Even Steven with Beaver Stories

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers and Birds, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental, Massachusetts Trapping Law, Who's blaming beavers now?, Who's Killing Beavers Now?, Who's saving beavers now? January 12, 2015

Two steps forward, two steps back. I don’t think we’re moving at all. But I guess good news takes a ton more work to get published, so it matters more. We should be content to see the positive paired with a couple stinkers. Especially in January. Let’s be good stoics and save the good news for last. Before the sugar we need two spoonfuls of bitter beaver ignorance from Massachusetts.

City gets approval to trap beavers causing flooding in South Lowell

LOWELL — A bucktoothed menace reared its furry head in South Lowell last spring, turning Charles Tamulonis’ backyard into a mosquito-infested swamp.

“There’s always this thing about ‘save the beavers,'” Tamulonis said. “But it’s the greatest nuisance in the world depending on where you live.”

Soon after the dam appeared, he began writing to every city official he could think of. For almost a month, nothing happened,

But eventually he spoke with Ralph Snow, commissioner of the Department of Public Works, and the city embarked on the arduous task of securing the proper permitting to breach a dam and trap the beavers — not to mention actually taking on the dam itself.

It took more than five months for the city to secure the proper approval. During that time, a trapper caught 12 beavers behind Tamulonis’ property, some of the weighing more than 50 pounds.

You asked public works last? I would have asked them first. They are notorious for hating beavers! Lessons learned I guess. So you killed a dozen beavers. 2 parents, 5 yearlings and 5 kits. Now the water won’t drip into your basement any more. Never mind that Mike Callahan of Beaver Solutions is 100 miles away, and could have fixed this problem for the long term. Never mind that he just emailed that he gave a TALK last year to the Lowell Conservation Commission. You wanted those 12 beavers dead, and now they are.

Je Suis Castor?

(Mike just added that 12 beavers would be HIGHLY unusual for an urban setting. 5-6 is more common. Sometimes trappers lie to inflate their fees. Which is pretty comforting, but I still need to post this:)

On to the next lie:

Towns to discuss mosquito control budget

The Central Massachusetts Mosquito Control Project also runs a program to breach beaver dams, which cause rivers and streams to become stagnant and attract mosquitoes.

“Those impede water flow,” said Oram.

The $2 million budget, which is a 2.1 percent increase over the $1.9 million fiscal 2015 budget, includes a $20,000 increase for pesticides, garden tools and supplies, $10,000 more for spraying equipment upgrades and $70,000 more in salary increases.

Obviously they need more money. It’s hard work thinking up lies that good! And all those mosquitoes won’t kill themselves! I suppose if Northboro is good for the money they should ask for the moon and see what happens. It’s not like anyone will point out that if more fish and invertebrates are found in beaver ponds, they’ll be lots more trying to eat that larvae. Why worry your pretty head about details like that?

Bring us some good news. I’ve had my fill of liars and murderers this morning. Okay, how about this from New Hampshire?

Beavers help environment, but conflicts with humans can arise

Moose and deer, wood frogs and salamanders, mergansers and great blue herons, otters and weasels – all thrive in the habitats created by beavers.

“I think of them as great little wildlife managers,” said Dave Anderson, a naturalist and director of education at the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests.

Beaver is a “keystone species,” Anderson said. “If we were to eliminate their activity, we’d lose wetlands that are critical habitats.”

Anderson, who also co-writes the “Forest Journal” column in the New Hampshire Sunday News, said killing all the animals in an area isn’t a long-term solution to beaver problems.

“You can’t trap them out of existence,” he said. “If you make a gap and the habitat’s suitable, there will be (other) beavers moving in.”

How much do you love Dave right now? Hurray for beaver wisdom in New Hamshire! Dave is also a forest columnist for the New Hamshire journal, so he has a great platform to preach the beaver gospel. But he needs to be a little less passive with his solutions for land-owners I think:

As long as a well or septic system isn’t threatened, homeowners can just wait out the beavers, Tate said. Once they exhaust the available food supply, they’ll move somewhere else, and new ones won’t move in for another seven years or so.

Well, I think I will write Dave about fast-acting solutions that will let land owners cooperate with beavers. In the meantime thank you SO MUCH for your great promotional efforts! I think this is probably the VERY BEST article we have had on beavers from the state.

Let’s conclude with some very cheerful beaver reporting from Kent England. I can’t embed the video but if you click on the photo it will take you to where you can watch three minutes of the delightful story unfolding Enjoy!

Beaver Colony Flourishes in Kent

Beaver Investments with Joe

heidi08 City Reports, Creative Solutions, Who's saving beavers now? July 3, 2014

Restoration Ecologist Joe Cannon, standing on a beaver dam in Liberty Lake Regional Park, searches for solutions when beavers become pests.

Man vs. Nature

The outdoors can be a bit hard to tame — but for restoration ecologist Joe Cannon, that’s part of why it’s worth preserving

That’s where Joe Cannon, restoration ecologist for the Lands Council’s beaver program, comes in. It’s his job to be an advocate, of sorts, for beavers — to show that, as irritating and destructive as nature can be, it’s worth protecting.

When beavers chew up a farmer’s orchard trees or wreak havoc on local infrastructure, Cannon meets with the landowners to try to find a solution. That may mean wrapping fencing around certain trees or running pipes through the beaver dam in order to shift the flow of a river.

About a third of the time, when beavers are too much of a nuisance, he traps them, brings them home and keeps them in his backyard, until he can trap the rest of the family. Then he and other volunteers transfer the whole beaver clan up to the Colville National Forest.

Ideally, though, his advocacy pays off. He’s able to convince the farmers and homeowners that beavers play a starring role in the local ecology. “These conversations are really important to have when someone is losing thousands of dollars in property,” Cannon says.

Joe Cannon of the Lands Council has earned this lovely article which emphasizes solutions, beaver benefits, and nature being natural. The Lands Council has been a beacon on the hill to beavers supporters for more years than I can count. Joe started out as an intern through Americorp for them, and it transitioned into a career. With them he has helped make national news, creative legislation, and ground-breaking policy with neighbor-to-neighbor level interventions. And they made this, which remains one of the most awesome things you’ll ever see.

Joe and Amanda came to Martinez to see our beavers in 2011. We had dinner, talked beavers and did a post mortem on that year’s festival. Then we went down and watched the beavers in person. They were both amazed at how closely and easily they could be observed. The next week there was a huge article about their work in the Wall Street Journal!

Yes, the beaver is disruptive. But that’s why it’s valuable. It dams rivers, redirects streams, digs side channels, fells old trees. A little gnawing, and — timber! — it has altered nature’s rhythm.

“They add fish habitat, they add fish streams, cover for fish and perches for birds to hunt,” Cannon says. “When they’re taking down cottonwoods and aspens, a small forest comes up from the roots.” As beavers paw at the sediment that collects at the back of their dams, they’re spreading seeds.

Great work Joe! If you’re hungry for more here’s the interview I did with him back in 2012.

Oregon or Bust…

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions June 15, 2014

Portlandia has always struck me as a memorably insane show with whimsically pointed hyperbole that is mostly endearing in small doses or retrospect. But there is something about the season 4 finale I really am drawn too, (something in addition to KD Lang, I mean). I can’t quite put my finger on it. Maybe you can help me figure it out?

‘Portlandia’ Season 4 finale: An entertaining trip to ‘New Beavertown,’ and a dash of ‘Grimm’

As is its custom, “Portlandia” finished out its season Thursday night with an episode that brought several characters together in one continuing story. And as with previous season-ender shebangs, the Season 4 finale, “Getting Away,” felt like an affectionate temporary farewell to Portland.

3) Beavers: Though I could have lived without the obvious double-entendre at the end, when the feminist weekend women form a “beaver dam” to stop the flooding river, the other beaver references were only fitting, considering Oregon is the Beaver State (and proud of it!) As we learned from the droning New Beavertown Walking Tour guide (Graham Wagner, who’s also one of the show’s writers), the community used to be flooded with beavers, until the growing population pushed the beavers out into the woods. Without the beavers’ dam-building, we hear, the whole place would be under water.

Kimtopher!

Oh and Happy Father’s Day to all the hardworking Dad’s out there! Especially this one…

And the memory of this one…

Beaver beginnings and endings

heidi08 Beavers, Environmental, Friends of Martinez Beavers May 8, 2014

At least two very important things happened yesterday, both of them Canadian in nature. Jari Osborne’s promotional interview for “Leave it to beavers” aired on Metro Focus. It featured a discussion of why beavers matter and some of the most intriguing clips from the film. The beaver part starts at 13:21. Enjoy.

Are you excited yet? I can’t tell you how thrilling it is to see a powerful filmmaker and a prominent interviewer casually discussing beaver benefits on national television. And that adorable footage of the kit hopping eagerly in the lodge is, I believe, the cutest event ever recorded since the development of film. (Or eyes.)

I heard from a very excited Jari yesterday. It must be a little weird to have your second premiere nearly two years after finishing the film. An American debut is a big deal. She even talked about getting Sherri, Suzanne and Carol together for a meet up reunion at the beaver festival. (!!) That is an impossibly wonderful idea to imagine, we’ll see. In the meantime, plan your superbowl-beaver party, tell all your friends, and get ready for next Wednesday.

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The other very important thing that happened yesterday was the death of 92 year old author, Farley Mowat. Up until the last moment of his life he was a fierce advocate for nature and a dedicated writer. You probably crossed paths with “Never cry wolf”, a story I drew on internally again and again when fighting for our beavers – from the idea of leaving a familiar job for the complete unknown, to the joy and brutality of an unexpected encounter with nature, to the bumbling of failed bureaucracies and corrupt politicians lurking under every stone. His writing prepared me for what I was going to face.

Even though my journey was only 8 blocks from my home, it was still a great distance from what I was trained to do. I needed an experienced guide to show me the way. He knew what challenges I would face there, and why it was worth the effort. He even understood how my life could feel at once completely taken over and more like my own than it ever had been. How fitting that his deer friend, Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd, remembers his important life by comparing him to Canadian icons like “Grey Owl”.

The world is such a better place because you were in it, Mr. Mowat. I hope I am a better person because you’re writing is inside me.