Because the beaver isn't just an animal; it's an ecosystem!

Tag: sarah summerville

Unexpected Wisdom

Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Earth Day, Friends of Martinez Beavers February 6, 2013

Busy, Busy Beavers – Haddonfield Patch

Two beavers enjoying an early morning swim in Crows Woods in Haddonfield. Credit Vinny & Sal Calla

“They’ve raised the water level near Evans Pond by 18 inches,” Brees told the borough’s Board of Commissioners during a meeting Monday.

The solution: a 15-foot plastic tube to filter water past the dam and back into the pond. Materials cost about $700 and Summerville said it would make an ideal project for a local Eagle Scout. Jacobs said Tavistock is willing to pay for the materials in what he described as a win-win situation.

The Unexpected Wildlife Refuge began as the home of Cavit and Hope Buyukmihci of Beaversprite fame. It is now a licensed non-profit under the deft administration of Sarah Summerville who has been keeping a close eye on neighboring beavers in New Jersey. Case in point: The Tavistock Golf course described in this article.

In this instance, the exclusive club is Tavistock Country Club and the municipal entity it’s appealing to for help is the borough of Haddonfield.  Greg Jacobs, the assistant superintendent at Tavistock, urged borough officials this week to help him take action to illeviate flooding on his 16th green because of water backing up from up to five dams the busy beavers have made since recently reappearing in the waterways near Haddonfield’s Crows Woods.

It’s nice to come across a beaver story that has a local advocate offering solutions and education already. We don’t need to worry about the beavers in Tavistock. Sarah’s got this one covered!

Summerville, an official from the Unexpected Wildlife Refuge, Home of the Beaver Defenders in Newfield, explained the system would bypass the dam that is closest to the golf course and not injure the beavers. She said state law prohibits relocating beavers and they can only be trapped if a municipality plans to euthanize them.  She also stressed that beavers may appear to be a nuisance, but they actually play an important role in maintaining waterways.

Go Sarah!

Oh and just learned from facebook that our own Greta Mart who gave the beavers generous coverage at the Gazette was just accepted at the UCB graduate school of journalism, which also enrolled Richard Parks which used to give the beavers generous Coverage at the Gazette. Coincidence? David Ferry who wrote the beaver article for the Atlantic was also in the program. Just sayin’.


Small Beaver World

Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Environmental December 27, 2012
The entrance sign to the Crows Woods Nature Preserve. Credit: Shelly Castorino

You may remember the horrific New Jersey beaver tale last year, where the local animal control officer Mark Johnson went out of his way to shoot two beavers in the public park and everyone scrambled to deny responsibility for the action. Because of the location and the college town ambiance, there was enough outrage to eventually charge him with a very minor crime, but no judge would hear the case and it kept getting moved farther afield to find someone that didn’t owe him favors. Go figure.

Well Haddonfield is about 45 miles south and very beaver savvy. They have taken it upon themselves to offer us the best possible beaver story in contrast. Brace yourselves. This is a once in a lifetime gift. A woman like me dreams of this kind of fortune, but doesn’t ever think it’s really possible. Take a deep breath and inhale the coming scent of 2013: where apparently anything is possible.

The Beavers are Back!

By Shelly Castorino

After a two-year hiatus, beavers have returned to Haddonfield’s Crows Woods Nature Preserve.

Vinny and Sal Calla, students at Haddon Heights High School, spotted two beavers swimming near a drain pipe that runs under the PATCO light-rail line earlier this week.

“We were trying to get a closer look when one beaver started slapping its tail on the water,” Vinny said. Sal explained “slapping the tail on the water is how they scare away predators.” Vinny and Sal were close enough to the beavers to capture excellent pictures of the furry duo.

For months, hikers, runners and visitors to Crows Woods have noticed dramatic changes to the shoreline along the Cooper River that runs through the preserve. Trees up to 12 inches in diameter were strategically cut to fall towards the river. Curved wooden shavings surrounded the base of each tree. The tell-tale signs of beaver activity were there, but until Tuesday morning, no one had seen an actual beaver.

Look at the reporter’s name. Castor, as you know, is the latin word for beaver, and ‘ino’ is a suffix meaning diminutive. So Castorino, Shelly’s lovely name, literally means LITTLE BEAVER. I imagine that a reporter from Patch could wait their whole life for the story that represents their destiny. An automotive story for Mr. Carman, a woodcutting tale for Mrs. Carpenter, a lost feline story for Lenore Delgato. But this for Shelly Castorino is an opportunity of epic proportions. Folks will be celebrating this in the news room for years to come.

Oh and Crow woods? It’s  already under the watchful eye of our beaver friend Sarah Summerville at the Unexpected Wildlife Refuge. This entire Patch article is a beaver-fan’s Christmas treasure!

Beavers in the Crow’s Woods Nature Preserve

By Butch Brees, Haddonfield Parks Conservancy Trail Restoration Coordinator, and former Scoutmaster of Troop 65, Haddonfield, NJ

A few short months ago, the members of the Haddonfield Parks Conservancy of Haddonfield, NJ, became aware of a beaver, or beavers, beginning activity in establishing a new lodge in the 44-acre Crows Woods Nature Preserve. Not being an expert in the activities and processes of a young beaver establishing his new home, and being the Parks trail restoration coordinator, I contacted Sarah Summerville for information and lessons in Beavers 101. It wasn’t more than a few days and Sarah made the trip to meet with me and view the area where the beavers had begun building dams. It had been a long time since I had seen Sarah since I retired as Scoutmaster, so it was nice to see her again. Her information was extremely helpful in helping us to make a decision as to whether to let the beaver remain or try to have it removed.

From the sacred to the profane…

Beavers elsewhere August 30, 2012

Because this website doesn’t want to be accused (after yesterday’s historical-nerd post) of being too dry and scholarly, I thought it was high time to draw attention to Sarah Summerville’s very interesting column in the Beaver Defender Newsletter this month.  Seems she  was wrestling with the sexual pun of beaver, and recalling that she had actually had a conversation about it once with the famous Hope Buyukmihci of ‘beaver sprite‘ fame.

My my my! People from New Jersey are so ladylike aren’t they! Around here we’ve been much more direct about the merkin analogy in one form or another. Well thanks for the column Sarah, which also has a drop dead gorgeous account of her meeting her  new kits and touching noses with them. You can receive your very own newsletter by signing up here.


But while we’re on the topic can someone please explain why the other ‘beaver ladies’ collect funds for writing a newsletter 4 times a year and this beaver-lady writes a column about beavers 365 days a year for free? Being that we’re heading towards the 2000 post it seems a good time to ask?

Mostly good news for beaver friends…

Beavers August 29, 2011

The folks at Save the Free Beaver of the River Tay in Scotland, have landed a major friend with the Perthshire festival, which is a 6-day extravaganza of amazing music and food set at castles around the area. Outdoor events this year include a beaver walk which gathers at the estate of our friend Paul Ramsay and ambles along looking at habitat. It will truly be a wonderful event, and I’m as jealous as I can be that Scotland is so far from Martinez.

Perfect timing too, as it will occur on the first quarter of the Beaver Moon.


Click to go to Beaver walk website.


The post Irene news is mostly good, with lots of rain and modest winds falling upon beaver friends in NY, NJ, VT, CT and MA. I received some all clears that I’ll pass along

TS Irene did not affect us here at all! It is over and blue skies came out. We’ve had much had worse rain and wind with thunderstorms in the past year. What is weird though is that while we got no more than 3 inches of rain and zero wind, other western MA communities less than 30 miles away got dumped on and are experiencing some serious flooding problems! Lots of highways are flooded and closed. So it could have been worse, but unfortunately not everyone was as lucky as us.
Mike Callahan Beaver Solutions

And from Sarah Summerville of the Unexpected wildlife refuge in NJ this morning

We’re fine here at the refuge, aside from flooding (but we are mostly wetlands). The sump pump is coming on a lot to empty the basement; perhaps I shall have an indoor pool!    Mom was out last night checking on her new expanded borders. They probably have a couple extra acres in their pond from Irene. Blessings!   

Thanks for the shout out,  Sarah

And from Sharon & Owen of Beavers: Wetlands & Wildlife in NY

Lots of tree damage in this area (southwest foothills of NY’s Adirondacks). We had no power yesterday, and about 9 pm a NiMo worker came to say the outage was due to a tree falling on a electric line along the nearest paved road and the tree was still on fire. Later when we took a look, the fire was out, a crew was there and the large tree was blocking most of the road. We noticed it was a poplar (beavers’ favorite) and asked them not to chip the branches.

This morning we were surprised to find the poplar still in the road with lots of cones around it —must’ve been more urgent sites to handle. Deep ruts in the mud on one shoulder showed where vehicles were passing. So Owen grabbed a chain saw, hooked up the trailer and in less than an hour we’d hauled two big loads. Caution: don’t try this unless you’re experienced with a chain saw (we heat with wood, except for our solar addition), and it’s a country road with little traffic.

Took one load north to a beaver dam with a flex leveler that’d prevented a catastrophic road washout in 2006, according to the then highway supervisor. Rest will go to a south colony later today. Flash flooding is happening in many areas and the extra food and building materials will help nature’s engineers to manage this.

News from Vermont where Skip is, looks like more water than wind and waiting waiting waiting for the rivers to let them know if they’re going to flood. (Apparently Vermont is having the worst floods in a hundred years). I’m hopeful he’s still has power and I’ll let you know when I hear from him.

In the meantime, it looks like beavers and  a big chunk of America lucked out.




Annie Get Your Gun

Beavers elsewhere, Who's Killing Beavers Now? May 21, 2011