Mike Settell – Page 2

Lucky Beavers In Capable Hands

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beaver Chewing, Beavers, Beavers and Forests, Beavers elsewhere, Urban beavers, Who's saving beavers now? November 10, 2017

I received an update yesterday from the hardy Judy Taylor-Atkinson of Port Moody Vancouver who is working to save the beavers at the development where she lives. She is doing a wonderful job focusing public attention on the beavers and getting the community interested in them. In fact she’s doing SUCH a fine job that I’m pretty sure at this point our beavers are jealous.

Yesterday she wrote this:

We had our first mini crisis last week when the beavers knocked down a large unwrapped black cottonwood tree and it landed on a homeowners fence, just damaging it slightly. I was immediately notified by people in our neighbourhood who love the beavers and I went to work posting messages on our community facebook page and notifying the city arborist, Steve, (who actually likes the beavers) and requesting the trees in that area be wrapped. Steve sent his two staff, Alex and Doug, who have been trained by Adrian Nelson on the proper way to wrap trees, the next day.

My facebook post read –

“Jim just came back and Silverlining landscape have removed the top of the aspen tree and Jim advised them to leave the branches and cuttings close to the stream bank for the beavers. We will meet with the city arborist today and wrap that stand of trees. The beavers have been eating mostly willow, dogwood, poplar and shrubs. Some trees will be wrapped and others will be left as food sources because there is a natural balance between beavers and trees. Beavers open up the tree canopy to let light in and smaller trees will grow. Some species of trees, like willow, have evolved with beavers and they actually grow faster if a beaver chops them down. The greenbelt is changing from a “stream” ecosystem to a “pond” ecosystem.”

That post seemed to settle everyone down (Jim is my husband). The next day, I posted a picture of Doug and Alex wrapping the trees with the post –

“Thank you to Doug and Alex for wrapping the cottonwoods this morning and to Steve (our city arborist) for his valuable knowledge about our trees along Pigeon Creek. Steve said they are busy right now removing downed trees throughout the city (due to a bad combination of drought followed by intense rain and now a cold snap).”

Thankfully, Steve, the city arborist seems to be quite supportive (and interested) in the beavers. When the beavers first turned up a year ago Steve didn’t know anything about them and now you should hear him! He knows what kind of trees they prefer (and why), which trees offer the most nutrition for beavers (cottonwoods, poplars) and he’s not concerned about the willows at all. He just has to make sure the trees don’t fall on a building and now he has a plan to wrap those trees. He has also been along the stream and is quite sure that the trees the beavers could potentially knock down will not fall away from the stream.

Isn’t that wonderful? She is committed to making beaver friends wherever she goes, and NOW those lucky beavers even have an arborist who is learning to love them! (Does Martinez even have an arborist? Or know the word?) I asked for her permission to share this because I think it is inspiring to others who are thinking of doing something similar. She and her husband are hard at work in the community encouraging, explaining and de-mystifying beaver behavior. I wish very much I could resist this little rhyme that has crept into my mind, because she deserves so much better, but there’s no avoiding it now.

Thank heavens for Judy
On duty
In Port Moody

There’s excellent beaver management news this morning from Idaho where the watershed guardians just installed a pond leveler for veterans day. Given the hard time that many beavers face in the Gem state, these critters are lucky indeed! Great work Mike Settell and team Pocatello!

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“Thank you, Bruce, for serving on the Watershed Guardians board, providing inspiration, leadership and flatout hard work. We will honor your volunteerism by carrying on our work to help the Portneuf River Watershed, one beaver at a time!”

Another dam festival!

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, Festival, Who's saving beavers now? August 18, 2016

It’s starting to be time for the third annual beaver dam jam with our friends in Pocatello Idaho. I’m really proud of Mike Settell and is band of merry folk for getting this together in a state that traps more than it treasures. I am pretty sure that our festival convinced these folks to try their own, but even I can’t imagine what it would take to offer camping AFTER the event!

3rd annual Beaver Dam Jam to raise money for Watershed Guardians

POCATELLO – The third annual Beaver Dam Jam, a music event to support beaver conservation, will feature the bands Country Drive and Hot Pursuit and other activities from 4 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Aug. 27 at the Mink Creek Pavilion, located in the Caribou National Forest on South Mink Creek Road.

Watershed Guardians helps the Portneuf Watershed, by helping beaver. Proceeds from the events will support BeaverCount, a free winter event to census beaver colonies in Idaho. Watershed Guardians also educates the rural and urban communities on non-lethal methods of beaver damage control.

The Mink Creek group campsite holds up to 200 folks and has a nice outdoor pavilion that is a popular outdoor wedding venue. It’s about 12 miles south of town and they arrange for buses to get everyone out there and back safely. Can’t you just imagine the whooping good time of dancing under that pavilion? They provide food and beer is available for a donation. You can bring camping gear (including bicycles) on the bus. I can’t even imagine the planning this takes.

Well, I can sort of imagine.

Another chapter in our beaver tale

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, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Educational, Who's saving beavers now? February 11, 2016

Having trouble deciding what to read at night? I might have just found an answer. This imminently published book covers the exciting return of beavers to the Detroit River. It’s lovely writing and illustrations are aimed at children 8-12 but you can bet I’ll be reading my copy avidly and telling you all about it here, at beaver central. I’m attaching the publishers pdf which you can read or download for more details.

And yes. Let’s hear it for the beavers.

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There’s a nice article about our Idaho beaver friends recent beaver count, but I’m sure you’ll agree that the choice of photo is a little inappropriate:

Oof! I wrote Debbie and the paper when this came out but I’m there haven’t been changes. Never mind, lets focus on the words which are wonderful!

“Helping the Portneuf River watershed, one beaver at a time” is the motto of the Watershed Guardians, whose annual BeaverCount on Mink and Dempsey creeks last weekend was part of that effort.

The beaver count is a volunteer effort organized by Watershed Guardians. And the results from the annual census will influence how many trapping permits are issued for beaver on Mink Creek, Dempsey Creek and other streams within the Portneuf River watershed, said Mike Settell, the group’s director.

Several Scout troops and students from Idaho State University’s Outdoor Leadership program took part in the annual count on Saturday, along with 32 volunteer surveyors known as “Flat-tailers.”

During the annual count, volunteers recorded beaver scat, tracks, and slides, which indicate that the animals still occupy ponds on Mink Creek and other areas.

Currently in its fifth year, data collected during the count will be shared at open house events for the public, federal agencies, and Idaho Fish and Game, said Settell, who’s an environmental engineer. The findings will also be presented at the “State of the Beaver” conference in Canyonville, Oregon.

Settell said the number of trapping permits issued for beaver on the Main and the South forks of Mink Creek has been reduced from 10 to five animals, and trapping on the East and West forks was suspended for an additional two years.

Beaver are the original watershed guardians, Settell said. The indigenous animals play a crucial role in flood control, recharging the ground water supply and creating habitat in a pond-wetland-stream ecosystem.

“Along the Portneuf, beaver create habitat for every species from frogs to moose,” Settell said. “This year we’re also looking at fisheries, as well. And streams that have beaver activity typically have more and larger native species of fish, such as the Yellowstone cutthroat trout.”

Meanwhile, a lack of beaver activity leads to an increase in sediment and a greater chance of peak flood-damage downstream.

Settell said Watershed Guardians operates through volunteers and by donations. The mission of the group is to raise awareness about the crucial role that beavers play in maintaining wildlife habitat and water quality within the Portneuf River watershed.

Love that mission. Great work Mike and Team Mike! I’m so happy to have your voice for beavers on the good side. In the past couple years Mike has even undertaken a beaver musical festival known as the “Beaver dam Jam”, and I couldn’t be more thrilled with their many successes. Idaho is one place where sport trapping is still more common than depredation – so its a big deal that folks are looking out for beavers.

Our mural meeting went very well yesterday, we have been approved by the art committee and assuming they have a quorum next week we are on the schedule to present at the PRMCC on Tuesday. Artist Mario Alfaro showed up with a canvas of his latest efforts, and we were all very impressed. Click twice to see a bigger version.

This artwork really focuses on our natural color scheme and boasts an egret and a turtle! Love the many beavers, and very happy to see the children in the stand of trees near the dam. So familiar! I’m thinking this will look amazing on the bridge.

Ohh and I found this by accident the other day. It’s obviously a computer generated reading of our wikipedia entry, but fun to see nevertheless.

Beaver Success is Out There!

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Who's saving beavers now? October 15, 2015

Martinez is being deeply stupid at the moment. So we’re looking elsewhere for inspiration. Let’s start with Idaho and our old friend Mike Settell of the Watershed Guardians.

Groups help mitigate beaver dam problems

To help with the beaver dam’s problems, the Watershed Guardians installed a pond leveler in the same pond as the dam. The leveler helps maintain the pond’s water at a set level, regardless of the beavers’ actions.

“We set the level of the pond by adjusting where (the leveler) sets in the dam,” said Mike Settel, executive director of the Watershed Guardians. “We’re actually using the structure the beaver created to help keep the level where we want it to be.”

While the priority was to help with flooding, maintaining the pond’s level does more. By raising the water level it increases the amount of groundwater recharge, provides flows in-stream and helps with wildlife habitat. Particularly giving more water for fish.

Go Mike and the Watershed Guardians! I’ve been impressed with his beaver teaching since 2009 when he somehow got Pocatello Audubon to fund a beaver count! I pretty much talked him into interstate travel and his first beaver conference where Leonard Houston spontaneously gave him a venue to present. Then he met Mike Callahan, learned how to put in a flow device, and the rest (as they say) is history!

And there’s more good news from our friends and the friends of beavers. This is from the Truckee River where Sherry and Ted Guzzi with the Sierra Wildlife Coalition have been making a world of difference.

Enjoying the beauty of beavers

Sherry Guzzi from the Sierra Wildlife Coalition says that beaver dams “hold water on the land longer and allow it to recharge the water table, and help create habitat for fish and wildlife.” Researchers in Utah have found that beavers provide a direct positive impact to farmers and ranchers downstream by allowing the water to last later into the season.

The dams also slow down and capture sediments on their way to Lake Tahoe and other bodies of water, acting as filtering or cleaning mechanisms. Research has found that the amount of phosphorus (which causes algae growth) entering Lake Tahoe took a spike upward when dams were removed from Taylor Creek to allow for the annual Kokanee salmon spawn in the fall.

Great work Sherry and Ted! You have single-handedly made Tahoe think twice about beavers. This is not an easy field to plow, since folks who invest money to move to nature generally don’t actually want messy nature to eat their petunias or dam their culverts. I couldn’t be more grateful for your hard work. And I absolutely LOVE your hat! 🙂

It made me think that we need a graphic like this. There are more photos lurking about from more beaver-saving gurus, but this will do for a start.

dressed — Sherry Guzzi, Ian Timothy, Mike Callahan, Sherri Tippie, Skip Lisle, Alex Hiller, Leonard and Lois Houston, and Malcolm Kenton.

Beaver Dam Jam returns!

heidi08 Beavers or Social Ambasadors, Who's saving beavers now? September 2, 2015

Don’t know what’s happening with the Utah beaver festival this year, but we’re on for Idaho again. The Watershed Guardians are proud to present their second annual Beaver Dam Jam.

Beaver Dam Jam is Sept. 26 at Scout Mountain, Pocatello

The Beaver Dam Jam, a music event to support beaver conservation, will feature the bands Cure for the Common and Wire Mama on Sept. 26 at Camp Taylor on Scout Mountain.Pocatello Regional Transit bus rides from Holt Arena near Bonneville Park at 5 p.m., and Old Town Pavilion at 5:30 p.m.; the music starts at 6 p.m. Suggested donations for attending the event are $30 for singles, $50 for couples and $20 for Idaho State University students with valid Bengal ID cards and seniors age 65 and older Camping options are available, on a first-come, first-served basis at Justice Park on Scout Mountain (make reservations at recreation.gov), by renting a cabin at Camp Taylor or staying at the Mink Creek Pavilion. For complete event information, including purchasing tickets, finding more information on camping and transportation options, visit www.watershedguardians.org. More information on the event is also available by contacting Mike Settell at 208-220-3336 or mr.settell@gmail.com

I’m so excited for them and proud of what they’ve accomplished I thought they deserved a graphic.