As devastating fires sweep across the American West, we thank firefighters for their diligent work. However, among them emerges an unsung non-human firefighter to which we also pay tribute — the American beaver.

Science, reflected in natural history, is on the move. A recent, timely publication by Emily Fairfax, in Ecological Applications, explains how our family-oriented ecosystem engineer adds another attribute to its vast repertoire. Fairfax’s results show that beavers’ canal-digging, dam-building and pond-creating endeavors irrigate extensive stream corridors, which, in turn, create fireproof refuges for plants and animals. In some cases, their engineered landscapes can even stop fires in their tracks. Wow!

Judith explained once that she was amazed how rich beaver habitat was and how much we owe them for their many good works. I couldn’t agree more, and am glad she published this letter locally. Maybe we all should be doing that.

With climate change upon us, the future holds more wildfire devastation. However, our willing beavers present us with a natural-based solution in areas where they‘ve developed enhanced waterways.

Yet humans continue to kill this special species to solve a few flood-control issues caused by beaver behaviors, even though there are proven non-lethal flood-prevention devices, such as “Beaver Deceivers,” that can be used.

Science continues to discover the many contributions bestowed on planet Earth by beavers. Now, we can add firefighting! Let’s thank them for that.

Oh my goodness. Let’s follow her lead and publish something similar in Napa and Sonoma and Santa Clara and LA. We are going to need a beaver army to fight this.

Looking for more accomplishments? How about carving the oldest wood idol in the world? Circa 11,000 it has held up to the test of time. On display in a museum in western siberia:

Beaver’s teeth ‘used to carve the oldest wooden statue in the world’

Dating back 11,000 years – with a coded message left by ancient man from the Mesolithic Age – the Shigir Idol is almost three times as old as the Egyptian pyramids.

New scientific findings suggest that images and hieroglyphics on the wooden statue were carved with the jaw of a beaver, its teeth intact.

Originally dug out of a peat bog by gold miners in the Ural Mountains in 1890, the remarkable seven-faced Idol is now on display in a glass sarcophagus in a museum in Yekaterinburg.

The faces were ‘the last to be carved because apart from chisels, some very interesting tools – made of halves of beaver lower jaws – were used’.

It’s not that remote of a history, because local tribes in Brentwood and Antioch were burried with beaver mandibles. Beavers change things. Its what they do.

This dropped yesterday and is my new favorite thing in the world.

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It’s that time of year when I am madly begging for donations to the silent auction. Sometimes people respond in heart-warmingly generous ways that affirm the essential goodness of mankind, and sometimes they do the other thing, which is never fun. But not un-useful, as the woman who was offering this print wouldn’t donate OR tell me where it was from, but WOW I love this image, and now I have my own mystery!

She said did say it was from the 40’s, but it doesn’t look American to me. Since the English haven’t had beavers for 500 years I’m thinking maybe its from a Canadian children’s book? I know what you’re thinking, those beavers are kind of zombie like, but still its SO cute with the little girl helping them mud, don’t you think?

Anyway I tried to hunt around for it and the only other image I came across of children with beavers was this one, which made me smile and think of Skip Lisle. The mystery continues. Ask your moms and grandmas if they ever saw the image before, will you?

I’m happy to say I received a wonderful note from author Judith K. Berg (and her husband) after I wrote her thanking her for that fantastic letter to the editor. They were both pleased and impressed with our story and the website and had so many good things to say about beavers, I was very chuffed. I think she is going to donate signed copies of her books to the auction so you will get to read all about it!

Yesterday this article caught my eye, and I heard from a group that is talking to the lawyers involved to do the same thing in California. I’m wondering how all this is going to play out. Although if the government shut down continues it won’t make much of a difference!

How to Successfully Threaten Legal Action Against the Government

In a move that has left beaver, salmon, and wildlife advocates pleased, the federal government and state have agreed to stop killing beavers in the state of Oregon in response to a threat of litigation by wildlife groups.

If you’re wondering how wildlife groups can get what they want by simply threatening litigation, then you should probably take a look at their Notice of Intent to Sue. The notice letter goes to painstaking detail to explain exactly why beavers need to stop being killed, and how animals like beavers serve important roles in helping the threatened salmon population. Given that the letter worked, it seems worthwhile to examine a few of the things it did right.

Deterrence in the Details

In the letter, there is no shortage of details about how beavers modify the habitat of salmon, and other animals, to all the species’ benefits. By helping the salmon thrive, the wildlife groups claim that the beavers should be protected under the Endangered Species Act.

Basically, by creating dams, beavers help salmon by creating bigger pools for them to rest and feed, as they make their way up or down stream. Also, proposed alternatives to killing the beavers are included, since beavers do cause quite a bit of trouble for landowners, public utilities, and sometimes, even roadways (that are near rivers or streams, or connect to bridges).

In addition to all that, the very important detail about there being no environmental impact analysis seems to have played a big part in prompting the government to take action. In addition to the immediate cessation of the killing of Oregon’s beavers, an environmental impact analysis will be completed.

Make Compliance Easy

In addition to listing out all the reasons why the government should agree to their demand, it made compliance rather simple. All the government needed to do was simply stop killing beavers until after it conducted an assessment on the effects of doing so. There was no astronomical damages demand, and attorney fees were not even sought for putting together the required demand. When you want a demand (or any request for that matter) to be accepted, making sure it’s a simple ask can go a long long way.

I love how this article lays out what they did RIGHT. It’s practically a recipe for doing this again in other states.I can’t imagine Washington and California will be far behind, I showed it to our retired attorney friend who argued the land-breaking case in Riverside on the grounds that removing beaver required a CEQA analysis, and he was very pleased as well.

There’s more to this than meets the eye, and maybe it will make more of an impact that I guessed. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a mystery to solve.