Tag: Unexpected Wildlife Refuge

Better in Jersey

heidi08 Beavers April 3, 2013

Oh Dam! Mantua woman wants back yard beaver homes repaired

MANTUA — Jennifer Forsyth has a huge dam problem. Literally.

She first noticed a beaver dam in her back yard, which backs up to the Chestnut Branch of Mantua Creek, about a year ago. The wetlands on her property teem with wildlife. Forsyth and her husband have spotted river otters and wood ducks, usually a rare sight in Gloucester County, as well as the occasional bald eagle.

What a nice beginning! This may need to be number nine on the positive beaver articles tally for 2013. It features our good friend Sarah Summerville of the Unexpected Wildlife Refuge, and a DEP worker who clearly has got the memo that beaver make habitat for wildlife.

“Generally, beavers do benefit a whole host of other wildlife species,” said Andrew Burnett, a biologist with the Department of Environmental Protection. “Beavers are one of the few animals that can actually change the environment. You have a stream running by, and when the beavers build a dam, you have a pond.”

Yes you do, Andrew, And by the way that pond might be your only pond on that stream come this summer, and all the wildlife will depend on it even more than they already do. Never mind that the reporter can’t seem to differentiate between the words DAM and LODGE and that Sarah appears to imply that flow devices operate as a kind of birth control for beavers. They’re smart folks and I’m sure they’ll get it all sorted out eventually.

“They think they didn’t build it well enough, so they’ll build it back stronger the next time,” said Barry Bengel, chairman of the Mantua Township Environmental Commission. “They think if it disappears, it needs to be rebuilt.”

“They’re natural engineers,” said Sarah Summerville, director of Unexpected Wildlife Refuge in Newfield, who consulted with Forsyth when she first noticed the dam. “They seem to approach it as a challenge.”

Forsyth wants to work with the township to find a more permanent solution. “I think if we worked smartly together, we could all be happy.”

Yes. You can. And Martinez is proof of that. Good work!

Farther East a friend from the Tay beavers group this morning suggested the idea that we promote Beavers Without Borders, which I liked so very much I had to play with.

Considering I am operating at a considerable graphic handicap without photo shop I am rather proud of getting it together. Setting the inversions right and still getting the outline made me think of this classic scene.

Unexpected Wisdom

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Earth Day, Friends of Martinez Beavers February 6, 2013

Busy, Busy Beavers – Haddonfield Patch

Two beavers enjoying an early morning swim in Crows Woods in Haddonfield. Credit Vinny & Sal Calla

“They’ve raised the water level near Evans Pond by 18 inches,” Brees told the borough’s Board of Commissioners during a meeting Monday.

The solution: a 15-foot plastic tube to filter water past the dam and back into the pond. Materials cost about $700 and Summerville said it would make an ideal project for a local Eagle Scout. Jacobs said Tavistock is willing to pay for the materials in what he described as a win-win situation.

The Unexpected Wildlife Refuge began as the home of Cavit and Hope Buyukmihci of Beaversprite fame. It is now a licensed non-profit under the deft administration of Sarah Summerville who has been keeping a close eye on neighboring beavers in New Jersey. Case in point: The Tavistock Golf course described in this article.

In this instance, the exclusive club is Tavistock Country Club and the municipal entity it’s appealing to for help is the borough of Haddonfield. Greg Jacobs, the assistant superintendent at Tavistock, urged borough officials this week to help him take action to illeviate flooding on his 16th green because of water backing up from up to five dams the busy beavers have made since recently reappearing in the waterways near Haddonfield’s Crows Woods.

It’s nice to come across a beaver story that has a local advocate offering solutions and education already. We don’t need to worry about the beavers in Tavistock. Sarah’s got this one covered!

Summerville, an official from the Unexpected Wildlife Refuge, Home of the Beaver Defenders in Newfield, explained the system would bypass the dam that is closest to the golf course and not injure the beavers. She said state law prohibits relocating beavers and they can only be trapped if a municipality plans to euthanize them. She also stressed that beavers may appear to be a nuisance, but they actually play an important role in maintaining waterways.

Go Sarah!

Oh and just learned from facebook that our own Greta Mart who gave the beavers generous coverage at the Gazette was just accepted at the UCB graduate school of journalism, which also enrolled Richard Parks which used to give the beavers generous Coverage at the Gazette. Coincidence? David Ferry who wrote the beaver article for the Atlantic was also in the program. Just sayin’.

Annie Get Your Gun

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Who's Killing Beavers Now? May 21, 2011

Ahhh the exciting tales of beavers and firearms from the lawless west — Or New Jersey. Seems one out-of-control animal control officer took it upon himself to shoot a pair of beavers that were interfering with pond height at a city park. Trouble is, shooting beavers is illegal in New Jersey, and he should have used a trap. According to the region’s deeply ambivalent legislation, (which contains nearly as many contradictions as the bible itself), the law says beavers have to be humanely killed but relocation is illegal. It gets more even better. It’s unlawful to shoot them from far away but you are welcome to live trap them, leave them in a suitcase without food for 12 hours, and and press a .22 to their furry temples and pull the trigger. I’m not confused, who’s asking?

So this is the scene of the crime. Petteranello Gardens amphitheater at Princeton Community Park. The kind of place where the Thomas Sweet outdoor theatre offers free productions of ‘blithe spirit’ or ‘Twelfth Night” and families gather over egg salad sandwiches or brie and chardonnay to enjoy the culture. Seems one park visitor was asked to leave early one night when she was walking over to see the beavers.

Kathleen Hutchins, a township resident, said she learned of the killings when she ran into the officer, Mark Johnson, in the park as she was walking over to see the beavers on Friday evening with her dog. She said she was told to leave the park by the officer about 7:30 p.m. The officer said he was “going to get rid of them.”

Victoria Hurley-Schubert: centraljersey.com

Now since we’re in a community theatre frame of mind, let’s think about Mr. Johnson’s motivation. Obviously he saw Kathleen walking over to the pond so could infer she cared about the beavers. He didn’t have to tell her anything, he could have just waited and killed them later. Not really the best person to broadcast your murderous and illegal act to unless you A) secretly hate your boss so much you want them to get a lot of shit for this decision, or B) are such a cruel and sadistic misogynist that you wanted the pleasure of seeing the look on her face before you settled down to the delight of shooting the beavers.

I’m going with ‘B’.

So Mr. Johnson shot two beavers that night because they were raising the pond and eating trees. When the story hit the papers everyone got a little anxious and the Bureau Administrator started doing some talking about this not being authorized from the top down. The Deparment of Environmental Protection said it had issued no permits, and the department of animal control said that the beavers were not ill nor aggressive.

Robert Bruschi, the borough administrator, said municipal officials are looking into the issue and are sensitive to animal issues. Mr. Bruschi said the animals were shot in the park after dark and not trapped. The action was taken after the park had closed to the public, he said. As for the reason for the shootings, “He (Mr. Johnson) deemed them a nuisance,” said Mr. Bruschi. Municipal officials are working with the state to find out if Mr. Johnson had the authority to take the action he did and if he followed appropriate state procedures. He said Mr. Johnson did call Fish and Wildlife and spoke with representatives as to what to do about the beavers. It’s not clear what transpired from there and municipal officials have calls into the state for answers.

”He wrote a letter explaining what he did,” said Mr. Bruschi, and an investigation is ongoing. ”I’m treating it as a personnel matter,” said Mr. Bruschi. “If Mark did not follow the regulations from the state, there might be some discipline from that.” After the investigation is complete, the matter may then be looked at from a policy standpoint.

Mr. Johnson is on vacation this week.

Of course he is. I have some news for Mr. Johnson and Mr. Bruschi, if you’re interested. It’s May, so BEST CASE scenario you put a bullet into the father and mother beaver as they were just starting out in life, killing a number of unborn children in a grand civic abortion that your tax dollars paid for. That’s the best case.

The WORST CASE scenario is that at temperatures of 72 the kits have already been born and your decision orphaned them, leaving helpless furry creatures without parents alone in the lodge where they will slowly starve and die. How will that look in the papers?

Can this story possibly be redeemed? Can the Bureau of Princeton’s reckless ass ever be covered? Maybe. Sarah Summerville runs the Unexpected Wildlife Refuge in upstate New Jersey about 75 miles away. Have your people sit down with hers and do an inservice training on REAL beaver management. Find out why shooting or trapping are short term solutions and how the use of flow devices can protect your spillways and your good name. Find out what beavers can do for your wildlife, fish and bird population, and hope every day that when you are given a second chance you make a smarter decision.

Meanwhile send your top biologist to walk the pond today and look for where the beavers were living (and, no, it’s not in the dam) and make sure there aren’t orphans left behind. My guess is that Mr. Johnson shot yearlings (teenage beavers), meaning he got your bureau into all this hot water and he didn’t even solve your problem. You might wanna discuss that when he comes back from vacation.

Living Lovely with Beavers

heidi08 Friends of Martinez Beavers December 22, 2010

Every now and then I just have to post this picture. It’s a recurring need. I guess it means symbolically to me that beavers sometimes just “arrive” in your life. They come in, take up your familiar spaces and occupy your mind and your time. And you have no other choice but to deal with them. You have to figure out how to manage your life with their presence or what you’re going to do about them. You have to learn what kind of person you’re going to be when it comes to dealing with beavers. Beavers change things. And that sometimes turns out to be pretty cool.

I thought I’d share two startling emails from this morning. The first is from one of our friends in Kings Beach, who is pushing to save the ‘next’ set of beavers that come to town. Mary responded to my recent email with;

Our story still keeps me up some nights and right now has brought tears to my eyes. Regardless, we are hard at it up here planning out our strategy for the coming months once the snow melts and the beavers once again attempt to move into our steams. We have found two more sites where beavers have been “removed” within only about 10 miles of the Kings Beach pond. Never again. We have joined forces with a powerhouse of a women and other animal activists in Tahoe Donner, the largest subdivision in California. Apparently, there are 20 beaver dams in that area and they are being told by their forester that the beavers there are safe. A presentation to their board of directors is planned. We are hoping to install a flow control device in the only dam that poses a flood risk to a home, and make it a demonstration pond and example of sane beaver policies. We think Tahoe Donner will even pay for it! Thank you for keeping me informed. Sherry and I are seriously considering attending the conference in Oregon!

I hope you DO come to Oregon! Their will be armloads of information to prepare yourself for any beaver battle and we would love to meet you! Can I remember laying awake nights worrying about our beavers and whether we’d win our city fight? You bet I can. It was three in the morning when I came up with “Worth A Dam” because “friends of Martinez beavers” just felt too polite for the knock-down pool-hall scrap the beaver fight was becoming.

This email came via Sarah who runs the “Unexpected Wildlife Refuge” in New Jersey. It is from someone named Caro Mannanberg in Ontario.

I read “Beaversprite” several years ago and I am inspired to create my own beaver refuge.W e own 160 acres of prime beaver habitat in northern Ontario. We live in a cabin next to a dormant beaver pond, and there are several other beaver ponds on our property. The woods are a mixture of hard and soft woods.Dominant species are black spruce, hemlock, maple, birch, balsam fir,poplar, cedar, oak, and many varieties of shrubs. Besides Beaver, we have deer, moose, wolves, martens, lynx, rabbits, mice, porcupines, bears and many kinds of birds and ducks. Most of the property is low or wet. There is a good sized stream that flows year round, and we are near several lakes and a large river.

What do I need to do to establish a beaver refuge, and develop a management

plan?

Wow, Cary. That’s a lovely letter. I can think of a couple people who would be very happy to read it, and I hope at least one of them does. I don’t suppose you’d be interested in buying real estate in California? Say the ‘Martinez’ area for instance?

Speaking of Martinez, I couldn’t let this very special boondoggle go by unmentioned. You might remember that there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth when the school district asked the city council for money to keep schools running, or when residents implored to keep the opera alive. It was pointed out time and again that Martinez poured money into the Willows theatre and failed to invest in its own resources. Ahh, the council explained, the willows WAS an investment in Martinez! Downtown diners! Revival! Sometimes it just takes a little ‘seed money’ to get a profitable business on its feet!

Well, in what is rapidly becoming the model for our new media, Patch broke the story and the lumbering ‘real papers’ clambered after it. Apparently our city council, (who incidentally have never voted to allow the beavers to stay), voted to ‘forgive the 40,000 loan’ after thanksgiving, only to learn that the Willows was moving back to Concord.

Ahhh, now that’s quite an investment!

Great Expectations

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Friends of Martinez Beavers September 25, 2010

Young beaver mother & kit. Photo by Sarah Summerville Unexpected Wildlife Refuge

Our good friend Sarah sends these photos of the newest beavers in the refuge she maintains. Its a young mom who just produced her first ever kit. Sarah is the Director of the Unexpected Wildlife Refuge started by Cavit & Hope Buyukmihci shown here. Their original 85 acres has grown to 737 set aside for wildlife with trails. Visitors and school children are guided through in small groups. In 2001 Hope passed directorship to Sarah who has been lovingly maintaining the refuge since that time.

I’ll let Sarah speak for herself as her website describes what the personal value is of beavers:

Provide Human Beings with Unparalleled Opportunity for Study and Companionship

The beavers have a gift of unique intelligence, are gentle and trusting, and to watch their family life is one of human beings’ most enthralling experiences. I speak not only from personal observation, but from exchanges with others in this country and Canada who have had the privilege of living near beavers and becoming acquainted with them.

While we bemoan the high cost of education, put out money to buy flood and drought insurance, and are sometimes bored with life, the few beavers left in New Jersey are being ousted from their homes by developers or are considered a nuisance if they cut down a tree or create minor flooding. Moving of beavers creates untold hardships. Like human homesteaders, beavers choose a place they find suitable, work hard to make it livable, then resent being force to move.

Although beavers are presently protected from leghold traps in the state of New Jersey, their siblings in other states are not so lucky. Trapping is a crime which should not be allowed to continue for a moment longer in this enlightened age. Beavers mate for life. Beavers love their families, and mourn their dead. Beavers suffer agonies, both mental and physical, if caught in traps to struggle and drown. If they cannot escape by gnawing off a foot, or fail to drown, their fate is to be beaten to death.

Beavers maintain the floodplain, which protects us all. They are as much a part of waterways as the water itself. We humans are created with a sense of thirst because our bodies need water. It’s the same with other animals, but, in addition, beavers are born with a hydrological engineering ability because they need water for safety. The streams, in turn, need their care.

For centuries, beavers stood between the birthplace of the streams in the mountains and the oceans to which the water by its nature flows. Beavers managed the water all along the way, providing for themselves while contributing to the welfare of their total environment and its inhabitants. Was it only by chance that their foods grew right in the water, and along the floodplain, and that poplar, their favorite food, springs eternal from its root system? It springs anew also from beaver-cut stumps.

Over sixty years ago, Enos A. Mills, a pioneer naturalist, wrote:

I hope and half believe that before many years every brook that is born on a great watershed will, as it goes swiftly, merrily singing down the slopes toward the sea, pass through and be steadied in a poetic pond that is made and will be maintained by our patient, persistent, faithful friend the beaver.

Let’s help make Mills’ dream come true.