Take the time to watch this very nice report about why it might be a good idea to reintroduce beavers in England and benefit from their water management skills. It’s well worth your click.
Obviously beavers have a significant role to play in water management and when the state of California declared drought in 2014 I thought someone should mention this fact. I wrote a letter to the Secretary of Natural Resources, John Laird about the topic. He happened to grow up in Benicia so I thought he might be familiar with the Martinez Beaver story. When I came home from the hospital there was a letter waiting for me from Dr. Eric Loft of the Wildlife Branch of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife who was asked to respond to my letter.
Attached is an pdf letter response to your letter to the Secretary. You might keep in touch with our Fisheries program staff who are evaluating the utility of beaver 
That’s nearly my favorite paragraph. I love that we’ve been ‘heard of’ and made a ripple on the surface of the hard waters of Fish and Wildlife. I’m very happy to think that anybody in Sacramento was forced to sit at their computer and write about beavers for half an hour. And that anyone thought about the issue at all.
Oh yes it will! And it’s sold OUT. So you can expect 50 of these letters next quarter. The Scott River watershed is the place where Fish and Wildlife actually installed a flow device, and you know it is the first part of California that will get beaver smart. I’m glad that he knows to mention this. He goes on to say that beavers are also icky.
Why can’t you require folks try solutions before they kill beavers? And why can’t the state provide an incentive of some kind for living with beavers on your land? How about an environmental tax credit? He goes on to say I exaggerate how many beavers are killed because they only issue a few hundred depredation permits a year. I pointed out that those permits are per incident – not per beaver, so a single permit could take out as many as 10 beavers, or who ever lives in the family. Which adds up to thousands – not hundreds.
Do you think I will follow up and remain part of the discussion? Go ahead, guess. It’s very nice to have a response and contacts for the future, but they are going to need 100 letters like mine to take this seriously. Let’s all do what we can!
Today’s lovely donation to the silent auction comes from Primrose Prints In Norwich, UK. The funny thing is that Jon’s best friend in all the world lives in Norwich, and we are very familiar with the town. They donated a 1935 photograph of two beavers in the stream and generally offer only vintage original prints. Here is one from Grey Owl’s text. Thanks so much Primrose Prints!
