One of the age-old arguments against beavers is that their dams block salmon passage. And even for the rare folks who begrudgingly admit that coho can jump and make it over most dams most of the time they still argue that “chum” do NOT jump and won’t possibly make it over unless the dam is notched or broken. In fact fish experts have persuasively argued that if chum run into an obstacle they will just stop swimming entirely.

Well some friends in Washington State have this to say about it.

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Watch the end of the video slowed down to .25 if you want to see it in up close. Those salmon make it thru the dam and they don’t much care for the experts who tell them they can’t. Chum aren’t dumb. They insist. And beavers help them by keeping water there for them to navigate.

Perfect timing because this just released in response to the New Mexico beaver summit.

New Mexico Beaver Summit Captures Excitement, Momentum Around Beaver Restoration

This was the impetus that inspired the New Mexico Beaver Summit that Defenders cohosted with WildEarth Guardians, New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, New Mexico Environment Department and other partners in October. Originally, planned as an in-person event with field trips to tour habitat restoration sites, translocations and coexistence tools in action, the pandemic forced the summit to go virtual.

Broken into four separate sessions – Why Beavers?, Living with Beavers, Return of the Beaver and A Vision for the Future – the summit sought to take a comprehensive approach to exploring the different dynamics that must be understood and grappled with if we want beavers to achieve full recovery.

I’m so glad your vision and hard work made this happen. And not only because it made OURS roll into motion. It was wonderful watching and listening to your presentations.

Defenders’ Aquatic Ecologist, Aaron Hall, based in Colorado, talked about our work on beaver coexistence, and tools and techniques available to landowners to minimize beaver conflicts. In addition to Aaron, panelists throughout the summit included Ben Goldfarb, author of Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter; biologist and educator, Kai-T Blue-Sky; acequia commissioner and organic farmer, Ralph Vigil; staff from New Mexico Department of Game and Fish and Bandelier National Monument; Utah State University professor, Joe Wheaton; and Mary O’Brien who was integral to the development of Utah’s beaver management plan. Each speaker offered a unique perspective and attendance was robust with many questions and a good running conversation in the chat each day.

What about the relocation effort and bandilier national monument who had to backpack beavers down one at a time to the water at the bottom of the canyon to reintroduce them. That was pretty exciting!

Shhh…here comes the part about US.

The summit closed on high spirits, generating the kind of excitement and momentum we wanted. And already, we are seeing some of that eagerness translate into action. In addition to generating further conversations in New Mexico, groups in Colorado and Wyoming expressed renewed interest in all things beaver, and there was discussion about holding possible “beaver summits” in these states and others, including California.

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Why people thought beavers bit off their testicles

This tale begins with the ancient Egyptians, who had a hieroglyphic depicting a beaver chewing off his testicles as a representation of the punishment for adultery among humans in their society. In the West, it was Aesop who first wrote of the myth in his famous fables: “When pursued, the beaver runs for some distance, but when he sees he cannot escape, he will bite off his own testicles and throw them to the hunter, and thus escape death.” Pliny the Elder, the first great naturalist (though also a fairly reliable peddler of untruths), echoed this in his encyclopedia Natural History, which for hundreds and hundreds of years served as a trusted scientific authority.

And just one more of Gerald’s beaver oddities before we get back to the testicles: He claims that when constructing their dams, beavers “make use of the animals of their own species instead of carts.” A few individuals obey “the dictates of nature” and “receive on their bellies the logs of wood cut off by their associates.” Holding tight with their feet, and having “transverse pieces placed in their mouths,” the unfortunate workers are “drawn along backwards, with their cargo, by other beavers, who fasten themselves with their teeth to the raft.” They are, in essence, living skis.

Hahahahaha. Now that I hadn’t heard. But it’s no more silly that lots of things we hear about beavers. Take for instance the notion proffered by a woeful county in the most progressive beaver state in the nation that tearing down a dam will make beavers leave.

Kitsap County road crews battling persistent beaver

Gosh that’s so surprising. Tearing down the dam almost ~~always~~ never works! Sheesh. I was contacted by boots on the ground the last time we visited Kitsap, so maybe they’ll have better luck! It would be great if you could write a letter too, telling the board of supervisors how well our flow device works in Martinez.

And now for the fun and furry part. Yesterday on the guardian they released the most adorable photo of beaver kits that has yet been taken.They wrote:

A husband and wife photography team are now so friendly with a family of wild beavers they let them take their portrait. Bettina and Christian Kutschenreiter have spent 10 years making regular visits to the beavers after they interrupted them taking pictures of kingfishers near the city of Rosenheim near Munich, Germany. And now they are able to get up close and personal as the animals recognise their voices when they come to visit.Picture: Kutschenreiter/Arco/Solent News

Before I show you I want you to brace yourselves. Here at Martinez Beavers.org we have seen our share of adorable beaver photos. We have been around the beaver block, as it were. But this is in a new category by itself. I just want you to take a deep breath and hold onto something stable before you look. It’s that cute.

Is that a scene from Narnia, Tolkein or Macbeth? I’m still trying to decide.

Oh and while you’re thinking, would you please vote on which of these you prefer? The Beaver Believers cute shirt convinced me to think about kid shirts. Write and tell me which one you like?