Tag: Carol Evans

Animal Spiritual on Sunday

heidi08 Beaver Art, Beaver Behavior, Beaver-themed merchandise, Beavers, Beavers and climate change, Beavers and Forests, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Environmental, Who's saving beavers now? February 26, 2017

I wholeheartedly approve of this new policy enforcing only good beaver news on Sundays. And the universe seems to be catching on and publishing excellent article the night before. Check out this offereing from Larry Hyslop at the Elko Daily News and tell me this man didn’t get serious beaver education from Carol Evans over the years. Connie Lee from the Nevada Department of Wildlife just posted that she attended her first beaver conference and learned a lot. I’m sure Connie and Carol are friends too, and if they aren’t already, they will be soon.

Beaver engineers change streams

We know beavers engineer their environment by creating a dam and upstream pond. Researchers at Rocky Mountain National Park, along with the U.S. Geological Survey, found beavers can strongly affect the hydrologic processes of the Colorado River. They also found beavers produce greater changes to their environment downstream of their dams. Other research also suggests some major problems we see in modern day streams came about from beavers being removed from area streams.

Water flows over beaver dams along the full length of the dams, spreading water across entire valleys. Without these dams, water simply flows down narrow streambeds. This water stays spread out down the valley for hundreds of yards. Beaver dams also force water into the soil, where it moves laterally, toward the sides of the valley. The underground water table rises and widens the riparian area along the stream. More vegetation such as willows grow downstream from dams.
During peak flows, or floods, dams dissipate the flow energy. Water slows as it works its way through the intricate set of branches making up dams. Water also slows as it works its way back to the stream bed, generally flowing through riparian vegetation.

During the dry summers, dams keep water flowing. By holding back water behind the dam and placing more water underground, beaver dams slowly release water, keeping intermittent streams flowing longer and farther downstream. Beavers create wider riparian areas, with more riparian vegetation, and often create more areas for livestock to drink. During dry years, they may provide the only water for livestock.

The presence of beavers may have reduced or prevented headcuts in the past. Their absence may be responsible for today’s incised streams. Beavers are now returning to many streams and land managers are finding their dams and ponds can help heal headcuts. Sediments build up in beaver ponds, raising the streambed. Over time, dams are abandoned and other dams built, raising other areas along streams. Researchers are helping beavers return to streams in the hopes their presence will help streams heal.

Yes they are, Larry. And the very best help researchers can give them is to encourage folks to stop trapping that pesky rodent off their lands before they can get started fixing the system. Articles like yours help slow down that basic impulse that everyone seem to have. Thank you for this excellent review of beaver repairs in streams. It doesn’t even mention the benefits to fish, wildlife and nitrogen removal, but it has a compelling reason to tolerate beavers. I guess because water is what matters most in Nevada.

Another delightful bit of news that caught my eye this week was concerning a protest of HBC in Canada where Ivanka Trumps line of clothing is being offered after being tossed out of Nordstrom’s. Snicker.

Why ‘Peeved Beavers’ are upset by Ivanka Trump’s brand at the Bay

A member of the “Peeved Beavers” group, Amanda Spencer, holds up a sarcastic sign while she’s dressed up as Donald Trump.

Armed with distinctive blonde wigs, pursed lips and red power ties, a group of Ontario women are planning to dress up as U.S. President Donald Trump to protest the Hudson’s Bay Co. for carrying Ivanka Trump’s fashion line during two demonstrations in the Toronto area planned for Saturday.

The women call themselves the “Peeved Beavers,” and they have a bone to pick with HBC. St. Jean estimates that, since their secret Facebook group was created three or four weeks ago, it has grown to include approximately 30 members. Amanda Spencer, another Peeved Beaver, says they’re only expecting 10 to 15 members at the two planned protests on Saturday, so they can control the protest, and stay in character.

What an excellent name! The Peeved Beavers! Can I join? I usually have very little patience for the use of the beaver trademark name to describe the ladies, but I could get behind this. I just like the way it sounds!

Donations to our silent auction arrived all the way from Sydney Australia yesterday. Co-founder Kate McNab was enthusiastic in her generous support. The spirited shop Animalyser will offer beaver supporters a 10% discount on purchased items so go peruse the wonderful selection they have to chose from. Their unusual design placement is my favorite part of these striking products. Go look for yourself. Here’s their story:

We were encouraged by the enthusiasm and fun people had identifying themselves through two animals. We are both truly inspired by all animals and believe that humans are just another kind of animal.

The question ‘which two animals best describe you?’ started as a bit of fun by Kate McNab, Co-Founder, in 2012 at a dinner party. Some of our friends were able to answer the question immediately and others needed some time. That evening was the night when our blended names Mele (Elephant/Monkey) and Fanther (Falcon/ Panther) were created

What delightful dinner parties you throw! Can we come? Obviously in my case the answer would be a “Beaba“. Because I really liked the beavers and I Badgered city council until they let me keep them.

Thanks Kate!

Beaver-Flyer

Beaver Trifecta

heidi08 Beavers February 22, 2017

The Canadian Town of Langley, just outside Vancouver, is facing some beaver challenges. Lucky for them they’re close enough to the work of Furbearer DefenderTheres to be surrounded by smart advice. Let’s just hope their wise enough to take it.

Animal advocates, Township of Langley to discuss policy around killing nuisance animals

Animal advocates are meeting with the Township of Langley council Monday night to chip away at policies focused on nuisance animals. Fur-Bearers Spokesperson Adrian Nelson says the Township is hiring trappers to come in and kill beavers because they’re causing floods in the wetlands when they build dams.

“You know, the issue’s persisted there for probably decades, you know if not longer, so it just seems like a poor approach to keep doing the same thing when clearly it’s not working.”

mike & adrian — *Adrien Nelson training with Mike Callahan*

Nelson calls the trapping a band-aid solution.

“Having a beaver in the area really isn’t an issue in itself, it’s just the flooding that they cause, so if you could put in infrastructure to control that flooding, you know, stop that flooding from happening, than you really don’t have any problems with the beavers being there.”

Nelson says he’d like to see pipe systems and fences installed instead behind the dams to prevent flooding.

Hurray for Adrien and sensible Beaver policy! I have to say, the man is getting pretty deft in his comments. I mean tossing out the ‘sensible approach’ and suggesting that trapping is just wasting time and money. That’s smart. Adrien met Mike at the first beaver conference and they did some installation together after that. Think how many smart people there will be in the world after this week.

There is a lovely interview with author Judith Schwartz about water scarcity today published in drmsriram that mentions the work of several beaver friends.

How Water Scarcity Became a Worldwide Problem

We might ask what kept the water cycle functioning before we came in and we chopped down trees and plowed up land and built cities.

One answer was beavers. California had beavers throughout much of the state. Beavers are a keystone species. They’re known as nature’s engineers. They build dams, and those dams hold water. As water filters through, it creates very rich soil and wetlands, which hold water in the landscape. The driest state in our country is Nevada. There are projects in Nevada going on right now of inviting beavers back onto the landscape. They started with ranchers, restoring the soil, and then the beavers came. Now, they have much more water. They have rivers and streams that are now flowing year round. You get snow that falls from the Sierras, and then it gets held in the soil or it flows away.

Knowledge@Wharton: The same thing could very well happen in California because you’re talking about the same type of demographic where you have snow in the high elevations that’s coming down to the lower areas.

Schwartz: Absolutely. In California, there is now an organization called Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, and their WATER Institute has a “Bring Back the Beaver” campaign. There are many beaver fans out there.

Well, yes there are, thanks for thinking of us. Obviously the program mentioned in Nevada is the one started by Carol Evans when she worked for the Bureau of Land Managment. And the OAEC is our friends Brock Dolman and Kate Lundquist who come to the beaver festival most years. Beavers save water. And we need Water. Point taken!

I read this yesterday and smiled broadly. Are we surprised that eco hero Paul Watson got his start with beavers? No we are not. This is from a recently published Earth Island interview.

Let’s go back to your early days of eco-activism.

I was raised in an eastern Canadian fishing village right on the Maine border, called St. Andrews. I used to swim with these beavers in a beaver pond when I was 10. I went back when I was 11 and found there were no more beavers. I found that trappers had taken them all so I became quite angry and that winter I began to walk the trap lines and free animals from the traps and destroy the traps. So that was really my first venture into activism.

“Oh, the beaver and the cowman should be friends”

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers and Birds, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental, featured November 7, 2015

Do you know who Carol Evans is? You really should. I read about her work in Elko, NV many years ago and knew I had to reach out. You for sure saw her in the beginning of the PBS documentary checking out the beaver restoration of Suzie Creek in Nevada with Suzanne Fouty. Now do you remember? Carol has been working her special collaborative magic with the unbelievably complex cast of characters in her state with some pretty amazing results.

So amazing, in fact, that she was recently invited to a biodiversity and climate change workshop at Tufts University in Boston. (Which is about as close as you come in this line of work to being a rock star). Because the university is among the finest in the land, the web page for the conference has everyone’s presentation and slides up and downloadable. You could spend many hours but, start with Carol and Jon, who are a superhuman tagteam of why to live with beavers.

I know that everyone is busy and maybe thinking you don’t have time to watch. But believe me, you should. Here’s my favorite slide of Carol’s, showing the ground water increases adjacent to a beaver dam.
(That’s a little thing beavers do called “recharging the aquifer”.)

And just in case you are inclined to watch hers and not his, I will warn you that you would be making a very grave error. Because Jon Grigg’s straightforward, plainspoken presentation is wonderfully powerful. I can completely understand why they have had such success all over the state because of his resonance. I don’t agree with every single thing he says, but that is how collaboration works. You form alliances based on mutual interests and set aside disagreements until you get things accomplished. And I am proud to think both of them are allies in our work to educate folks about beavers.

Wasn’t that awesome? That’s right, now even Nevada knows more about beaver restoration than California. Sigh.

I got a call this week from a producer working on a beaver film for the UK, he wanted to make the argument for beaver reintroduction there and will be interviewing Carol, Mary Obrien and Michael Pollock, among others. They will be doing the bulk of their filming in Nevada and Oregon, but I made a strong case for urban beaver restoration and pitched what we had done and what Napa was currently doing. He was actually really interested in including Napa because it was so well known and was going to pitch the idea to his team. Fingers crossed, their local beavers maybe stars someday.

It’s been a weirdly busy month. In addition to everything else, I received a disappointing note that my beaver article won’t be included in this ‘Phoebe’ newsletter for the Sierra Foothill Audubon Society because it got bumped for climate change. Hrmph. Another year of massive beaver depredations in Placer county I bet. Hopefully it can appear sometime in the future. In the meantime, I received a great video this morning about genetic resilience and climate change in cottonwoods, that actually has a segment on the importance of beavers. The title is aptly a quote from Martinez’s own John Muir.

Its very well done, I learned several new words and you will be much smarter at the end than you were at the beginning. It won’t let me embed it here, but click on the title to go see for yourself. The beaver segment starts at 31.20. Just remember, we are what we learn.

A Thousand Invisible Cords: Connecting Genes to Ecosystems, the complete movie from Research on Vimeo.

Anonymous restoration work

heidi08 Beavers and trout, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions August 28, 2015

Where cutthroats swim and cattle roam

A watershed restoration project on private and public land near Elko, Nevada, is benefitting threatened Lahontan cutthroat and the cattle of the Heguy family. The Susie Creek project has been highlighted by the Nevada Cattlemen’s Association and the Elko District of the Bureau of Land Management in the first of a series of articles showcasing ranching conservation projects on Lahontan cutthroat trout streams in Nevada

Susie creek. Maybe you’re thinking, “Susie creek, Susie creek…I know that name….” and you’d be right. Because you do. Because it’s the remarkably restored creek filmed in this part of a certain documentary that we all watched last year.

(That initial clip is of susie creek NV being assessed by Suzanne Fouty and Carol Evans.)
Clearly they know what’s saving these trout and the stream. And the author Brent Prettyman is a major beaver benefit reporter from way back, so he knows what’s going on too. But this article definitely hides the beaver light under a bushel.

It’s like everyone is afraid of saying the B-word.

The Heguy family allotment includes 37,000 acres of public land and 13,000 acres of private. Restoration work was done on the entire allotment and included help reseeding native vegetation from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service after a wildfire, water developments to draw cattle away from riparian areas and a pasture to manage timing and duration of grazing on the land.

Um okay, you got a lot of money ~~to plant willow and~~ build fences to keep the cows out. Yeah, that is a great start. Then what happened? Did the trout just magically appear? Did it rain trout? Or was there several middle steps. Actors that enriched the soil, increased the invertebrate community, and stored the water over time. HMMM? Speak up, I can’t hear you?

The benefit for the threatened trout is colder water and more of it, as well as critical streamside vegetation. The evaluation showed riparian vegetation in the entire Susie Creek Basin increased by more than 100 acres. There had been no beaver dams in the system and there were 139 when the evaluation was done. More water was visible on the landscape and well monitoring showed an increase in shallow aquifers.

Okay, so we kept out the cows ~~and planted willow~~ and then these fish and beaver dams just started magically appearing! We have no idea why! I mean there just HAPPENED to be 139 beaver dams by the time the creek was restored? That’s soooooooo random. What an incredible coincidence.

What a bunch of beaver sissies! They just can’t admit how important a role they played can they?

The most amazing part of this article is that Carol is able to work with this rancher and get him to keep the cows out of the creek and manage to get a grant for it. All the while knowing full well that she can’t say the name of the heroes responsible or she’ll raise hackles. Plus the feds would never fund a BEAVER project!

Carol Evans is a magician, a talented tight-rope walker and I salute her for that. Here’s her additions to this article from her response this morning,

Well, thanks for this. Is it great, but there are a few things I would like to clarify. The Heguy Allotment is at the top of the watershed above the area where beaver have colonized. The majority of the Susie Creek basin is grazed by Maggie Creek Ranch. Cattle were never removed from any portion of the watershed or stream; rather we just work with the ranchers to manage grazing (basically the magic formula is to reduce frequency and duration of hot season grazing over time; the recovery areas are still grazed spring, fall, summer – short duration, etc.). Also, willows were not planted; recovery just happens here when you remove the stressor (too much hot season grazing) and let nature do her thing! This is happening in many places in NE Nevada.

On another note, myself and several ranchers have been invited to speak on the subject of livestock management=riparian plants=beaver=water (!) at a conference on Restoring the Water Cycle at Tuff’s University in Boston in October. Cool that this important story continues to gain attention!

As a side note, in the Maggie Basin, where prescriptive grazing has been in place for about 25 years, active beaver dams went from 100 to 270 in four years (from 2006 to 2010)! We have some similar type info in another basin. Remote sensing is a great way to look at all of it. The next step would be to quantify the water storage. Some day . . .

Thanks for your work in telling the story!

Carol Evans

Fishery Biologist,Tuscarora Field Office

Elko District, BLM

3900 E. Idaho St.

Elko, NV 89801

775-753-0349; Carol_Evans@blm.gov

Well, did you watch it?

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beaver Rehabilitation, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Dispersal, Environmental, featured, In the News May 15, 2014

In case you were busy or want to see a section again, the entire program is online:

It’s how I got this very special screen grab that whizzed by at the end.

I’m was already happy because I noticed corrections I had made to the script that were actually incorporated! In fact, I don’t think there’s a single thing incorrect in the entire documentary, which is both awesome and rare! Last night I admired Glynnis presentation of science, loved Suzanne and Carol’s wonder at the beaver improvements in Nevada, enjoyed Michel LeClare better in this american version, and was touched by Michelle Grant’s beaver rescue that remained perfectly untouched from the Canadian original. Sherri Tippie stole the show though, and I’m still getting emails from beaver civilians who adored her presentation. This supports my theory by the way, that saving beavers ultimately isn’t about changing minds with science, it’s about touching hearts.

Sherri made such a splash that she’s on Grist today

Dream of cradling a beaver in your arms? Live vicariously through this Colorado hairdresser!

In case you needed it, here’s something to celebrate: You now live in a world where the sentence “I’m a hairdresser and live beaver trapper” has been uttered in earnest. Sherri Tippie is just an ordinary Colorado jail barber who happens to love beavers – so much so that she’s become one of the top live trappers in North America.

But do not for one second presume that she’s some granola-crunching, Tom’s-of-Maine-using hippie:

I am a hairdresser, honey. I like HBO, I want a toilet that flushes, OK? I do not camp out, baby.

You and me both, girl! To witness Tippie tenderly cradle a squirming water rodent as if it were her own child, watch the video above.

There’s another affectionate article from Bloomberg Business week of all places! I’m expecting more to follow.

Large Rodent Tackles Climate Change: Hoelterhoff

A Colorado hairdresser with a fondness for large rodents is doing her bit for climate change, and so can you. Sherri Tippie is the nation’s champion beaver relocation specialist and the sight of her wrestling them into carriers adds to the fascination of “Leave it to Beavers,” which airs tonight at 8 p.m. EST (check local listings) on PBS’s Nova series.

Having nearly died out as hats in more formal times, the beaver seems determined to survive. I trust the encounter of a pathetic moose and an angry beaver will go viral.

The show’s timing is pretty great: Last week, the National Climate Assessment report affirmed that climate change is a fact that can’t be blustered away by simple radio hosts, grandiose columnists and the Washington servitors of the coal industry.

Beavers deploy every cell in their equally tiny brains keeping America fertile and driving developers crazy. In the Rocky Mountains, their structures filter billions of tons of water. When a drought dried out big stretches of Nevada, the beaver-managed areas remained nice and green.

I love to think of all those business men reading about beavers. I’m eager to learn more about the reactions people had to this, so I’d love you to send me your thoughts. I’d be happy to collect and share them. In the meantime, I’m one happy camper.

Tell PBS how AWESOME that documentary was. Leave your comment here.