ANOTHER BLOCKBUSTER FROM PSMFC

heidi08 Beavers and salmon June 21, 2018

This year’s festival was the first time I was ever contacted by Dan Logan, fisheries biologist of NOAA marine fisheries in Santa Rosa. (To be honest I actually didn’t even know there was a marine fisheries arm in Santa Rosa) . Dan made me very happy by asking for NOAA to have space at the beaver festival. Yesterday he passed along this wonderful new film from the good folk at PMSFC. Go get your coffee and your relatives and come back and watch. Then watch it again and send it to everyone you know. It’s that good.

Isn’t that wonderful? Give it up for the brilliant folks at PSMFC. It’s truly amazing what the right education, some good intentions and a handful of federal dollars can do. The videos can be shared or use in educational trainings everywhere. Their website politely calls the beaver myths “misunderstandings” which is more gracious than I have it in me to be. But I admire the way they say it anyway.

Beaver Benefits and Controlling Impacts

But there is a lot of misunderstanding of beavers. Beaver do not eat salmon or other fish (they are herbivores, eating plants) and dams generally do not impede salmon passage. Salmon and beavers evolved together and are mutually beneficial.

Despite their value, beaver activities can also create problems for landowners, leading to their killing or the destruction of their dams. But there are ways to live with beaver! Join us as we begin a series featuring the benefits of beavers and the ways that landowners and beavers can co-exist.

Honestly sometimes it just feels like promotion of beaver benefits has is reaching a tipping point this summer. Yesterday I also received my official copy of Ben’s book – Eager: The surprising Secret Lives of Beavers and Why They Matter and of course like any truly self interested and shallow party, I first flipped to the back and checked the index.

Nice, Notice if you add all those pages up it makes eleven. That’s 1 page for every year I’ve been involved with beavers. Kinda makes sense really, don’t you think?

And it should be, it should be, it should be like that!

Because Horton was faithful! He sat and he sat!

He meant what he said

And he said what he meant…”

And they sent him home Happy,

One hundred per cent

WATER-SAVERS TO THE RESCUE

heidi08 Beavers and water March 14, 2018

Sunday I did a little research for my upcoming SARSAS talk by checking out the references listed in the salmon-steelhead summary of the 60-day notice of intent to sue issued to Wildlife Services by the Western Environmental Law Firm and the Center for Biological Diversity. It’s a wonderful rundown of the research and very broadly sourced but there was one reference in particular that caught my attention. Let’s see if you can guess why.

Hoffman, W. and F. Recht. 2013. Beavers and Conservation in Oregon Coastal Watersheds, available at https://www.martinezbeavers.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/final-Beavers-and-Conservation-in-Oregon-Coastal-Watersheds.pdf

Did you see it? That’s a reference in a legal document to a paper linking to THIS WEBSITE. Because that particular article wasn’t available anywhere else on the web, which describes this website very nicely, thanks. You know sometimes I wonder whether anyone actually reads this site and then I see our name appear in court! Back in 2013 I had just befriended one of the authors of the paper at the State of the Beaver Conference, so I asked if she could share her it.

Fran Recht works for the Habitat program for the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission which means they happen to be very interested in the habitat beavers create for fish. The habitat arm “is involved in programs on the West Coast that further habitat protection for anadromous, estuarine, and marine fish species. Program efforts are focused on watershed and estuarine conservation and restoration, work with regional science and policy bodies and marine debris and pollution abatement.”

Fran wrote yesterday saying they had just posted a new video and asking that we share it around. Over the years they have championed some wonderful stuff, like the landowner film in the right margin. This one is even better! She needn’t have asked me to pass it on, because it is outstanding and I couldn’t resist. Give yourself a wonderful wednesday and watch this all the way through.

Beaver Appreciation Day

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers, Beavers and climate change, Beavers and Forests, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and Ice, Beavers and Insects, Beavers and salmon February 24, 2017

Yesterday turned out to be a wonderful day, even at this distance from the conference. Alexandria Costello was generous enough to FBlive some of the wonderful talks, and I got lots of feedback about my presentation. Plus Sherry Guzzi of Sierra Wildlife Coalition was able to take and send amazing notes of the day, which made me feel like I was part of the action.

One of the exciting presentations Alex covered was by Fran Recht of the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission. They just released an amazing film by Freshwater Illustrations that you NEED to see and share with everyone you know. Check it out.

Isn’t that wonderful? I think will be a permanent margin feature for a while. Having ‘regular’ folk talk about the benefits of beavers is a powerful tool, and one that we should always rely on. I guess I’m kind of regular folk, or I was once. Sherry said that Gerhard Schwab’s talk about beavers in Germany emphasized having “local” experts that really make the difference. Apparently my talk had a warm reception and I got some positive feedback yesterday even from folks I’d never met. Our old friend Louise Ramsay said it was “Inspirational”, a stranger wrote and said it was so affecting he got ‘choked up’ about the kits dying, Suzanne Fouty actually quoted me in her talk later in the day, a grad student I didn’t know wrote that they came to the conference to meet me and were so sorry I wasn’t there but glad to hear me anyway, and the author Ken Goldfarb who I talked into attending wrote:

Heidi, that was really a fantastic video… I’m sure you’re very sad at not being able to attend the conference, but you should know that your virtual presentation elicited a lot of laughs, a lot of sympathetic nodding, and a very enthusiastic ovation. Incredible footage!

So I guess that sometimes it’s better to not be there and feel that you contribute than the opposite. Thes talk I’m most anxious about missing this morning is by Lorne Fitch of Cows and Fish in Alberta, I’m trying to see if I can get it streamed by some hardy soul willing to hold their phone up for an hour. I will let you know and share if I can.

Cheryl was no slacker either yesterday, and she went on the release of the beaver recently rescued in Pittsburg that they returned to Dow Wetlands. I know you’d want to see these photos. Click twice on a photo to see it larger.

Lindsay Wildlife rescue beaver emerges from crate

Sniffing and wideout he checks out his surroudings

Afon Rheidol

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Environmental May 18, 2013

Good news for beavers in Wales! They’re getting closer to reintroduction. Count this as great news for dragonflies and salmon and otters and waterfowl too. Well here, I’ll let our good friend Peter Smith tell you. In addition to having the very best job on the planet, he’s an excellent spokesman!

Beavers’ return: Afon Rheidol river near Aberystwyth is preferred site

Plans to reintroduce beavers to the Welsh countryside after hundreds of years without them have moved a step closer.

The Afon Rheidol river in Ceredigion has been chosen as the location for their return next year. Should the move go ahead it could see beavers brought in from the UK and around Europe.

Of course there are the usual grumblings from farmers and fishermen but they seem to be facing a losing battle. The players have done everything right and the advocates have made the right friends. Fingers crossed, but it looks like after being missing for 400 years, beavers coming back to Wales! Can a Welsh beaver festival be far behind?

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Any news closer to home? I received this paper from Leonard Houston this morning. Its by Dr. Wayne Hoffman and the midcoast Watershed council. Hoffman is a name we’ve read over and over again this year, but we still haven’t connected. After I sip some coffee and read through this treasure I’m definitely introducing myself! In case you want to read this yourself, I’ve put a permanent link on the right hand margin under solutions. UPDATE from the small world files. Just heard from his colleague and co-author Fran Recht that she attended my presentation at the beaver conference this year and was inspired by the Martinez Beaver story!

Beavers and Conservation in Oregon Coastal Watersheds

A background paper by

Dr. Wayne Hoffman, MidCoast Watersheds Council

Fran Recht, Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission

Those interested in salmon and habitat restoration are express ing renewed interest in reestablishing beaver populations as inexpensive “watershed engineers”. In many places the type of work that beavers do improves conditions favorable to cohosalmon, cutthroat troutand other animals. Their dams also store water that help increase nutrient levels for other organisms in the stream, build up eroded streambeds, release water during the dry seasons, and improve water quality by slowing waters to allow sediment to settle, among other things. However, in Oregon, beavers have been considered a pest as well as a game animal so their protections are limited and their numbers have fluctuated dramatically over time due to a variety of factors.In the central Coast major declines in beaver ponds and dams have been documented in the past 2 decades. This background aper provides a summary of the benefits of beavers, their conflicts with humans, and the policies and conditions that affect their survival. It also provides examples of ways to reduce conflict with humans, and suggests needed legislative actions