THE JOY OF BEAVER DISCOVERIES

heidi08 Beaver ecological impact, Beaver Rehabilitation, Beaver-themed merchandise, Who's Killing Beavers Now? October 17, 2019

How much do you love this photo and want to be this eager child unfolding the mysteries of a beaver pond for the first time or the twelfth time. Every morning I went down to see our beavers I felt just like this kid, Howard Carter at the edge of Tutankhamun’s tomb, on the verge of discovery. Thank you Betsy for sharing this image on the beaver management forum.

I’ve finally gotten to the part of my urban handout where I’m talking about various experiences of discovery. Judy Taylor-Atkinson of Port Moody wrote a beautiful piece for it that I thought I’d share. Remember to click on the image twice if the text is to small.

Isn’t that beautiful? The very definition of “Urban Wildlife bringing Social Cohesion”. Completely unlike this Utah city which is missing the forest AND the trees.

Park City Municipal Will Euthanize Trapped Beaver: Flooding And Damage From Dams On Poison Creek

Park City public works has hired a trapping service to capture and euthanize a couple of beaver that have built dams on the stream along the Rail Trail. Residents have complained to the city that the back up of water from a couple beaver dams is causing flooding and property damage.

Lots of beavers on NPR this week. I particularly liked this quote. He sounds almost sad.

On McCleod Creek, we have 13 pond levelers and these pond levelers are constructed to where the beavers will build a dam and we put a pond leveler in, and they quit building, so they don’t make it bigger and bigger. And the beaver does well, and we’ve been successful at those.” They use devices called pond levelers on McCloud Creek to encourage beaver habitat and dam building but Dayley says the ponds close to town on Poison Creek along the Rail Trail are too shallow. “

Remember the City Manager of Martinez told a resident that the KNEW about pond levelers but felt they wouldn’t work in Martinez. And uh, 11 years of safe beaver habitat says they were wrong.

Just saying.

Beaver friend Ulrich Messlinger sent me a copy of the new beaver book they are publishing in German “Entdecke die Biber” and wondered if I thought a translated version would be appreciated by American youth. I had fun reading it and told him yes of course. but couldn’t help sharing this one swiped image from it about beaver rehab. I have no permission to share this but couldn’t resist because I believe it is the sweetest beaver picture in the known world.

NOT SO MOODY ANYMORE

heidi08 Urban beavers, Who's saving beavers now? February 7, 2018

I’m suddenly feeling like an old retired ballerina watching my protege take the stage. I have to be honest, it does feel a little wistful – that used to be my life kinda thing – but man-o-man it mostly feels WONDERFUL!

Beavers an education for residents, city

A new beaver management plan could yet turn Port Moody into a paradise for the resourceful rodents.

But it will have to respect the science about the animals’ habits and lifestyle while finding a balance within urban environments where they’re settling.

Judy Taylor-Atkinson and Jim Atkinson look out over the beaver pond on Pigeon Creek that was created by a family of industrious beavers that moved into the area in 2016.

That’s the best-case scenario, according to a pair of local advocates for fur-bearing animals, Judy Taylor-Atkinson and husband Jim Atkinson.

They were observers when a beaver pair made Pigeon Creek, in their Klahanie neighbourhood, home in 2016 and then became a family of four last summer. And they shared the community’s anguish when one of the young kits drowned in December as city crews attempted to trap and evict it from a den the beavers had constructed in a storm pipe that drains rainwater and prevents flooding.

Ahh how glorious! I’m beside myself with glee. And should our mayor be too to think that Judy and Jim are driving from B.C. to Martinez to attend our beaver festival! I’m told they already made their reservations;

Taylor-Atkinson has been studying the science of beavers and their management for years while her husband helps install flow regulators into dams to diminish the chances of damaging floods. Both are on the board of the Association for the Protection of Fur-Bearing Animals (The Fur-Bearers).

Beavers are notoriously nocturnal, Taylor-Atkinson said, but once they settled into their new home in the stream that runs amidst low-rise condo buildings, they grew accustomed to the human hustle and bustle around them. A curiosity quickly became a real life neighbourhood nature show.

While nearby trees that had been planted by the developer were wrapped to protect them from the beavers’ toothy toil, the natural habitat along the creek’s banks was left alone and the beavers’ activities respected. One neighbour even attached a log book in a plastic sleeve on the bridge railing so visitors could note their observations.

Taylor-Atkinson said the transformation of the creek to a beaver ecosystem was remarkable. The still water attracted bugs like dragonflies to alight, which attracted birds and bats and salamanders to eat them. The cool, sheltered eddies created by fallen limbs and branches in the water were perfect resting places for salmon fingerlings, which attracted ducks and even a juvenile heron to make the occasional visit for a snack. The dam filtered sediment, clearing the water and pushing it into the creek’s banks, encouraging new growth like bullrushes to take root.

“They were repairing the habitat,” Taylor-Atkinson said, adding beavers are considered a “keystone species” around which an entire ecosystem revolves — a marked contrast to old-school thinking that beavers and their industrious ways are a nuisance, especially in urban environments.

Those two paragraphs! SNIFF! I’m sooooooo proud. To think of how many people will be inspired by this story and think maybe they can maybe do something just a little bit different in their own city when the time comes! Ahhhh, Go read the whole thing and send it to your cousins. I’m going to bask in the thought that Martinez own hard fought story made this just a little easier to happen. And their story will make it that much easier for the next one.

“When this creek was built, nobody knew they were creating an ideal beaver habitat.”

Keeping it that way will be a matter of education and good science, she said — and a legacy for the young beaver that perished.

“We didn’t lose that kit for nothing.”

No you did not. That unfortunate kit played a crucial role in his entire families story. And his cousins. And extended family. And in ours. Thank you so much, Judy and Jim.

Just one question. Do you think they make everyone wear jackets that match the sign all the time? Or just for photo shoots?

Lucky Beavers In Capable Hands

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beaver Chewing, Beavers, Beavers and Forests, Beavers elsewhere, Urban beavers, Who's saving beavers now? November 10, 2017

I received an update yesterday from the hardy Judy Taylor-Atkinson of Port Moody Vancouver who is working to save the beavers at the development where she lives. She is doing a wonderful job focusing public attention on the beavers and getting the community interested in them. In fact she’s doing SUCH a fine job that I’m pretty sure at this point our beavers are jealous.

Yesterday she wrote this:

We had our first mini crisis last week when the beavers knocked down a large unwrapped black cottonwood tree and it landed on a homeowners fence, just damaging it slightly. I was immediately notified by people in our neighbourhood who love the beavers and I went to work posting messages on our community facebook page and notifying the city arborist, Steve, (who actually likes the beavers) and requesting the trees in that area be wrapped. Steve sent his two staff, Alex and Doug, who have been trained by Adrian Nelson on the proper way to wrap trees, the next day.

My facebook post read –

“Jim just came back and Silverlining landscape have removed the top of the aspen tree and Jim advised them to leave the branches and cuttings close to the stream bank for the beavers. We will meet with the city arborist today and wrap that stand of trees. The beavers have been eating mostly willow, dogwood, poplar and shrubs. Some trees will be wrapped and others will be left as food sources because there is a natural balance between beavers and trees. Beavers open up the tree canopy to let light in and smaller trees will grow. Some species of trees, like willow, have evolved with beavers and they actually grow faster if a beaver chops them down. The greenbelt is changing from a “stream” ecosystem to a “pond” ecosystem.”

That post seemed to settle everyone down (Jim is my husband). The next day, I posted a picture of Doug and Alex wrapping the trees with the post –

“Thank you to Doug and Alex for wrapping the cottonwoods this morning and to Steve (our city arborist) for his valuable knowledge about our trees along Pigeon Creek. Steve said they are busy right now removing downed trees throughout the city (due to a bad combination of drought followed by intense rain and now a cold snap).”

Thankfully, Steve, the city arborist seems to be quite supportive (and interested) in the beavers. When the beavers first turned up a year ago Steve didn’t know anything about them and now you should hear him! He knows what kind of trees they prefer (and why), which trees offer the most nutrition for beavers (cottonwoods, poplars) and he’s not concerned about the willows at all. He just has to make sure the trees don’t fall on a building and now he has a plan to wrap those trees. He has also been along the stream and is quite sure that the trees the beavers could potentially knock down will not fall away from the stream.

Isn’t that wonderful? She is committed to making beaver friends wherever she goes, and NOW those lucky beavers even have an arborist who is learning to love them! (Does Martinez even have an arborist? Or know the word?) I asked for her permission to share this because I think it is inspiring to others who are thinking of doing something similar. She and her husband are hard at work in the community encouraging, explaining and de-mystifying beaver behavior. I wish very much I could resist this little rhyme that has crept into my mind, because she deserves so much better, but there’s no avoiding it now.

Thank heavens for Judy
On duty
In Port Moody

There’s excellent beaver management news this morning from Idaho where the watershed guardians just installed a pond leveler for veterans day. Given the hard time that many beavers face in the Gem state, these critters are lucky indeed! Great work Mike Settell and team Pocatello!

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“Thank you, Bruce, for serving on the Watershed Guardians board, providing inspiration, leadership and flatout hard work. We will honor your volunteerism by carrying on our work to help the Portneuf River Watershed, one beaver at a time!”