Click to play: Beaver kit at Sonoma Wildlife Rescue
Sonoma Wildlife Rescue has another beaver to keep the first one company. This is a 4 month old kit rescued in Sacramento. (Meaning his family was killed on purpose and he survived on accident). Notice that he’s exactly the same size as our kits. Hopefully they will figure out how to introduce him to the injured yearling, they will both heal and get along, and this will be the start of a beautiful friendship that leads to a successful release. In the meantime beavers need lots of care, and chew through lots of resources. Can you donate here? I know they’ll appreciate the support and they were already impressed with the “Beaver response” they got last time! Go spread some tax-deductible love.
Inspired by renowned beaver woman, Dorothy Richards – the author of “Beaversprite – My Years Building an Animal Sanctuary” – the Browns picked up the mantle of beaver education and advocacy in 1985. Funded only by donations and the occasional legacy, their organization “Beavers: Wetlands & Wildlife” has grown into a respected voice for these clever tree-gnawing engineers who create habitats vital to the survival of many species. Through emails, phone calls and in-person presentations or consulting, the Browns champion ways communities and beavers can coexist in a win-win setting for all
There is getting to be a community of beaver bloggers out there. And I, for one, couldn’t be any happier!
Defenders of Wildife (who in addition to making a HUGE difference, was kind enough to donate 200 copies of their magazine on Sherri Tippie for our last festival) has a fantastic paper on ecosystem services and how we should factor the services of wildlife when discussing what to do. I mention it because you-know-what provides excellent ecosystem services, and is offered as their final case study in Yellowstone.
The recovery of the ecosystem is still in the early stages. (Ripple and Beschta, 2012). However, beaver activity has the potential to provide the following benefits:
• Reduce water temperatures and improve habitat foraquatic organisms.• Improve habitat for fish by providing a source ofdetritus and woody debris.• Increase riparian plant diversity and songbird habitat.• Increase waterfowl, amphibians, reptiles, muskrat and river otter populations.• Reduce excess amounts of sediment and organic material in surface runoff.• Reduce steam bank erosion.• Increase carbon storage in plant biomass and soils.• Recharge the water table, increase water storage and wetland acreage (Gilgert and Zack, 2010)
Nicely done! The beavers in Yellowstone are getting some excellent press, that’s for sure. Lets hope there’s a interpretive ranger on hand that is equally committed to showing off flow devices too. You can check out the entire report online here.
Beavers: Wetlands and Wildlife posted this video yesterday of their annual meeting in April. It’s a presentation performed by their intern Susan Hendler. Enjoy!
And today is the auspicious occasion of the very first EcoFest in Komoko Ontario! Aspen Valley Sanctuary will be on hand to talk beavers with lots of other displays and vendors. We wish everyone a sunny, festive, well-attended exhaustion of a day!
When you stumble across a mountain pond, a thicket of willows or high alpine meadows, you’re typically looking at the work of a beaver. They’re critical for the green wetland areas we call riparian. Without them, the ecosystem can and did change dramatically.
Today, it’s a landscape of fast-flowing streams and invitingly open banks.
What it used to be before beavers were trapped to extremely low populations was a landscape of stopped-up water that brought life to arid mountain valleys. Evidence of that landscape on a small scale can be seen up the Swan River Valley, as Tiger Road turns into the dirt roads following the forks of the river. There, the stream slows to a trickle, evidencing an active beaver population. The valley is flooded with water, creating a green expanse between the rocky cliffs that surround.
Now that’s what I call a delightful beaver read! Janice discusses beaver controversy but makes it clear that beaver benefits are worth the challenge. No surprise. The article is from Colorado where they have personally had the benefit of the very most dynamic beaver teacher for decades. I just found this on Youtube from the recent Aspen Natualist Nights “Beaver: Nuisance or Opportunity?”. It may be longer than you have time for this morning, but I promise you it’s very, very worth it. There are lovely discussions of her work with Skip and the comments at the end about the injured beaver she rehabbed are among the most beautiful words I have ever heard.
On to more beaver goodness. This is a joyous beaver day! And lets just pause to say I got an email this morning from the city council of Yellow Knife thanking me for my email about how to protect trees. I’m hopeful that the information will help.
“Studying a single colony for a prolonged length of time, and gauging their effect on a specific habitat has been and continues to be a fascinating endeavor,” Perry said. “Also, year to year, they continue to surprise me with some aspect of their behavior that I haven’t seen before.”
Their impact on the nature sanctuary is impossible to miss. They’ve turned two creeks into nine ponds, building at least 16 dams of varying sizes and three lodges.
The new wetlands – and resulting dead trees with nesting cavities – have drawn a variety of animals to the sanctuary, including wood ducks, hooded mergansers, herons, kingfishers, flycatchers, woodpeckers, turtles, trout and dragonflies.
As one woman who has also watched a single beaver colony impact a creek for 5 years, I can’t tell you how firmly I agree! This is agreat article and a very delightful read. Spring Hill Farm Cares is a good friend of Beavers: Wetlands and Wildlife and has learned first hand from an excellent pair of teachers. They produce films for BWW and work hard to teach about their value in the ecosystem.
Perry knows that his days with the beavers are numbered. He’s surprised they’ve stayed this long and he knows they’ll leave once their food supply disappears. Looking at the poplars and pussy willows on the property, he gives them another couple years, he said.
Once the beavers go, their dams will start to leak. The ponds will dry up, creating silt-rich meadows. But as the trees grow back, more beavers will probably come.
Until then, Perry will study other colonies, but he’ll miss these beavers. “Definitely, when they leave, our nature preserve will be a bit like a house after the children have grown up and moved away,” he said. “We will miss them and also the ponds that they so faithfully maintained.”
We are NOT going to talk about that (she sniffed crisply), but go enjoy the great read anyway and I’m thinking Matt might need a little wine tasting vacation in the Napa Valley around the first of August? What a great beaver end to memorial day weekend!
