Yesterday was a cultural explosion for beavers. Two excellent films were uploaded by the Beaver Trust and a fine op-ed was published in the Oregon Register-Guard. I am spoiled for choice. But I’ll start with this:
Keep keystone beavers safe
Chuck Erickson Special to Eugene Register-Guard USA TODAY NETWORK At 8 a.m. Friday, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife will hold another commission hearing to ban trapping beavers in our national forests. This action is part of 21st century science and the importance of keystone species and our imperiled fisheries.
The official definition of a keystone species is ‘a species on which other species in an ecosystem largely depend, such that if it were removed the ecosystem would change drastically.’
Beavers fit this definition, and the fact that they do is important for wetland conservation efforts.
Isn’t that wonderful? Every now and then I appreciate the dangers beavers face in Scotland and Oregon and Montana because motivates people to write such wonderful articles and letters about them.
There is more happening with beaver ponding colonies than we can see with our eyes. As ponds form in areas where trees have been cut, all that is left are stumps that have become flooded by the ponded waters. If given enough time, the root systems of these stumps rot away and the ponded water connects to the sub-waters in alluvial soils (sand and rock).
These sub-surface waters are cooled, filtered and flow downstream as springs and seeps. This reduces water temperature and enhances streambed environments. Over and over this process happens. Trees drill into the ground and the beavers cut them down connecting warmer surface water with colder ground waters. Remember the rule: Water seeks the same level as it enters.
Without the beavers’ intervention, our silted-in stream banks act as a cap trapping the water from entering and exiting the alluvial soils. This is one of the reasons we have warmer river temperatures. Without active beaver colonies, the cooling cycle is broken with diminished water storage.
Wow this author knows his beaver facts. Who is it? Chuck Erickson of Coos Bay. I can find lots of letters in protest. but not any official title. Call it a hunch but I don’t think he works for fish and game.
Recent research shows that beavers have a positive effect in areas prone to large fires. The wetlands beavers create recover quicker and help support wildlife. The firebreaks these animals create is needed especially during drought conditions. Beaver colonies trap large amounts of sediments and help improve spawning habitat for fish.
Besides storing and cooling waters, beaver dams may provide a physical barrier to spawning fish during drought years. Though well-intentioned biologists have opened these blocked areas in the past, they may be doing more harm than good. It is more likely nature is holding the fish back for a reason. The blocked fish are forced to spawn in areas with sufficient water instead of upriver where there may not survive or successfully reproduce.
Science and researchers have developed new methods that limit the damages that sometimes happen when culverts become blocked. Sometimes called beaver deceivers, these devices fool these animals so they don’t plug areas that need to drain. They also are used to control water levels behind beaver impounded water areas.
Let’s give our fisheries the boost they deserve.
Very well said. Thank you Chuck! You would think that with so many people defending them some of this might sink in?
I’m going to share my favorite film dropped by the Beaver Trust now. It’s not a visual experience but an auditory one. Close your eyes and listen to this amazing author paint a picture and pay especial attention to the “BIG STORY” scene inside the lodge. The one that happened “Before Scent or Sound“.
It captured all my imagination and gave me chills for a day.
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