Tag: Mike Callahan

Beaver Memorial Day

heidi08 Beavers and Birds, Beavers and climate change, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, What's killing beavers now?, Who's saving beavers now? May 30, 2016

Home again, home again, and not a moment too soon! We found Mario putting finishing touches on the mural, my attempts at posting on location upside down and the fantastic news that Hopkinton is FINALLY hiring Mike Callahan! Here let me catch you up to date on everything! I’ll sit on my Portland stories a while to let them percolate.

Apparently Dave Scola and some city folks are stopping by on Wednesday to see the final product. Then it’s just sealing the work for posterity. Love the frog and the dragonfly and the way a beaver dam is forever on Alhambra Creek. I couldn’t be more pleased, but I’m still going to try to push for one little beaver kit. Wish me luck.

I think every city should have a beaver mural, don’t you? I love that this mural is literally “OVER THE TOP”.

Now you might remember the city of Hopkinton in Massachusetts, which I was forced to learn how to spell when I wrote about them in winter of this year, or in winter of last year, or in spring the year before that. I wrote the council and one brave responder actually talked with Mike for a half an hour in 2015 before a trapper killed 42 beavers this year. Just go to the search bar and type “Hopkinton” to see how many articles come up on the first page alone. They have been such voracious whiners they provoked me into this graphic in December.

Well, change IS possible, get out your nano tools so we can all measure the progress.

Hopkinton looks to trap beavers, install devices

HOPKINTON — In an effort to reduce flooding on properties on Fruit Street and Huckleberry Road, the town is looking to get approvals to trap beavers and install other measures in Whitehall Brook. The Department has filed a notice of intent with the Conservation Commission to approve a beaver management plan developed by a private contractor, Beaver Solutions LLC.

The plans call for trappings, breaching three small beavers dams and installation of two flow devices.

“The town’s goal is not to eradicate the beaver population but to manage it enough so that we can all enjoy our properties safely,” Burke wrote. Mike Callahan, owner of Beaver Solutions in Southampton, surveyed the area by kayak and foot in March.

“Whitehall Brook is a large stream that drains an extensive area including Whitehall Reservoir,” he wrote in his report. “It can have very high flows and if impounded by beaver dams can flood extensive areas since there is a broad floodplain here.” He said beavers have likely lived in the area for a long time. His report details six dams.

“Three active dams raise the water by six inches to a foot each,” he said. “These several small dams all combine to maintain a higher water level abutting the homes on Huckleberry Road. There are also two very large active beaver lodges in this area.”

He said because there is a good food supply, some trappings will likely be needed. He said beaver trapping season is Nov. 1 through April 15, but a permit can be granted from the Board of Health in the off-season.”There are two large beaver dams and multiple smaller ones,” he wrote. “Ironically it is the smaller dams in the vicinity of Huckleberry Road that have generated the most concerns.”

He said for one dam that is flooding an acre of farmland, he recommends the town spend $3,000 for two pipes to lower the water.

Hurray for Mike Callahan and beaver solutions! And hurray for the working mind(s) that made this happen! Of course they are clinging to the trapping idea, because 42 beavers just ISN’T enough for a city of 15,000 and 1.5 square miles of water. (On the day the terms “Slow learner” were redefined, we can simply stand in awe and watch.) Still, progress is incremental. Maybe when they see how these two pipes work for the long term they will stop wasting everyones times with trapping.

Looks like this memorial day is full of losses and opportunities. We need this I think.

Good news for beavers (East Coast version)

heidi08 Beavers and Birds, Beavers and climate change, Beavers and Forests, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Environmental, Friends of Martinez Beavers, Who's saving beavers now? March 22, 2016

The East Coast is ahead of us in impressive academia and sunrise timing, but it other than inventing Mike Callahan and Skip Lisle it sadly isn’t often they win the beaver IQ contest. Looks like several new steps are getting made at once. Starting with Connecticut, which has recently needed more than its share of beaver guidance.

New Hartford Land Trust eyes resurgent beaver population

NEW HARTFORD — Connecticut has become a virtual “Field of Dreams” for a burgeoning beaver population, a fan of the species told conservationists here last week.

New Hartford Land Trust members explored the nature of the beaver and solutions to the problems their instinctual behaviors cause during the land trust’s annual meeting this week. Presenting the program was Michael Callahan, owner of Beaver Solutions of Southampton, Mass.

“Beavers are second only to people as animals that change the environment,” Callahan said. “Biologists call them a keystone species because they help hold an ecosystem together.”

Callahan said “nature likes change” and beavers are agents of that change. As they cut trees to create dams, woodlands are flooded and natural succession occurs. Beavers eventually create an open grassy habitat called a “beaver meadow,” attracting waterfowl.

As aquatic vegetation grows, invertebrates become common, which attracts insect-eating wildlife such as tree swallows, eastern kingbirds and bats. Fish populations change from cool-water to warm-water species. Mink and otter move in and the wetland becomes attractive to muskrats, mallards, Canada geese, black ducks and least bitterns. Nature is on the move.

If beavers remain in an area, they typically exhaust the food supply and the animals move on to a new territory. The old dams break down and mud flats develop that morph into grasslands supporting birds. Eventually trees grow back and the cycle is complete.

“Beavers can cause us problems, but the benefits put it in perspective,” Callahan said. “Overall, they create a vibrant ecology comparable to the biodiversity of coral reefs.”

Heyyy we recognize that man! It’s Mike Callahan the very good friend of beavers and Worth A Dam. So happy he is preaching the beaver gospel in CT. I dropped the breadcrumbs in a very neat line and hoped for the best. But you never know. I can’t help noticing a rather large shamrock in the corner of that photo, so I’m going to have to say his luck of the irish had something to do with it.
Given his name sake and appreciation of what no one yet understands I can’t help thinking of this long-lost commercial. I can’t help posting it.

Roosevelt Forest Commission to revisit beaver trapping issue

STRATFORD — The Roosevelt Forest Commission is expected on Wednesday to revisit its decision to allow lethal beaver traps to be deployed in Roosevelt Forest, a 400-acre woodland that’s home to scores of forest creatures.

A colony of beavers has set up shop near the dead end of Pumpkin Ground Road, where there’s a trailhead that leads into the forest. Beavers build dams, and the dam that’s they’ve built is backing up a tributary to Pumpkin Ground Brook is causing a stir throughout the region.

The Roosevelt Forest Commission will meet in Town Council chambers in Town Hall. The meeting will begin Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Of course revisiting doesn’t mean they’ll be any kinder on the second round, but thinking twice is certainly preferable to not thinking at all. There have been a few protests and flurries about the inhumanity of trapping, so I’m going to fantasize that some Hartford trust member is best friends with some Roosevelt forest member and says at poker night something like, you know we had this fantastic presentation by Mike Callahan. Maybe you should call him?

Okay, these stories are both about a state as big as a postage stamp. Where do I get off referring to the whole “East Coast”? I’ll tell you where, because yesterday I was sent an email by Dave Penrose of North Carolina, looking for a beaver expert to present at the upcoming 3 day conference on stream restoration. Because he thinks that a stream restoration conference needs a beaver presence. Think about that!

I promptly introduced him to some nearby beaver voices in the land, including the good folks at the Blue Heron Nature Preserve. I also sent it to John Hadidian in case HSUS could get Stephanie Boyle involved from Virginia. The conference is three days in August so I said I was absolutely preoccupied and couldn’t help because of the beaver festival. He said, “That’s intriguing. What’s a beaver festival?”.

Something your state needs, I answered.

Martinez Beaver Festival promo 2015 from Tensegrity Productions on Vimeo.

Funnest Beaver Puzzle Ever!

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Who's saving beavers now? March 13, 2016

This is a Waterwheel.
This is a Water wheel on Beavers.

Busy as beavers, really, in Rehoboth, MA

REHOBOTH – In North Rehoboth, where the Palmer River is barely a brook, scattered trees are suddenly being cut down along the banks. What had been a small dam dating to colonial times is being built higher – with sticks and wattle.

The changes, and the gradually rising water in a pair of small ponds, isn’t the work of rural vandals. It marks the return of the North American beaver, a stranger to the area since before the Revolution.

E. Otis Dyer, landowner and longtime authority on local history, sees in their comeback the story of nature renewing itself after centuries of human dominance.

At Stony Brook, environmental workers had to install a bypass pipe called a “beaver deceiver” to dissuade the animals from expanding a dam that threatened to flood a foot bridge.

Dyer says he doesn’t take umbrage at the beaver, who are only reclaiming a piece of their natural environment. Still, he said the animals’ presence is gradually causing the water in his ponds to rise.

I love Mr. Dyers calm historical perspective, and I love the fact that the article mentions a flow device solving a similar problem. Rehoboth is about 100 miles from Mike Callahan and beaver solutions, but something tells me this might get him to take a road trip. Think of what an interesting puzzle this is since the water is already directed into a narrow channel to run the wheel. That means the beavers are damming it and when the dams blow out they send debris into the wheel. I can’t imagine their damming the actual wheel itself, but who knows? It probably is going to require something more like culvert protection than what we had in Martinez. Maybe even a diversion dam.

I nominate Mike for the job!

Speaking of nominations for the job, I’m also nominating Caitin McCombs for the job of educating citizens about the mountain house beavers. She’s done an amazing job so far. She confronted some council members on the bunk they were passing at this week’s meeting. Now her article has appeared in the local paper. And don’t think I love this for a minute only because it praises what Martinez did! (Although that doesn’t hurt.)

MH-Matters

Wonderful job Caitlin! You are doing fantastic work to raise awareness and get folks attention in Mountain House. We are thrilled little Martinez could inspire you to try and coexist with these important water savers. Rumor is she is coming to help us at Earth day so you can congratulate her in person then!

One final outstanding graphic from Elizabeth Saunders at Cows and Fish for you to share. Isn’t this brilliant?

Beaver Class Reunion

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental, History, Who's saving beavers now? September 17, 2015

First things first. Mike is sending this letter in response to the editorial I posted yesterday.

To the Editor,

The 9-15-15 Gazette editorial regarding the Lake Fitzgerald beaver issue failed the public miserably. In addition to incorrect information about the chain-link fence, the editor chose to mock the efforts of a committed group of Broad Brook Coalition and UMass volunteers, city officials and myself, with comments such as “Callahan cooked up the idea “, “beavers pretty much made sawdust of Plans A through C” and “start working on Plan E”.

In 18 years of solving over 1,200 human-beaver conflicts with water control devices I have never seen more ingenious beavers than those at Lake Fitzgerald, nor such an amazing coalition of dedicated volunteers and city officials. It is sad that the editor did not celebrate the efforts of these local citizens, but rather chose to mock them.

Also, it’s been over a month since the rocks were installed and our creative solution is working fine. The lake level remains normal and the beavers have been unable to block the drain. So editor, please avoid negative, uninformed, mocking opinions. The public gets enough of that from Donald Trump.

Michael Callahan, Owner

Beaver Solutions LLC

Take that snappy beaver critique editor! I hope it gets printed because it deserves to be read. People shouldn’t go around insulting valiant effort. Especially when it keeps getting better and better and folks are just trying to do the right thing.

Personally, I kind of love when the big players get called into the game. Like remember that time that paper dissed our historic research as a misinterpretation of the evidence in a footnote and I got happy that he was getting Rick’s dander up.

Speaking of Rick and our historial research this was released yesterday, and is the hard work of Greg Kerekes for the Guadelupe RCD. There’s someone in it you’ll recognize but I had just gotten back from another speaking job and think I sound like a lunatic with a cold. If you don’t have time to watch it now watch it later, it’s really informative and well done.

How much do you love that footage? And those under/over shots. Rick is such a great teacher, I want to read our paper again right now! Greg is doing an awesome job in the South Bay spreading the beaver gospel through his non profit (Urban Wildlife Research Project). If you don’t remember him from the festival you probably remember his wife dancing in the beaver costume a couple years ago. She was awesome.

Goodness we’ve been in this business a long time. In fact we’re about two weeks away from our 3000th post. Which is a lot of things for one woman to say about beavers. Our website has been around so long and has SO much info it’s starting to stretch at the seams so I was thrilled to hear from our webpage designer Scott Artis yesterday that he will help us get back to sailing velocity. He has his hands full with a paid environmental job now but I think he noticed the long nonprofit list for Sunday’s event and saw that his group (Audubon Canyon) was the Alpha and WE (Worth A Dam) were the Omega, and was prompted suddenly to write back. So HOORAY for updating websites!

Yesterday I immersed myself in this project, which I should share at a later date because we already have one film on this post, but I have no delayed gratification. Or very little. And I’m feeling proud.

Beaver Snark

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Who's blaming beavers now?, Who's saving beavers now? September 16, 2015

This was apparently Mike Callahan’s first professional job ever. It has required additions over the years.

Editorial: Northampton’s lake beavers test conservation creativity

The beavers of Fitzgerald Lake are proving themselves formidable foes of the Broad Brook Coalition, which for years has been trying to regulate the level of the lake and protect a dock used by visitors to this conservation area on the north side of Northampton.

Last month, members of the coalition and a company called Beaver Solutions rolled out what that firm’s owner, in a display of dark humor, called “Plan D.” The beavers pretty much made sawdust of Plans A through C.

Sheesh, you tried four times in 20 years to solve a problem? I’m pretty sure that’s a success that most of us would envy. My Dad used to bring a carburetor with us to switch out on vacation every summer! You have Mike 10 miles away who can tinker when you need to. And in the mean time the beavers have been a ROUSING success at keeping other beavers away with their territorial behavior and increasing inverterbrates with their digging which has fed an expanding fish and bird population. I feel a certain Shakespearean tirade coming on…

What, rouse thee, man! thy Juliet is alive,

For whose dear sake thou wast but lately dead;

There art thou happy: Tybalt would kill thee,

But thou slew’st Tybalt; there are thou happy too:

The law that threaten’d death becomes thy friend

And turns it to exile; there art thou happy:

A pack of blessings lights up upon thy back;

This is a great “count your beavers speech” but people never listen do they? Romeo sure didn’t.

This time, the coalition went big. To keep beavers from reaching an underwater outlet drain that controls the lake’s level, coalition volunteers hauled 20 tons of traprock out to the drain, which Michael Callahan of Beaver Solutions had already caged in with chain-link fencing.

No easy task, to be sure. The rocks rode out to the spot aboard specially devised rafts. Volunteers standing up to their chests in the lake painstakingly moved rocks down around the base of the fencing, hoping to create a lasting barrier to beavers that had been tunneling under the fencing to reach and clog the drain.

Plan C, a few years back, involved placing rebar around gaps in the underwater fencing. Beavers kept fighting back, though, and Callahan cooked up the idea of hauling in 40,000 pounds of rock. He is cautiously optimistic. Only time will tell.

Callahan might want to start working on Plan E.

Ya ya ya. Beavers build dams. It’s a thing.