It’s been an interesting weekend in beaver-dom. I got a nice letter from Ontario where my letter to the editor was published last week. Turns out a single voice in the wilderness has been trying to force the issue into the media lime-light for a long time, and would love some beaver friends stateside.
Beavers create wetland habitat for wildlife
Your poignant memories enjoying the swamp and mournful commentary of the loss of wetlands is what my grandmother would call a ‘great start’. You say you don’t like beavers, but you understand their value in the habitat. Fair enough. People are often moved to advocate for these animals through mysterious paths… because of a particular duck… because of a wish to recharge the watertable… because of a wish to save the dwindling pacific salmon population. I come from the point of really enjoying the opportunity to observe these animals and their interactions. When beavers moved into downtown Martinez, our city responded by deciding to kill them, as many cities do, but the beavers were so well loved they were forced to try some of those new-fangled “humane solutions”. We hired Skip Lisle to come out from Vermont and install a flow device at the dam. This has safely maintained the dam height for three years.
Because we allowed the beavers to stay, we have reaped the benefits of their stewardship. We now regularly see otter, muskrat, steelhead wood duck, scaup, heron and kingfisher at the dam. We even had mink last year. Beavers do chew trees, but their chewing acts as a natural coppice cutting that stimulates dense bushy regrowth, ideal for migratory and songbirds whose numbers have been shown to go up as the number of beaver dams in an area increase.
Trapping beaver is a short-term solution that must be repeated again and again. Flow devices that protect dams and culverts are cheap, effective solutions that have the added advantage of preserving our shrinking wetlands. Any city smarter than a beaver can keep a beaver.
Thanks for your editorial.
Heidi Perryman, Ph.D. President & Founder Worth A DamBecause the gods of the beaver universe never want to give you too much good news at once, I also got a reply to my post about the hilarious beaver-trapping lecture at the Nature Center. It was from some one calling themselves “josh’s aunt” who assured me that Ohio did have members of PETA and that they “made excellent coats”. Get it? Crazy vegetarian hippies tell us not to wear animals so we wear them instead! Gosh that’s funny! What a family affair. Maybe this was Josh’s grandma?
(Is this just a regional thing or is all of Ohio insane?)
On a final note, there are rumblings from Los Altos about a Heifer International Project encroaching Adobe Creek. Our wikipedia friend is involved and hopefully will guest blog about it soon. Its one of those attractive “VELVET BRICK” projects: Choose a hero that everyone loves, like ARF of SENIOR CITIZENS and force the in-building project down everyone’s throats in violation of every possible code, so that it will be easier to do it next time.
Sound Familiar? I told them I’d help however I’m able.
