Tag: Robin Ellison

THE BEAVER KILLING FIELDS

heidi08 Who's Killing Beavers Now? March 4, 2019

Today is a mixed review of a beaver day, a triumph and a tragedy. Or rather 146 tragedies, made possible by a California Department of Fish and Wildlife that still believes that it’s a reasonable thing to report under past attempts that you had diligently tried “Hazing and debris removal” before requesting a permit. If you were asking for a permit to give up on your children you might just as easily write that you tried “loud music and making collages” as a earnest attempt at parenting. Because it would be exactly as useful.

All of the awarded permits combined add up to an allowed take of 2,626 beavers in a mere 23 counties in the state. They are generally where we’ve come to expect, surrounding the delta and wicking out from that center. The majority of permits was once again issued for Placer county, but the majority of beavers was authorized for take in Sacramento which I suppose is what we should expect.

Interesting to me in a grim kind of way is all the regions we used to see beaver permits issued and now don’t. Like Kern and Riverside and Mendocino. Places where the beaver population was starting I guess to rebound, and then they were depredated and progress stopped. Of course CDFW would say that just because 2626 beavers were permitted to be killed it doesn’t mean that many were actually killed. Except there were still 6 permits given for unlimited beaver, so for all we know it the actual tallies could even be higher. Plus there is no official with a clipboard coming to check that if your permit was good for 17 beavers you actually didn’t kill 18 by mistake. Or 118.

So I think it’s reasonable to assume that California kills at least 1500 beavers a year, maybe more like 2000.

What does that mean? It means that all the salmon those beavers would have helped, all the fires they might have prevented, all the drought they would have averted is lost in a pile of bones and fur. Some in the name of development and some just to preserve someone’s rosebush in their front yard. It continues to be a hard world out there for a beaver. And there are so many places where the light still doesn’t reach.

Thank you to Robin Ellison for obtaining the permits and to Molly Foley and Jon Ridler for helping me process them. It’s been a grueling 4 days. But there is a small comfort in that many many more permits in 2017 reported or recommended wrapping trees or painting them with sand as a defense and 11 of those permits discussed the use of a pond leveler. I guess that’s something.

Baby steps for babies.

Meanwhile Ben Goldfarb continues to fight the good fight and received a Pen award for his efforts. In case you want to see what a big deal the ceremony was (like the Oscars for writing) and hear his hopeful acceptance speech I have cued up his award and acceptance which is a fairly optimistic look at the differences we can make. Enjoy.

NOUB: (Not Our Urban Beavers)

heidi08 Educational, Environmental, Urban beavers, Who's saving beavers now? March 25, 2017

A lovely report from Napa has made the “Best of the Bohemian” writer’s picks for 2017 already, courtesy of our good friend Robin Ellison.

Most Adorable Department of Water Resources

A great feat of endurance, strength and resolve to make tomorrow another day is going almost unnoticed in the midst of urban Napa, after torrential rains burst dams and washed away homes, leaving some of its most vulnerable residents homeless, shivering in the cold. Not so much human residents, but the beaver residents of Tulocay Creek. “It has been a wild winter at the beaver pond,” says Robin Ellison, a Napa wildlife watcher who’s kept a close watch on the beavers since they made a short stretch of this humble, urban creek channel their home several years ago. During the drought, the beavers set to work on a simple stick dam, creating habitat for birds and other wildlife, rebuilding after a storm in January 2016 flooded their home. Then, in 2017, winter turned on the beaver family like some White Witch, unleashing three damn-blowing storms in a row. “Tulocay Creek came within a foot of spilling its banks, and the magnificent beaver lodge was swept away,” Ellison reports. “The poor beavers were homeless and befuddled the following week, out in daylight trying hard to stay awake.” Ellison’s photo of a beaver that had worked so hard to build a new dam for its family that it fell asleep on the branch it was gnawing, would surely affect even the heart of someone who regards nature’s hydrologic engineers as mere pesky rodents. At last report, the rebuilt lodge has an impressive foyer entrance.—J.K.

Ahhh that’s sweet so to see celebrated! And beaver guardians never go out of style. Great job, Robin! I’m so old I remember when the Martinez Beaver Story was the pick of the year for unexpected wonders. Now they can’t even be bothered to publish the story they sent a reporter and a photographer out to capture! (I was told last weekend, then wednesday and now I have NO idea!)
Never mind, this is better anyway.

Time for another nice article about ENCOURAGING urban beavers and our new best friend, Kate Holleran!

Listening to the Land: Dam, Beavers! Dam!

<As humans have come to understand and value the critical role of wetlands in healthy ecosystems, beavers—the world’s greatest wetland engineers—are finally getting the respect they deserve. In the first of several beaver-appreciation events in Seaside, join scientist Kate Holleran at the Seaside Public Library on Wednesday, April 19, at 6 p.m. for an evening exploring how to encourage beavers to return to our communities—and how to live with the results. “Dam, Beaver! Dam!” is the fourth of five wildlife-themed Listening to the Land presentations in 2017. Admission is free.Even urban areas, where beavers were long considered pests, are now welcoming beavers as partners in habitat restoration efforts. Holleran, a senior natural resources scientist at Metro in the Portland area, has implemented several projects to improve the aquatic and forest habitat along Johnson Creek on the east side of the Metro district, on Chehalem Ridge on the west side, and on other nearby streams, much to the delight of beavers. She’ll talk about beaver restoration research and her own experience with beavers, exploring how her team has lured beavers back to streams and how adjacent landowners are coping with the effects of beaver activities on their property.

Kate is an ecologist for OregonMetro which coordinates the city parks and open spaces, because Portland. She is a big believer in beaver ecology and teaches groups to spot beaver for different watershed organizations. I’m thinking she should come to our next beaver festival and get inspired to start her own.

And by the way, isn’t it wonderful to see two stories that promote Urban Beavers that are not about US? Think about that for a moment, and consider if you will how many such stories graced the newspapers ten years ago. Got the answer? That would be NONE. We are the river from which all urban beavers flow. Literally in Napa because that might well be offspring, and figuratively in Portland, because our success story made them unashamed to discuss the topic aloud.

Honestly, no forefather could be prouder. Just look how far urban beavers have come.

Rare Beaver article with no misinformation spotted!

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Who's saving beavers now? June 8, 2015

Now here’s something you don’t see every day: A totally informative beaver article with zero mistakes AND something cool I’d never heard of before.

River Currents: No dam needed, thank you very much

The usual image of a beaver is of an animal that lives in its lodge in the center of a small pond formed behind its stick dam. That is not always the case. Beaver only build dams to enlarge the underwater habitat to insure it will remain open in winter. Beaver also live in riverbank dens. The deep water of a permanent river pool provides adequate river bottom storage for winter food and underwater access to the den secure from predators, no dam needed thank you very much.

Great start! This author, David Deen, from the Battleboro Informer must be friends with Patti Smith. Why does all the heavy beaver IQ roll downhill towards Vermont?

Native Americans called the beaver the sacred center because when beaver do dam small streams much of the flooded area becomes wetlands with biodiversity that rivals tropical rain forests, creating rich habitats for other mammals, fish, amphibians and birds.

Yes they do, David. They also improve things even in larger streams with their chewing and digging. But we’ll leave that for another day.

Beavers live up to 12 years in the wild and continue to grow throughout their lives. They can reach four feet in length including tail and weigh up to 100 pounds. A beaver takes only one mate for life and a pair will have one litter, averaging three kits, each May or June following a 100-day gestation period. Both parents care for the kits and although kits are furred, have teeth, can see, walk and swim when born, they generally do not venture out of the lodge for at least a month. Yearling kits act as babysitters for the new litter while the 2-year-olds leave home each spring to find their own territories to insure the family does not overpopulate an area.

Finally an author that understands population dynamics and size! I think I’m in love. Just wait until he gets to the new paragraph. You will be amazed. I’m putting it in large font because it’s so fascinating.

according to Dr. Donald Griffin, the father of animal cognition. An experience in point happened on a spring fishing trip. Although the strong April sun had melted the ice from the middle of the small beaver pond, it still had ice ringing its shore. This beaver was obviously tired of winter as it would swim to the ice, chisel out a dinner plate sized piece with its teeth, push it into the center of the pond and then wallop it with its tail. After three hard whacks it would turn, inspect its handiwork and if satisfied with the disintegration of that piece would go to bite off another piece of ice and do it again. Dark came before the pond was ice-free but you knew that beaver would be back at it tomorrow.

Do you understand what that means? Not only was the beaver aware of the annoyance of the ice and willing to change it just like beavers change everything else, but that beaver also knew that he could BREAK ICE with his tail! Which means he could use his tail as a tool and Disney might be right after all! (Ian will be so happy.)

Now one might dismiss this ice tale as fancy, if it were from anyone else. Dr. Griffen graduated from Harvard in the field of zoology and we have to take him somewhat seriously. He died in 2003 and was important enough to make the New York Times. I sure wish we could sit down and have a long conversation about beaver behavior. I’m sure he’d love to hear about Reed and his woven dams, and we’d all learn many more amazing things.

Just imagine what the napa kits could do with their tails!

RSCN7340 — Kits in Tulocay Creek – Robin Ellison

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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!