Beavers and fish – Worth A Dam

Did they just get the memo?

heidi08 Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, What's killing beavers now?, Who's blaming beavers now?, Who's saving beavers now? August 3, 2015

This clip would be hyperbole if the article was based anywhere else but from Michigan, which along with it’s Wisconsin neighbor has been ripping up beaver dams to save trout (!) since the dawn of time and insisting the research telling them not to doesn’t apply to them because their streams are ‘special’. Maybe doing their own research will make a difference?

Outdoors: Beaver dams deserve second look by anglers

“Angler groups are under heavy impressions that beavers are the main causes for sediment contribution into the river channel,” said Huron Pines watershed coordinator John Bailey, who gets plenty of pressure from fishermen for beaver dam removal.

Still anglers persist in the quest for beaver dam removal. Finally, in an attempt to settle the question, the University of Michigan did a study on the west branch of the Maple River — a 16-mile tributary in Emmet County. A large population of naturally reproducing brook trout and local concern about beavers made it the perfect locale.

The scientists hypothesized that if beavers were causing excess sedimentation, it would affect both water quality and macroinvertebrate (aquatic insect) abundance.

To their surprise, water quality wasn’t significantly lower above dams nor was water temperature significantly greater above dams. Rather, dissolved oxygen levels and water temperature were stable above and below dams.

Dams did affect tasty trout treats such as mayflies, stone flies and trichos, though not in ways the researchers expected. There were more of these below the dams than above.

Stable water temperatures and dissolved oxygen levels meant that trout weren’t negatively affected. The shift in macroinvertebrate communities above and below dams did result in a change in available food sources for trout.

However, since trout have a highly variable diet, and they will generally consume any available food sources, the shift in community didn’t necessarily limit feeding.

In fact, hexagenia limbata — the large, burrowing mayfly larvae — prefers to dwell in the silt bottom that results from the damming process. (The hex hatch is an annual legendary fish phenomenon. Hex hunger generates more trout titillation and tourism than any other aquatic event.)

“Look for active dams with signs of use. If a beaver dam is large and old enough to have created a substantial pool of deep water, it just might be a brook trout bonanza.”

Michigan is shocked, SHOCKED I tell you, to learn that dissolved oxygen behaves in their state exactly like it does in every other state. Next thing you know someone will be suggesting that gravity works the same way too!!! In the mean time, they’ve contented themselves with the discovery that beaver dams actually improve invertebrate conditions and that this might be good news for the fish that eat them.

Ya think?

Scottish Fish-joker: Inkity Pinkety

heidi08 Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers elsewhere January 23, 2015

Tweedian Comedian obviously.

Maybe you were unaware that Tweed is not just a fabric for elderly professors but a River in southern Scotland and the district along it. The Tweed Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to maintaining and supporting its fish.

The Foundation is regarded as being at the forefront in bringing a more professional, scientific approach to salmonid management. It is engaged in an extensive programme of biological research, monitoring and habitat enhancement with the aim of protecting Tweed’s valuable fish stocks and maximising the river’s natural productivity.

I’d thought we’d pay them a little visit today because the Tweed Foundation happens to have a whole page just dedicated to frequently asked questions regarding beavers and fish. All those beaver-wary anglers in the UK have to get their worries from somewhere don’t they? I know after reading this website for a while you have come to expect certain creative liberties with the truth. But trust me, you never expected this. Apparently the entire section is just a ‘dare’. They claim they asked the Scottish Wildlife Trust for answers about the effect on salmonids and didn’t get them, (or didn’t get answers they liked.) So they boldly answered those questions themselves.

In December 2007 the Association of Salmon Fishery Boards formally asked the Scottish Wildlife Trust, to whom the Knapdale licence for the introduction has been granted, for a number of issues to be addressed so that an informed position could be arrived at before a trial was commenced. To date no response has been received. The unanswered questions that were drawn up are given here.

In the absence of any response to the questions posed, the Foundation has researched the scientific literature. The results are presented as Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

That’s 8 years without answers! And you know, no angler likes a vacuum. Why read actual research when rumor and gossip is so much more satisfying? Let’s start with this delightful question. Guess what the answer is. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Do Beavers cause problems for fish?

Yes. Beavers are interesting animals particularly because they have a great capacity to change habitat that does not suit them into habitat that does. This mainly involves changing shallow water into deeper pools by damming streams. These dams can then prevent or restrict spawning fish from getting further upstream in Autumn.

All this bogus research you’ve been hearing out of NOAA is finally revealed for the facade it was! It takes a handful of fishermen from Melrose to finally tell the truth about those wicked beavers and their fish-restricting ways. I think Michael Pollock would be especially interested in this question;

Has the subject of Beavers and fish been well researched?

No. While it has been claimed that there is a “wealth” of research on this topic, this is specifically contradicted by statements in the scientific literature. There is indeed much research on beavers themselves, however there is little on the topic of Beaver dams and their impact on migratory fish. Such research as there is shows that Beaver dams can cause significant problems for fish, particularly when autumnal rainfalls are low.

Well! I guess that will teach Michael a thing or too! All those papers he writes for all those pretend scientific journals hardly make a difference. I mean just because a man is respected and honored in print and in person, doesn’t mean anything. And, really, NOAA itself is such a fly-by-night suspicious organization, obviously the Tweedians know better.

All the questions are exactly that much fun, so you should go read them at your leisure. Better yet, let’s make it a drinking game! Invite some friends, do a shot every time they say the word ‘obstruct’. When they say the word ‘research’ take a hit. This will be a lot of fun, but we’ll all be wrecked tomorrow.

It occurs to me that even in our hung-over state, our beaver comprehension will still exceed Tweed.

O villain, villain, smiling, damnèd villain!

My tables—meet it is I set it down

That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain

— Hamlet Act 1, scene 5, 106–108

Sounds Fishy to Me…

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beaver News, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Environmental November 15, 2011

Here’s the thing. People like you and me, we admire beavers because they’re interesting and hardworking and family oriented and quirky and peaceful and just plain cool. We like their tails and their paws and their noses and their fur. We like the graceful ‘V’ they make when they swim, the line of bubbles they blow under water, the determination with which they sometimes walk on two feet, and the way that the flourish their tail makes when they dive looks like the flirty skirts of a spanish dancer. We love to hear their uniquely wordless whine because it always speaks volumes and we start to feel sad when its been a year since we saw a new kit or a tail slap.

But there are other folks in the world that are not beaver-centric. (Surprising, I know.) Some of them powerful folks. Folks with a vision. Folks that see beavers as a MEANS to an END. These are people who who look at these furry engineers as a cheap way to get back the habitat they need for the one thing they care about (and it ain’t furry). For them, beavers are like that guy you dated in college so that you could go to that party where the guy you really liked was playing bass. Beavers are useful because of what they bring. They’re nature’s Santa Claus. What do I think about this idea of purposefully using beavers to remake the streams we ruined 200 years ago?

All I can say is, WELCOME TO THE FAM!

When we talked wild coho habitat on the North Oregon Coast a couple of days ago here, we talked about silvers’ need for slow, slackwater areas off the main channel or on the edges for fry and parr to feed, ride out high-flow events, conserve energy, and grow into big angry smolts before heading down to the salt.

Beavers make that habitat, and they do it better, cheaper, and a gajillion times more efficiently than humans could ever hope to. The little buggers are aggressive too, and busy. They work at night, on holidays, and in all kinds of weather. Don’t eat much. Just some ol’ wood’l do.

Ever-growing stacks of science bears this relationship out, and the numbers are pretty much just nuts. We’re talking percentages up into the 80s and 90s of coho production potential lost in areas where beavers have been eradicated, and conversely, similar numbers of gains where they’ve been restored – way better than human-engineered projects, often off-the-page better. And when you consider that North American beaver populations have gone from anywhere from 100 million or two down to a few million since we started trapping the crap out of them back in the late 1800s, it’s not a stretch to translate that into a big hit against wild salmon.

Alan Moore

What a delightful article! Go read the whole thing which describes a beaver project in the Necanicum Watershed where they’re enticing beaver back by just planting some willow. With adequate food, the beavers will stick around, making dams, pools, channels. salmonid habitat and ultimately more beavers. As I’ve said many times before, beavers are actually the trickle-down economy that works (and works and works). The project is a joint effort by the Tualatin Valley Chapter of Tu, the North Coast Land Conservancy, and the Jubitz Family Foundation. But why stop at three? Since beavers increase habitat for waterfowl, migratory and songbirds why not include Ducks Unlimitied or Audobon? Since beavers are feeding all kinds of mammals with the increased fish population why not include Fish and Game or Nature Conservancy? You see how the list of friends can expand? Climate change? Water quality? Red-legged frogs? Meadows and wildflowers?

Note that these folks are in Oregon and California needs to follow suit. Still, why limit ourselves to regional efforts? Why not let the powerful fishing lobby force the entire pacific northwest to make these changes across three states and expand our beaver population to what it used to be, getting ourselves better creeks. healthier water and drought insurance at the same time?

But for the record, I, for one, still just think beavers are cool.