Tag: Sherri Tippie

Beaver Fan Club still has Openings

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers, Beavers and climate change, Beavers and Forests, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and Ice, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental, featured, Who's saving beavers now? January 19, 2017

Ooh how nice to see the upcoming beaver conference get some positive press! I hope that gets many more curious people in the door.

Seven Feathers to host conference on beaver restoration

CANYONVILLE — Oregon’s official state animal, the beaver, plays an important role in the state’s wetland ecosystems. Those advocating for the beaver plan to convene next month for a series of presentations focusing on beaver ecology as a crucial part of threatened species recovery.

The fifth State of the Beaver Conference, slated for Feb. 22-24 at the Seven Feathers Convention Center in Canyonville, is meant “to provide an international venue for academia, agency and stakeholders together to disseminate information pertinent to beaver ecology,” according to Leonard Houston, conference coordinator and co-chair of the Beaver Advocacy Committee (BAC) of the South Umpqua Rural Community Partnership.

“We chose the theme of ‘agents of regeneration’ largely to highlight the role that beavers play both in natural regeneration, which is ecological succession, and designed regeneration, which is restoration ecology,” Houston said.

The nicest part about this conference, and there are many, is that the famous names you have been reading about for years here or elsewhere are walking or sitting right next to you. Or coming up to say ‘hi’ and ask

about your presentation. The truth is that it is both a blessing and unfortunate that the science of beaver ecology isn’t yet so advanced that names like Woodruff, Obrien or Pollock can send

their undergrads to do the presenting for them and report back if they find anything interesting. As renowned as they are, they have to do their reporting in person and are eager to share ideas and learn from each other. They’re even happy to hear what you have to say.

Admittedly,they are probably even happier if you invite them out for a beer to say it. (And happier still if you offer to pay for it. Government salaries being what they are.)

santa barbara dinner — Michael Pollock, Mary Obrien, Sherri Guzzi, Mike Callahan and Me!

The point is, I think this is a golden moment in time where beaver science hasn’t become dominated and controlled by lofty minds and big research institutions. You can contribute, you can interact. They need you! But already the world is starting to shift. More and more folk are interested in taking charge of the beaver meme, and it won’t be easy and collegial forever.

Beavers are getting so famous, you better come this year. Just to be on the safe side.

Best part of Ohio?

heidi08 Beavers November 14, 2016

A gentle article this morning from Cuyahoga National Park, Beaver Marsh. Yes, there is such a thing. For now, anyway. The intern who wrote it isn’t quite a beaver scholar but her heart is definitely in the right place.

GUEST COLUMN: A look at Cuyahoga Valley National Park’s Beaver Marsh

Throughout the year, the Beaver Marsh in Cuyahoga Valley National Park teams with life. Depending on the month, you may be serenaded by frogs, watch turtles swim among lily pads, glimpse a beaver nibbling on a willow branch, or hear northern cardinals call from snowy trees.

Let the opportunities to make new discoveries lure you back to the Beaver Marsh each month.November should not be an exception.

November is an active month for beavers as they prepare for winter.

They are primarily nocturnal, but are frequently observed at dawn or dusk. You may see them collecting softwood branches, such as willow and aspen, which they store in under-water caches in front of their lodge as a winter food supply.

You can also view one of their lodges from a pullout [I think she means dams] along the boardwalk.This gives them a wider area to swim and minimizes dangers from predators on land.

Once the marsh freezes, their world becomes constricted. They no longer have open water to swim easily around their marsh. They will spend more time in their lodge, using the underwater entrance and exit to access their stored food cache.

To delay freezing, beavers will break up the ice. Look for spots where beavers have used their heads to break up ice from below its surface.

While they are native to Ohio, they had disappeared by early 1900s.

Insect populations, which have diminished in the surrounding uplands, linger into November. Birds that feed on insects are drawn to the marsh. [After their eradication by the 1900’s], beavers started returning to the valley after over a century absence.

By flooding the area, beavers awakened long-dormant seeds of wetland plants. This salvage-yard-turned-magnificent wetland shows the potential for nature to recover when we give it [AND BEAVERS] a chance.

The easy walk is accessible by wheelchair or stroller.

The park looks beautiful, and you can imagine how empty it is at sunrise. This morning the temperature is reported as 34 degrees. I haven’t even met them and I can promise you those are certainly the luckiest beavers in Ohio without a doubt. There’s NPS photo from the marsh labeled as a beaver that’s actually a muskrat. (They get a letter). So the entire state isn’t too beaver-educated out there or beaver-friendly. Apparently a local photographer Ron Skinner has been able to get some nice photos of real beavers. Here’s one that I particularly like.

Ron Skinner- Beaver – Beaver Marsh – Cuyahoga Valley National Park

Beavers show up in unexpected places though, that’s for sure. I received an email yesterday about some beavers in SAN DIEGO COUNTY, between Temecula and Fallbrook on the Margarita river. The man who hiked in to see their handiwork said he read about it on Duane’s Nash’s Southland Beaver site, and said that there was a step-ladder of dams all along the creek.

Be still my heart!

You might not know why this is such a big deal, but fortunately you’re reading THIS website and you already guessed that I’m going to tell you. The Margarita River is not very far from Skinner Reservoir in Riverside county, which is where the famous beavers were trapped in 1999 ‘because they were a threat to endangered birds’. Defenders formed Friends of Lake Skinner who sued the department of fish and game and the metropolitan water district with the help of a very smart attorney who became a patron of this website. It also was the subject of some awesome research by folks who also became friends of this website.

That case was eventually won by the good guys at the appellate level.

Think about that for a moment. The state and water district chose to spend 100’s of thousands of dollars for a court case they eventually lost, which meant they had to cover the cost of the defense expert witnesses like Sherry Tippie from Colorado and Donald Hey from Chicago, in addition to the not inconsequential legal fees of our buddy Mitch Wagner.

And after all this and 20 years later the beavers are back anyway.

Lake-skinner

Kit and Kaboodle

heidi08 Creative Solutions, kits July 2, 2014

Well it finally happened. Our new precious member decided to show his adorable face before the sun went down. And we couldn’t be happier. The evening started with very high tide and an otter right near the bank hole at the secondary dam.

Since Cheryl had seen the kit at the secondary dam the night before we started the evening there, but dashed off to the primary when Jon saw this.

What a little peanut! We were happy to see mom and several yearlings in attendance that night. At one point uncle found a treat and the little fellow tried fearlessly to steal it from him. The adult finally slapped his foot and swam off in aggravation!

Never mind, his mother still loves him.

Turn your sound up so you can hear him whine when she swims off! What mother could leave that little voice behind? The photographer who was there that night said that this kit was bigger than the one he filmed the night before, so stay tuned. There may be another chapter to come. If you want to see how big this peanut is, watch until the end where he climbs out onto the bank. All systems a go!

Celebrate with us (and Sherri) with this delightful praise to Gaia. The Beaver Believer film is only a few dollars shy of their goal. If you haven’t pledged you have three days left to add your voice to the project.

Praise Gaia from Tensegrity Productions on Vimeo. It won’t let me embed but GO WATCH IT!

Beaver Lies and the Lying Liars who Tell Them

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Educational, Friends of Martinez Beavers, Who's Killing Beavers Now? June 24, 2014

“The trap is underwater,” described Irish, “It’s a smooth rod trap, no big teeth claws or something. It humanely, it pinches them.”

Pinched to death?

WBTV 3 News, Weather, Sports, and Traffic for Charlotte, NC

Beavers a problem for some Charlotte businesses

Now here’s a place where you have enough public interest to drive a real solution. But instead of solving the problem they have elected to hire Jim-Bob to come in and kill it. Because it would be silly for North Carolina, a state who has reported drought consistently over the years, to learn to coexist with the “water-savers”. Bonus Irony Points: this year shows the exact area where beavers moved in to be “abnormally dry”.

Never mind about that. The news cameras obviously can’t tell a beaver from a muskrat. And the property managers can’t tell relocation apart from execution. Maybe they can’t spot the difference between having enough fresh water and being thirsty either.

WBTV 3 News, Weather, Sports, and Traffic for Charlotte, NC

What’s up with the mealy-mouthed people who defend their intolerance by saying they don’t want the beaver killed – just relocated! It happened in Martinez and it happens everywhere and I hate it almost more than the trappers. It’s just saying “Obviously my needs are more important but if I get exactly what I want I don’t need the animals to suffer.” Honestly, is it just me or is it really that far away from “They’ll be happier in their own neighborhood/school with the other black people. They don’t belong in mine”.

One final complaint because this story really, really irritates me. And that’s the use of the word “euthanize” . Webster’s dictionary defines Euthanasia as“The act or practice of killing someone who is very sick or injured in order to prevent any more suffering.“

Workers said they found someone who will allow the beavers to be moved to their property. But the statute says that’s okay for certain animals, it appears beavers must be euthanized.

To be clear: these beavers aren’t sick. They are fully functioning, healthy beavers doing what beavers do. They’re just in the way.

News flash: Putting an animal to sleep to end ITS misery is euthanasia.
Getting rid of an animal to end YOUR misery is just murder.

______________________________________________

We all need something wonderful to get that taste out of our mouths. Here’s a profile on Sherri Tippie from the ‘meet the cast’ trailers of the beaver believers documentary.

Meet Sherri Tippie from Tensegrity Productions on Vimeo.

A lovely profile of a remarkable woman. Horrifying thought of the morning: Sarah tells me I’m next.

Well, did you watch it?

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beaver Rehabilitation, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Dispersal, Environmental, featured, In the News May 15, 2014

In case you were busy or want to see a section again, the entire program is online:

It’s how I got this very special screen grab that whizzed by at the end.

I’m was already happy because I noticed corrections I had made to the script that were actually incorporated! In fact, I don’t think there’s a single thing incorrect in the entire documentary, which is both awesome and rare! Last night I admired Glynnis presentation of science, loved Suzanne and Carol’s wonder at the beaver improvements in Nevada, enjoyed Michel LeClare better in this american version, and was touched by Michelle Grant’s beaver rescue that remained perfectly untouched from the Canadian original. Sherri Tippie stole the show though, and I’m still getting emails from beaver civilians who adored her presentation. This supports my theory by the way, that saving beavers ultimately isn’t about changing minds with science, it’s about touching hearts.

Sherri made such a splash that she’s on Grist today

Dream of cradling a beaver in your arms? Live vicariously through this Colorado hairdresser!

In case you needed it, here’s something to celebrate: You now live in a world where the sentence “I’m a hairdresser and live beaver trapper” has been uttered in earnest. Sherri Tippie is just an ordinary Colorado jail barber who happens to love beavers – so much so that she’s become one of the top live trappers in North America.

But do not for one second presume that she’s some granola-crunching, Tom’s-of-Maine-using hippie:

I am a hairdresser, honey. I like HBO, I want a toilet that flushes, OK? I do not camp out, baby.

You and me both, girl! To witness Tippie tenderly cradle a squirming water rodent as if it were her own child, watch the video above.

There’s another affectionate article from Bloomberg Business week of all places! I’m expecting more to follow.

Large Rodent Tackles Climate Change: Hoelterhoff

A Colorado hairdresser with a fondness for large rodents is doing her bit for climate change, and so can you. Sherri Tippie is the nation’s champion beaver relocation specialist and the sight of her wrestling them into carriers adds to the fascination of “Leave it to Beavers,” which airs tonight at 8 p.m. EST (check local listings) on PBS’s Nova series.

Having nearly died out as hats in more formal times, the beaver seems determined to survive. I trust the encounter of a pathetic moose and an angry beaver will go viral.

The show’s timing is pretty great: Last week, the National Climate Assessment report affirmed that climate change is a fact that can’t be blustered away by simple radio hosts, grandiose columnists and the Washington servitors of the coal industry.

Beavers deploy every cell in their equally tiny brains keeping America fertile and driving developers crazy. In the Rocky Mountains, their structures filter billions of tons of water. When a drought dried out big stretches of Nevada, the beaver-managed areas remained nice and green.

I love to think of all those business men reading about beavers. I’m eager to learn more about the reactions people had to this, so I’d love you to send me your thoughts. I’d be happy to collect and share them. In the meantime, I’m one happy camper.

Tell PBS how AWESOME that documentary was. Leave your comment here.