My my my, what an auspicious Thursday. Yesterday started out fun with a mention in the Mercury News that said the beaver festival was in January. (!!!) Oh the hilarity! That was changed by 10 while we were busy making lists and getting everything that needs loading into the garage so Jon can pick up the Uhaul today. The city finally sent over the signed event permit and on Friday we’re on call for Amy who got a great photo in the Mercury news by the way.

It was 12 years ago that a pair of beavers decided to settle down in a Martinez creek and ignited a dam fine controversy.

The beavers have since moved on, but the festival in their honor continues, drawing representatives from environmental and conservation groups from across Northern California.

On June 29, Beaver Fest returns, and besides a chance to learn a lot about ecological matters, the event features live music, kids activities including a treasure hunt, a silent auction, and refreshments. Also, Napa chalk artist Amy G. Hall will be back to create another mural celebrating beavers and their wildlife friends.

Details: 11 a.m.- 4 p.m. June 29; Susana Park, Susana and Estudillo streets, Martinez; free admission; www.martinezbeavers.org/wordpress.

There now. With the fun stuff out of the way we have some serious work to do. In the form of appreciating the excellent, fantastic, wonderful article by retired NOAA expert Rob Walton. Who is going to write this article for California next? It MUST happen soon.

Opinion: Oregon’s beaver conundrum

On the one hand, beavers can cause property damage by blocking culverts, damaging roads, causing flooding and felling trees.

On the other hand, the contributions of beavers and their dams are well-documented for their important ecological value. The example I am most familiar with is the high-quality rearing habitat for salmon that beavers can create. Oregon salmon runs have suffered from reduced rearing habitat for baby salmon. A contributing factor is the reduced number of beavers and beaver dams. State and federal plans describe the important – and cost-effective – role of beaver dams in conserving and recovering salmon species threatened with extinction.

This conundrum has become a challenging political problem for Oregon. Conservation, wildlife, landowner/manager and trapping interests are at odds about how the state should manage beavers. Management of Oregon’s beavers starts with a state law, ORS 610.002, which says in part: “ ‘predatory animal’ . . . includes . . . rodents . . . that are or may be destructive to agricultural crops, products and activities.” Because beavers are rodents, this law classifies them as predators – they “prey” on trees and plants, not fish or other animals.

You can probably see where this is going. Rob is on the board of the beaver institute and is willing to get into the weeds on the complicated trapping regulations in Oregon. Do you think we can get him to tackle California? Asking for a friend.

The consequences of this statute are key to the conundrum. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife manages beavers and regulates trapping them on public land, requiring a permit and a follow-up report. The Oregon Department of Agriculture manages beavers on private land where it is legal for a landowner to kill beavers and throw them away without making a report. As a result, there is no way to tell how many beavers are being killed, but there is some evidence that the number may be high in some places.

One example is the landowner who rather proudly announced to a colleague of mine that he had killed more than 90 on his property in one year. Another example is the timber company employee who explained to a U.S. Forest Service worker the five tall piles of beaver bones on his company’s property: “That’s how we manage beavers on private industrial forestland.”

Oregon’s law and policies allow private landowners, licensed trappers and pest-control companies to kill beavers. Only some of these activities are reported. The result is that there isn’t a reliable record of how many beavers are killed each year here in the Beaver State, and there isn’t an effective way to protect beavers, even when they are busy providing a low-cost, effective way to restore critical habitat for salmon and other protected species.

Be still my heart. This is everything I’ve been shouting for the last 5 years we’ve been reviewing dastardly depredation permits. It’s so comforting to read someone else write this about Oregon. I can’t believe it has taken this long.

A better approach is possible – one that allows and encourages beavers to help recover salmon runs, increase biodiversity and create more groundwater recharge and storage – while protecting private property.

When beaver-human conflicts do happen, it’s important that landowners – large and small, public and private – agencies and water and wildlife advocates work together to address and resolve these conflicts.

My experience suggests that Oregon’s Legislature and agencies have not been able to deal with this politically charged issue. But through a collaborative beaver management approach, we can protect and manage private property, allow beavers to help improve salmon and bird habitat quality, and allow legal, regulated trapping.

Here are steps that Oregon can take to address the state’s beaver conundrum:

· The Legislature should mandate that state fish and wildlife, agriculture, forestry, environmental quality and water resources agencies develop a beaver management plan, as Utah has. Oregon Consensus or Oregon Solutions could help bring interest groups on board.

· Develop an effective network of nonprofit and for-profit companies, tribes and local, state and federal agency staff trained in non-lethal solutions that can respond to complaints. This approach has a proven track record elsewhere, such as with Massachusetts-based Beaver Solutions and Seattle-based Beavers Northwest.

· Implement a statewide public relations and education effort to provide information about the benefits provided by Oregon’s state animal and how to responsibly address conflicts.

These low-cost steps could help us restore the high regard we have for that golden emblem on our flag.

At the risk of quoting Mary Tyler Moore, OH ROB!!!!!

What a fantastic, clear and well thought out article. Your conclusions are so spot on they bring tears to my eyes. I love the article and every single smart recommendation. I am sending it right now to every single smart Californian I know because I want this written in our state next.

Except that last part about fish and game starting a statewide public relations campaign about beavers. One cannot wait for miracles. When I try to image California doing that I start laughing so hard I convulse and can’t type.