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Tag: Beavers
This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,—
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.
William Shakespeare, King Richard II. Act ii. Sc. 1.
Guess whose been feeling left out of the beaver benefit bagatelle? No sibling is happy when their brother gets something they don’t. Apparently the English are looking anxiously over their shoulders at the plaid reintroduction in Scotland and thinking, “why shouldn’t we have beavers too?” Why indeed. A just released study by Natural England addressed this very question, and last night its findings were released on national news.
Beavers could be successfully reintroduced in many parts of England, a conservation body has argued. Natural England says a study has shown beavers, already set for reintroduction in Scotland, could boost wildlife and reduce flooding, among other benefits.
The creatures have already been successfully reintroduced in parts of Europe and the feasibility study for Natural England, which advises the government on conservation issues, and the People’s Trust for Endangered Species said reintroduction could be possible in many parts of England.
Professor John Gurnell, one of the report’s authors, said beavers acted as “ecosystem engineers” and could provide many benefits. They sometimes build dams to stabilise the water levels around their burrows and channels for foraging, which can slow rivers and control flooding, purify water and increase the number of plant and animal species in the habitat.
The entire 119 page report is downloadable here. It has amazing references, including a list of all the beaver reintroductions done in europe over the last 100 years. I’m still enjoying it slowly, but here’s a lovely introduction:
Why reintroduce beavers?1
1.8. Why reintroduce beavers to Britain? The reasons put forward include (e.g. see Macdonald & Tattersall 1999, Coles 2006):
- Beavers are part of Britain’s native fauna;
- Beavers have been lost entirely by the activity of humans;
- As a member of the European Community, Britain has a responsibility to carry out studies on the desirability of reintroducing species that have become extinct (Beavers are listed on Annex III of the Bern Convention, and on Annexes II and IV of the EC `Habitats and Species’ Directive in 1992. The Directive aspires to achieve a favourable conservation status of the priority habitats and species listed in its annexes.);
- Beavers are a keystone species they are frequently called ecosystem engineers and act as „natural managers of riparian, wetland and forest ecosystems;
- Beavers are inherently interesting to humans and could be a flagship species for raising awareness about nature conservation
- Beavers fulfil philosophical and aesthetic ideals associated with returning native species to the wild.
The highlight is mine, but that has sure proven true for lots of us. The entire study is a fantastic scholarly treatise to argue against beaver-nay-sayers. I’m a little troubled by the BBC farm representative who argues that any beaver introduction plan “has to have an exit strategy”.
Exit strategy?!? It’s not like you’re invading another country and trying to establish a democratic government, for goodness sake. You’re inviting back a guest to your home that you previously annihilated. Do you think you forgot how to kill beavers in the interim? Or do you think that public opinion has changed so that your old weapons will no longer be acceptable? I have an exit strategy for you. It’s called education. Learn about the benefit that beavers bring, learn how to deal with any problems they cause, and learn how the land is changed without them. Then your old ideas and fears can “exit” quietly.
(Exeunt Pursued by a Bear. My favorite Shakespeare stage direction. Oh that’s right, you have no bears left in England either)
The report concludes its time to move forward to Phase II of beaver reintroduction:
What next?
12.10. The way seems clear to move to a second phase of consultation and actions concerning beaver reintroductions to England, focusing on education of the wider public about beavers, investigating specific candidate sites for releasing beavers, drawing up detailed management plans and costings, and, if agreed by all interested parties, releasing beavers within the umbrella of pilot studies.
I’m ready for phase two. The entire report is thrilling read and I can’t wait to get back to it. Thanks beaver friend MG in the UK for sending it my way.
Oh and beaver spotting last night: Dad and two kits. I think I’ve figured out their devious scheme to repair the primary dam. “Don’t repair it” They are letting the secondary dam raise the water level until the primary dam stops leaking and doesn’t matter anymore. Brilliant. The Hay Fairy came too, and brought potential bedding for all, thank you very much!
Beaver joke not so funny in N.C. Charlotte Observer
Supporters of wildlife program say McCain’s gag shows he doesn’t know the dam issue.
WASHINGTON “How does one manage a beaver?” U.S. Sen. John McCain asked his followers from the Senate floor this week.
McCain’s derisive comments – “$650,000 for beaver management in North Carolina and Mississippi,” he typed on his Twitter mini-blog – came as part of his continuing campaign against directed spending, or earmarks, in the federal government.
But he angered workers in North Carolina who say they know full well how to manage beavers:
Trap the critters, blow up their dams and let the water flow.
Honestly, you’d think after two years of this battle I’d be fairly immune to the meaness of spirit humans can show to beavers, but this article made me physically sick. North Carolina tackles “Beaver Management” with the same expansive forward-thinking that Hitler used to face “the Jewish Problem”.
And our stimulus money is paying for it. Because nothing gets the economy rolling like dead beavers.
North Carolina, beavers are caught in humane traps that kill them instantly. The state does not allow them to be moved, Heisterberg said. The dams then are broken apart with hand tools or, if they’re inside culverts, destroyed with explosives.
His office determines how much damage its program prevents by figuring up the repair and replacement costs to the Department of Transportation and private landowners.
This past year, 44 of the state’s hundred counties paid $4,000 each to join the federal/state partnership on managing beavers. Among them are Johnston, Harnett, Nash and Franklin.
In Washington, the N.C. Farm Bureau has put in the earmark request to Congress for the state’s federal share of $208,000, said Parker, the organization’s lobbyist.
So the Charlotte Observer is writing this indignantly that McCain would mock serious beaver-killing money as if it was something useless as say, volcano-monitoring, and I understand their point but its not MY point. My point is that this should highlight for all that the entire state of North Carolina knows how to use only beaver extermination as a problem-solving method.
That’s like carrying around an entire toolbox with only hammers.
Mind you this is a state with water shortage problems, and lots of hunters who’d like a nice wooduck or two to shoot at. They have reason to figure out a different solution. But Killing beavers is serious work, the paper defends
In 2001, a freight train derailed in Pitt County after flooding weakened a rail bed near a beaver dam. Chemicals spilled from 30 rail cars, said Jon Heisterberg, state director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s APHIS wildlife services’ division.
A week ago, Heisterberg took a handful of state legislative staff members to a pair of culverts under Highway 301 in Rocky Mount. There, he said, 5-foot-tall beaver dams threatened to take over the 8-foot-tall culverts.
“It would have clogged all the way if we hadn’t taken care of it,” Heisterberg said.
Wow, railway issues are very serious. They couldn’t possibly be handled without extermination right? Check out this testimonial from Mike Callahan’s Beaver Solutions webpage:
“We want to express our appreciation for the work that you have done on controlling the beaver pond along the trail.” “Very successful” – Norwottuck Rail Trail Advisory Committee, MA Department of Environmental Management
So the paper and Mr Heisterberg get a letter:
“The “funny” part about McCain’s fun-poking twitter intended to highlight spending waste is that North Carolina’s “beaver management program” is actually light years behind other regions. Apparently the tar-heel state has failed to learn about the use of flow devices and beaver deceivers to cheaply control flooding. Beavers improve water quality, increase birdlife, increase fish population density and diversity, and help wildlife as well. They are instrumental in providing habitat for many of the most popular game species, and are now being introduced specifically to combat the drought effects of global warming around the country.
Although your article sited “painless, instant beaver traps”, conibear traps only meet that description if the beaver is fortunate enough to place his head in directly inside them. Otherwise the beaver suffers a slow death by drowning while your state suffers the loss of the only watershed engineers that will work for free.
I suppose a “traffic management plan” that shot all speeders and blew up their vehicles would be fairly effective as well, but it wouldn’t be the best use of resources.”
Heidi Perryman, Ph.D. President & Founder Worth A Dam Martinez, CA
Thanks beaver friend LB for the heads up on this, and maybe you might drop them a letter too.
Our Wildlife VP, Cheryl Reynolds, sent this article which I read with hand-rubbing delight. The words Bwahaha may have even escaped my lips, so closely did the article follow my own designs. I’ll give you a gist, but you might want to go read the whole thing.
State officials expect that climate change will create some profound water supply problems in eastern Washington. But there’s a potential solution that’s not only cheap, but also cute and furry: beavers.
Ahhhhh the sweet music of recognition. Wait, I need some popcorn and a tissue. Okay, go ahead.
Here’s the problem: according to climate scientists, warmer temperatures are already melting mountain snows earlier in the spring. That leaves streams and rivers short on water in mid-summer, just when salmon, farms, and homes really need it. Scientists expect that, as winter temperatures in the Northwest rise, the state’s summertime water shortages will only get worse. (The preamble in this state Executive Order has a nice, succinct rundown of the impacts of climate change that the state has already experienced.)
Okay so climate change is a’comin and we need little dams implemented to hold our water in streams so that we can eek it out after the rains and not waste it all in runoff to the sea. I guess that makes sense.
That might sound pretty reasonable, except for a few niggling details – like that fact that the dams would likely cost Washington taxpayers billions of dollars, while flooding thousands of acres of farmland and wildlife habitat.
Hmmm, let me think. What is the cheapest way to build and maintain little dams along the watershed? Gosh, if only there were some way to use materials already in the area and not have to transport them. It could be tricky to get started, you might have the repair crew actually on site 24/7 to make sure it operates the way its supposed to. They may have to try over and over to get the structure of the dams just right in the beginning. And our state is broke, so they’re going to have to work for practically nothing. Where are you going to find a construction company like that?
The Lands Council, a Spokane based non-profit, thinks that it has a better idea: enhance beaver populations, and let the furry wonders do the dam construction for free!
Ohhhh my goodness. Check out the schedule for the “Working Beavers Forum” conference at the end of the month. I could almost cry. No wait, I am crying. Our friend Sherri Tippie will be there talking about relocation, along with a host of amazing others. What I wouldn’t give to be a fly on the wall.
Interestingly, our beaver friend from New Zealand just started the exact same conversation with his local magistrate who is planning on charging taxpayers to build a little series of dams to deal with their drought conditions. For the record, there are no beaver in New Zealand, but plenty of willow. I’ll keep you posted how that develops.
Photo:Cheryl Reynolds
In case you missed the thoughoughly depressing report yesterday from Susan Solomon’s climate change update, the newly released findings of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado states that even if we were to stop all carbon emissions right now, some damage to the planet will not be reversed for a thousand years.
Read that again. Even if we totally stop NOW, conditions will keep on getting worse for thirty generations.
In her paper, Solomon, a leader of the International Panel on Climate Change and one of the world’s best known researchers on the subject, noted that temperatures around the globe have risen and changes in rainfall patterns have been observed in areas around the Mediterranean, southern Africa, and southwestern North America.
Warmer climate also is causing expansion of the ocean, and that is expected to increase with the melting of ice on Greenland and Antarctica, the researchers said.
There is almost nothing hopeful about this report, except we can “hope” it scares the crap outta people and gets them motivated for big, drastic changes.
It might also be worth thinking about this:
Beavers Offer Solution to Climate Change
All Things Considered, May 3, 2008 · In the Southwest U.S., biologists are talking about returning beavers to rivers they once inhabited in order to fight droughts — which are expected to get worse as the globe warms. Beaver dams create great sponges that store lots of water.
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