A week ago Friday I told you was the fish and game commission meeting in Sacramento where they considered the rule change for beaver depredation. Well not so much considered as ‘heard’. Since Tom Wheeler of E.P.I.C. who authored the rule change didn’t want to drive down from Oregon. the Center for Biological Diversity had Lalli Venkatakrishnan there to read a position statement. And it was good. Now we don’t know the outcome because they referred it back to Bonham’s desk and we can only hope he doesn’t leave it in a dusty pile in the corner of his desk or light it on fire, but at least, for one brief shining Camelot moment, we made them think about it.
Remember what Gandhi said:
First they Ignore you.
Then they laugh at you.
Then they fight with you.
Then you win.
I have been trying to hunt down photos of cascading beaver dams for Amy to use in her artwork, and I thought you’d want to see these.
The Slate river, near Crested Butte, CO, swollen by a pair of beaver dams; with flowers in the foreground and a snow capped mountain in the distance, combine to make a perfect landscape sceneRiver With A Beaver Dam
If you want to have something new you have to start by requesting the change. Even if they’re sure to be turned down. Even if they’re pie-in-the-sky and way more than you can achieve. You have to start by making it clear what you want. Even if its just to yourself, so that you have something to push against as you move forward.
EPIC filed a rulemaking petition with the California Fish and Game Commission to ensure greater protections for beavers and to clarify existing legal rules concerning their trapping. Together on the petition were the Center for Biological Diversity, the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, and the Northcoast Environmental Center
The proposed regulations would impact the 700+ beavers killed each year because of conflict with the human environment, and would require individuals to exhaust non-lethal methods to deter or diminish conflict before a permit could be issued that would allow their lethal removal.It further codifies federal law prohibiting the removal of beavers if that removal would harm a species protected by the Endangered Species Act.
Consider this the shot across the bow. Don’t kill beavers until you’ve tried not to kill them first. And don’t kill beavers when endangered species like salmon and red-legged frogs and least bell’s vireo rely on them for habitat. Actually the rule change text is gentler than the article makes it sound. The landowner just has to show they tried one non-lethal means. Like wrapping trees. Many depredation permits already include this info. But I assume it’s not required.
This is a “proposed rule change” which has to go up before the fish and game committee to be considered and you can already imagine the resounding NO votes it will receive. But it’s an ask. And it is filled with really epic, important things. Like this:
Beavers are Biologically Important to California
The North American beaver (Castor canadensis)is native to California. Accordingly, the flora and fauna of the state have co-evolved with the beaver, developing unique and complexinterwoven relationships.Beavers, however, are currently missing from much of their historic range and the effects of their absence are felt by the species that co-evolved with beavers. Beaver create freshwater habitats used by a variety of wildlife, including fish, birds, and other mammals. Their dams filter stream water, improve water quality, raise the water table, increase water storage, and repair eroded riparian areas. In particular, beavers have a significant beneficial relationship to many species currently listed as threatened or endangered under the California Endangered Species Act and/or the federal Endangered Species Act, such as coho salmon. The proposed amendments to the regulations recognize the unique ecological importance of beavers and take steps towards promoting our co-existence with beavers by prohibiting the commercial trapping of beavers,and by requiring that non-lethal or less-lethal measures have been taken to avoid and minimize conflicts with humans.
For reasons I am not privy Worth A Dam was not asked to be a cosponsor of this proposed rule change OR asked for any information obtained from the last five years of review of depredation permits, ahem. or asked for information about how other states regulate beaver trapping. Still, the somewhat glaring omission doesn’t negate that this is an important ask. An ask that’s a big deal
The total impact of beavers to the hydrologic characteristics of streams is difficult to overestimate. Beaver dams increase in-stream storage capacity, which in turn has been shown to result in greater summer flows, even going so far as to result in continual flow in previously seasonal streams. Impoundment of water also has been shown to stabilize water temperatures.Beaver dams slow stream flow resulting in increased sedimentation, thereby raising incised channels to the point where streams are reconnected to their historic floodplain
We are very happy for the mention of hydrology and water impoundment. California cares about drought. But I would argue this doesn’t go far enough. What about groundwater and the sinking aquifers in much of California? What about fire prevention? What about saturation of soils that prevents the wildfires that destroyed Paradise?
Well, as far as shots across the bow go, this one is pretty dam good. We’re EAGER to see what muffled excuses CDFW offers in response. You know it will be something pretty effusive and super concerned with landowner interests. I just wish the application had included more about how GOOD it is for landowners to have beavers on their property. Keeping water on their land and making sure their well doesn’t run dry while preventing fires.
And Cinderella of course wishes she’d been invited to the party, sniff, but I’m very interested in seeing what happens next.
Two fine articles appeared yesterday in defense of our favorite hero. The first is from the World Wildlife Federation’s Blog post. It has one of my top favorite photos that isn’t ours. The second is from a group called EPIC in Arcata that I hadn’t heard of until last week when Eli Asarian of Riverbend Sciences sent them my way regarding depredation permits. They were considering the impact of beavers on salmon and wondering whether depredation permits took that into account. I don’t know if I was helpful, but I think you’ll agree that something about the article suggests I made a lasting impression of sorts.
Engineering for nature comes naturally to beavers. Though they can sometimes pose real challenges for the people who share their space, their dams and the resulting ponds can help restore vegetation, combat climate change, rebuild fish habitat, reduce pollution by capturing sediment, and build resilience against floods and droughts by storing water and slowing the pace of racing streams and rivers. Without beavers at work, most of the biodiversity we associate with wetland habitats – the fish, birds and bugs – would all disappear.
Heather Diamond
Throughout Alberta, there’s a growing demand to find solutions to human-wildlife conflict. And in the North Saskatchewan Watershed (Alberta), where the threats from habitat loss and fragmentation and pollution are ranked “high” to “very high,” beavers are damn important. With some help from WWF-Canada’s Loblaw Water Fund, the Alberta Riparian Habitat Management Society, also known as “Cows and Fish,” is working to repair the beaver’s reputation, and, by doing so, the freshwater ecosystems it calls home.
Cows and Fish is repairing this rodent’s rep, and reducing human-wildlife conflict, by raising awareness about the important role beavers play in riparian health in their “Living with Beavers” workshops, like this one on Dec. 7.
While the beleaguered beaver may never be welcomed as an ecosystem saver, Cows and Fish is offering communities practical solutions for coexistence so that beavers and their dams – along with the core role they play in wetland health – don’t have to be removed.
Hurray for Cows and Fish! For my money they are the most persuasive unsung beaver advocates on the planet. Not appearing in any PBS documentary or publishing a coffee table book but making a real difference by talking to one farmer at a time, over coffee, in meeting, and putting out excellent resources that make sense to the average viewer.
Beavers are a keystone species, playing a critical role in biodiversity and providing direct benefits to surrounding ecosystems as well as fish, wildlife and people. Dams created by beavers create wetlands that help decrease the effects of damaging floods, recharge drinking water aquifers, protect watersheds from droughts, decrease erosion, stabilize stream banks, remove toxic pollutants from surface and ground water and many threatened and endangered species rely on the wetland habitat c
reated by beavers. They also produce food for fish and other animals, increase
habitat and cold water pools that benefit salmon, repair damaged stream channels and watersheds, preserve open space, and maintain stable stream flows.
Consequently, incised stream channels, altered streamflow regimes, and degraded riparian vegetation limit the potential for beaver re-establishment. For these reasons, preventing further habitat degradation and restoring degraded habitats are key to protecting and restoring beaver populations.
It’s a great article, with excellent science to back it up. It even has links to the FOIA data from Wildlife Services obtained by Executive Director Tom Wheeler which is what I was asked about last week. It ends with a wonderful plea on behalf of beavers.
Beavers Need Help
While the North Coast Region has a beaver deficit, every year hundreds of beavers are killed in California’s Central Valley by Wildlife Services, a federal agency tasked with (lethal) “removal” of “problem” or “nuisance” animals because landowners view them as a pest. The Department of Fish and Wildlife also issues depredation permits for landowners to trap and kill nuisance beavers on their property.
Instead of trapping and killing beavers that are unwanted in other regions, it is imperative that a relocation program is created, so that beavers can be relocated to North Coast rivers and other places to help restore streams and wetlands. Beaver reintroduction is a sustainable cost-effective strategy, but we need to work with stakeholders to navigate the political, regulatory and biological frameworks to safely restore their populations.
Well, I don’t disagree with that sentiment. Our review of depredation permits has never seen one from Humbolt county in three years, which implies they mostly aren’t there. Eli did tell me about a few sites that have beavers along the Klamath, so fingers crossed they’ll flourish eventually. But you know me, I’m never as happy about moving beavers as I am about working to let them stay right where they are.
And about that headline, I’m not saying my brain is the only brain this has ever occurred. And I’m not saying folks don’t get subliminal influences that just stick in their heads but they don’t realize they saw it somewhere else first. I’m just saying the timing is eye-popping. Eli introduced us on 12-08, and I wrote Tom about our depredation permit review that same day and sent this summary graphic. He replied a couple days later, saying it was a great design and that he had been planning to do the same.
Now onto the story from EPIC, which stands for Environmental Protection Information Center. See if you can spot possibly my subtle influence.
