley, where their dams can interfere with the complicated water infrastructure vital to farms. “If we had a more natural system and grew things appropriate to the land and at an intensity level that was sustainable for the long term,” says Meshriy, ”then a beaver could be a powerful part of it. But that’s not the case here.”

Despite such resistance, beavers are enjoying a comeback in California, even building dams in downtown San Jose, Martinez, and Napa. And interest is increasing elsewhere: Pollock has been hosting standing-room-only workshops on the benefits of beavers in salmon watersheds all along the West Coast.

“Fishermen welcome beaver dams much more than the human-built dams on salmon streams,” says Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations. “If beavers are allowed to do their jobs, they’ll help the fishermen keep salmon on the plates.”

It would be wonderful if more fishermen in California knew enough to thank beavers. When we’re done with the pacific conversion, and the midwest conversion, then we can start working on the atlantic. Those anglers have a LONG way to go!

Beaver Lies and the Lying Liars who Tell Them

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Educational, Friends of Martinez Beavers, Who's Killing Beavers Now? June 24, 2014

“The trap is underwater,” described Irish, “It’s a smooth rod trap, no big teeth claws or something. It humanely, it pinches them.”

Pinched to death?

WBTV 3 News, Weather, Sports, and Traffic for Charlotte, NC

Beavers a problem for some Charlotte businesses

Now here’s a place where you have enough public interest to drive a real solution. But instead of solving the problem they have elected to hire Jim-Bob to come in and kill it. Because it would be silly for North Carolina, a state who has reported drought consistently over the years, to learn to coexist with the “water-savers”. Bonus Irony Points: this year shows the exact area where beavers moved in to be “abnormally dry”.

Never mind about that. The news cameras obviously can’t tell a beaver from a muskrat. And the property managers can’t tell relocation apart from execution. Maybe they can’t spot the difference between having enough fresh water and being thirsty either.

WBTV 3 News, Weather, Sports, and Traffic for Charlotte, NC

What’s up with the mealy-mouthed people who defend their intolerance by saying they don’t want the beaver killed – just relocated! It happened in Martinez and it happens everywhere and I hate it almost more than the trappers. It’s just saying “Obviously my needs are more important but if I get exactly what I want I don’t need the animals to suffer.” Honestly, is it just me or is it really that far away from “They’ll be happier in their own neighborhood/school with the other black people. They don’t belong in mine”.

One final complaint because this story really, really irritates me. And that’s the use of the word “euthanize” . Webster’s dictionary defines Euthanasia as“The act or practice of killing someone who is very sick or injured in order to prevent any more suffering.“

Workers said they found someone who will allow the beavers to be moved to their property. But the statute says that’s okay for certain animals, it appears beavers must be euthanized.

To be clear: these beavers aren’t sick. They are fully functioning, healthy beavers doing what beavers do. They’re just in the way.

News flash: Putting an animal to sleep to end ITS misery is euthanasia.
Getting rid of an animal to end YOUR misery is just murder.

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We all need something wonderful to get that taste out of our mouths. Here’s a profile on Sherri Tippie from the ‘meet the cast’ trailers of the beaver believers documentary.

Meet Sherri Tippie from Tensegrity Productions on Vimeo.

A lovely profile of a remarkable woman. Horrifying thought of the morning: Sarah tells me I’m next.

Water Managers

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental January 20, 2014

6 Scary Facts About California’s Drought

6 Scary Facts About California’s Drought. Last year was California’s driest on record for much of the state, and this year, conditions are only worsening. Sixty-three percent of the state is in extreme drought, and Sierra Nevada snow pack is now running at just 10 to 30 percent of normal. “We’re heading into what is near the lowest three year period in the instrumental record” for snow pack, says hydrologist Roger Bales of the University of California-Merced.

California’s governor has declared an official state of drought, and there is an alarming discussion about the event becoming the new normal in our state. Will this be the factor that reintroduces beavers to our conversation? I wrote the State secretary of Natural Resources this weekend. As he grew up in Vallejo, I feel there’s a thin chance he might know the something about the story of the Martinez Beavers and someone on his staff will respond. I also commented about the idea on this article at Mother Jones and someone wrote back directing me to read Eric Collier’s “Three against the wilderness” which is about the best I can hope for.

Meanwhile I woke up to discover this from our very good friend Louise Ramsay in Scotland.

Time to bring back Nature’s flood management engineer – the beaver

By Louise Ramsay

As climate change brings more rain, Britain is suffering from the extinction here of our native flood engineer – the beaver. Louise Ramsay says it’s high time to re-introduce these charismatic rodents all over Britain.

There used to be a creature in Britain which helped significantly with this effort. It was made extinct here around four centuries ago, but recent reintroductions of this rodent have shown the vital role they once had in reducing flooding – and how they could take up that mantle once more.

In spite of their reputation for causing floods, beavers also have the capacity for mitigating the impact of flooding, but on a rather bigger scale. In times of heavy rain or sudden snow melt, the water rushing down from the highlands would be slowed up and absorbed more effectively by the large ponds, wetlands and streams with flights of beaver dams, than by deep cut ditches designed to channel water as fast as possible on to the next place.

Louise Ramsay remains one of the most inspirational women on the planet. Her keynote address at the last beaver conference was one of my favorite things EVER. And I am enormously pleased that she’s hard at work on the beaver front in Scotland. In case you need a reminder about her and Paul’s amazing story, here’s my interview with Paul on the subject of the free beavers of the River Tay. It contains an interview with her from the BBC.

Paul Ramsay (Save the Free Beavers of the River Tay)

Louise ended her wonderful presentation at the conference with a passage from the 19th century poet Gerald Manly Hopkins from his work ‘Inversnaid‘. I remarked at the time it could not have been better chosen or better delivered.

What would the world be, once bereft

Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,

O let them be left, wildness and wet;

Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.