Our beaver-friend Ann Riley sent me the July issue of “Mother Earth News” with a four page article on beavers and a nod to our friends at Beavers: Wetlands & Wildlife. It was fun to read about their activities from someone who appreciates them, but I had mixed feelings about parts of the article. My sense was that the author advocates for keeping beavers in the same way that a bud light commercial advises you to “drink responsibly”: they have long figured out that you won’t do it anyway.
My sensibilities were particularly ruffled by two parts of the article: the first was that damming was entirely ‘based on instinct’, which if it was true, why would beavers stay with their parents for 2-3 years? And why does a particular beaver’s damming behavior get better over time? More importantly, his statement that beaver populations have ‘recovered’ is true only if you use the kind of mindset that the Bush Administration did when they took bald eagles off the endangered species list. (“Well there are so many in Alaska!) It’s ‘recovered’ in the sense that they probably aren’t dying off any time soon, but it isn’t ‘restored’ to its original numbers by a long shot.
Here’s my letter to Mr. Krautwurst. I haven’t been able to find an address to post your own but you can use the form at the website if you’d like.
Mr. Krautwurst’s article on beavers is a necessary – but not sufficient – look at the impact this keystone species has on our habitat. Contrary to his statement that beaver populations ‘have recovered’ it would be more accurate to say that they have recovered a fraction of their original range. Beavers were once in “every river, brook and rill” (samuel de champlain). Krautwurst doesn’t discuss the essential role that beavers played in the geology of american soil and how the realization of that motivated federal agencies to offer some protection in the early 1900’s. He also notes that beavers build dams and chop trees based solely on instinct, which can’t possibly be true. Any animal that reaches physical maturity but remains with its parents for two to three years is obviously learning and perfecting skills. Finally he credits the beavers excellent ‘reproduction rate’ with its fictional recovery. A female beaver is in estrus 12-24 hours every year, so beavers reproduce at a slow, steady rate. Touting their proficiency only makes them more likely to be killed when their behavior interferes with humans. The beaver baffler was the only tool of choice about 20 years ago for beaver management. The new flow device technology has come a long way and can solve virtually any beaver flood-related problem. The article should have also emphasized that beaver trapping, besides removing wetlands and hurting wildlife, is a short term solution that must be paid for again and again. Installing a flow device or culvert fence is an investment that will pay for itself many times over.
Let me end by saying how DELIGHTFUL it was to sit under the trees at John Muir Mountain Day Camp and hear children quizzing each other on why the beaver was considered a keystone species and how it impacted other wildlife. Ahhhh
