Welcome Yule!

What is in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet.

R&J 2:2:45

Brands and names have a strange way of shaping our language. “Aspirin” was once a brand name, owned and trademarked, and is now the general name for acetylsalicylic acid from Bayer to Bufferin. Hoover, Biro, Sellotape: all brand names that became the generic term. It’s a compliment of sorts, for your invention to become the ubiquitous name for all copies, but no inventor is happy about it at first.

I mention this because there has always been much confusion about the names of flow devices. Even the much publicized contraption in Alhambra Creek has been repeatedly misnamed in print and conversation. Recent confusion is evident in this article about the Oshawa beavers. Certainly a beaver colony won’t be saved by a name, but its good for readers of this blog (the most informed beaver watchers in the known universe) to know what’s what. This is confusing business, and I’m still learning, so consider this a work in progress.

FLOW DEVICE:

A Flow Device is the generic term. It can apply to all installations designed to humanely block beavers from a destructive water activity. The thing in Alhambra Creek is a Flow Device, in the same way that your Honda is an Automobile, or your Labrador is a Dog. Sometimes the terms “beaver deceiver” or “beaver baffler” are also used generically, meaning any effort to humanely trick a beaver. This is incorrect and sometimes confusing, so here’s a primer:

BEAVER DECEIVER:

The Beaver Deceiver is a trapazoidal fence built around a culvert to prevent beavers from blocking the culvert. It was invented by Skip Lisle in his work with the Penobscot Nation in Maine. His name has become very linked to the invention, and since he installed Martinez Flow Device it is sometimes mistakenly called a Beaver Deceiver. It isn’t one. Our problem was dam height not culvert blocking.

CLEMSON POND LEVELER:

This ground-breaking device was a production of Clemson University in South Carolina. It involved a perforated pipe through the dam and a baffled intake. It is less used today because of its rigid, expensive construction, but it was hugely important in demonstrating that flow devices could work to manage beaver behavior.

CASTOR MASTER:

This is the flow device in Alhambra Creek designed by Skip Lisle of Beaver Deceivers International. It involves a double walled flexible pipe which goes over the dam. The inlet of the pipe is enclosed with a roundfence called a “filter” which prevents the beavers from feeling suction and plugging the pipe. The outflow is downstream of the dam.

FLEXIBLE LEVELER:

This is the flow device trademarked by Mike Callahan of Beaver Solutions. It uses a single walled pipe which passes through a notch in the dam. The intake is enclosed by a roundfence with a domed top to block the pipe. The outflow may also be blocked with fencing.

BEAVER BAFFLER:

The Beaver Baffler has been called a modern version of the Beaver Stop developed by Neil Thurber in Canada. The adaptions of the Baffler by Brian Graph of Dodgeville NY have been successfully used to prevent beavers from building in culverts. However, the trapezoidal fencing is generally thought to be more successful at preventing daming.

PIPE & CAGE or FENCE & PIPE

This combines the techniques of the culvert fencing with the flexibility of the pipe to encourage beavers to dam away from the culvert. It has tested at 99% effective.

A final word on the work of Michael LeClair, who developed many of these techniques with his original work in Gatineau park in Ontario. His work became the foundation of the pond levelers used throughout the world. His devices have been called “limiters” and are far more influential than they ever get credit for.

Fans of the Martinez Beavers will understand more intimately than most that the survival of our beavers ultimately depended on just one thing. Sure public outcry made a difference, and fear of political ruin quivered the hearts of at least two on the council, but if the dam had stayed at its original height and continued to pose a flooding threat, they would have been soundly dispatched. (Sent in a pickup truck to Plumas county if the god’s were kind or off to a glue factory somewhere if they were not.)

What fundamentally allowed the beavers to remain with us was the flow device, installed by Skip Lisle and often mistakenly called a “beaver deceiver”. (It’s actually a “Castor Master”.) This allowed for the water height to be lowered in such a way that the movement is disguised from the beavers. They don’t feel the suction and don’t associate the outflow with their dam, so they tolerate the water loss. Skip invented the beaver deceiver during his work with the Penobscot Nation. He went on to develop his ideas for the flow device and round fence over time. Skip is committed to showing the world that flow devices work. He traveled to Lithuania this summer to talk at the conference there, and he is headed for Oregon next week to give a four hour teaching at the State of the Beaver Conference.

Mike Callahan of Beaver Solutions trained with Skip and eventually developed his own full time business around beaver management. His vision of the best use of management skills included a teaching DVD that would allow property owners, cities and transit workers to cheaply implement tools that could manage problematic beaver behavior. He is well aware that allowing this keystone species to remain takes care of so many others, but Mike is a pragmatic beaver defender who helps businesses focus on the bottom line. Installing a successful flow device, he argues, can manage the problem now and in the future. Hiring a trapper is a temporary solution that will get more expensive over time.

Mike was awarded a grant from the AWI last year to make the DVD, and has been working towards its release. Expect it in the Spring of 2010. Recently he approached me asking to pay to include three minutes of my beaver footage in the production. Since Mike’s smart website was the first place I turned with beaver questions LO these many moons ago, and we became friends over the ensuing years, I can’t think of anything more “full circle” than using that footage to help him and help beavers around the country for years to come. Whatever financial agreement we figure out will go to Worth A Dam.

In the mean time, I am helping him spread the word about the upcoming project with an announcement postcard sent to beaver supporters and interested media. You might recognize my favorite photo from Bob Armstrong of the Mendenhall Glacier Beavers. (He gave his blessing on the prospect, and arranged for Mike to come do a beaver management plan in the state park there.) The idea is to follow up with a second announcement once the project is released. I’m hopeful that by helping more people learn that there are reasonable ways to manage beaver behavior, and inexpensive tools for learning about them, we can significantly impact the well-being of beavers all around the country.

In the mean time, our wikipedia friend is supposed to be honing a “flow device” entry this weekend. It’s hard to remember so long ago, but in 2007 I definitely had to hunt to find out about options. Remember how many people talked about the Clemson Pond Leveler at the meeting? Someone from Lafayette even donated the funds for one. That was one tool that had been published and talked about, but the technology had already come a long way since then. Mike was the one who explained that to me. Let’s hope “flow device” becomes a household name – at least as common as “snare”.