Well the California Beaver Summit website is up and active. If you haven’t checked it out yet you should go find out what you’ll be missing on April 7th and 9th and sign up in person. All the best and brightest beaver people will be there and we’ll do our best to turn a very low tide in our flammable state.
In the meantime there’s another excellent column from George B. Emmons writing for the Warehelm Week. You might remember we first heard from George in 2020 with this fine column. Now he’s at it again.
The industrious beaver dam
As a Wareham Week reader and coastal resident, you may not see many beavers in your travels unless you go back inland to where their dams are welcomed to be beneficial to both people and wildlife. Out in the country, dams are considered desirable for the environment by slowing down and widening out lucrative waterways.
Slow moving flooded habitats make homes for aquatic species such as waterfowl, mammals, turtles, insects, herons and kingfishers — like the one perched on a beaver lodge in my animated drawing. One benefit of slower moving waters is that they filter out unwanted nitrogen and heavy metal impurities to stop them from spreading downstream.
Important recent research has also discovered that wetlands created by beaver dams stimulate growth of vegetation and aquatic habitat — even in periods of drought — that provides a natural refuge for wildlife during dry season wildfires. Especially on the west coast, dams also catch and conserve a declining amount of glacial melt and act as a wellspring reserve for a future fountainhead of long-term soaking to prevent riparian habitat from drying up entirely.
George is very very close to being a beaver believer. In fact if he’s not already friends with Mike Callahan who lives just 2 hours away from him he should start a correspondence. There are somethings about Mike’s work he need to better understand.
The jury is still out on whether beavers’ presence is an advantage in urban developments. Beaver dams can become a threat and nuisance during rainy periods, as they can flood low-lying drainage and also basements. Additionally, if beavers clog culverts in ditches, adding mesh cages at openings or running a pipe through the dam to limit water flow can be very costly.
Please not that installing a beaver deceiver which will work for a decade or longer to keep beavers from plugging a culvert for the price of 500 dollars is cheaper than renting a backhoe to clear the culvert and hiring a trapper to get rid of new
beaver over and over. If you like I can do the math for you and show my work.
Another complaint is that beavers cut down small trees to enjoy their favorite food: the cambial layer between tree bark and the inner layer of wood. Beavers have
four razor-sharp front teeth to begin the cut and sixteen back molars to grind wood into a digestible substance. They prefer the flavor of aspen and birch trees, but also choose limbs of birch, male willow, oak and hornbeam to fortify the foundations of the dam. Landowners may wrap fencing or metal barriers around tree trunks. Whenever possible, wildlife managers prefer to assist landowners with moving beavers to
more suitable habitats.
A beaver’s determination and persistence in constructing a dam sets an example of industrial dedication for the human race in their own projects.
Yes its true that chopping down trees bothers people. You’d be surprised how often that is their only infraction before trapping is seized upon. Of course wrapping trees with wise is very very difficult because it requires the skill level of a first grader and a little bit of patience. There must be some reason no one ever wants to do it.
Well George you are nibbling at the margins of true being a true beaver believer. We’ll do what we can to push you firmly over the edge. In the meantime keep writing articles like this and remember to check our website for hints.
We can really help out with the artwork at least.
