There’s a lull in the beaver-trapping news, and I thought it was as good a time as any to show you the other side of what I do with beaver news. Usually I write the reporter, the paper, and any named officials I can find. (Finding officials whose email is unlisted has actually become a weird kind of challenge to me, and I am always thrilled when I crack the code.) Usually the paper will call you first to find out if you are a real human and they have permission to print. Sometimes it just gets printed. Even by recent standards, this was a particularly productive week.
Letter to the Editor: Beavers Have Impact on Wildlife
May 27, 2012 1:15 am
Great article Thursday about driving in to see some beaver dams in the wilderness. Of course, beaver dams create wetlands and attract wildlife whether they’re in the backwoods or in the center of town! Five years ago, resident pressure forced my northern California city to install a flow device to allow some local beavers to stay and now, because of the dams, we regularly see heron, wood duck, steelhead, otter and even mink in our tiny urban stream! Beavers aren’t that hard to see if you know when to look.
Mr. Bandolin’s comments about beavers were interesting. Willow can usually keep up with beaver appetite since more wetlands create more willow. Beaver populations tend to stabilize since offspring leave to seek their own territories at two years. However one variable that really affects whether willow can replenish as fast as beavers chew is the issue of “browse pressure.”
I hope everyone reads your fantastic article and really spends time thinking about the relationship between beavers and wildlife. We are holding our fifth beaver festival to celebrate just that, and they are having their first this year in Utah. One chapter of Audubon in Idaho recently did a “beaver count” because the animals have such an impact on birdlife! Here on the Pacific coast we are realizing that they might be the only salvation to our dwindling salmon populations.
HEIDI PERRYMAN, PH.D. Martinez, Calif. (Editor’s note: Heidi Perryman is the president and founder of Worth A Dam; website, www.martinezbeavers.org/wordpress.)
Living with beavers Heidi Perryman, Ph.D., President & Founder Worth A Dam Martinez, Calif.
Re. “Beavers gnawing along Tenmile Creek,” SDN, May 26
Great article about the Tenmile Creek beavers. It is a good reminder that even though beavers can bring challenging behaviors, humans who are up for the challenge reap huge benefits for birds, fish, wildlife, water quality and storage. My own city decided to “live with” some local beavers by installing a flow device that has controlled the pond height for five years. (They aren’t that hard to see!) Now we regularly also see heron, wood duck, otter, steelhead and even mink in our tiny urban stream! We have a yearly beaver festival (http://bit.ly/K42Or4) and work hard to teach other cities that beavers are worth having around. Check out the new issue of the Atlantic Monthly for a reminder!
Remember that trees you want to protect can be wrapped with wire or painted with sand to discourage chewing. Since you’re in Colorado you also have renowned beaver expert Sherri Tippie in Aspen to help with any challenges that might arise.
www.martinezbeavers.org/wordpress
(I received a call last night from the Yellowknife paper in the Northwest territories asking to publish my recent letter. It hasn’t run yet, but here is the text in case you’re interested. Aside from Scotland, this is the most distant letter that has ever been published. I’m weirdly pleased.)
Aside from the mayor’s impossibly colorful description of beaver trampolines and residents using ‘rubber paint’ to bounce beavers away from their poplars, I hope Yellowknife has looked for real solutions? Obviously beavers are a keystone species that create essential wetlands for fish, birds, wildlife and important game species. Killing them to protect trees is a little like destroying automobiles to prevent speeding – it works but at what cost? A better solution than chicken wire (since beavers are way bigger than chickens) is to wrap the tree with galvanized steel wire, or less obtrusively to paint it with a latex paint that matches the color of the bark mixed with heavy mason sand. This has to be repeated every year for it to work. Remember that beaver ‘chewed’ trees will still coppice and create ideal bushy nesting habitat for migratory and songbirds. Why not have residents of the lake plant swift-growing willow along the shore to provide an easy food source and better riparian border? Our city made a commitment to tolerate our local beavers 5 years ago and implemented real solutions to the challenges they posed. Now we regularly see heron, steelhead, otter and even mink in our tiny urban stream.
Any city smarter than a beaver can keep a beaver, and those most interested in watershed protection and saving taxpayer dollars know why they should.
Heidi Perryman, Ph.D. President & Founder Worth A DamLetters to the Editor about beavers isn’t a spectator sport! Anyone can do it! Show us your published letter and Worth A Dam will send you a free beaver thank you!
