So the exciting disarray on the web edit page was due to the momentous change to WORDPRESS 5 wheeeee which happened to chose this particular moment of my recovery to assault its newness. Everything has changed, and I’m sure some day it will be better, but in the meantime I was able to add a plugin to resist change. So we’ll just be stick-in-the-muds for now.

The good news is Ben Goldfarb has given us a beautiful interview on morning edition. I can’t imagine what life will be like when all this dies down. I truly think his interviews are improving, because nothing was missing from this one either.

Wasn’t that excellent? The smarter the interviewer the more the man shines. Never dull moment in beaver-land, yesterday Port Moody salmon and beavers made the news as well.

Can beavers and salmon coexist in Port Moody?

It’s a rigorous and time-consuming task, but each year volunteers with the Burrard Inlet Marine Enhancement Society (BIMES) collect salmon, fertilize, count and raise thousands of chum, coho and pink salmon.

They baby them, check them for disease, release them into local creeks and Burrard Inlet and educate students and the public about the importance of B.C. salmon.
Why?

“Ultimately it’s about education and ensuring the next generation knows the importance of salmon to the eco system,” says co-founder Ruth Foster.

You knew it was coming. A paper would never talk about advocates for two threatened species unless they could make them fight, like bees in jar, right?

But today, as the carcasses of the last spawned coho and chum salmon rot into the soil or feed eagles, the group faces a new challenge, one that will take some deft diplomacy to deal with.

For BIMES volunteers, a beaver family that has moved into Suter Brook Creek behind Port Moody city hall has generated wide-spread community support.

The idea of a beaver family living so close to human activity is pretty novel, and the family, a bonded pair and one kit, is a testament to nature and beaver determination.

People have an emotional attachment to these creatures, says BIMES president Kevin Ryan, but he hopes the work of a city beaver management plan will also consider the importance of the creek for salmon. “We are looking to find a balance for fish,” Ryan said.

The group points to changes in the creek wrought by beavers, especially a large dam that they believe is too high for fish to jump to get into the spawning grounds between Murray Street and the SkyTrain line. BIMES worries about the effect of tree removal on the salmon-bearing stream because trees are important for shade.

As a keystone species, they say, salmon are integral to the local ecosystem. If they are pushed out, other species could be endangered.

So it’s down to this, is it? The battle of the keystone species! It’s amazing how natural science works differently in British Columbia than it does in any other region. I mean here are all these crazy people at NOAA trying to talk beavers into streams to help salmon and here you are trying to chase them away!

Beaver activity is apparent along the creek. Water has pooled behind a dam, blocking access to a trail, and there are now three dams in the creek and evidence of beavers taking out trees, including one that has been chewed but hasn’t yet fallen over.

But beaver activity in creeks is nothing new, and beavers have always co-existed with salmon, says Judy Taylor-Atkinson, who has spent a lot of time monitoring the beavers and is advocating for them.

“The beavers are part of the landscape. They were trapped out, but now they are returning,” said Taylor-Atkinson, who is a stakeholder in the beaver management plan.

She credits the work of groups such as BIMES for their hard work and dedication for reviving local streams, restoration work for salmon that is now also bringing back other species to the city, such as herons, muskrat, owls and other animals.

It’s a very good think that Judy is so delicate and politic. Because  I’ve gotten crabby in my old age and I would probably just yell at them.

“It’s not one species against the other,” she said, suggesting the city’s effort to create a management plan will ensure this over the long term.

She’s so good. Isn’t she good? Not that it matters all that much when you have scared salmon worshipers at the helm,

“It’s been four decades since we started this work,” noted Rod MacVicar, co-founder of the Mossom Creek Hatchery along with Foster. “What we want to know is if they (beaver advocates) are in this for a long time.”

He has been doing some of his own research and believes the city needs to bring in experts to recommend the best way to deal with both the beavers and the fish.

While relocating the beaver family may upset some, MacVicar said it may be the best way to save the beavers while also protecting salmon in the creek. He’s worried what will happen when the beavers run out of food or, for example, if more trees are knocked down, shade reduced for salmon, or if the family increases in size. Because of a lack of predators, beavers are expanding their territory and the ponds they create can be good for fish but there may be detrimental impacts as well, if salmon can’t get past the dams to spawn.

“We don’t want it to look like it’s us versus the beavers,” Ryan further added. ”We are just looking for some balance.”

You know about balance, right? That’s where I get what I want, and you stop wanting that other thing! I’m just trying to create some harmony here. You know by over-riding science to compromise one species and cherish another. You understand that don’t you?

There may be opportunities for improving the creek and ensuring it can sustain both beavers and salmon. Finding ways to ensure that fish can get through beaver dams to be able to spawn will be the job of the city as it works to establish a beaver management plan that protects and ensures the future viability of salmon.

Good lord. It’s bad enough trying to educate people about how to solve real beaver problems. Now we have to spend time solving imaginary ones too?