Tag: Sherri Tippie

Blessed are the Cheesemakers

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers elsewhere, Festival July 30, 2011

A flooded Highway 9 in Blue River during July’s high water hearkens back to a Western landscape governed by beavers.

It’s been said that the West we’re accustomed to — the “fast-flowing streams and invitingly open banks, celebrated in photographs and songs and pickup truck commercials,” Kevin Taylor wrote in the June 2009 issue of High Country News — is an illusion. It’s a message Grand Canyon Trust project manager Mary O’Brien preached in Taylor’s story.

Janice Kurbjun

Gosh it’s nice to see a reminder of Taylor’s seminal article again after all this time. I love that it made enough of an impression to get a mention two years later. I remember being so excited to read it and learn about heroine Mary O’brien preaching beaver gospel with “her thick rope of a gray braid” that when I travelled to Oregon for the conference I scoured the 200+ attendees looking for that rope.

(I quickly realized there were far too many gray ropes to identify hers in particular, and had to wait until we were properly introduced. Now she’s coming to the beaver festival to see about starting her own in Utah, and you’ll have a chance to see for yourself!)

Looks like at least half the gospel was heard in Colorado, since everyone is willing to admit that beavers are a Keystone species but no one seems willing or able to install a flow device.

“There’s been some pesky ones up there by Highway 9,” he said of the beavers — and Blue River second-home owner Mark Ronchetti agrees. Speaking on a drive to his Albuquerque, N.M. broadcast meteorologist job, he said when he bought his 9-acre property the area was “so choked off by beavers building dams that it stopped up the water to make it like wetlands.”

He said he found 10 to 15 dams “clogging the flow” that he’s since broken up. He’s also relocated some of the architects because beavers are such hard workers, they’ll rebuild a dam within days, sometime hours.

“Without that, the house would’ve been flooded,” Ronchetti said. He’s noticed properties north of his lot that are vacant, and where beavers are happily abiding. “It’s been ignored,” he said. “I understand having beavers and habitat, but we can’t just let it go. Some wetlands is good, but there must be some control of what’s going on. The Blue River has got to be able to flow through there.”

Hmm. “We only need so much of this habitat business. A river has to get where its going, otherwise they’ll be anarchy! I can’t be held responsible for ripping families apart when there are young to take care of. I’m a meteorologist for gawdsake. Never mind that if I move THESE beavers I’ll just get new ones. You can’t expect me to think of past tomorrow’s forecast.”

Taylor called the rodent a time shifter, “having the power to extend the release of water late into summer, saturating the ground and healing watersheds. It has the power to re-create the primordial, wetter West that existed for millennia — a West we just missed seeing.”

Beaver activity can transform an ephemeral stream that traditionally runs for just a few days in spring into one that lasts for several months. The present disconnect with the beaver comes largely from the trapping era, when beavers were extensively eliminated. North America had an estimated 60 million beaver before European settlement, which eventually dropped in a century of trapping to roughly 100,000, common figures show. According to Taylor, the West held just a fraction of that. They’ve since made a comeback that beaver-restorers believe still has a long way to go.

They are a keystone species that restores riparian habitat and raises the water table. Their fur was used for felt in beaver hats, a fashion later replaced by silk hats — a shift that likely saved the beaver from extinction, according to the Colorado Division of Wildlife.

“No mammal other than humans has a great an influence on its surroundings. This is a ‘keystone species’ in riparian communities; without them the ecosystem would change dramatically,” states the Colorado Division of Wildlife. The ponds that well up behind their dams create navigable waters beneath the ice so they can be active year-round.

Ahh Kevin, we missed you. It’s great to read you again. Come to think of it your article never mentioned flow devices. That might have been a mistake. Not quite sure the state of Colorado is quite ready for your vision. They seem to be missing a lot of the point.

Further north, in Silverthorne, public works director Bill Linfield and his crew spend hours, days and sometimes up to a month in spring breaking dams at Straight Creek as it approaches the outlets and Willow Creek upstream from the Willowbrook neighborhood.

Wetlands in Willow Creek require Linfield’s crew to go in with wader and pull the dams apart “one stick at a time,” Linfield said. “By the next morning, the beaver has rebuilt the dam. It’s a constant battle.”

Which is why he’s relocated several of the beavers. This year, no trapping took place, but it’s been an almost annual occurrence since public works took on the task of protecting the outlet buildings and the Willowbrook houses.

“We don’t want to kill them. We just want them to go somewhere else,” Linfield said.

Once again for the folks at home, you want these beavers to stay just where they are. Honestly. If you move them out new beavers will move in and you’ll have to deal with this problem all over. Figure out what are the conditions you require to maintain safe roads, properties,ranches and find out what tools will allow you to have those conditions EVEN IF THE BEAVERS STAY. A flow device? A culvert fence? A dam reinforcement? Figure out the right tool(s) for the job and then build it. Then thank your lucky stars that those beavers will keep any others away.

Nice article, but missing key points of the sermon kinda reminded me of this,

Good News

heidi08 Beavers July 29, 2011

The small Sunshine Coast community of Gibsons is about to set an anti-trapping precedent for the country. A bylaw banning leghold, conibear and snare traps has passed second and third readings by the town council, and a final reading has been set for Aug. 2.

The move to ban traps began in early spring, after a dog that was out for a walk with its owner in Sechelt got stuck in a leghold trap intended for wolves and had to be rescued by a conservation officer.

“This is the toughest anti-trapping bylaw in Canada. It not only bans leghold traps, which most people think were banned a long time ago, but … also bans conibear [which crush the head and neck of an animal] and snare traps, which together are the three most common.”

“Typically what happens is a lot of municipalities are struggling with beavers, and it’s cheap and easy to hire trappers,” said Fox. “The ‘old school’ way is to trap and kill them all, and this bylaw in Gibsons is a big step in promoting humane and non-lethal ways to live with wildlife.”

Those quotes are from Lesley Fox, director of Furbearer Defenders and the driving force behind this legislation. They’re so committed to the new world of beaver management they’re bringing out Mike Callahan and Sherri Tippie to do a free training in September. Living with Wildlife Agenda Conference. Don’t you wish you could go?

Not enough good news for you? Well hopefully we’ll get a great beaver article in the next couple of days from the Sacramento Bee and this is guaranteed to make you feel better about the world and the humans in it.

Don’t ever Heave a Beaver by the Tail!

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beaver Rehabilitation, Beavers elsewhere, Educational April 25, 2011

I woke up this morning thinking of a nonsense rhyme I learned when I was a child and wondering why it had never occurred to me to adapt it before now.

If you watched the generally remarkable Oregon Field Guide you probably remember the clip of the uncomfortable-looking biologist holding the squirming beaver kit by its tail as he releases it all-to-willingly into the water. Expert beaver relocator Sherri Tippie had an unsurprising reaction to that image, and wrote:

Heidi, You’ve probably seen this – but I was freaked out, you should NEVER carry a beaver by the tail like this guy did! You can break their tail!!! Otherwise the video is wonderful!! I yelled when I saw that! It’s really easy to break their tails, especially the young ones. He was afraid of the baby. . . I bet that’s why he grabbed him like that. I do like that idea of sticking posts in the water. I would like to try that. Love, Sherri

Hmmm. Powerful advice from a passionate expert. It forced me to try some Monday morning poetry. The amusing column on the left was written by Jack Pretlusky, the first ever children’s poet laureate and generally remarkable writer. The column on the right is my homage. What ever you might think of my attempt, in the unlikely event that the opportunity should present itself, don’t neglect the advice!

“I’ll do it!”

heidi08 Beaver Rehabilitation, Friends of Martinez Beavers February 16, 2011

For me, the most powerful part of the state of the beaver conference, was hearing Sherri Tippie talk about stumbling into her role as the top beaver relocator in the united states. For nearly a quarter of a century, Sherri has been the go-to voice on beaver relocation. In the past few years she is more interested in beaver management than relocation, and when consulted she first talks about flow devices, wrapping trees and installing beaver deceivers. Her pragmatic affection for these animals – and willingness to have her life completely transformed by them – both thrilled me and made me feel deeply relaxed. When I wasn’t shedding tears or covered with goosebumps at her talk, I felt strangely like a child falling asleep in the back of the car — completely assured of security and knowing the adult in the front seat would get me home safe.

Beavers and their advocacy are in good hands with Sherri. I thought the best way to share the experience was to give you your own. Accept my apologies for the audio but you don’t want to miss this.

Sherri still considers herself a hairdresser by trade, and doesn’t charge for relocation. She works closely with state parks and fish and wildlife and has generally earned a reputation as both compassionate and competent. She has a literal bastion of friends and supporters that she teaches to operate hancock traps and monitor flow devices. Her book on ‘Working with beaver’ was recently published by the Grand Canyon Trust and is an inspiring, practical read and a major achievement.

Several times during her talk she spoke about being personally affected by the beavers in her temporary care – an injured animal that had stood up to say goodbye upon release – a badly treated beaver that a zoo had rejected as ‘vicious’ that came to love and trust her almost immediately. Sherri said firmly that she always tells beavers what she’s going to do before she does it, and they almost always calmly cooperate. She emphasizes that each beaver is an individual, with unique habits and preferences.

Sherri uses both experience and intuition in her work with beavers. She said when you’re trapping beavers you can’t do anything else, because you have to be there the next morning without fail. She remarked that she used to use apples to lure beavers into the hancock traps, but found the drive in her small car with a gaggle of gassy beavers a little uncomfortable. Now she covers the traps with leaves, so that the beaver can calmly enjoy a meal while he’s waiting for her arrival. She described having a ‘feeling’ about how many beavers were in a colony, and when the last member of the family was trapped. Interestingly she said the father was often the first, and often found with kits in the cage.

Mom was usually the last.

if you need more proof of her startling attention and compassion for these remarkable animals, I just received a note from her about the ‘beaver valentine’ saying:

Just opened this. Thank you so much!! What a perfect beaver. Hey, is it just the beaver I’ve seen or have you noticed how they sort of hold their little finger up when they’re holding or eating something? 🙂

My goodness, I hadn’t noticed that before. but you’re absolutely right! Thank you for your courage, compassion and common sense. The world is a much better place with you in it – and not just for beavers.

Oregon-ized

heidi08 Educational, Environmental, Uncategorized February 6, 2011

My mind is still buzzing with beaver echoes from the dazzling conference. The above is a neat trick Brock introduced me to, called ‘Wordle‘. It analyzes text and produces word clouds based on frequency of use. The more a word shows up the bigger it gets. This is from the ‘our story’ section of the website. Isn’t it beautiful?

I would love to do as good a job as Alex Hiller did reporting as our foreign correspondent on the Lithuanian conference, but for much of the time I was too awestruck to take notes and too excited to write them down. I can’t tell you what it was like to be amongst brilliant minds who knew far more than me about beaver science and advocacy. Here’s a brief summary of some of the presentations I enjoyed the most. They are in order of appearance, because honestly if they were in order of preference, Sherri would probably be first the last and the middle. No offence.

Dennis Martinez started the conference with a discussion of TEK (Traditional Ecological Knowledge). He was very interested in the interface between science and TEK and how true environmental solutions blended the two. He talked about the fact that as science grew more about calculation and less about OBSERVATION everyone lost out. He had remarkable things to say about fire and water, and observed that one of the biggest mistakes the settlers made when they came to America is that they assumed the land was ‘naturally’ that way, and not carefully tended by native peoples.

Glynnis Hood has produced such remarkable research that she has become the go-to scientist on beavers. She teaches at the University of Alberta and presented research on a remarkable project documenting the way beaver habitat augments surface water and storage – even without dams. She showed a map of four isolated ponds that beavers eventually connected with a system of canals, increasing interactivity and flow between ponds. She and her researchers mapped the floor of those ponds and found that beavers dug and carved in the bottom, creating differing zones and augmenting biodiversity. In colder areas beavers dig holes in ponds so that when they come out of the lodge during a freeze they have room to get to the food cache. We were both thrilled to wonder what the bottom of ponds in temperate zones look like. It’s never been studied.

Yet.

Dr. Hood is so famous that I was afraid to talk to her at first. Then I had the weird good fortune to be stranded at the airport with her for 90 minutes waiting for the plane that didn’t take me. She told me that after the article on our website about her presentation in Lithuania she had wondered ‘who these martinez beavers’ were and what was the story. I made sure she left with a Worth A Dam hat, and plenty of gossip. Since she was interested in beaver canals I told her about the Popular Science article of beavers on Mars and sent it to her. I just got a note back that she loved the picture and will send her paper when its done.

Mary O’Brien has been on my beaver radar since the seminal article in High Country news a few years back. I was excited to find out she was coming and hoping for great things. I wasn’t disappointed when she presented a work in progress about identifying the economic value of beavers for things like water management and silt trapping. She apparently has decided to do a beaver festival in Utah next year and wanted lots of ideas for involving the community. She decided that she will come to our festival this summer and see for herself.

Sherri gets her own post, but for now I’ll just say that she is a powerful, compassionate, humble speaker with a truly awesome gift for taking a roomful of people intimately into her world of caring for beavers. I am quite certain that not a single person in that conference was unchanged by the experience. Myself included.

The very best part of Mike Callahan‘s presentation was his pragmatic invitation for others to practice his craft. “Flow devices work and anyone can learn to use them” was his message, and his style was to sit down and answer questions with anyone at any time. His excellent images showed me things I had not understood before, and he generously promised that any attendee at the conference could receive a free copy of his DVD. I first wrote Mike on November 4th, 2007 when I was consumed with a great sense of panic. Meeting him after so many years was powerful in ways it will take me a while to process.

Joe Cannon and Amanda Parish are the beaver division for the Lands Council and gave a delightful presentation on their beaver relocation and community education program. one idea I particularly enjoyed was the concept of the beaver picnic, where families gathered to learn about the animals, see the habitat and have some fun. Amanda also talked about a delicious children’s activity making ‘candy beaver dams’ using m&m’s, pretzel sticks and frosting to stick it all together.They had a long drive back to Washington but I’m so glad they came! Hopefully at least one of them will make it for the festival this year.

Chris Vennom was the biologist for the Methow beaver project. This bit of genius ecology is using fish hatcheries to house beavers before reintroducing them at carefully selected sites. We swapped beaver stories for much of the conference, I loaned him my mac when his didn’t work, and he was kind enough to repay me with remarkable footage he had take of a beaver underwater in the raceway. Trust me, it’s nothing you’ll forget.

Of course I already knew Brock Dolman and had heard him speak before, but his presentation was truly dynamic. His basic idea is that as global warming escalates the effects in communities are going to be felt keenest in the watersheds. Your watershed was your ‘lifeboat’ that would either buffer you or exploit you and it was in your self-interest to take care of it. Brock referenced our historical prevalence study and provided this excellent graphic which he graciously sent me last night. He also introduced me to a couple from Marin whose land may become the site of the next huge beaver reintroduction study. Stay tuned.

All this could never have been possible without the thoroughly gracious attention of Leonard and Lois Houston, who must have slept 5 hours in four days. They were the first at every event and the last to leave, provided countless introductions and made every single person feel like this particular conference was going to be especially better because they were there. There were a hundred details they saw to, and they rarely enjoyed the luxury of just sitting and listening to the wonders. It is their vision, wisdom and tenacity that made it all possible

A final mention for Stanley Petrowski, president of SURCP. He was the ’emcee’ for the entire event, and seemed inexplicably good at everything: ecology, technology and psychology. He introduced every speaker, kept things running on time and made sure the electronics were agreeable. He greeted me with such enthusiasm I felt like a rock star and any time he needs a vacation I am certain he can fill in for the finest cruise director in the Bahamas.

Okay, that’s it for now. Don’t think for a moment that I am giving these folks anywhere near the credit they deserve, but I hope this gives you a flavor of what I experienced. Unfortunately, Michael Pollock had an urgent situation and wasn’t able to attend, so I will have to look forward to meeting him. It will take an enormously long time for me to sort through everything, but in the meantime let me just say that on the way home I was stuck waiting for a shuttle with a man from the Georgia Railroads who said, sagely, “Beavers? Beavers aren’t a problem. They’re easy to take care of. You just shoot them.”

Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.