BEAVER CHAMPIONS ON THE PACIFIC COAST

heidi08 Beavers and Fire Prevention, Beavers and salmon, Flow Device Installed April 29, 2020

I’m not sure this has ever happened before. There are THREE very important beaver stories this morning meaning very good things about beavers and I cannot pick between the three. I’m going to have to profile each thing and you have to promise to come back and read the whole thing. I’m sorry to assign homework, but it’s necessary. They’re that good.

The first and most startling news is a profile piece about Emily Fairfax in the UC agriculture and natural resources blog.

From being an engineer to researching nature’s engineers

“When I came face to face with beaver dams for the first time, I had what can only be described as a transformative experience,” says Emily Fairfax, an assistant professor of environmental science and resource management at California State University, Channel Islands. While leading a canoe trip through the Boundary Waters of northern Minnesota, she encountered what she describes as “just these enormous, impressive features” – created by beavers. “You truly realize how sturdy beaver dams are while dragging your canoe over them,” she adds, laughing. “They are incredible from an engineering perspective.”

Despite being taken by the handiwork of beavers in that initial encounter, Fairfax says “I just put that experience in my back pocket for a long time.” After majoring in chemistry and physics in college, she went on to work as an engineer. “But, I kept going fishing, visiting wetlands and creeks, and realized I wanted to be out in these places in my day to day life.”

“Then, I watched the documentary Leave it to Beavers. It was about how beavers fundamentally alter landscapes. I was reminded of the beavers I’d seen in Minnesota and was like, I want to study this. On a bit of a whim, I applied to graduate school, and haven’t looked back. Now it’s all beavers, all day, and they make me so happy. It turns out rather than being an engineer, I was called to study nature’s engineers.”

I had NO idea that Emily was inspired by Jari’s documentary! WOW! The world might have been stuck with another engineer if it weren’t for that! I’m so touched and my mind is a little bit blown. I had just assumed she got involved because her thesis chair was interested or something. The article goes on to talk about her viral video and ends in her interest in California.

Working in California, Fairfax’s biggest task now is locating beavers. She notes that before beaver trapping there were likely upwards of 400 million beavers in North America, meaning they were everywhere. “Trapping took them down to 100,000, and now estimates put them back up to 10 or 20 million. They are prevalent in certain areas like the Colorado Rockies and the Sierra Nevada, but we still don’t see them often in many downstream areas that provide great habitat.”

For now, she says, “I’ve got students hiking streams just looking for signs of them, and when I give public talks, people will sometimes tell me about how they used to see them on a creek in the 70’s. That might not seem relevant, but that kind of information is so valuable. So now I’m basically saying to people, if you see a beaver dam anywhere in California, please tell me about it!”

I’ll make sure we all tell you when we see them! Ohh you are the hope of a new beaver generation Dr. Emily Fairfax. Make sure you read the Work to protect Sonoma beaver lodge begins

To prevent flooding and manage water levels in a Sonoma creek, a pond leveler will be installed where a family of beavers is living, Sonoma County Water Agency officials said.

The pond leveler will help water transfer through the beaver dam so that the pond doesn’t cause flooding. It will also assist with maintaining the habitat for the beavers, said David Cook, senior environmental specialist at Sonoma County Water Agency.

There was even an insert about my timing concerns, because the reporter was included in the email thread where I learned of it.

Heidi Perryman, of urban-beaver protection group Martinez Beavers, asked the agency to wait until kit — or, baby beaver — season is over, which is mid-to-late May. But Brock Dolman, program director of Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, which is partnering with the water agency and Swift Water Designs in the project, said they also would prefer to do the work outside of kit season and were prepared to do the install in March, but then COVID-19 got in the way.

Isn’t that just like Heidi, always poking her nose in and mucking around. Well I also heard from a neighbor that the beavers were busy that night trying to plug the outflow of the pipe so you may not have heard the last of this story. It’s good that a flow device was used. Hopefully the beavers can make it work. Fingers crossed.

The last piece of really OUTSTANDING news comes from Port Moody, B.C. See a lot of the challenges to the beavers have come from the fish hatchery folk which are saying that beaver dams stop chum. Jim and Judy have been doing their home work AND the city’s homework and heard from famous Fisheries Biologist Dr. Marvin Rosenau. that their stream supported coho salmon. The real kind not the hatchery frankensteins. And there’s all this data saying beavers are good for coho and no data at all saying they’re good for chum. Which stinks.

But they got a go pro camera and have been using it to shoot underwater and GUESS WHAT THEY FILMED and Dr. Marvin Rosenau. identified right away in the beaver pond???

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It’s hard to see but unmistakable. Around the 55 second mark you can see it best on the upper left hand corner. Look for the while glint of its eye and then the wiggle of its tail as it moves forward. That would be coho fry. As in the real deal. As in proof of a beaver pond doing what it should. As in pass the coho birthday cake and lets have a party!

TILTING WINDMILLS FOR BEAVERS

heidi08 Who's saving beavers now? December 1, 2018

As if it wasn’t enough to be on national news, the Port Moody beavers and their hard-working champions have also made it into the local front page. Judy wrote that they had their first, three hour beaver management meeting yesterday with the city, and she is cautiously optimistic. (Given that she is truly Canadian, that I have to say that sounds pretty cautious.)

Can you have PTSD from city meetings? It gives me a total flashback to the tortured days on the beaver subcommittee – every week for ninety days I forced myself to endure three hours of gruelingly polite persuasion. I had to reschedule patients just to be there. Things started out downright genteel, but by the time the lawyer brought in the stuffed beaver wearing the sign that said “Help me go somewhere else” and the head of public works complained that Jon shouldn’t come anymore because he scowled too much, things had gotten pretty bleak indeed.

Let’s just say I sympathize with the job Jim and Judy have ahead of them,

I honestly can’t tell if I’m proud or jealous that as hard as their job is going to be, it’s certainly easier than ours was all those years ago. They get Adrien to come put in a flow device. 11 years ago there was no one trained to install flow devices at Furbearers because Mike Callahan hadn’t met Adrien at the State of the beaver conference yet. Because there was no State of the Beaver Conference yet. The first one happened the year after the sheetpile was installed. Skip Lisle attended that. There was no one who had gone through this before to talk to about it or offer advice about living with urban beavers. I called Sharon Brown of Beaver Wetlands and Wildlife once and Sherri Tippie once I think, In those dark days, there were in fact three web pages on the entire internet about how flow devices might work, but when I reached out to Beaver Solutions Mike was kind enough to write me back advice from time to time. I was excited to return the favor by offering video clips and encouragement for his DVD, which helped convince him to attend the next conference where he then met Adrien.

This truly is a brave new world. So many worked so hard to move us foreword. Saving beavers is never, ever easy, but its getting better. And I know they are up to the task.

A final note, today should have been my father’s 90th birthday. I just thought I should say that. Happy Birthday, Dad.

BEAVER ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES

heidi08 Who's saving beavers now? October 22, 2018

Time for some very good news from our just-over-the-border friends in Port Moody. B.C. They’ve been fretting because the city just pre-released it’s “Beaver Management Plan” – you know the one they said they’d do to pacify the angry residents after their scheme “accidentally” drowned the kit last year.

Well the long-awaited beaver management plan turned down the imminently qualified Ben Dittbrenner to solve their problem, and instead employed a salmon-savvy husband and wife team that knew nothing about at all about the animals. Jim and Judy were getting panicked and ready to appeal the decision but then the nicest thing happened.

Canada voted last week.

You may have heard something about the other, more infamous and smokable parts of their decision. Turns out the city elections were even more exciting. Port Moody voted to throw the old bad mayor OUT and bring in the young enthusiastic and environmentally savvy man that Jim and Judy were backing.

TADA!!!

Tri-cities Election Results: Young mayors elected in Port Coquitlam and Port Moody

In Port Moody, challenger Rob Vagramov, who is 28 years old, beat incumbent Mike Clay. Vagramov denied Clay a third term as mayor with 4,545 votes to Clay’s 4,161, a difference of under 400 votes.

Vagramov’s campaign was based on what he called the “Metrotownification of Port Moody” with too many high-rise towers, which resonated with voters.

He and Clay clashed over the pace of real estate development. Clay felt a waterfront mill site, which sits near a park as well as transit, could be developed like the False Creek or Coal Harbour communities in Vancouver.

Vagramov’s stance on a slower pace of building was seen as an appeal to younger voters, but in late September, a video, filmed in 2014, showing Vagramov baiting a homeless person to drink beer in exchange for a sandwich

drew hot debate on social media.

What? You mean not selling every asset your city has as quickly as possible is popular with the voters? Next thing you know you’ll be telling me that urban green spaces and wildlife actually matter! Who knew?

CONGRATULATIONS JIM, JUDY AND ALL YOUR LUCKY BEAVERS!!! Things are looking a whole lot better today than they did last week!

Now we just have to take care of America. Which makes it a perfect time to post this.

BEAVER FRIENDS GET RECOGNITION

heidi08 Environmental September 24, 2018

Congratulations to our good beaver friends and favorite Canadians Jim and Judy Atkinson of Port Moody, B.C. Last night they received the 2018 environmental award at the Civic dinner for their tireless work to help beavers, birds and bears!

This is especially timely because the city is in the middle of an election cycle right now, and candidates are trying to look like they are doing the right thing by making friends with them. Which is good because the DFO is still rejecting all the science from NOAA and wants to rip out the beaver dams to help the passage of their poor, disabled salmon that can’t make it over.

Our heroes have been working at top speeds trying to talk sense into anyone that will listen, and quite a few that won’t, which is exhausting. This award helps remind them of the incredible difference they are making. Of course, it still won’t guarantee everyone will listen – but it surely can’t hurt.

Congratulations on the much deserved recognition of your hard work! Here’s a reminder of part of their journey.

Thursday, Sept. 27 | 7:00 pm | OREGON FILM PREMIERE

The Beaver Believers tells the urgent and whimsical story of an unlikely cadre of activists – a biologist, a hydrologist, a botanist, an ecologist, a psychologist, and a hairdresser – who share a common vision: restoring the North American Beaver, that most industrious, ingenious, furry little engineer, to the watersheds of the American West.

Speaking of friends in high places, Sarah Koenigsberg is eagerly awaiting the film festival premier in Portland next week of her film on beavers and climate change. (You might remember that parts of this were filmed at the 2012 beaver festival!) Well as she’s been promoting it on facebook the alerts have been taken down. She recently received word that “they are “not authorized to promote posts about subjects of political content or national importance.”

Which of course beavers are.

See after facebook’s Russian bot fiasco they are trying to keeping all sides happy by hurting liberals (or anyone that mentions climate change) too. So do your part to combat global warming, punish Mark Zuckerberg and reject stupid false equivalence self-defense and SHARE THIS POST with all your Oregon friends.

It’s the least we beaver-believers can do.