There were two news stories yesterday that touched on the history of this blog. One of them was positive so we’ll do that last. The other is less positive but I’m at least happy that the reporter wrote me back this morning and apologized for not asking US first. Ahem.

What’s up with all the wayward beavers?

WALNUT CREEK — An injured beaver discovered recently in a Pittsburg parking lot near Kirker Creek may have lost its sight, according to the Lindsay Wildlife Experience.

When the Contra Costa County Animal Services Department brought the 35-pound male beaver to the Lindsay on Oct. 18, the animal was lethargic and staff believed he may have suffered head trauma and an injured jaw.

The medical team had been monitoring the beaver’s condition, administering pain medication and treating him with antibiotics for minor injuries.

Two days after the beaver arrived at the Walnut Creek hospital, however, Lindsay staff discovered that the animal could not see, which may be a temporary side effect of the head injury, said Elisabeth Nardi, associate director of marketing.

If the beaver is permanently blind, he would not be able to survive in the wild, she added.

Poor guy.

Typically, the Lindsay receives only one or two of the large rodents per year, but this is the fifth the nonprofit has cared for in 2017. Wildlife experts are not sure why so many beavers are venturing from their lodges into areas with people.

The medical team at Lindsay Wildlife Experience in Walnut Creek is treating an injured 35-pound male beaver who was found in a Pittsburg parking lot on Oct. 18, 2017. (Courtesy of Lindsay Wildlife Experience)

One theory is that the beaver population has grown.

The heavy rains that soaked the Bay Area last winter produced lush vegetation for the toothy animals to eat, so more kits may be surviving.

A second hypothesis is that people are encroaching on the animals’ habitat.

“We have had the better part of 10 years of drought and the human population in the Bay Area has increased and spread out more during that time,” said Amber Engle, Lindsay Wildlife Rehabilitation Manager.

First of all, stop spouting theories about the population growing and ask the REAL BEAVER EXPERTS at Worth A Dam. Sheesh.

I actually heard about this poor little guy thursday morning from Cheryl, who was alerted by their vet. But this particular unconsulted beaver EXPERT doesn’t think it has anything to do with the population growing. (!) This wet winter and spring was terribly hard on beaver families. Flooding dislocated them all over, not just in the Bay Area. A beaver that is suddenly without family or home is disoriented and confused. He or she can easily wander into a public area, get hit by a car, and wind up in rehab.

This beaver’s dislocation is NOT storm related. And he sounds sick. The blindness makes me think of our very first sick kit. Remember that? He was picked up swimming in circles and they discovered at Lindsay he was blind.

After he died a necropsy showed that he had brain damage caused by round worm parasite that was responsible for his blindness.

And for goodness sake don’t euthanize a beaver just because he’s blind. Put him some farmer’s pond or backyard and let him find his way. Beavers have routines,their eyesight isn’t good anyway, and it he had a reliable food source he’d be fine and figure things out on his own. Two thirds of beaver life is probably spent sightless anyway – underground or underwater.

Go here to donate and remind Lindsay that caring for sick beavers is Worth A Dam.

Better news comes from Southern California at the site of the big bruhaha nearly two decades ago. For newer readers Lake Skinner was a reservoir that made a decision to trap out beavers and caused resident outcry. When they were challenged on this decision they said that the beavers were threatening the homes of endangered birds in the area, the least Bell’s vireo and Willow Flycatcher and had to be killed to protect them.

The outraged citizens hired an attorney who brought the whole thing to court, filing suit against the metrolitan water district, the power company and CDFG. When they lost they brought the matter to appeals court with expert testimony by the likes of Sherri Tippie and Donald Hey.

This time they won because the smart attorney (Mitch Wagoner) argued that that removing the beavers was a violation of CEQA and the court agreed that the decision was “discretionary” and not “ministerial” (meaning they did it because they wanted to not because they had to.) So they lost big time and had to all those pay court costs.

In addition but seperartely, researchers in the area were attracted to the story and published an article about the whole stupid decision wonderfully called “Management by Assertion” which remains one of my favorites.

Well yesterday this was posted including some of their findings.

Skinner Reservoir – Lake Skinner Temecula Ca

The reservoir and nearby Southwestern Riverside County Multi-Species Reserve host endangered species such as Least Bell’s vireo (Vireo bellii pusillis) and Southwestern Willow flycatcher (Empidonax traillii extimus), dependent on riparian willow habitat that is created and maintained by North American beaver (Castor canadensis).

Now originally I thought this was on the reservoir website which would have been awesome, but today I can see it was just a blog that I think might be computer generated. Never mind. It is still very good news though because the it means that the information from the good guys in this lawsuit and study is so widespread that it’s easier to pick up than all the lies they wanted people to believe and had a staff of thousands to spread.

Beaver truth will out. So there.

A gentle article this morning from Cuyahoga National Park, Beaver Marsh. Yes, there is such a thing. For now, anyway. The intern who wrote it isn’t quite a beaver scholar but her heart is definitely in the right place.

GUEST COLUMN: A look at Cuyahoga Valley National Park’s Beaver Marsh

Throughout the year, the Beaver Marsh in Cuyahoga Valley National Park teams with life. Depending on the month, you may be serenaded by frogs, watch turtles swim among lily pads, glimpse a beaver nibbling on a willow branch, or hear northern cardinals call from snowy trees.

Let the opportunities to make new discoveries lure you back to the Beaver Marsh each month.November should not be an exception.

November is an active month for beavers as they prepare for winter.

They are primarily nocturnal, but are frequently observed at dawn or dusk. You may see them collecting softwood branches, such as willow and aspen, which they store in under-water caches in front of their lodge as a winter food supply.

You can also view one of their lodges from a pullout [I think she means dams] along the boardwalk.This gives them a wider area to swim and minimizes dangers from predators on land.

Once the marsh freezes, their world becomes constricted. They no longer have open water to swim easily around their marsh. They will spend more time in their lodge, using the underwater entrance and exit to access their stored food cache.

To delay freezing, beavers will break up the ice. Look for spots where beavers have used their heads to break up ice from below its surface.

While they are native to Ohio, they had disappeared by early 1900s.

Insect populations, which have diminished in the surrounding uplands, linger into November. Birds that feed on insects are drawn to the marsh. [After their eradication by the 1900’s], beavers started returning to the valley after over a century absence.

By flooding the area, beavers awakened long-dormant seeds of wetland plants. This salvage-yard-turned-magnificent wetland shows the potential for nature to recover when we give it [AND BEAVERS] a chance.

The easy walk is accessible by wheelchair or stroller.

The park looks beautiful, and you can imagine how empty it is at sunrise. This morning the temperature is reported as 34 degrees. I haven’t even met them and I can promise you those are certainly the luckiest beavers in Ohio without a doubt. There’s NPS photo from the marsh labeled as a beaver that’s actually a muskrat. (They get a letter). So the entire state isn’t too beaver-educated out there or beaver-friendly. Apparently a local photographer Ron Skinner has been able to get some nice photos of real beavers. Here’s one that I particularly like.

Ron Skinner- Beaver – Beaver Marsh – Cuyahoga Valley National Park

Beavers show up in unexpected places though, that’s for sure. I received an email yesterday about some beavers in SAN DIEGO COUNTY, between Temecula and Fallbrook on the Margarita river. The man who hiked in to see their handiwork said he read about it on Duane’s Nash’s Southland Beaver site, and said that there was a step-ladder of dams all along the creek.

Be still my heart!

You might not know why this is such a big deal, but fortunately you’re reading THIS website and you already guessed that I’m going to tell you. The Margarita River is not very far from Skinner Reservoir in Riverside county, which is where the famous beavers were trapped in 1999 ‘because they were a threat to endangered birds’. Defenders formed Friends of Lake Skinner who sued the department of fish and game and the metropolitan water district with the help of a very smart attorney who became a patron of this website. It also was the subject of some awesome research by folks who also became friends of this website.

That case was eventually won by the good guys at the appellate level.

Think about that for a moment. The state and water district chose to spend 100’s of thousands of dollars for a court case they eventually lost, which meant they had to cover the cost of the defense expert witnesses like Sherry Tippie from Colorado and Donald Hey from Chicago, in addition to the not inconsequential legal fees of our buddy Mitch Wagner.

And after all this and 20 years later the beavers are back anyway.

Lake-skinner