Every now and again, I come across an article that bring its very-tippy-toes to the edge of the line in praising beavers and advocating humane methods for living with them. I think of these writers as “beaver advocates manque“…from the french root of manquer which means ‘to miss’. It is used to refer to someone that missed out in life, missed their calling, missed their potential, missed a golden opportunity. Check out the ‘almost advocacy’ editorial from Jim Blight from Lake of the Woods Enterprise and see if you don’t agree he qualifies.
When I was a kid, one of my favourite playgrounds was Page’s swamp. The swamp ran along the east highway from the current site housing Tim’s Paints right through to A&W.
It was a real adventure. It was there I watched firsthand the evolution of frogs from the egg stage, to tadpoles, to half tadpole-half frog to frogs. A few frog’s eggs fights were thrown into the mix. Of course my mother didn’t appreciate my science adventure as, for some strange reason, my rubber boots were never quite high enough and my balance must have been poor as I came home soaked to my waist and smelling of muskeg….
Wetlands are disappearing from the countryside as we humans expand our land base. Efforts at protecting them have been made by environmental groups and organizations such as Ducks Unlimited, but the problem of disappearing wetlands is bigger than them all.
Enter to the equally loved and reviled beaver, the steward of our wetlands, the architects of the water systems that support them. We, as humans, are doing everything we can to eliminate or destroy them, and in doing so, do irreparable damage to our ecosystems.
Ahhh what a great sentence! Praising the value of beaver to endangered wetlands! Calling them architects, just like our friend Brock! I thought I was going to love reading this article. But I guess he had to demonstrate his evenhandedness by hating them a little bit – not unlike the token ‘hippy-punching’ practiced by prominent members of the democratic party….(but I digress).
Let me say first that I don’t particularly like these rodents. At our lake, they have virtually eliminated poplar and birch from the shores and, at times seem to have overpopulated and polluted the lake. I have seen the damage broken dams can do. I have listened to the stories of flooding of homes and properties. Beaver fever scares me. In spite of my personal feelings, I understand that the solution of killing beavers within the municipality and in the country is rather barbaric, not to mention ineffective. There are other solutions to be investigated.
This just in! Beavers Eat Trees! Sorry about that. I’m trying to imagine how you knew your pond was overpopulated and how you could tell the pollution was caused by beavers. Gumtree wrappers and rootbeer cans? If you’re afraid of beaver feaver I highly recommend that you don’t let your neighbors give it to them because beavers carry it, they don’t cause it. (We mostly do that.) Sigh, you were THIS close! Jim you coulda’ been a contender, but never mind. Let’s move forward. You do go on to suggest that trapping might not be the only solution.
A the request of a local citizen, the Fur Bearers Alliance, a long time advocate for fur bearing animals, took an interest in our situation in Kenora. This group has been working for decades in studying beavers and developing alternatives to killing them. In fact, they have volunteered to come to Kenora, study our problem areas and erect some beaver deterrents that are cheaper and more effective than trapping. I assume the city is making up their minds regarding the free offer and I assume they would agree to have the expert advice. I should note that beavers are not protected and a property owner in the outlying areas has every legal right to eliminate them by whatever means if their property is being damaged. But I think it behooves us to look at the alternatives that, in addition to being more humane, can be more effective.
We Kenorans brag about our beautiful surroundings, our lakes and forests and wildlife. I think it is up to all of us to advocate for the protection of all these, including beavers.
Lucky for you we are grading beaver editorials on a curve. Yours is the closest to being positive and rational about managing beavers that we have read this year, although to be fair the competition hasn’t been very steep. I wrote Jim about the effects of coppice cutting but I do think it would be worth his time to research a little about beaver impact on water quality. In the meantime, thanks to our friends at Fur-bearer defenders for stepping up to the plate. You guys do beavers a real service! Come to think of it, maybe now is a good time to say Happy Birthday to PETA who is celebrating its 30th year. Sometimes getting attention for the issue is half the battle, just ask the Martinez Beavers. 
