You know how it is. Two steps forward, one step back. You know it as well as I do. Beaver progress is as closely woven with beaver failure that the seam between them isn’t visible anymore. Both just happen together.
So it occurs that National Geographic launches an issue with beaver benefits to salmon at the same time the Anne of Green Gables releases this pressing concern.
Beaver dam, debris cluttering up endangered salmon habitat in Cornwall, P.E.I.
“Most of our work has to do with rehabilitating salmon habitat in Watts Creek. Watts Creek is a very well-known salmon river,” said Karalee McAskill, co-ordinator for the watershed.
“Beavers tend to dam up the flow of the river and, as a consequence from that, any sediment that’s coming down from up above settles out into these large beaver pond impoundments,” she said.
“Sometimes it’s six- to seven-feet deep of silt and sediment and mud, it’s almost like quicksand if you’re stepping in it.”
Oh those darn beavers, trapping sediment and maintaining a tireless dam. I just hate when they do that. And boy does NOAA fisheries hate it too.
It there’s one thing that juvenile salmon don’t need its all those annoying deep pools rich with food where they can fatten before heading off to sea. They hate that.
Salmon can thrive in other provinces with deeper rivers and streams, she said, as they can leap up waterfalls and rapids.
But some of P.E.I.’s gentle, relatively shallow waters do not offer salmon the depth or swift currents they need to push past dams built by beavers. As a result, endangered Atlantic salmon will not spawn or they’ll find another area altogether, which is concerning for the watershed.
Our special water is too special for salmon to use if there are nasty beaver present. Where have I heard that before?
Beavers can drag their bellies and create “beautiful, magnificent channels that salmon love to cruise through.” Fish and other wildlife behind dams can also thrive because there’s more food.
“So the beavers are actually great in one sense, but the dam is the issue,” she said. “We can’t relocate that beaver because then it will become someone else’s problem.”
Drag their bellies? Drag their bellies? You think we construct all these complex channels by “dragging our bellies?”
Shorter Karalee McAskil: I mean I’d love to have the benefits of beavers, but you know. Those rotten dams. They just mess everything up for those fish that we mostly don’t actually have anymore. So screw the woodducks and the otters, because we just can’t have our imaginary fish jumping over rotten dams, Right?
Oh adorable, misinformed and neglected P.E.I. You are so plucky in your persistence to be wrong. It’s almost admirable. Don’t worry, information is trickling very slowly, we can tell. It won’t come as one big shock, You used to complain that beavers weren’t even native, and that they ruined habitat for everything. Now you’ve advanced three whole baby steps and say they CAN be good in some places, just not on the special unique water you have on the magic Anne island.
Sure, I guess, whatever.
Now let’s hurry up and get to the steps forward part. Guess what?
Come September ANOTHER beaver festival celebration kicks into gear. Seems our friends at the Methow project can’t wait to follow in our webbed footsteps.
Beaver celebration to be held Sept. 14
The Methow Beaver Project will hold its first Beaver Celebration on Sept. 14 and 15, 5-9:30 p.m. Come join in the fun at this free event, starting with a social in Mack Lloyd Park at 5 p.m. on Saturday the 14th. Mingle and share in the excitement around beaver ecology and restoration while sipping on Special Edition OSB Tail Slapper Ale or Sixknot Sawtooth Cider, available for purchase, and sampling “small bites” from Sunflower Catering.
At 6:30 p.m., the celebration will move into the Winthrop Barn for presentations by Ben Goldfarb, author of Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter, and Sarah Koenigsberg, who will screen her feature film The Beaver Believers. Beaver restoration site tours will be offered on Sunday morning, the 15th, sign up at Saturday’s event and choose an easy, moderate, or more strenuous option.
Well, well, well. They’re offering beaver tours, a Ben presentation and A Film screening! Remember its Washington so I imagining it won’t be hard to get folks to come and enjoy your efforts. Maybe something for the kids to do while all those grownups are drinking and listening? And I might suggest some live music and a raffle?
We wish you every success!
