A sign posted to a tree in Broadhead Creek Park warns visitors “Use of property, streams and ponds at own risk.” That same tree now presents a hazard. With a section of a trunk gouged out, only a narrow piece of wood holds the tree upright.
“That tree may have to come down,” said Stroud Township Supervisor Daryl Eppley. “It looks pretty far gone, and we don’t want to put the public at risk.”
The damage was discovered by recent park visitor Bill Sine. Township officials have one suspect already – a beaver. Sherry Acevedo, executive director of Stroud Regional Open Space and Recreation Commission, said preliminary evidence shows signs of an animal preparing for winter.
“Beaver activity does occur naturally along the stream,” she said, “and they do typically chew on trees.”
Stroud Township could decide to remove the tree as early as Tuesday, said Eppley. A public works crew will investigate multiple factors, including the direction the tree might fall.
“Even if it falls into the stream,” he said, “it can cause a dam – something beavers are notorious for.”
Full credit to the author of the article for using an actually new pun. “Gnawty or Nice” amuses me. Stroud Township is in Monroe county in Pennsylvania. It is one of the counties stricken by drought, although they apparently don’t want any beaver dams saving their remaining water though. Beavers are rascals. Any amusement leftover from the very rare new pun in this story is directed to the public works crew who will be “Investigating multiple factors”to determine which way the tree is going to fall. I can just see our DPW crew now out with their tape measures and plumb bobs using calculus to determine the trajectory.
Yesterday I showed you the trail cam video of Michael Forsberg which showed a beaver doggedly protecting his home from intruders. Turns out Michael’s a renowned wildlife photographer with extensive background in prairie wildlife. His glorious work has been featured in books and shown in National Geographic and PBS.
Lots of cranes, foxes and stunning night skies in his portfolio, and you should check out his website. But surprisingly few beaver. Obviously his resume has some beaver gaps that he is hoping to fill. We friended on facebook yesterday and I’ll do what I can to nudge him closer to beaver greatness.
Sadly, this is Mr. Forsberg’s only beaver photo featured on his website.
Don’t I always save the best for last? Yesterday I read about the first episode of Autumn Watch in Cornwall which stared the river otter beavers. So of course I went looking for it. I wrote my buddy Peter Smith of the Wildwood Trust in Kent and he directed me to this. You should really watch the whole thing. But first I’m going to tell you what made me very, very happy.
The interview with scientist/naturalist Derek Gow shows him wearing the Worth A Dam hat we gave him at the beaver conference a few years back. Martinez in Devon! Worth A Dam around the world! Isn’t that WONDERFUL? I’ve cued up the segment so you really need to watch!
Do you remember those books you loved before you could read easily? We called them ‘picture books’ and they were illustrated in such an understandable way that you always knew exactly what was happening without a single written word?
Well think of today’s post as a ‘picture book’.
I just learned how to make a GIF of some of my favorite 2008 Dad footage. Most of the tailslapping I saw from the beavers happened in their first two years with us. Obviously they grew more accustomed to people in their lives and it was directed at us less frequently. Maybe it was never directed at us anyway. There were nearly always otters around when they slapped and it was nearly always spring. I’m guessing they were protecting these:
I consider Peter Smith of the Wildwood Trust in Kent a major beaver ally. He also happens to be my most reliable ally when it comes to finding beaver information in the UK. He’s wonderfully intelligent and earnest on camera and absolutely emphasizes the right things when talking about beavers. Apparently his dedication even won over journalist and Countryfile star Ellie Harrison, who surprised him this weekend with this.
Well deserved! Could NOT happen to a better beaver defender!
Finally Rusty of Napa photoghraped his first beavers together yesterday and his enviable fortune is our good luck this morning. Enjoy!
Our friends at the River Otter Ecology Project get a fitting tribute to their hard work and recent publication. Congratulations for making an important difference! They are proud to welcome otter presence back to eight of the nine bay area counties. Since otters are no doubt there because of the recovering fish population and cleaner water, it’s something we should ALL be happy about. We’ve watched ROEP grow from a hint of an idea, to a plan and into a massive success and I couldn’t be happier for them! They are this year’s winner for the John Muir non-profit of the year conservation award, and have always been grand beaver supporters of our efforts and happy to cross pollinate. Check out their new publication and enjoy the recovery for yourself.
I have to admit though, despite all good intentions, when I consider the charmed life otters lead, with their cheerful beloved antics and their lithe fish-eating ways, I can’t help getting jealous. No city ever makes a decision to kill otters and no one gets mad at them for flooding roads or blocking culverts. In California the otter’s biggest threat is accidental trapping if it wanders into a conibear set for a beaver on purpose. Otters rarely get mistakenly attributed in photographs, and people don’t call them pests. Their comeback inspires a ticker-tape parade, and beavers are greeted with pitchforks and torches. It can feel like beavers are the red-headed step child of the aquatic mammal world. And for that matter, why didn’t our three beaver prevalence papers make the news? The three were monumentally hard work overturning 70 years of thought!
And then I read this:
“…we strongly recommend attention to their potential role as a keystone species in the San Francisco Bay Area”
Could that be true? I knew of course that sea otters were a keystone species, because of their diet of sea urchins, which otherwise deplete kelp forests, where so much sea life lives. But river otters? Was nothing sacred? Would there be otter keystone charm bracelets next? I went searching around for clues and found this from our old friend Steve Boyle saying it has to do with the role of nutrient exchange:
The river otter has been termed a keystone species because of its role in nutrient transport between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, and a sentinel species because of its sensitivity toenvironmental contaminants and other disturbances (Bowyer et al. 2003). As such, river otter presenceshould be considered an important element in aquatic and riparian ecosystem health in Region 2 habitats potentially suitable for river otters. The existing and additional management efforts described below should help to make river otter populations across Region 2 more widespread and secure.
Oh alright then. Otter poop it is. (Snark Alert: Can’t really imagine what that bracelet would look like?) I hrmphed off to Rickipedia who reminded me not to worry because the thing that makes beavers wondrous is that in addition to being a keystone species they’re also ecosystem engineers. Which is much, much rarer.
So I think it’s time for new graphics, don’t you?
Now here’s something entirely positive about beavers, Peter Smith’s discussion of their Economic Impact at the recent Scottish Beaver Conference.
Good news for beavers in Wales! They’re getting closer to reintroduction. Count this as great news for dragonflies and salmon and otters and waterfowl too. Well here, I’ll let our good friend Peter Smith tell you. In addition to having the very best job on the planet, he’s an excellent spokesman!
Plans to reintroduce beavers to the Welsh countryside after hundreds of years without them have moved a step closer.
The Afon Rheidol river in Ceredigion has been chosen as the location for their return next year. Should the move go ahead it could see beavers brought in from the UK and around Europe.
Of course there are the usual grumblings from farmers and fishermen but they seem to be facing a losing battle. The players have done everything right and the advocates have made the right friends. Fingers crossed, but it looks like after being missing for 400 years, beavers coming back to Wales! Can a Welsh beaver festival be far behind?
Any news closer to home? I received this paper from Leonard Houston this morning. Its by Dr. Wayne Hoffman and the midcoast Watershed council. Hoffman is a name we’ve read over and over again this year, but we still haven’t connected. After I sip some coffee and read through this treasure I’m definitely introducing myself! In case you want to read this yourself, I’ve put a permanent link on the right hand margin under solutions. UPDATE from the small world files. Just heard from his colleague and co-author Fran Recht that she attended my presentation at the beaver conference this year and was inspired by the Martinez Beaver story!
Beavers and Conservation in Oregon Coastal WatershedsA background paper byDr. Wayne Hoffman, MidCoast Watersheds CouncilFran Recht, Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission
Those interested in salmon and habitat restoration are express ing renewed interest in reestablishing beaver populations as inexpensive “watershed engineers”. In many places the type of work that beavers do improves conditions favorable to cohosalmon, cutthroat troutand other animals. Their dams also store water that help increase nutrient levels for other organisms in the stream, build up eroded streambeds, release water during the dry seasons, and improve water quality by slowing waters to allow sediment to settle, among other things. However, in Oregon, beavers have been considered a pest as well as a game animal so their protections are limited and their numbers have fluctuated dramatically over time due to a variety of factors.In the central Coast major declines in beaver ponds and dams have been documented in the past 2 decades. This background aper provides a summary of the benefits of beavers, their conflicts with humans, and the policies and conditions that affect their survival. It also provides examples of ways to reduce conflict with humans, and suggests needed legislative actions
Full credit to the author of the article for using an actually new pun. “Gnawty or Nice” amuses me. Stroud Township is in Monroe county in Pennsylvania. It is one of the counties stricken by drought, although they apparently don’t want any beaver dams saving their remaining water though. Beavers are rascals. Any amusement leftover from the very rare new pun in this story is directed to the public works crew who will be “Investigating multiple factors”to determine 
prairie wildlife. His glorious work has been featured in books and shown in National Geographic and PBS.
