Credit for nothing
and your sticks for free
CDFW is busily rewriting the Dire Straits lyrics and sweeping up plenty of credit for their nano changes to the depredation policy for beavers in California. But because landowners can still get permits to trap beavers if they say there is imminent threat, I am doubtful it will change much. It was way back in before Valentine’s day that I had a long meeting with Valerie Cook the head of the new beaver restoration program. At that time she was fairly open to feedback about the complications of relocation and the success of flow devices. She said that each new member would take some part in the education piece so that people understood their choices. She also said that she would mark the beaver festival on the calendar to make sure staff could be there. (I haven’t heard a whit from her since then so I was a little dubious they might actually come.)
Yesterday she wrote to say there couldn’t be there and I should have put in a request earlier, obviously not remembering anything about our conversation or her assurances. I was not shocked because it was hard to imagine them actually coming to the festival. but I wish they hadn’t waited so long to tell me. Now everything has gone to the printer and can’t be changed.
Credit for nothing and your sticks for free.
At the big public meeting CDFW had nothing to say about education except there would be no funding to help reimburse landowners for installing flow devices and there were going to be two relocation projects on tribal lands in the fall.
Since there was already a policy by USFS to reintroduce beavers on tribal lands that seemed like a big whoop of nothing news to me.
But I’ve been told I’m very very picky.
A new California policy highlights the importance of beavers, and offers protections
California officials have more recently paid close attention to how beavers’ unique abilities can help combat climate change impacts. Last year, the state launched its new Beaver Restoration Program, which sees beavers as a nature-based aid for boosting biodiversity and mitigating wildfire risk. And now, a new policy from California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife calls beavers a “keystone species,” highlighting their important role in upkeeping ecosystems.
“Ecologically speaking, a keystone species is a species that plays a critical role in maintaining the diversity and health of an ecosystem, such that the removal of the species results in a cascade of impacts to the ecosystem,” said Valerie Cook, California’s beaver restoration manager, in an emailed statement
Fairfax said the new policy encourages beaver relocation and reintroduction at a scale that hasn’t been seen in California since the 1940s. The Beaver Restoration Program, which received about $3 million from the state budget, will take the lead on this management. It’s a positive for beavers and their environments, she said, to opt for those options before lethal removal whenever possible.
Mind you no discussion of pond levelers or the risks associated with beaver relocation. No discussion of the fact that it doesn’t work about half the time. No discussion of the fact that removing beavers is just opening up a space for more beavers to move in.
No emphasis on education or funding for coexistence.
This Doubting Thomas will need to see it to believe.
