Tag: Mike Callahan

Holes in their thinking…

The Cedar Glen Golf Course of Massachusetts is in dire straights. A crisis of epic proportions faces their rolling greens and plaid pants. No one in the entire state or in the vast caverns of the Boston Globe or the local University can possibly offer them a shred of real advice. Yesterday the unthinkable happened and the golf course had to turn visitors away.

But a freshly constructed dam – a 25-foot-wide mound of stripped branches and bark – had turned swaths of pristine greenway into swampland.

The course was so waterlogged Thursday by beavers’ handiwork that Burton Page, who runs the business, was forced to close down for the day, estimating $10,000 in lost revenue.

Oh no! Not a beaver dam in a stream by a golf course in Massachusetts! Next thing you’ll tell me is that this would NEVER have happened if it wasn’t for those awful trapping rules that turned Bay State into beaver slums!

Laws to protect the animals have prevented the golf course’s managers from taking any action against their new tenants, who are blocking a section of the Saugus River, which runs through the grounds. Page is hoping for a compromise – keep the dam intact and divert the river to drain the course of standing water – but the Saugus Board of Health denied a request for an emergency permit to alter the water flow around the dam.

Let me get this straight. You asked for permission to divert the water around the dam so that the stream wouldn’t flood. Um, what would prevent the beavers from building a dam in THAT stream next? Well, I’m sure they had a fantastic idea for that too, because just look at their ingenious back-up plan.

In the short term, maintenance staff have put out wooden pallets to help golfers traipse from one hole to the next. But it’s a less-than-perfect fix. On Thursday, the water level was so high that the pallets floated away.

Oh man, you mean you got those kind of mean wooden pallets that float? Of all the rotten luck! What will you do now? Apparently the golf course was denied license to kill because health and human safety isn’t at stake. (And it happens to be May so orphaning a bunch of beavers isn’t usually great for public relations.) If only there were some dire consequences you could flog to get those stick-in-the-mud commissioners moving!

Ellsworth said he is also concerned that the standing water will cause an influx of mosquitoes that could carry disease and “I know [beavers] help the ecosystem and stuff,’’ Ellsworth said. “But when they start affecting homes and businesses, that’s another problem.’’

Really Mr. Ellsworth? Do you really know that beavers help the ecosystem and ‘stuff’? I’d be fascinated to hear you summarize some of the key examples of the way beaver improve the landscape and increase biodiversity. Since you already know about it we can just be quiet and let you review. I won’t interrupt. Come to think of it, do you know what doesn’t increase biodiversity at all? Golf Courses.

Scott Jackson, who teaches in the department of environmental conservation at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and specializes in beavers, said the animals were almost entirely wiped out of Massachusetts centuries ago because of excessive trapping and deforestation.

Slowly, colonies have moved back east from New York, but they only reached Eastern Massachusetts in the past 15 to 20 years, Jackson said.“I grew up in Massachusetts, and we never talked about beavers or saw them,’’ Jackson said. “All this has happened fairly quickly

At last a real expert! Okay, so now we brought in a beaver expert from Massachusetts and he can finally set things straight. Obviously he knows all about flow devices right? And how to solve flooding problems without ruining streams, right? And he knows about Beaver Solutions right? And he and Mike Callahan probably get together every month for a beer to chat about beaver management right? And Mike comes sometimes to lecture his class on long term solutions right?

Jackson explained that if a property owner with a beaver problem does not qualify for an emergency permit from a board of health, he or she can request a permit from the Conservation Commission, but that process requires a public hearing and could take weeks.Even then, there are concerns about reestablishing water flow too quickly; another property downstream can experience inadvertent flooding.

Sigh. See I told you. Rare prehistoric giant beavers in Massachusetts are the only possible explanation.

Rewards & Awards

heidi08 Beaver Art, Beavers, Earth Day, Educational, Friends of Martinez Beavers April 20, 2012

Tomorrow is Earth day, and we’re getting ready for a very busy day at the John Muir Historic Site. We’ll be joined by several supporters and by the stalwart artist FROgard Butler who will be helping children illustrate beaver tails! FRO recently opened her own art studio in Concord and has been busy making it a welcoming space for creative and appreciative minds. She also just found out she won the volunteer award we nominated her for from the Arts and Culture Commission of Contra Costa County. Here is my nominating letter:

FROgard Butler has played a unique and significant role for the arts in Contra Costa County. An instructor, colleague and friend to new artists, for the past 5 years she has played an irreplaceable role by coordinating and implementing the art program for the beaver advocacy group Worth A Dam. At least four times a year FRO uses her creative, engaging talents to encourage children to look more closely at their watershed and represent what they see with clay, watercolors, acrylic paint and more. In small classrooms and vast open-spaces, intimate groups and fast-moving crowds, I have watched her work closely with her young artists and I never fail to marvel at her patience, encouragement and non-judgmental respect for the creative process that allows children to represent the world as they see it, not as adults might prefer it to be shown. FRO’s artwork and teaching is on permanent display on the tiles of Escobar bridge and the creek mural at the Martinez Early Childhood Center. The colorful banner she helped children draw is one of the most creative and attractive mobile works of art that I have ever seen, and never fails to melt hearts wherever we share it.

With her uniquely engaging style, FROgard has helped thousands of children experience their creativity though art – and in doing so has fostered future artists throughout Contra Costa County. Very often I have seen FRO coax amazing creations out of the most art-averse subject and I have endless respect for her capacity to teach children to value the creative process over the finished product. FROgard has been an irreplaceable asset to the Martinez Beavers Advocacy group, allowing us to impact the community and teach watershed science in a real and tangible way to children of all ages. As a child psychologist who regularly employs art in my practice, I have learned a great deal from watching her work. Although her significant contributions and events around the bay area are numerous and well known, my personal understanding of FRO’s art is the magic by which she encourages the child to create their own. I can’t think of anything more impactful for the future of art in Contra Costa County than this gift.

Please feel free to contact me regarding any questions or clarifications. In our work we have seen literally hundreds of outreach efforts and without exception every nonprofit we encounter is envious of FRO’s help and wishes she worked for them. I’m just glad we found her first!

Congratulations FRO! We couldn’t be prouder or happier for you! One of her recent accomplishments was designing a flag which she helped children illustrate at our Roots and Shoots Event at the Oakland Zoo last year, and which we finished at the Flyway Festival. We liked it so much we’re doing a second one at the Girl Scout Event at the Fairgrounds. Jon spent some time yesterday figuring how to hang a flagpole from our awning, and if you stop by the booth tomorrow I think you will be very impressed!

More accolades go to our long-time beaver friend from Massachusetts who has been steadily impressing folk with his expertise and willingness to help. Yesterday a disciple had this to say about Mike Callahan on his blog “My Sherwood Glen“

Mike Callahan Leaves it to Beavers

Those of you who are aware of our efforts to co-exist with our beaver neighbors, know that we have had the help of Mike Callahan of BeaverSolutions.com. I can’t say enough about Mike’s willingness to help and his dedication to beaver conservation.

I was considered a technology expert back in the 1980’s when the definition of an expert was anyone who was online two weeks longer than you. As I moved around the country, I found that there were two kinds of experts. First there were those who had the magic skills, but kept the skills to themselves for personal gain. Then there were those who were excited about the potential of technology, wanted to spread the word and would share freely and promote the cause for the betterment of all. I was extremely fortunate to have hooked up with a group of national technology experts who shared freely and mentored me.

Mike is cut from that same cloth. He makes his living by designing, building and installing beaver fences and flow control devices, but he shares his knowledge freely with anyone who wants to help beavers co-exist with human neighbors. He gives more than he gets.

Go read the whole delightful thing, and if you haven’t joined the beaver management forum on facebook yet you really should. Mike’s certainly given us free help on more than one occasion, (although if you sit through the credits on his DVD you will see we have definitely returned the favor!) It’s always nice to see good friends get the recognition they deserve and to see the beaver gospel spread around the globe!

You will note if you read further down that Art brought Mike a 6 pack of beaver beer. (Which I alerted them too) And both men agreed it was delicious!

This would be an appropriate time to note I am still waiting for my Beaver Beer festival sponsorship letter?

UPDATE: Remember the Roseville article describing the need to remove beaver dams to protect Vernal Polls? They published my response.

UPDATE II Our young beaver champion from Kentucky just found out that Beaver Cree 7 won a Telly Award! The The Telly Awards is the premier award honoring the finest film and video productions. Beaver Creek won a bronze Telly(the 2nd highest honor) in the children’s programming category.

Here there be Dragon-flies…

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Who's Killing Beavers Now? November 26, 2011

Ahhh! What a conundrum! The town of Upton, MA has this wet boggy area that turns out to house an amazingly rare species of dragonfly. Apparently its so rare that they don’t even want to say its name. Why the secrecy? Well, they say they don’t want folks to come out and take samples, but I’m guessing it could also have to do with the fact that wetlands supporting them is being maintained by some beavers they want dead.

Town officials are doing a juggling feat in trying to prevent flooding on several major roads by trapping pesky beavers in a local bog who contribute to the problem, while at the same time keeping water levels there high enough to protect endangered dragonflies.

On Wednesday,town officials went with habitat protection specialist Lynn Harper to Southboro Road Bog, a 30-acre plot that is prone to flooding, but also home to a rare species of dragonfly that requires a wet habitat to survive.

Picard said the Department of Public Works will replace three old, partially collapsed culverts under Southboro, Westboro and Northboro roads this fall, and will also try to trap more beavers, as their dams contribute to flooding.

“We really need to get rid of the beavers because even if we reduce the water level, the beavers will work diligently to dam it up again,” he said.

Penko said beavers started to be a problem about seven years ago. Since that time, they have built additional dams atop two human-built dams that were likely constructed in the 19th century.

See we like dragonflies, but we hate beavers, so what’s a city to do? At the moment they’re paying a trapper to take out the latter and promising to apply human efforts to maintain the water level at a comfortable height for the insect. I’m curious. If the beaver came 7 years ago, when did the dragonflies appear? I’m guessing it was sometime after that. Never mind that Upton is barely an hour away from Mike Callahan of Beaver Solutions who could control their pond height without harming the road or the dragonflies or the beavers.

The story reminded me so much about the teaching tale of the watercress darter in Alabama. Remember that story? Huge lawsuits were filed because the city removed some beaver dams that destroyed habitat for the very rare fish. Will Upton learn from Alabama’s mistakes? Will it take the time to see the solutions right in front of them? Or will they continue on their current path without a moment’s reflection? I’m curious to see how this story plays out. Hopefully someone will want better options.

One beaver has been trapped already. Will their supply of ignorance run out before their supply of beavers? We can only watch and hope.

Culvert Operation

heidi08 Beavers October 2, 2011

Upton looks to clear culvert clogged by debris, beavers

Water began collecting around the intersection of Southboro and Westboro roads after Tropical Storm Irene passed through in late August. The culvert, which is under the intersection, became backed up with debris after the storm. “Prior to (Tropical Storm Irene) we had the area cleaned out,” Conservation Commission member Marcella Stasa said. “But all the water rushed into the culvert and brought debris.” Beavers contributed to the problem by building on top of the sticks and leaves that collected in the culvert, Stasa said.

Okay. So the beavers in Upton capitalized on TS Irene and knew a good thing when they saw it. They finished plugging up those pesky little culverts and made a swimming hole out of an intersection. Now the health department’s been called so that an exception can be made to the live trapping rule and they’ve given their full consent of course. Along with this little jewel

Al Holman, the Board of Health’s chairman, said beavers have been a problem before. “We’ve trapped them before, but they keep coming back. It’s an ongoing problem,” Holman said.

Hmmm someone give that man a cigar! Bingo! You keep trying to solve the problem with the wrong tool and it keeps not being solved! Amazing how that works. But what’s the right tool?

Well, sure there are some bizarrely skilled folks that can use this tool in New York or Vermont, but we’re local people. What could possibly help us in all the way out here in Upton Massachusetts?

Alright, Upton to Southampton 70 miles. So what? What’s in Southampton that can fix our culverts? We need this problem solved yesterday and all these beavers won’t kill themselves you know.

Oh.

Look, lots of folks have an excuse for not doing this right. They don’t know any better, there’s no one nearby who can help, the problem is rare and unfixable. But you, Upton, YOU have options. You could do this ONCE and do it RIGHT and save your taxpayers and drivers seasonal inconvenience for years to come. Okay, I’ve said my piece. Except… There was just one part of the article that rankled me….let’s see if I can find it.

Beavers contributed to the problem by building on top of the sticks and leaves that collected in the culvert, Stasa said.

“The poor things are just doing what they do,” she said.

That’s it! Something about that lament sounds familiar. Why is that? Hmm….Let me think…

“I weep for you,” the Walrus said:
“I deeply sympathize.”
With sobs and tears he sorted out
Those of the largest size,
Holding his pocket-handkerchief
Before his streaming eyes.

Ohhh right, that’s where I’ve seen that particular brand of noncompassion before.

Do the right thing, Upton. It will save you money and time. I wrote the paper and the major players and now the ball’s in your court.

Mostly good news for beaver friends…

heidi08 Beavers August 29, 2011

The folks at Save the Free Beaver of the River Tay in Scotland, have landed a major friend with the Perthshire festival, which is a 6-day extravaganza of amazing music and food set at castles around the area. Outdoor events this year include a beaver walk which gathers at the estate of our friend Paul Ramsay and ambles along looking at habitat. It will truly be a wonderful event, and I’m as jealous as I can be that Scotland is so far from Martinez.

Perfect timing too, as it will occur on the first quarter of the Beaver Moon.

beaver walk — Click to go to Beaver walk website.

The post Irene news is mostly good, with lots of rain and modest winds falling upon beaver friends in NY, NJ, VT, CT and MA. I received some all clears that I’ll pass along

TS Irene did not affect us here at all! It is over and blue skies came out. We’ve had much had worse rain and wind with thunderstorms in the past year. What is weird though is that while we got no more than 3 inches of rain and zero wind, other western MA communities less than 30 miles away got dumped on and are experiencing some serious flooding problems! Lots of highways are flooded and closed. So it could have been worse, but unfortunately not everyone was as lucky as us.

Mike Callahan Beaver Solutions

And from Sarah Summerville of the Unexpected wildlife refuge in NJ this morning

We’re fine here at the refuge, aside from flooding (but we are mostly wetlands). The sump pump is coming on a lot to empty the basement; perhaps I shall have an indoor pool! Mom was out last night checking on her new expanded borders. They probably have a couple extra acres in their pond from Irene. Blessings!

Thanks for the shout out, Sarah

And from Sharon & Owen of Beavers: Wetlands & Wildlife in NY

Lots of tree damage in this area (southwest foothills of NY’s Adirondacks). We had no power yesterday, and about 9 pm a NiMo worker came to say the outage was due to a tree falling on a electric line along the nearest paved road and the tree was still on fire. Later when we took a look, the fire was out, a crew was there and the large tree was blocking most of the road. We noticed it was a poplar (beavers’ favorite) and asked them not to chip the branches.

This morning we were surprised to find the poplar still in the road with lots of cones around it —must’ve been more urgent sites to handle. Deep ruts in the mud on one shoulder showed where vehicles were passing. So Owen grabbed a chain saw, hooked up the trailer and in less than an hour we’d hauled two big loads. Caution: don’t try this unless you’re experienced with a chain saw (we heat with wood, except for our solar addition), and it’s a country road with little traffic.

Took one load north to a beaver dam with a flex leveler that’d prevented a catastrophic road washout in 2006, according to the then highway supervisor. Rest will go to a south colony later today. Flash flooding is happening in many areas and the extra food and building materials will help nature’s engineers to manage this.

News from Vermont where Skip is, looks like more water than wind and waiting waiting waiting for the rivers to let them know if they’re going to flood. (Apparently Vermont is having the worst floods in a hundred years). I’m hopeful he’s still has power and I’ll let you know when I hear from him.

In the meantime, it looks like beavers and a big chunk of America lucked out.