Tag: Beavers and Salmon

Could Fish Victory become Beaver Victory?

heidi08 Beavers and salmon, Friends of Martinez Beavers, History June 12, 2014

Salmon win court ruling that ‘sets aside’ Marin countywide plan

In a sharply critical decision that leaves Marin’s planning document in legal limbo, an appellate court ordered more analysis of how development affects San Geronimo Valley’s endangered coho salmon.

The ruling by the 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco reversed a Marin Superior Court decision, “sets aside” the 2007 countywide plan and its environmental report pending study of the impact of creekside building on salmon, and declared that a building ban was improperly imposed in San Geronimo.

Did you read about the Marin appellate decision protecting salmon? Our friends at SPAWN took the powers that be to court with the backing of some 22 conservation organizations and won a decision that is making no friends among the developers.

Fishery activists at the Salmon Protection and Watershed Network of Forest Knolls, which contested county compliance with state environmental law and sued to get tougher creekside building rules, hailed the ruling as a triumph. “We hope that after this decision, county supervisors are ready to work together so we can save these species from extinction,” said Todd Steiner, head of the salmon network.

“The judges agreed with Spawn that the county acted unlawfully because the environmental impact report provides no help to decision-makers or the public to understand the likely consequences of allowable build out,” said Deborah Sivas of Stanford Law School’s Environmental Clinic, which represented the salmon network along with attorney Michael Graf.

If that name sounds vaguely familiar, it should. Michael Graf was the attorney who represented Worth A Dam in the failed effort to stop the sheet pile from going through the beaver lodge. Remember? He generously charged us very little and got his friend the geomorphologist to walk our creek and do the same. The city didn’t mind breaking the law anyway, but that’s blood under the bridge now. Seems like eons ago that I was worried the sheet pile would kill the beavers or drive them away. Congratulations Michael and SPAWN for a fight well won!

All this lays the foundation for the NEXT lawsuit to appear in Marin. One where trapping ‘nuisance’ beavers is considered a threat to the salmon population. What’s that you say, beavers weren’t native to Marin? (Or Alameda? Or San Jose?) Guess what was published and went online yesterday?

Here’s the abstract, but you really need to go read the whole thing. Eli’s graphs are stunning.

The North American beaver (Castor canadensis ) has not been considered native to the watersheds of coastal California or the San Francisco Bay Area. These assertions form the basis of current wildlife management policies regarding that aquatic mammal, and they date to the first half of the 20th century. This review challenges those long-held assumptions based on verifiable (physical) and documented (reliable observational) records. Novel findings are facilitated by recently digitized information largely inaccessible prior to the 21st century. Understanding that beaver are native to California’s coastal watersheds is important, as their role in groundwater recharge, repair of stream channel incision, and restoration of wetlands may be critically important to the conservation of threatened salmonids, as well as endangered amphibians and riparian-dependent birds,

The timing on this could NOT be better, as we head off to the Salmonid Restoration Conference this week. It ends with a piercing reminder of how important beavers are to salmon, which I’m hoping the timing of the Marin decision bumps into the news cycle. There are a lot of parts I love about this paper, and Rick’s son did a stunning job of pulling the whole thing together, but you’ll pardon me if this is my very favorite part:

Today California’s coastal beaver are widely regarded as the non-native survivors of twentieth century translocations, and when they cause flooding problems or fell trees, depredation permits are often provided. Understanding beaver as native to coastal ecosystems may impact this decision-making.

Of course, I would have phrased less subtly, like STOP PRETENDING YOU’RE KILLING BEAVERS BECAUSE THEY AREN’T NATIVE, IDIOTS, but this paper and the sierra ones should permanently bury the myths about beaver absence from most of California.

49 other states never believed it anyway. I’m glad we finally tackled the 50th.

Wonder – without winter

heidi08 City Reports, Educational, Environmental January 26, 2014

Vail Daily column: Busy beavers

t’s a busy time on the mountain for us, but you might not expect beavers to be just as active this time of year. Surprise! They are busier than you’d think right around now because between January and February, it’s mating time for our furry friends. Beavers are a monogamous species, meaning they mate with one partner for life. They start reproducing around age 2 or 3, at which point they build a very impressive lodge with their mate and start their family.

A pleasant article about beavers from Kayla at the Vail Daily. (Not that it says anything about why beavers are actually useful. Instead it alarmingly opines that beavers cut down 1700 trees a year and live until 20!) But never mind, compared to all the horrible things we usually have to review about beavers it’s not too bad.

Not like Peter Fimrite’s article in the SFGate this morning that says salmon may go extinct with California’s new drought pattern. And doesn’t mention what? Say it with me now.

California drought threatens coho salmon with extinction

The lack of rain this winter could eventually be disastrous for thirsty California, but the drought may have already ravaged some of the most storied salmon runs on the West Coast.

The coho salmon of Central California, which swim up the rivers and creeks during the first winter rains, are stranded in the ocean waiting for the surge of water that signals the beginning of their annual migration, but it may never come.

You know, way back in 2008 when NOAA first reported on a regional level that said the way to fix our salmon population had four paws and a tail, I thought for sure the tide would turn. I imagined a three month period when everyone came to grips with the fact followed by an explosion of legislation with a burdensome salmon tax for cities that still trapped beavers.

Six years later I realize that things may be moving a bit slower than I had planned.

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Yesterday a donation came from the local artist behind Bird versus Bird in Oakland. Bess Petty works with recycled materials and uses urban nature in all her designs. When I asked for a donation she told me that she and her husband had been out to see the Martinez Beavers but hadn’t found them. I assured her of an easier summer viewing and said she should let us know then she wants a tour. In addition to the pouch she sent lots of other goodies so thank her if you see her at the festival!

This nifty waterproof coin purse is sewn from salvaged vinyl banner material with a sturdy Velcro closure and features my original beaver drawing on a pale cream background.

This new toy was sent to me by Bruce Thompson of Ecotracs in Wyoming. I am having so much fun playing with it I just had to share. Go try your own!

Beaver stupid and beaver wise…

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Environmental, Friends of Martinez Beavers, Who's Killing Beavers Now? January 16, 2014

Ever have one of those mornings when you wake UP tired? I can only do easy posts today, first reminder that USDA is still stupid. (Just in case you thought they had forgotten their mission statement.) At least not in Louisiana…

Beaver dam removal at Monroe Regional Airport on tap

Beaver dams near the Monroe Regional Airport won’t be posing flood problems any longer. This morning, authorities are going to blow them up.

Several beaver dams will be removed with explosives between 9 and 10 a.m. Thursday.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will assist the airport with removal of the beaver dams, which have been blocking drainage canals on the south side of the airfield.

Stay tuned for the exciting fallout when USDA realized that the beavers do not live in the dam and will survive to rebuild. That should be fun. I’m not going to bother about a newspaper that uses phrasing like “ON TAP” to mean imminent. It’s too humiliating.

Now check out this awesome video sent to me by Pat Russell of the Clackamas Watershed in Oregon. I sure wish there was a camera on the other side, but this is great proof that salmon navigate beaver dams…

Here’s a nice comic I came across in my beaver travels. I can totally imagine Dad doing this…
Then take a glimpse at my new beaver business cards for Santa Barbara. Don’t worry, Worth A Dam isn’t paying for them, but aren’t they lovely? Write me if you have any ideas on how to make a bite-mark in one corner?

What do I know?

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions November 20, 2013

Cory Cheever of Vermont Fish and Wildlife (left) works with volunteer Tom Prunier to build a beaver exclusion fence in a culvert in Putney. (Kayla Rice/Reformer)

In Putney, the challenge of living with beavers

PUTNEY — The town is trying to strike an appropriate balance with the beavers that live up in the Wilson Wetlands. Cory Cheever, a biologist with the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, was in Putney Tuesday to help members of the Putney Conservation Commission control beaver activity in the wetlands.

I got so excited about this article. A Fish and Wildlife Biologist installing a flow device instead of killing beavers! And in Vermont no less! So obviously they could hop up the road 24 minutes to Grafton and make sure Skip Lisle approves of their work, right? Maybe even get some help from the master on this! But if I was expecting the transfer or sharing of any knowledge I was sorely mistaken.

Cheever installed a series of his own dams — which looked a little like wire fencing placed in the water — in the culverts under Sand Hill Road to keep the beavers out while allowing them to live in the wetlands.

“This is a dam, from the beaver’s point of view this is a dam, but it is faulty, from a beaver’s point of view,” Kerrey said Tuesday while standing over one of the culverts. “It’s faulty because it has five holes in it, also known as culverts, so they are busy plugging those holes up.”

The Department of Fish and Wildlife has installed similar baffles all over the state.

That’s right, because BAFFLES are sooo much better than those other things that Skip or Mike install. So we had to start from scratch and re-invent the wheel to make it roll. Last year when we read about Mr. Cheever I wrote Skip and Mike to see if they had ever met, connected or exchanged a single email. I’m so innocent I was surprised when the answer came back “No.”

Well, maybe Fish and Wildlife is trying to avoid paying royalties to Skip by calling their design a baffle? Or maybe they genuinely just don’t know any better and didn’t open my copious emails the last time. In the vast scheme of things it doesn’t matter if Mr. Cheever makes up a different design or calls it a “beaver faker” as long as it works, right? I can’t get too upset about this article because look at this.

Kerrey says that when the water level dropped the Conservation Commission saw the need to bring the beavers back to dam up the flow. As challenging as the beavers are to live with, Kerrey said, it was still easier than bringing in a human specialist.

The beavers were able to bring the water level back up, but now they are damming up the culverts with their sticks.

“We would have had to figure out how to do that ourselves. We would have had to hire some engineer to figure out how to reestablish a wetland,” Kerry said. “Beavers already know how to do that. So we just decided we would wait for them. And we waited a little over year and the habitat for them is good so they showed up and they fixed everything, but they’re going a little overboard now.”

Is Fish and Wildlife paying for this? Or is it strictly something Cory convinces property owners to pay for in their spare time? I will write him again and see if we can’t possibly bring Mohamed to the mountain.

And speaking of experts I heard from Mike Callahan yesterday that he is on his way to Washington to film the salmon passing easily through his new adapted flow devices there. It seems that his auto cameras don’t pick up the passage which mostly happens at night, but Mike’s been assured the design works like a charm so he is going to spend some nights on sight with a camera at the ready!

He needs the footage of course for March when he’s coming to the Salmonid Restoration Federation along with all the OTHER beaver people!

Dimestore Ecology

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers, Creative Solutions October 24, 2013

Put down that champagne and stop dancing. We’re not celebrating yet. Just because I posted a great article about beavers and trout yesterday, it doesn’t mean that our battle is won.

Recently, I spent a few minutes watching the salmon again but to my dismay there was a beaver dam limiting the travels of the spawning fish.

This is the first time I have ever seen a beaver in this stream in all my years.

Herein lies the problem.

1) Fish can’t get up stream to lay their eggs

2) Ecosystem is being thrown out of kilter and the fish are dying without laying their eggs as they have not reached their own place of birth.

3) Trees are being destroyed.

4)The water is expanding above the dam and flooding is starting to occur in the low-lying areas. Hidden Valley is a low-lying area already.

5) What to do with the beaver? The more you destroy the dam the more trees the beaver will cut down to stop the water flow.

6) The only way to ensure that the fish spawn where they were born themselves before dying, and to continue the fish run that has been going on for years and years, is to relocate the beaver.

For those of you that have the power to make this happen, please do so and give more people a chance to experience this part of nature and the circle of life.

Scott Bailey, Burlington

Don’t you just HATE it when beavers interfere with the circle of life? Enriching all those streams with sediment and organic material and distracting those hardworking salmon with something to eat on their way home? Of course the temperature in Halton is 32 degrees today and partly cloudy so I’m guessing that those conditions are going to change very soon. Remember we used to have millions more beavers and coincidentally millions more salmon and trout.

Where was Mr. Bailey’s thoughtful plea then?

Why not remove the dam (and the beavers) so that those salmon can get home more easily? Well assuming they are going to manage with the first rainfall anyway, those little eggs need a safe place to grow up to healthy smolt. And when that stream freezes solid there won’t be a lot of deep pools for them to fatten up over the winter except those beaver ponds which you want folks to destroy. Here’s a graphic for you, Scott showing comparing the numbers of salmon in beaver ponds to the number of salmon in ponds restored with large woody debris (LWD). Notice anything?