Voices of what appears to be reason other than mine are always a delight on this website. Enjoy this excellent piece from Dick Sherman writing on the Danvers situation. Remember this is an area in Massachusetts very near Salem which had some beavers in its pond that were flooding their backyards, so they hired a trapper. And he killed several and then they complained the water was too stagnant. Oh and the trapper said he was prohibited from removing a dead beaver by regulations so they buried it but the turtles dug it up. Sound familiar? Maybe this will ring a bell.

Well,apparently if you have a lot of sense in Danvers, you move to New Hampshire.

Let the natural process continue

My name is Dick Sherman, I grew up in Danvers as did my wife, (now in our 70s and live in N.H.). For 15 years, we lived directly on College Pond in the St. John’s Prep area on Spring Street. I can tell you about the beavers, Beaver Brook and College Pond.

In my opinion, the town is making a mistake by killing beavers and trying to control that watershed area as suggested by the residents. The area in question by Glendale Road and behind Glen Magna is a natural (God put it there a long time ago) watershed area. It feeds to Beaver Brook, which on the surface goes under Maple Street and then into College Pond.

The water table (aquifer) itself is under Maple Street. College Pond was and is a magnificent treasure, which as you know, is recognized now by the town as a conservation overlook area.

I sense from your article that the nearby residents, which once again pollute the Beaver Brook and College Pond as opposed to letting nature help out. Now you have now beavers, algae, and high water in the area. Did you not know that when you purchased, that you were in a “flood zone” and watershed area? Certainly, you did not know how beneficial it is to the ecology and to Danvers residents now and then.

Ahh thanks for writing this, Dick, but let me be honest. You must have driven your neighbors insane back on Maple Street. These people want lawns and potted plants, not actual nature. Come to think of it, you might still be driving them insane now. Maybe that’s why they ran your response in its entirety. It’s too long for a letter to the editor and too short for an op-ed. But they put in every gloriously impractical word. Maybe they wanted to watch the “fireworks”.

I especially liked this part of your letter.

This area incidentally (Spring and Summer streets) was the same and exact area that the “witches” were found as the result of eating bad rye and perhaps drinking from College Pond.

Could it be genetic?

Anyway, the residents of Danvers, in my opinion, do not “value” and protect their resources. I am not just talking about the beavers here. You should be fishing in College Pond now, or enjoying it’s former beauty, but it has been hidden away for many hundreds of years. So you develop the lands and give away this asset as opposed to protecting it for subsequent generations.

Well now isn’t that refreshing! Thanks for an excellent letter Mr. Sherman and I hope it makes a few people think differently about their watershed. And thanks for the excuse to rerun my graphic. Which has made me very happy.

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Some additional news this morning. I’m late in sharing this with you which is definitely worth the listen. It’s a lovely interview with Jenny Papka of Native Bird Connections about avian vocalizations. You will remember that Native Birds joined us for the last 6 beaver festivals even our very first when we barely had 5 exhibits to rub together. It is no secret to say we are very, very fond of them. Here’s just one reason why:

6 amazing minutes of radio. Great job Jenny. We are so proud of you. And why isn’t Big Picture Science looking into beaver vocalizations? That would be REALLY interesting!

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Final grim read from our friend Beth of the National Wildlife Federation. She lives very near the Yosemite Fire and has some amazing observations about the massive blaze engulfing it. Read this and you might want to share.

How Much of Yosemite Will Burn in a Fire Fueled By Climate Change?

Known as the Rim Fire, to date it has burned almost 160,000 acres (roughly the size of Chicago) with about 22,000 of those acres in Yosemite. Not surprisingly, given its immense size and threats to a cherished national park, the fire has prompted a media blitz, headlining everywhere from CNN to the BBC to Al Jazeera.

Yet almost universally missing from the media coverage, as usual? That climate change is making wildfires more frequent and more intense. As they have in past years, reporters won’t connect the dots in their main stories, treating the science that’s staring us in the face as a side story.

NPS fire crew enters the Tuolumne Grove of Giant Sequoias to establish defensible space protecting the big trees if the Rim fire advances. (Photo USFS)

I found this picture very affecting. Go read the whole thoughtfully horrifying thing. It’s your park.

(And your climate.)

There are two remarkable stories today to share with you. They involve very hard work caring for beavers and trying to explain what they need to people who should know better, and bending the media into an ally that works with you instead of against you. One of them involves a Diesel Spill and lots and lots of towels, and the other a suspicious town that was practically the subject of an Arthur Miller play. Don’t miss either of them, honestly.

Officers release beavers rehabilitated after Chevron spill

Uinta Mountains • Utah’s famous Willard Bay beavers got a new home and a happy send-off Tuesday after nearly five months of living in an Ogden wildlife rehabilitation center.

“I’m sad to see them go, but it is for the best,” said Brayden Child, a Roy volunteer. “I’ll miss them.”

There were periods of trepidation, fleeting moments of success, lots of baths and the never-ending hunt for fresh aspen to feed the buck-toothed creatures.

“It has been a roller-coaster ride of emotions,” Erickson said. “We came in every morning holding our breath while we peeked in and hoped they were still alive. It was hard not knowing what we would see or what new problems may have come up. We celebrated the tiniest bit of progress.

Beavers, Douglass said, are great habitat creators and will be a welcome addition to the river drainage in the Uintas where they were released.

One beaver injured his toe in captivity and will be released with the others later after it heals. Mom gets her own makeshift lodge at the other end of the pond, and the four yearlings will be cozy together. Congratulations DaLyn and her many, many volunteers. I know these beavers cost time and resources, but they must have brought a lot of visibility, resources and hopefully your next crop of volunteers along the way. Worth A Dam is very, very proud to have helped you a little in the process and I have only one question.

When do I get my signed copy of the “Beavers in towels” calendar?

As if that wasn’t good enough news you will NEVER guess who wrote me this week, after reading my comments in their local paper and wanting to learn more about flow devices. Go ahead, I’ll wait while you scan past my disbelieving posts for the past few days. Did you find it? It involved some grave-robbing turtles and a trapper who wasn’t allowed to remove dead bodies. One of the town planners for Danvers Massachusetts, that’s who. So I wrote her about our flow device and showed her options and resources. And cc’d Mike who wrote her himself! And this morning we see this article.

Beavers rile residents in Danvers neighborhood

With the water rising, town officials hired a licensed trapper, and the Department of Public Works partially removed the dam and set traps, Saunders wrote, adding that a “more permanent solution” is needed.

Saunders suggested the use of “beaver deceivers,” a system of large plastic pipes and mesh fences that would allow the water to flow and is hard for beavers to block. They are in use at the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary in Topsfield.

The next step will be to create a management plan to find a long-term solution to flooding from beaver dams. Trapping beavers and knocking down dams will not solve the problem, Carleo said.

“When you kill the beavers off, because they are territorial creatures, new beavers will move into the area,” said Carleo, who said that the DPW will also be involved in finding a solution.

He said “pond levelers,” pipes that allow water to run through them but don’t allow beavers to detect the running water, might make a difference, but he said they do not work in all instances.

She wrote me a few days ago and said that Mr. Carleo should be copied in our correspondence because he would be the one handling it. Looking at his lovely quotes I can see he carefully read every word.

I’m hopeful that this means good news for Danvers and their beaver learning curve. But I don’t take anything for granted anymore. Way back when we were still working the farmer’s market I learned first hand that when our town was worried about beavers our then city treasurer saw a documentary on Skip Lisle and flow devices and she was so excited about finding the answer she invited the city manager and director of public works and the entire city council into her living room for a watching party. Finally a humane solution! No flooding and no danger and no dead beavers! It’s the perfect answer.

Guess how many of our fine city minds in Martinez came for the viewing? I’ll give you a hint, it’s a round number.

The good news is that this story is already being repeated to the media, which makes it very hard to pretend later you didn’t know about it. I’m guessing Danvers will be smarter than Martinez, and I’m very, very proud to have played a tiny part in helping them get the right answers.

Still, I’ll be keeping the turtle graphic just in case.