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

Tag: Sierra Wildlife Coalition


Beaver loyalist Lory Bruno has been in Tahoe this week, where our good friends from the Sierra Wildlife Coalition have spotted both a new beaver dam AND a new beaver kit! They toured the area on a sunny afternoon and I thought I’d share this. (Shhh, don’t tell our beavers they’d be SO JEALOUS!!!!!!!!)


Sierra Wildlife Coalition Visit new Tahoe Beaver Dam


In the mean time, while her  sisters go to the ball, Cinderella has been slaving away sewing the new beaver flag that children will be asked to illustrate at Sunday’s  Peace Day event at the Oakland Zoo. That’s right, our own FRogard Butler has volunteered to be the Besty Ross of Beavers and has created this eye catching emblem. Imagine it covered with creatures after the children get to populate it!


New Worth A Dam starter-flag by FRo


She made sure to add this mascot to give the piece heart. I can’t wait to see what it becomes.


Mom's tail


And after I sent Sherri’s epic article around yesterday Stan Pietrowski (the method behind the state of the beaver Madness-meaning a technical and announcing wonder) offered to help her put up a website and they’re talking domain names as we speak. Soon we may get to visit Sherri’s beaver relocating website, which will be cool. She wasn’t entirely comfortable with EVERYTHING printed in the Westwood article and I can understand why. I’m trying to decide whether its indiscretions were the fault of dazzled adoration or grimly unconscious sexism but it is still MOSTLY good for Sherri and good for beavers so I won’t complain.

Just show me the article that talks about Skip Lisle’s sex life and we’ll call it even.


Our friends Mary and Sherry at the newly-formed Sierra Wildlife Coalition have developed such a taste for saving beavers they installed their first-ever flow device in Truckee while there was still snow on the ground.  This is the group who received our first -ever beaver management scholarship, and it looks like we couldn’t have chosen a better recipient! I received these last night:

Here, finally are a few photos from our flow device installation last Monday – and yes, the white dots are snow… It went very smoothly, thanks to all the good info from Mike. Ted’s in the green hat, Patrick (who arranged this with his wife Elaine) is in the yellow, and Bill, Forester for the subdivision, has the red hat. Bill is ready to install more, as needed! Tahoe Donner is the largest residential subdivision in California, and they have 2 creeks with active beavers.

Mary and Sherry went from casual involvement to full-bore beaver saving with a road trip to Oregon for the conference! They sand-painted trees in the snow and made tails with children on earthday.  They swooped a community along with them and this is the result in a neighboring town. I honestly couldn’t be more pleased or proud, and reading the remark from the subdivision forester that he’s ready to install more may very well be the best news I read all month.


All this was possible because of the clear guidance from the installation DVD produced by Mike Callahan under a grant from the Animal Welfare Institute. I think this kind of beaver heroism is exactly what they had in mind!

I’m hoping the success of this installation leads to a domino of flow devices all across the sierras. Oh and I’m hoping that someone from Fish & Game owns one of the subdivisions and notices how WELL this worked!

MARTINEZ BEAVER UPDATE:

Cheryl saw two this am and snapped this liquid picture.


Photo of the mouth of Trout Creek

This came late last night from our beaver-friends in Tahoe. Remember they went to the city council meeting in truckee where a plan to restore Trout creek (that incidentally mentioned removing lots of beavers) was being reviewed. Reading Mary’s excited email I defy you not to remember our important council meetings!

WE WON! THE BEAVERS WON! THEY LISTENED! They are adding language to the MND to not harm beavers and work with us to use flow control devices and protect trees. Mike, they have your letter on file and there were copies for all in attendance. We will be making an appointment with the engineers and staff to review your video and go over specifics. On top of the world! Mary & Sherry


The Town of Truckee worked with the Department of Fish and Game, Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and an environmental consultant to address the beaver dams that have changed the flow of Trout Creek. Ryan Salm/Sierra Sun - 06

Congratulations ladies! Your group is doing a fantastic job of maintaining wildlife and wetlands by advocating for beavers! I am so excited for you and your accomplishments, and so affirmed in our decision to have offered you our first-ever beaver management scholarship. I’m sure we’ll have lots to talk about over a draft or nice chardonnay in Oregon when we all meet for the State of the Beaver conference! I’ll be the one with the beaver hat.

Here’s a copy of the letter Mike sent, just for reference;

I am writing to offer my expertise with any beaver management questions you may have regarding Trout Creek. The initial Trout Creek Restoration Plan was forwarded to me from some concerned citizens for my review. I would like to go on record as saying that since “a more stable and natural creek corridor with improved biological function and quality” is a stated goal of the plan, then maintaining an active local beaver population (which are a native species) should be an integral aspect of the plan.

Since 1998 in one of the most densely populated states in the country I have resolved over 700 beaver – human flooding conflicts with innovative, cost-effective water control devices. See the Beaver Management studies on our website at: www.beaversolutions.com. These studies have proven that installation of these simple water control devices provide better results than beaver trapping on the basis of flood damage protection, cost, environmental effects, long term success and humane parameters.

The vast majority of beaver-related flooding threats to human infrastructure can be resolved without removing the beavers. In fact, keeping the beavers in place provides many benefits to people and the environment, including creating the opportunity for the most cost-effective stream restoration possible. Beavers are North America’s “Keystone species”. This means that they are critically valuable for biodiversity. Stream restoration studies have proven that beavers are a key component to restoring biological diversity and natural stream flows. They do their stream restoration work naturally, and for free.

In addition, when we are forced to remove beavers from an area it is almost always a short term solution. New beavers often recolonize the trapped areas within 1 year, recreating the same flooding issues. There is a better way.

Please revisit the decision to remove the beavers from Trout Creek. The environment and the citizens of Truckee will benefit most if the Best Beaver Management Practices are followed and the Restoration Project incorporates beavers in the wetland habitat.

Feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns regarding beaver management.

Sincerely,

Michael Callahan, President
Beaver Solutions LLC
Southampton, MA
Office: (413) 527-6472
Web: www.beaversolutions.com
E-mail: mike@beaversolutions.com
Congratulations again ladies! It couldn’t happen to a nicer creek!

Our friends in Tahoe (Now calling themselves the “Sierra Wildlife Coalition”)  have their work cut out for them. Now Truckee is gunning for beavers and they are leaping into the fray. I thought you might enjoy their first EVER newsletter. Can a website and book deal be far behind?

Happy New Year to all –  

We thought winter would be a quiet time for our Sierra beavers and friends, but not so – here are a few updates:

A friend of the beavers, Richard Lanman, MD, has updated several Wikipedia pages with references proving beaver were indeed native to the Sierra – or as he says: “Of course they were. How could an animal that lives from the Sonoran desert in Mexico to the Arctic tundra, and every mountain range from the Atlantic to the Pacific somehow not live in the Sierra?” interesting reads here and here and if you go to ‘Griff Creek’ in Wikipedia, our group’s activities and articles are there!

In Truckee, the Town currently has out for comments a “Proposed Mitigated Negative Declaration” for their proposed Trout Creek Restoration that repeatedly says they plan on removing beavers to “protect creek function” – but their goals sound like an ad for beavers…. A great deal of the plant and animal habitat restoration the Town of Truckee’s engineers are proposing IS done by beavers. If you have time, go to the Town of Truckee website (under ‘engineering’) and send in comments before the Jan. 18 deadline. We will forward Sherry’s summary and comments for reference, as soon as she gets them organized 🙂 The upcoming Truckee Town Council meeting at which Trout Creek will be discussed is scheduled for Thursday, January 20 – we will send an agenda as soon as available.

Better news in Tahoe Donner, where Elaine and Patrick McDonough have contacted the Tahoe Donner Association Forester and Board. They have agreed to install a flow control device in a beaver dam at the intersection of Fjord and Alder Creek Road that often threatens to flood a home and roads during heavy rains and run-off. This is a very visible dam (and lodge, check it out!) and we are very excited that it will make a great demonstration site for officials and citizens from our entire area to view! This is also especially important because there are approximately another 20 beaver dams along Alder Creek alone, and more could become flooding concerns.

Lately in Reno, the Gazette Journal published a one-sided article reporting on the damage done to the cottonwoods along Reno’s Truckee River corridor. Although wire-wrapping trunks was reported to work, the names of three exterminators were also provided as an alternative. On December 26 Mary wrote the reporter, Susan Voyles, introducing Sierra Wildlife Coalition and some of the background we have had with beaver. She offered the services of the Beaver Brigade (that’s us) to consult with homeowners on tree wrapping, while also explaining the method of tree protection using latex paint mixed with mason sand. As of January 6 there has been no reply from Ms. Voyles so another, let’s say more attention-getting, letter is on its way.

Lastly, Mary and Sherry are planning to attend the “State of the Beaver 2011” Conference in Oregon, February 2-4. They have a great line-up of speakers, including Heidi Perryman, our friend from Worth a Dam in Martinez, and Mike Callahan of Beaver Solutions, who’s on the video we saw demonstrating how to build flow control devices. The more the merrier – check it out and join us if you can.

Hope you’re all enjoying winter, and have recovered from the holidays – we’ll try to keep up and keep everyone posted –

Mary and Sherry

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