Tag: Sierra Wildlife Coalition

Beaver Success is Out There!

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Who's saving beavers now? October 15, 2015

Martinez is being deeply stupid at the moment. So we’re looking elsewhere for inspiration. Let’s start with Idaho and our old friend Mike Settell of the Watershed Guardians.

Groups help mitigate beaver dam problems

To help with the beaver dam’s problems, the Watershed Guardians installed a pond leveler in the same pond as the dam. The leveler helps maintain the pond’s water at a set level, regardless of the beavers’ actions.

“We set the level of the pond by adjusting where (the leveler) sets in the dam,” said Mike Settel, executive director of the Watershed Guardians. “We’re actually using the structure the beaver created to help keep the level where we want it to be.”

While the priority was to help with flooding, maintaining the pond’s level does more. By raising the water level it increases the amount of groundwater recharge, provides flows in-stream and helps with wildlife habitat. Particularly giving more water for fish.

Go Mike and the Watershed Guardians! I’ve been impressed with his beaver teaching since 2009 when he somehow got Pocatello Audubon to fund a beaver count! I pretty much talked him into interstate travel and his first beaver conference where Leonard Houston spontaneously gave him a venue to present. Then he met Mike Callahan, learned how to put in a flow device, and the rest (as they say) is history!

And there’s more good news from our friends and the friends of beavers. This is from the Truckee River where Sherry and Ted Guzzi with the Sierra Wildlife Coalition have been making a world of difference.

Enjoying the beauty of beavers

Sherry Guzzi from the Sierra Wildlife Coalition says that beaver dams “hold water on the land longer and allow it to recharge the water table, and help create habitat for fish and wildlife.” Researchers in Utah have found that beavers provide a direct positive impact to farmers and ranchers downstream by allowing the water to last later into the season.

The dams also slow down and capture sediments on their way to Lake Tahoe and other bodies of water, acting as filtering or cleaning mechanisms. Research has found that the amount of phosphorus (which causes algae growth) entering Lake Tahoe took a spike upward when dams were removed from Taylor Creek to allow for the annual Kokanee salmon spawn in the fall.

Great work Sherry and Ted! You have single-handedly made Tahoe think twice about beavers. This is not an easy field to plow, since folks who invest money to move to nature generally don’t actually want messy nature to eat their petunias or dam their culverts. I couldn’t be more grateful for your hard work. And I absolutely LOVE your hat! 🙂

It made me think that we need a graphic like this. There are more photos lurking about from more beaver-saving gurus, but this will do for a start.

dressed — Sherry Guzzi, Ian Timothy, Mike Callahan, Sherri Tippie, Skip Lisle, Alex Hiller, Leonard and Lois Houston, and Malcolm Kenton.

The California Beaver Coalition

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers, Beavers and Birds, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Who's saving beavers now? September 4, 2015

Great news from our beaver friends! I love opening the paper to read an article about beaver advocacy that isn’t in Martinez. We just need 100’s more of these. It’s a big state.

Sherri Hasenfas — Sheri Hartstein Sierra Wildlife Coalition

Beaver population thriving at Lake Tahoe thanks to local volunteers

TAHOE-TRUCKEE, Calif. — Beavers at Lake Tahoe are faring better than they were just a few years ago, thanks to the efforts of Sherry Guzzi and her posse of volunteers, collectively known as the Sierra Wildlife Coalition.

As is the case with many people who become passionate defenders of wildlife, Sherry’s involvement began with the death of a beaver family that had become dear to her and countless other residents and visitors to Kings Beach during the fall of 2010.

This family of four beavers, two adults and two young, had built themselves a lodge in Griff Creek, which runs near Highway 267 in Kings Beach, before flowing beneath the road and into Lake Tahoe.

Obviously, we can’t allow homes, roads or businesses to be flooded so what is to be done? Sadly, in this instance, authorities decided to remove the lodge and kill the beavers.

Even more sadly, this particular dam did not threaten any structures, as the dam was only one foot high and any resulting overflow would have gone into the nearby culvert.

The killing of the beavers did not sit well with the humans who had become enamored with the animals from watching their daily activities.

Sherry, along with co-founder Mary Long, created the Sierra Wildlife Coalition with the purpose of serving as champions of wildlife, and particularly beavers.

Ooooh I love a good creation story! I remember the Griff creek beavers especially because Worth A Dam donated our first beaver management scholarship towards fixing the problem and our own Lory went to Tahoe to educate support. Ahh memories. Seems like yesterday.

sherryandted — Sherry and Ted Guzzi in their native habitat.

Go read the whole thing which ends with a touching poem by Mary’s daughter. SWC under Sherry’s leadership has done outstanding beaver work, with Ted installing flow devices, teams exhibiting and educating at events, and all making sure beaver decisions are made with the right information. Sherry just gave her first beaver presentation for the public at Taylor Creek the day before the beaver festival! It was extremely well received and she still managed to drive down and exhibit in Martinez the next morning. Now that’s dedication!

It’s not only in Tahoe where beaver friends are at work. Nearby in Napa they’re busy too.

‘Wild Napa’ lecture series to focus on beavers

The “Wild Napa” lecture series continues this month with a special presentation on beavers. Hosted by the Napa County Resource Conservation District, the event will be held next Wednesday, Sept. 9.

Covered will be the history and ecology of beavers and how they are helping urban and rural communities across the state to restore watersheds, recover endangered species, and increase climate change resiliency. Brock Doman and Kate Lundquist of the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center will share their research to re-evaluate the historic range of beaver in California, and discuss how you can contribute to the Bring Back the Beaver campaign.

Optional guided tour of the active beaver dams on Napa Creek. To join this tour, meet behind the Firefighter’s Museum at 1201 Main St.

Following the tour, the talk will start at 7 p.m. at The Black and White Collective (enter through Napa Bookmine at 964 Pearl St.). Attendance is free and no registration is needed.

Napa is in for a treat. And Napa beavers should get ready to have their virtues extolled. I think Rusty and Robin will be there for sure. And Cheryl said she was planning to try and attend. It’s a great opportunity to spread the word and learn about beavers from the folks that are working closely with Fish and Wildlife to nudge our beaver policies forward. Just in case you can’t make it, here’s a nice introduction to Brock, who has a dynamic, biologic and stream oriented speaking style that you just can’t mistake.

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Beaver-saving symphony

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Who's saving beavers now? August 5, 2014

Nashua, New Hampshire

Beaver deceivers are better than killing

Letter to the Editor

The benefits of beavers and their ponds to the environment far outweigh the drawbacks. Ponds provide vital habitat for great blue herons, osprey, kingfishers, mink and otters, among others, and support many plant species. Beaver ponds act like sponges during heavy rainfall, preventing flooding, filtering water running through their ponds and increasing groundwater levels. Communities suffering from the effects of drought often move beavers onto their lands to build dams.

Pond-building by beavers sometimes floods the property of landowners. The usual method of solving this problem has been to destroy both beavers and their dams. This inhumane action is ineffective, however, because other beavers move into these areas and the problem begins again. A more humane and permanent solution is to install beaver flow pipes and fences. These devices, sometimes called beaver deceivers, maintain an acceptable water level in the pond for all concerned, both human and animal.

And before you ask, no, I didn’t write this. But I have a suspicion our engineering friend Art Wolinsky did. I can’t see the name of the author without paying 10 dollars for a subscription, and Art hasn’t written back. But I’m fairly certain! You might remember Art is the retired engineer and educator who worked with Mike Callahan to put in a flow device at his condominium in New Hampshire. He’s also the clever mind behind this:

Now don’t start thinking that all the good things happen in New Hampshire, just look at the remarkable work that was done Sunday at Taylor Creek in Tahoe. For those of you following along at home Taylor creek has had a fairly schizophrenic history with beavers as it is the site of one of the most respected beaver dissertations ever, and remarkably the place where native beavers are annually trapped to protect the non-native Kokanee salmon.

The Sierra Wildlife Coalition, Sherry and Ted Guzzi have been working for years to educate the rangers on the utility of flow devices, the value of beavers, and the many ways to solve problems. Their Herculean efforts involved Kate Lundquist of OAEC and Rick Lanman and a myriad of others who chiseled away at the mountain of resistance literally one frustrating nano-chip at a time. Honestly, it would have been faster to shift the pyramids of Giza with a pair of tweezers. Many folks are keeping an eye on these beavers. The amazing beaver images on the cutting boards in the silent auction were from Sheri Hartstein who’s been photographing those endangered beavers for years.

Well, two weeks ago the earth moved and USFS finally relented. The Sierra Wildlife Coalition was given the green light to install a flow device. The forest service called it a ‘research project’ and said they didn’t want to watch or oversee the work and asked that it be done late in the day. The cynic in me imagines they are looking at their watches and waiting for it to fail so they can employ the better-loved Plan B. (Which rhymes with ‘snapping’) But I’m not worried. Ted and Sherry will make sure this works.

If that hard-working face looks a little familiar, it should. Ted and Sherry were just at the beaver festival the day before. They woke up early to high-tail it home and install a flexible leveler on federal land. How awesome is that?

Taylor-Creek-protective-fencing-for-leveler-pipe-8-3-14

Taylor-Creek-leveler-pipe-for-side-channel-8-3-14

Taylor-Creek-installing-fencing-over-pipe-8-3-14.

Taylor-Creek-finished-leveler-side-channel-8-3-14

Taylor-Creek-small-beaver-dam-on-side-channel-before-install-8-3-14.

Taylor-Creek-side-channel-leveler-under-water-8-3-14

Taylor-Creek-covering-leveler-on-side-channel-8-3-14

Taylor-Creek-arranging-cobble-at-leveler-pipe-8-3-14

Now all that’s left is to wait and see how things unfold. Sherry sent a photo last night of the dropping water levels.

Ted and I checked on the leveler this afternoon, and the beavers did not disturb a thing, and the water level in the side channel is still down. But since it rained steadily all day today, we can’t tell if we might need to lower the pipe a bit – water is still going across the trail (it’s never that deep), but that could be just from the rain. We’ll keep checking, but since the beavers do not seem bothered by our work, lowering the water in 2 smaller steps (if needed) will be easier than one larger step…. so feeling pretty good. Here’s a photo of the beavers’ main dam on the main creek – Sherry

Great work Sherry and Ted! If it needs adjustments you are just the pair to make them. And congratulations Taylor Creek Beavers on your lovely new life-saving furniture!

The right stuff

heidi08 Creative Solutions, Friends of Martinez Beavers, History June 13, 2014

Great news from our friends at the Sierra Wildlife Coalition. Seems they were asked to help out a nursery in Truckee. (That’s Truckee California where they once happily killed many beavers because “they were not native.” ) She posted these pictures on the Beaver Management Forum yesterday.

We installed a Pond Leveler (2 smaller 8″ ones) for a Nursery in Truckee, CA, that has a beaver pond in its back yard. With a couple of minor adjustments, it’s working perfectly, the pond has lowered about 9″-10″ and re-exposed stone steps to an island in the pond…. the owners and beavers are happy.

Apparently the beavers had raised the pond so much that their beautiful path stones were submerged in the water. No matter. Ted and Sherry Guzzi knew just what to do!

A good days work and a few tweaking touches and things were all squared away. The beavers were fine with the adjustment and the nursery could get back to normal. Another problem solved.

Just in time for the duck to take a nap! Oh and in case this awesome tale (tail) of beaver success isn’t inspiring enough, here’s the Very Best Part.

Best part is that our group was recommended by both the Town of Truckee and CA Dept. of Fish & Wildlife!

Great work, Sherry and Ted! Can I get an Amen?

One more job today (that I will do several times in the days to come as penance) is to correct a mistake. I apparently posted the wrong graph for the recent historic prevalence article and Eli wishes I could fix it so it would stop coming up on google searches. I deleted the bad one from every place I could think of, but apparently it’s still in the ether and pops up from time to time. I’m thinking that if the right one gets clicked on a few hundred times over the next few days it will supplant the interloper. So I’m posting it here and asking you to please click here and help rescue me from my incompetence. Then again, maybe you know a secret way to get rid of the wrong one, in which case you should email me.

Something’s fishy in Taylor Creek

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, Festival, Who's Killing Beavers Now? December 30, 2013

Attentive readers might remember the ongoing saga of Taylor Creek in South Lake Tahoe. It is off highway 89 between Lake Tahoe and Fallen Leaf Lake. It was the subject of one of the best beaver dissertations, pointing out how beaver dams in the creek were helpful for preventing silt from getting to the lake. It was also the site of the well-attended Kokanee salmon festival, in which the non-native salmon is famously celebrated. And the naturally occurring beaver dams are removed to protect the unnaturally occurring pretend salmon.

When this was repeatedly pointed out to the good folks of USDA and mentioned in Tom Knudson’s 2012 article, the name was mysteriously changed to the “Fall Fish Festival” and refocused on small native species like that live in Lake Tahoe and its rivers. “In addition to the Kokanee, these species include the federally threatened Lahontan cutthroat trout and little-known smaller fish, such as speckled dace.”Since this coincided with the publication of our beaver nativity papers for the Sierra Nevadas, the issue had some heft and was read written and discussed in all the local papers.

Things have proceeded at a glacial pace of supposed progress with their attitude towards beavers, allowing for some conversations with our beaver friends in the area. Trees have been wrapped but flow devices have been resisted. Dams were originally removed because they ruined things for the pretend salmon, and now they’re removed because the say they’re worried about the trails. All offers of help installing a flow device to control pond height have been soundly rebuffed.

Sherry Guzzi of the Sierra Wildlife Coalition wrote me the following this December:

I went down the day before, to check out parking and access, and found the beaver dam intact (photo, 12-11-13). When we met the next day the dam had been removed completely (12-12-13). I went back yesterday and the beaver was seen by several people as early as 3pm, and came back out and let me watch him/her for an hour between 4 and 5, while he/she rolled and carried rocks with his/her front paws to start to rebuild a small dam on a side channel. (The FS had destroyed both the main dam and a smaller one on the man-made channel that comes back into the creek from their display.)

Are we surprised that they waited to do this until the park was snowed in and closed for the season? Of course not. Are we surprised the they waited to do this until the river was iced and the beavers food source was frozen entirely? Sadly less so. Here’s what that little beaver was facing.
Sherry checked with team beaver about what to do. The ‘change from inside the system’ champions were less alarmed but said they would continue to pressure them. The ‘change from outside the system’ (Worth A Dam et al) were alarmed and recommended keeping an eye on the beaver and pushing public response in spring, since they seemed unlikely to do more until the thaw.

Yesterday Sherry sent me these. Not only does the beaver have a partner helping him. He has a family.

Here are some reasons why this is a very bad idea for their fall fish friends. To summarize: a shallow streams means ponds freeze solid and the fish you are celebrating, die.

Role of stream ice on Fall and Winter Movements and Habitat Use by Bull Trout and Cutthroat Trout in Montana Headwater Streams Jakober Transactions American Fisheries Society 1998

Winter habitat of selected stream fishes and potential impacts from land use activity Cunjak RA Can J Fish Aquat Sciences 1996

Winter stream conditions and use of habitat by Brook trout in High-elevation Wyoming Streams Chisholm Transactions Amer Fisheries Society 1987

I would consider these a very powerful set of arguments. Heart string-tugging photos to move public opinion and a full quiver of science to begin to change minds. Good work. Keep us posted. Thanks Sherry and team beaver!