Tag: Glynnis Hood

Welcome to the ‘Hood

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Environmental, Festival, Friends of Martinez Beavers, Who's saving beavers now? July 17, 2014

I give up. It’s impossible to prioritize or organize today’s beaver news into one well-rounded serving. I’m just going to have to lump them together like a very disorganized (but tasty) potluck. Enjoy. Of course I’ll start with what’s most important:

City installs pond system to offset beaver activity

So as part of the city’s Beaver Management Program, two pond leveling devices were installed on July 9 in two beaver dams located near the Augustana Campus by 48th St.

Two 20 feet long High Density Polyethylene, or HDPE, pipes were installed through the dams to allow water to flow through the ponds. The pipes are placed at a level that will allow water to balance out between the ponds. Each end of the pipe has a cage made from hog fencing to ensure blockage will not occur.

The devices are the first of their kind to be installed in Camrose.

“Essentially, it is a piping system that acts like a syphon,” said Glynnis Hood, associate professor in environmental science at the University of Alberta – Augustana Campus, who is spearheading the project.

“Anytime the water gets above the level of where the pipe is placed in the dam, the syphon system starts to work and keeps the water at a consistent level rather than having the pond flood above its banks,” Hood said.

Hurray for Glynnis and her merry band of [burly] students! Hurray for Camrose and flow devices in Alberta! And Hurray for beavers who will stabilize that stream and improve conditions for fish and birds.

Hood added that her research shows the leveling system will result in significant time and monetary savings because there is less need for ongoing maintenance compared to traditional methods such as a dam removal or beaver trapping.

Each pond levelling system cost approximately $600 in materials and about $200 for labor.

Hood said, “It seems like a large initial cost but what we’ve found is that very low maintenance is required thereafter and it makes up for the rental of a backhoe which is about $200 to $300 an hour, not to mention the staffing that goes into it.”

The new pond leveling system will also allow the ecosystem to thrive as there will be fewer interruptions to the area in the form of dam removals.

Hood said, “The beavers can stay. They tend to just pack more material on top of the pipe and that actually helps our installation because it protects the pipe even more. These devices are designed to keep the pond intact, albeit at a lower level than beavers probably want them to be.”

Dr. Hood is one of the brightest stars in the beaver firmament. Every time I read about her successful persuasions with science I get a glorious feeling that one day we might actually cross the finish line. In the meantime, we still have some laps to do in our Martinez relay. Audubon enjoyed a very successful field trip last night and we have a festival to plan.

The brochure is finished (Thanks Amelia!) and the charms are done (Thanks Mike!). I had a great interview with the CC Times tuesday and we are in Patch today.

Beaver Festival VII Coming Soon to Martinez

The Seventh Annual Beaver Festival in historic downtown Martinez is set for August 2, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Beaver Park, at the corner of Marina Vista and Castro Streets.

Bring the family to this free, unique Bay Area landmark event.

The Beaver Festival features live music, wildlife exhibits from seven counties, children’s activities and beaver tours.

Learn how and why every city should co-exist with beavers. The first 100 children earn a Wildbryde charm necklace.

Everyone will find something special at this one-of-a-kind celebration of local nature and its most famous grassroots civic success story! To learn more about Worth A Dam (MartinezBeavers.org), follow this link.

Thanks Patch! Oh and just in case you wondered about DEFRA, England is still woefully stupid, but their feet are getting closer to the fire. The story was on British TV last night and in Indian newspapers this morning.

But, don’t worry, the English aren’t always foolish. This, for example, was a brilliant decision.

London Celebrates The Monty Python Reunion By Putting A 50-Foot Dead Parrot In Potters Field Park

Go read the article, it’s that fun.

Oh and today just needs this, I can tell.

Well, did you watch it?

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beaver Rehabilitation, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Dispersal, Environmental, featured, In the News May 15, 2014

In case you were busy or want to see a section again, the entire program is online:

It’s how I got this very special screen grab that whizzed by at the end.

I’m was already happy because I noticed corrections I had made to the script that were actually incorporated! In fact, I don’t think there’s a single thing incorrect in the entire documentary, which is both awesome and rare! Last night I admired Glynnis presentation of science, loved Suzanne and Carol’s wonder at the beaver improvements in Nevada, enjoyed Michel LeClare better in this american version, and was touched by Michelle Grant’s beaver rescue that remained perfectly untouched from the Canadian original. Sherri Tippie stole the show though, and I’m still getting emails from beaver civilians who adored her presentation. This supports my theory by the way, that saving beavers ultimately isn’t about changing minds with science, it’s about touching hearts.

Sherri made such a splash that she’s on Grist today

Dream of cradling a beaver in your arms? Live vicariously through this Colorado hairdresser!

In case you needed it, here’s something to celebrate: You now live in a world where the sentence “I’m a hairdresser and live beaver trapper” has been uttered in earnest. Sherri Tippie is just an ordinary Colorado jail barber who happens to love beavers – so much so that she’s become one of the top live trappers in North America.

But do not for one second presume that she’s some granola-crunching, Tom’s-of-Maine-using hippie:

I am a hairdresser, honey. I like HBO, I want a toilet that flushes, OK? I do not camp out, baby.

You and me both, girl! To witness Tippie tenderly cradle a squirming water rodent as if it were her own child, watch the video above.

There’s another affectionate article from Bloomberg Business week of all places! I’m expecting more to follow.

Large Rodent Tackles Climate Change: Hoelterhoff

A Colorado hairdresser with a fondness for large rodents is doing her bit for climate change, and so can you. Sherri Tippie is the nation’s champion beaver relocation specialist and the sight of her wrestling them into carriers adds to the fascination of “Leave it to Beavers,” which airs tonight at 8 p.m. EST (check local listings) on PBS’s Nova series.

Having nearly died out as hats in more formal times, the beaver seems determined to survive. I trust the encounter of a pathetic moose and an angry beaver will go viral.

The show’s timing is pretty great: Last week, the National Climate Assessment report affirmed that climate change is a fact that can’t be blustered away by simple radio hosts, grandiose columnists and the Washington servitors of the coal industry.

Beavers deploy every cell in their equally tiny brains keeping America fertile and driving developers crazy. In the Rocky Mountains, their structures filter billions of tons of water. When a drought dried out big stretches of Nevada, the beaver-managed areas remained nice and green.

I love to think of all those business men reading about beavers. I’m eager to learn more about the reactions people had to this, so I’d love you to send me your thoughts. I’d be happy to collect and share them. In the meantime, I’m one happy camper.

Tell PBS how AWESOME that documentary was. Leave your comment here.

From the: It never rains, but it pours, beaver files!

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, Educational, Environmental, Recent Sightings June 10, 2015

Sometimes I go for weeks with nary a beaver report to etch together because the world is in a collective beaver lull. And sometimes there are way too may stories to write about. This morning is the second problem, but we have to start with a mind-blowing report from Saskatchewan, Canada. Which happens to be home to some of the most famous beaver intolerance in the Northern Hemisphere and was even featured as an example of beaver woes in the Canadian documentary on beavers last year. Its horrific report of beaver killing has spurred my most treasured columns (Saskat-CHEW-on-that!) and one of my most praised graphics (The exploding beaver population). Which is just back story to remind us that they really, really hate beavers. And makes this story all the more remarkable.

Moose Mountain Provincial Park Beaver Management Plan presented to public

Conflicting views on beaver management in the Moose Mountain Provincial Park have been issues for many years, but issues surrounding the actual workings of the watershed and Kenosee Lake are the underlying driving force of the concerns regarding water levels in Kenosee.

Phillips spoke to his research which pointed towards the park’s topography as being nearly saturated by beaver, with 2.13 colonies in every square kilometre which is a considerable density. However, despite there being numerous beaver in the area Phillips wasn’t hesitant to suggest a drastic beaver management plan, thus his recommendations following his studies included looking into flow devices in certain areas to prevent beavers from damming these spots and to refrain from much blasting of beaver dams until a hydrological study could be performed on the area.

Mind you, there is also a passage in the article that suggest beavers are to blame for their being less water in the lake. (Drinking too much?) But considering the source, this is a HUGE step forward from an area I wasn’t even sure had feet. Maybe this next article has something to do with it, because Alberta is just one province over. Dr. Hood is steadily persuading hearts and minds in Canada.

Beavers fulfill important role

Glynnis Hood is so passionate about beavers she has built a life around fighting for the enduring symbol of Canada.

“Whether you love them or not, the Canadian landscape was formed by the beaver,” said Hood, an associate professor at the University of Alberta’s environmental science and studies Augustana campus, at a recent meeting of the Bow Valley Naturalists.

In examining how beaver influenced some of Alberta’s wetlands in Elk Island National Park over a 54-year period, Hood and co-investigator Suzanne Bayley discovered the presence of open water increased up to nine times with the presence of beaver and their dams.

Climate models predict the incidence of drought in parts of North America will increase in frequency and length over the next 100 years and Hood’s research shows beavers will likely play an important role in maintaining water and mitigating the effects of drought.

Don’t you just love Glynnis? Sometimes I feel so frustrated, like a lone voice in the wilderness, and then she lands a report in the news and I just feel so relaxed. Like a child falling asleep in the back seat while their parents drive. You can bet that repeating this story over and over, and her compelling spot on the Beaver Whisperers documentary, and her smart book, have all made an impact on her neighbors.

Currently, Hood is working on an ongoing study in the Cooking Lake-Blackfoot Provincial Recreation Area, just south of Elk Island National Park.

They have installed 12 pond levelling devices, all of which are performing well to date. Three devices have been in since 2011 and have required very little to no maintenance and have withstood summer high water and winter warm spells.

Hood, along with Dr. Varghese Manaloor, an economist at the University of Augustana, have been supervising a student on a directed study this semester to work with cost-benefit data for these sites.

Hood said there are significant financial gains by using the pond levellers instead of the more traditional approaches, such as dam removal or removal of a beaver colony. In one case, she said, a device was installed adjacent to a popular park trail that was subject to regular flooding and closure over the past 10 years.

“The trail has remained open and dry since installation and the wetland and beaver colony remain intact,” she said.

What could possibly top that, you ask? How about this short report from England where a beaver was observed reintroducing himself.

Beaver seen swimming on coast

A BEAVER was sighted in Ramsgate sea this morning before swimming as far as Viking Bay.

Remember that beavers often use the ocean to get between rivers, and since they can close their eyes, ears, nose and throats, they can manage in salt water fairly well for a time. I’m thinking this beaver has read the many articles on the glacial speed with which the United Kingdom is moving towards beaver reintroduction, arguing about reintroducing dinosaurs because they were native once too, worrying about farmers, fisherman and flooding, and the beaver just said,

“Forget it, I’ll do it myself”

Beavers and Bugs

heidi08 Beaver Art, Beaver Behavior, Beaver-themed merchandise, Educational, Environmental February 25, 2014

I thought today we’d talk about the very most important thing beavers do in creeks. Sure they raise the water table and filter toxins and increase fish and mammals and birds. But THIS is how it all starts and is an essential action by beavers that makes the quintessential difference.

mud[1] — Mom beaver with a mouthful of mud – Cheryl Reynolds

Beavers don’t have access to mortar so they constantly use what’s on hand to do the job of holding their dams and lodges together. They do this by scraping mud from the pond floor and plopping it where ever its needed. And they do this all the time. We’ve seen very young beavers learning how to do this – starting with a big ball of mud from so far away that by the time they reach their destination it’s a watery teaspoon.

How beavers plug pipes - Cheryl Reynolds — How beavers plug pipes – Cheryl Reynolds

In addition to needing mortar to hold everything together, they also lack bulldozers to dig trenches and canals. So often times beavers will do that work by hand – joining two bodies of water, making a canal to drag trees or even digging a passage to their food cache in freezing climes. Beavers are always moving and removing mud from the bottom of the pond.

mudding the primary — Beaver carrying mud – Cheryl Reynolds

The result of all this earthwork is that the floor of beaver ponds tend to look like the surface of the moon (or an english muffin). Nooks and crannies and different elevations everywhere. In fact Dr. Glynnis Hood did some research on this fact and measured pond height with a GPS unit across the water. She found very different elevations across the entire pond. And she found something even more interesting.

It turned out that the differing depths had differing occupants, meaning the biodiversity of the invertebrates changed depending on floor elevation. Some bugs lived in deeper parts of the pond and some in shallow parts, and some in newly dug and some in old channels.

beaver moving mud benicia — beaver moving mud- Cheryl Reynolds

Why does this matter? Because the diversity of bugs sets the table for the diversity of things that eat bugs. (Fish, amphibians, turtles, birds). And the as the population of things that eat bugs grows, it sets the table for the things that in turn, eat them! So more fish and more kinds of fish mean more fish eaters. Which means more otters, mink and heron at the beaver pond. See how important those bugs are?

Dr. Hood recorded and cataloged these differences and presented her findings at the 2011 beaver conference. She and a colleague published this initial paper on the issue. (Another one is in review).

This is the kind of paper that should get way more attention than it will, because it outlines the secret alchemy by which beavers change dirt into gold. I wanted to make sure you knew how it all happened from the ground up. Here’s the abstract and you can read the entire paper here:

Over a 3-year period, including a year of drought, we demonstrate how beavers physically altered isolated shallow-water wetlands in Miquelon Lake Provincial Park, Canada, which then influenced aquatic invertebrates diversity and abundance of functional feeding groups and taxa. Digging channels by beavers extended aquatic habitats over 200 m into the upland zone and created unique aquatic habitats, which became hot-spots for predaceous aquatic invertebrates. Some taxa (e.g., Gerridae and Gyrinidae) were found exclusively in beaver ponds, while Culicidae were primarily in wetlands without beavers. Amphipoda were strongly associated with beaver ponds in drought and postdrought years. During extreme drought in 2009, species richness, diversity and abundance declined dramatically, but recovered quickly in 2010. Although species richness was associated with wetland area, increased niche availability through active maintenance of wetlands by beavers played an important role in aquatic invertebrate diversity and distribution. Understanding the role of common, but seldom surveyed within-wetland habitats in boreal wetlands expands our ability to understand aquatic biodiversity, the importance of habitat heterogeneity and the role of other taxa in species assemblages.

So the next time you see beavers playing in the mud remember that there is no single thing they do that’s more important and you’re lucky to see it with their own eyes!

However, it appears the excavation of beaver channels and their regular use could provide important within-wetland habitats for some aquatic invertebrates.Beaver channels in particular were an important influence in the assemblage of functional feeding groups and served as potential “hunting hot-spots” for various predators. As such,actively intained beaver channels contribute a unique niche that is not found in wetlands lacking beavers. Dominance of predators in activelymaintained beaver channels also suggests that regular activity of beavers in these channels increases the importance of this habitat, not just the existence of the channel itself.

Today’s lovely donation hasn’t actually arrived yet but I’ve been assured it will and I can’t wait. It’s a print of a pen and ink drawing called ‘beaver town’ by Cynthia Robbins Safarik. You have to see it for yourself to grasp the whimsical detail in its entirety. I can’t wait to add this to our silent auction! Don’t you think it would look great as a huge billboard at the entrance to Martinez? Thanks Cynthia!

The Beaver Gospel

heidi08 Beavers, Educational, Environmental July 3, 2013

In the beginning was the word and the word was with Glynnis and the word was Glynnis.

Glynnis indeed baptized with her water-drought-Alberta research, and her ecosystem research and her waterfowl research, thus showing us WHY to live with beavers, but one mightier (and taller) than her cameth to teach us HOW to live with beavers.

Amy Chadwick of Great West Engineering, left, and Skip Lisle of Beaver Deceivers International install the flow devices that will allow beaver and the wetlands they create to remain as important components of the stream system.

Skip Lisle of Grafton, Vt., and Amy Chadwick, of Missoula, along with her husband, Howard Williams, have partnered with Butte-Silver Bow County to install three “Beaver Deceivers” at culverts in the creek. The structures, made of cedar and concrete reinforcement wire, take up space so beavers won’t try to dam the whole channel.

The beavers plug culverts all along Blacktail Creek, Chadwick said. The dams can cause flooding problems for nearby residents — Chadwick pointed to sandbags stacked by a home nearest to the creek — and can cost municipalities thousands of dollars to dismantle.

Lisle, of Beaver Deceivers International, has been creating the structures for 20 to 30 years, and Chadwick and Williams are training under him, she said.

For truly this beaver challenge endureth but a moment; in this favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning when the flow device is installed and nature itself rejoices.

The constructed in this pilot project are designed to last at least 10-20 years with minimal maintenance.

Chadwick has been doing watershed assessments and stream and habitat assessments for 15 years. She said beavers are important to a stream’s ecosystem, and recently have been recognized as a stream restoration tool, she said.