When will Martinez get one of these?

Humongous

heidi08 Beavers, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental November 23, 2011

Humongous Blaine beaver removed from watershed ditch

Rice Creek Watershed District staffers recently received a big surprise when they learned a trapper had taken an unusually large beaver from a Blaine ditch.

An adult beaver in the wild can reach 60 pounds. This 75-pound version of Minnesota’s largest rodent was recently pulled from a section of Anoka-Ramsey Judicial Ditch 1, near a stormwater pond not far from the end of Dunkirk Court N.E. and a residential area in Blaine.

You know how sometimes you find something rare and special that no one has seen for 50 years and maybe no one will see again? Something that should be on the cover of National Geographic and explored by a team of scientists so we could understand how its rare specialness came to be? And its so gosh darn rare and special that you KILL it?

Yeah, me neither. Well, Blaine Minnesota sure does, because they’re celebrating that the trapper they hired to keep their ditches clear caught a big one. Actually, even though 75 lbs is big for an adult beaver, it’s probably not that rare. Plus its the beginning of winter and he hasn’t lived off his food cache for three months. We’ve always said that in Dad’s biggest strongest days he was 70 lbs. And when mom’s emaciated body was weighed at her death she still weighted 39 lbs. So on a good day she must have been 60, which means Dad (who was always gasp-inducingly bigger) must have been 70.

Well, this fine strong patron is gone now.

This is my favorite line from the story, demonstrating the super inteligence of the ditch supervisor who championed the assault.

People think beavers are rare because they don’t see them, Schmidt said. “They are nocturnal,” he said. “Most of their activity is dawn to dusk. They need open water to enter their lodge. Without the open water, they will die. Right now, it’s kind of panic time for them, because beavers are getting ready for winter.”

Further proof that reporters dutifully write down whatever they’re told without any applying any thinking whatsoever. “Most of their activity is DAWN to DUSK?” Is that really what nocturnal means? Isn’t most of OUR activity from dawn to dusk? Does that mean we’re nocturnal?

Or does that just mean that Ditch captain Schmidt is an idiot?

Here’s some good beaver news from a nearby M state to cleanse the palate.

MI-Menagerie

heidi08 Beaver News, Uncategorized February 18, 2011

Click on the photo to go to the radio program and download the podcast to hear several familiar beaver advocate voices, including yours truly. Kevin Hile is an adorably enthusiastic but gentle host, and does his best to guide Lansing listeners towards new thinking about beavers and beaver management.

Lory kindly took photographs of our beaver habitat yesterday, and I thought you’d be interested. Looks like the filter has been knocked off its roots again and our beavers will have a MESS of work to do. No rest for the weary!

LA wants in on some beaver-killing action

heidi08 Creative Solutions, Educational, Who's Killing Beavers Now? February 11, 2011

So I received this story yesterday morning from Gary Bogue, Brock Dolman and the Humane Society in Connecticut. Let’s assume its going to get some important attention over the coming days. Of course I immediately thought of the Riverside case where ‘friends of Lake skinner’ successfully sued Fish & Game and the Metropolitan Water District and won the case at the appellate level. That cost a pretty penny when the court ruled that the decision to kill all the beavers in an area was ‘discretionary’ and not ‘ministerial’ and therefore required and Environmental Impact Report to meet the standards of CEQA.

Good times.

I contacted Los Angelos Water & Power and the media far and wee and made sure they had copies of the ruling in that case which I see no reason you shouldn’t have too. I sent them the research article that grew out of that case, and them checked in with the attorney who represented the matter and he assured me there were similarities.

There are definite parallels to Friends of Lake Skinner. If there is a group looking to contest this, Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), which has its western regional office in Petaluma, may help, perhaps even have one of its member attorneys take the case. In fact, ALDF provided me with briefs that I used in crafting my arguments in the Lake Skinner case.

I figured this should help get the ball rolling. Friends of LA beavers? Where are you?

Meanwhile I promised Raging Granny beaver friend Gail that I’d post something about the Cargill mudflats, so here’s what she wrote!

West Bay Beaver Believer Seeks Contacts to Weigh in on Concept of Establishing Beavers in Headwaters of Redwood Creek.

I have learned so much from Heidi’s blogs on the Martinezbeavers website about the habitat provided by beaver ponds and the birds they shelter. As a beaver believer. I often mention their benefits to friends and fellow activists, and persuaded my group of Raging Grannies to perform at the Beaver Festival. But as one person and not even a birder, all this is not having the desired impact, especially since the mere word “beaver” makes people giggle.

This has immediate practical implications as we West Bay folk work to put the brakes on the proposed Redwood City bayfill project known as the Cargill Salt Works project. The developers use the frequent flooding in the eastern part of Redwood City as a reason to allow them to fill in the Bay since they claim their project includes levees that will alleviate flooding.

West Bay allies would help a lot to introduce beaver-friendly concepts to all these discussions. I would so appreciate knowing contacts, especially in Sequoia Audubon who would help spread the word in groups of which I am already a part(Save the Bay, Tuolomne River Trust, Menlo Park Green Ribbon Citizens Committee} and beyond. I am thinking of BCDC and/or the county supervisors as possibilities.

Gail Sredanovic

AKA Granny Gail

certifiedhypnotist@yahoo.com

Thanks Gail! A final note, I did an interview last night with Kevin Hile whose saturday “Michigan Menagerie program’ will be about beavers. The segment will feature myself, Len Houston, Mike Callahan and Sharon Brown and will air saturday morning at 7 our time. You can listen here if you’re so inclined! If that’s a little early for you it should be a podcast downloadable later that week.