salmon

Looks like the kits outta the bag!

heidi08 Beavers July 16, 2017

The rule is only good news on Sunday, right? There’s a painstaking amount of beaver stupid going on right now but I’ll stifle my impulse to ridicule and focus on the positive. They are being treated to beautiful kit show in Napa since last weeks coming out party. Now the little peanuts are wandering far upstream on their own and coming back whenever they dam well feel like it. Rusty has his work cut out for him, jogging up and down the creek to follow them, but he’s holding up bravely under the joyful strain.

Tiny Tail: Rusty Cohn

Ohhh so precious. What adorableness! We think there are (at least) two because if you look closely one’s eye looks a little puffy and the other is bright and shiny. And just to prove they really are better than us, Rusty snapped this at the pond for good measure, sigh.

I see Rusty is now posting the photos on facebook so I guess that means the ~~cat’s~~ – er kit’s – officially outta the bag! Maybe you should take a field trip and see for yourself?

Onward to the generous donations from Suzi Eszterhas to the silent auction. She can’t be at the festival this summer because she’s leading a tour photographing humpback whales calving in the Tonga.(!) So she wanted to donate and show her support anyway. You can see how committed she is to wildlife and making sure we take care of it. She sent three lovely books and a archival quality stunning print. Take a look for yourself.

The books are delightful accounts of hand rearing rare species that will be sure to encourage the budding naturalist in your life. But it was the print that really blew me away. A little back-story: very often during her time photographing the beavers on our creek she would tell us that she wouldn’t be there the next few nights because she had to nip down to Monterey or Morro bay to photograph some baby otters. And I would (as I’m known to do) give her a hard time for filming precious sea otter eye candy when beavers were way cooler and needed her more.

But suddenly, I almost understand why. Shhh don’t tell the beavers.

Napatopia history makes the NYT

heidi08 Beaver-themed merchandise, Beavers, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Environmental, History, Who's saving beavers now? January 26, 2016

In the Napa Valley, future landscapes are viewed in the past.

“The project also created new ecological niches. No one knew there were once beavers on the river, for instance. But researchers at the institute found an entry in a fur trapper’s journal from 1833: “Found a few beaver,” it said, an assertion corroborated by references from historical studies.

So the rodents have been allowed to re-establish their dams, including one within view of downtown Napa. The dams will slow erosion and create deep pools, offering a nursery for young fish — some of them threatened — and helping rebuild the river.

Ahem. Cough. Er… you mean those historical studies done by US??? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Robin gets to sell the book AND be in the NYTimes and Napatopia gets to keep its beavers, but hey. An oblique reference to our hard work is plenty.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m plenty happy about this article. Besides, Napa restoration was 20 years hard work in the making, with partners from every part of the aisle and grueling weekly meetings that must have taken watershed saints to attend. So Napa deserves its thunder. Go enjoy the whole article.

And we have our own little victories to celebrate. I heard yesterday from Heyday books which is publishing Beth Pratt’s California collection and is going to include a section on our Martinez beavers. They want permission to use a fine photo of FRO working with two children to paint that wonderful giant beaver!

And I heard from illustrator Alex Perlin that she would happily donate to the auction, which obviously makes me very, very happy indeed.

Illustration of the campfire classic: Land of the Silver Birch.

Beavers: The future and the past

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beaver Chewing, Beaver-themed merchandise, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Who's saving beavers now? June 10, 2015

Let’s start out with some momentous news. Last night in Napa they almost certainly saw three kits. HURRAY THREE KITS!!! One appears to charge off with the adults to feed, so missed his photo opportunity in his rush to maturity, but they are pretty sure it’s a brave little kit they’re seeing. Congratulations Napatopia, we’re excited for you!

Now its on to some inspiration from our great friend Camilla Fox who lent full ‘Project Coyote‘ voice recently to the Bobcat hearing in Santa Rosa. Great work team bobcat!

Finally an update and a short poll. I know you all recognize the fellow on the left, but the gentleman on the right might be less familiar to our new readers. This is Alex Hiller a beaver supporter from Germany who once came to america to visit a beaver family with Hope Ryden of the famed Lily Pond book. Alex was an early and dedicated supporter and attended the beaver symposium in Lithuania, shocking the heck out of Skip and Glynnis by wearing his Worth A Dam t-shirt shown here.

I hadn’t heard from Alex in a while and I thought I’d send him the Geo article in case he hadn’t seen it and wanted to help with a translate. This morning he wrote back sighting an old German saying, “Some people you assume to have perished only got married.” He announced that he met and married a wonderful woman from Sri Lanka who was passionate about elephants so they were focusing their energies there for the time being. How cool is that? Congratulations Alex! We wishing you every happiness but we will miss our reliable foreign correspondent!

Lastly. if we were offering recycled bags for sale at the festival would you prefer a green bag with a logo or a khaki bag with this in brown? I like them both so you’re vote is needed. Let me know here. Thanks!

Wonders never cease…

heidi08 Beavers and salmon, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere April 29, 2015

I think we just might nominate this for beaver photo of the month. I love the colors, which would be beautiful on a tee-shirt! Good work Rusty Cohn of Napa.

Beaver tree cohn — Lucky Beaver – Rusty Cohn

They are actually getting some amazing photos in Tulocay creek. This is from Robin who photographed a green heron’s breakfast at the beaver pond. I send it to the experts for identification and they have confirmed the fish is a bluegill.

FSCN5910 — Green heron eating a bluegill – Robin Ellison

And to top that off Rusty just sent this video from yesterday, wondering what the beaver is eating at .34. Look at him pull that rootball out of the ground and walk it into the water to eat. Obviously it tastes better once you rinse the mud off. Igor thinks some kind of blackberry root tangle.

But I’m not a total Napa-phile yet (although Rusty tells me there’s a house for sale right by the pond. Anyone interested?)

No, I remain firmly convinced that the most remarkable photos always come from Martinez. Just look at this one: Surviving the incredible odds of being cut, planted, pulled up, piled up, ignored, and subsequently replanted upside down. This cottonwood is making a go of it. Proving the old saying, you just can’t keep a good tree down.
Now that’s what we want to see!

As amazing as these local photos are there’s one from the news I think is worth sharing. See if you don’t agree.

Councillors’s race to raise cash dressed in beaver suit

Councillor Debbie Davies dressed as the Baildon Beaver at Wetherby Races ready for the Mascot Gold Cup in aid of Sue Ryder Homes

Hmmm that gives me an idea…

You otter see this…

heidi08 Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Educational, Environmental, Who's saving beavers now? December 16, 2014

Our beaver-watching friends in Napa are keeping a close eye on the pond to see what the rain does to the beavers. I got this yesterday from Rusty.

I was checking on the Beaver Pond today around 2 p.m. and was excited to see what at first I thought were two beavers. Turned out to be two river otters which wasn’t so bad,

otter Rusty — River otter fishing Napa beaver pond.: Photo Rusty Cohn 12-14

I told him our mantra and suggested he send it to the paper.

Beaver ponds increase invertebrates
More Bugs mean more fish
More Fish mean more otters and mink

I also told him to make an otter spotter report since he caught this video:

This morning our retired librarian friend from Georgia sent me new research for the “Blame the Beaver Campaign”. This one about Methan Emmissions.

Beaver-mediated methane emission: The effects of population growth in Eurasia and the Americas

Abstract

Globally, greenhouse gas budgets are dominated by natural sources, and aquatic ecosystems are a prominent source of methane (CH₄) to the atmosphere. Beaver (Castor canadensis and Castor fiber) populations have experienced human-driven change, and CH₄ emissions associated with their habitat remain uncertain. This study reports the effect of near extinction and recovery of beavers globally on aquatic CH₄ emissions and habitat. Resurgence of native beaver populations and their introduction in other regions accounts for emission of 0.18–0.80 Tg CH₄ year⁻¹ (year 2000). This flux is approximately 200 times larger than emissions from the same systems (ponds and flowing waters that became ponds) circa 1900. Beaver population recovery was estimated to have led to the creation of 9500–42 000 km² of ponded water, and increased riparian interface length of >200 000 km. Continued range expansion and population growth in South America and Europe could further increase CH₄ emissions.

Did you catch that? By recovering after we killed them earlier, the rebounding population of beavers are making dams and creating wetlands that emit CH4. Methane is the most prevalent Green house gas. Greenhouse gases cause global warning Because lord knows its not the cows, or the landfills or the cars or the power companies that are causing global warming.

It’s the beavers!