Guess whose heroic work is keeping the Columbia Spotted frog off the endangered species list? This is the press release last week from Fish and Wildlife. I can’t wait until Obama presents beavers with the presidential medal of honor for their good fiscal work in saving our vulnerable species.
This is in part due to the great work by friend of this website, Dr. Robert Arkle, who’s paper was recently published in the Journal of Ecology and Evolution. Here’s my favorite part of the press release.
Beaver are also important for the creation of small pools with slow-moving water that function as habitat for frog reproduction as well as for creating wet meadows that provide foraging habitat and protective vegetation cover. Proactive Beaver management by the states involved will be important for the long-term survival of Columbia spotted frogs. Nevada, Oregon and Idaho all include the Columbia spotted frog on their list of protected species.
Did you get that? Stop killing beavers and the frogs have a chance. Consider this a federal memo.
Yesterday several Worth A Dam folk gathered to make sure the beavers still weren’t there, leading us to observe that the scraped area between the creek and the train station is full of water and beaver trails thru the grass. We will investigate further and keep you updated on the latest news about our MIA beavers.
I also had to have ONE LAST MOMENT of vacation before Monday rolled around. And here’s what I decided to play with. At the moment I’m crazy about the Beethoven in the background, and really appreciating my new toy. It’s only one minute long, I promise it won’t make you cry, so WATCH it and share with folks who need to see it.
