CBC the Beaver Whisperers airs tonight and folks are getting ready for the beaver ecology boom that follows! Over in Perth several watershed groups are arming themselves with wire and flow devices to teach folks how to live with beavers. Don’t believe me? See for yourself.

Local stewardship councils host beaver workshop in Perth April 22

EMC News – The beaver is a brilliant hydro-engineer and a colossal pain in the butt. What does it take to live side-by-side with beavers? For answers, go to Beavers and Us, an all-day workshop on Monday, April 22 in Perth. The Stewardship Councils of Lanark, Renfrew, Frontenac, Lennox & Addington and Hastings counties will co-host a productive day of fascinating revelations about Canada’s largest rodent. Read on for the impressive line-up of speakers.

I wanna go! Don’t you want to go? Mind you Perth is very near Ottawa so Mayor Watson and his friends from Stittsville should be able to zip on over and learn something. The program looks amazing. Check it out:

– The Influence of Beavers at the Watershed Scale by Cherie Westbrook, professor and researcher at University of Saskatchewan Hydrology Centre
– Cooperative Responses to Beavers by Conservation Authorities, Municipalities and Landowners by Rudy Dyck, Director of Watershed Stewardship Services, Rideau Valley Conservation Authority
– Ontario’s Road Crews Defend Against Flooding Every Spring and Fall by Mike Richardson, Public Works Supervisor, Central Frontenac Township
– Successful Beaver Management: Tools and Plans by Michel Leclair
– Matching Wits with the Beavers: My Relationship with Beavers on 300 Acres of Mississippi Drainage by Don Cuddy, Regional Ecologist (in his past life!)
– Roles of Beavers in a Constructed Wetland by Cliff Maclean, Hastings landowner
– Finding Beaver Dams Using Remote Imagery by Jean Thie, Remote Sensing Specialist
– Dam Builders: the Natural History of Beavers and their Ponds by Michael Runt

My, my, my. What a nice way to celebrate Earth Day! If you’re in the area I’d definitely make a point of attending. that makes 8 positive beaver articles this year, for those of you following along at home. It’s still March, so I’m hoping 2013 gets 25.

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Update on the “hero” beavers of Utah. Apparent they have given up on finding the parents and are calling them ‘orphans’.

Salt Lake City’s Beaver Heroes Now Orphans

A third beaver is now in the care of Erickson and her team at the center. The third beaver came in covered with thick sludge, but seems to be recovering faster than the original two. Erickson believes this third beaver may be from a different family, whereas the original two are siblings.

All three beavers showed signs of intestinal problems resulting from diesel fuel ingestion. However every member of the trio ate at least a little bit during the past two nights.

Erickson’s team spends twelve hours per day with the beavers, including nine hours of “tub time” helping the beavers swim. The second and third beavers to come into the center have made the most recovery and are starting to show normal beaver behaviors, such as slapping their tails when startled.

Sadly, the beavers may have been orphaned by the 8,000-gallons of diesel fuel spilled by a Chevron pipeline.

I’m so glad the beavers are hanging in there and doing better. And glad that Ogden Wildlife knows how to connect with us if there’s anything we can do to help. No word yet on why it is ‘sad’ when beavers get sick because their dams trap leaking diesel but ‘necessary’ when beavers are crushed to death by a conibear trap because their dams block roadways. Isn’t diesel used on roadways? I’ll try to keep on this story until we find out.

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Finally a reminder that spring is here and new kits are just around the corner. Here is a demonstration of why beavers make the most patient parents you will ever see in the watershed. This is from Paul Scott in Blairgowrie Scotland, enjoy!