Look who was visiting the primary dam this morning! Fishing all around the tangled flow device with his greedy appetite. It’s been a good long while since I have seen cormorants that high up in the creek. I remember the eager one when staff first lowered the dam a million (pre-flowdevice) years ago. He came right in the middle of the crowd of workers, determined to be the only mouth at the damside when all those fish were pushed to the drain.

This morning was a foggy, peaceful, and beaver-less visit. I don’t know if I was too early or too late to catch the show, but several people assured me they had been there in the dark. I strolled down to check out the woodduck boxes, and stopped to listen for frogs. The third dam is looking fairly repaired, although the fourth is entirely gone. The damlet and canal were in stark relief because of the nicely low tide. There were plenty of cooperative beaver footprints in view.

Yesterday Jon tried something new to protect the chewed trees at the primary dam. Sand-painting. It has been recommended that painting the trunks with sand discourages beaver nibbling as they dislike the gritty texture. The paint is non-toxic and won’t harm them even if they persevere. We’ll see what happens. He had wire-wrapped them after the new year’s feeding frenzy but the wire disappeared,(whether by overly fastidious staff or beaver-defenders of grand compassion we couldn’t say). The sand isn’t likely to go anywhere, and as the color is matched to the trunk it shouldn’t be a problem for the city.

The year’s at the spring,
And day’s at the morn;
Morning’s at seven;
The hill-side’s dew-pearl’d;
The lark’s on the wing;
The snail’s on the thorn;
God’s in His heaven—
All’s right with the world!

Robert Browning: Pippa Passes

Fans of the Martinez Beavers will understand more intimately than most that the survival of our beavers ultimately depended on just one thing. Sure public outcry made a difference, and fear of political ruin quivered the hearts of at least two on the council, but if the dam had stayed at its original height and continued to pose a flooding threat, they would have been soundly dispatched. (Sent in a pickup truck to Plumas county if the god’s were kind or off to a glue factory somewhere if they were not.)

What fundamentally allowed the beavers to remain with us was the flow device, installed by Skip Lisle and often mistakenly called a “beaver deceiver”. (It’s actually a “Castor Master”.) This allowed for the water height to be lowered in such a way that the movement is disguised from the beavers. They don’t feel the suction and don’t associate the outflow with their dam, so they tolerate the water loss. Skip invented the beaver deceiver during his work with the Penobscot Nation. He went on to develop his ideas for the flow device and round fence over time. Skip is committed to showing the world that flow devices work. He traveled to Lithuania this summer to talk at the conference there, and he is headed for Oregon next week to give a four hour teaching at the State of the Beaver Conference.

Mike Callahan of Beaver Solutions trained with Skip and eventually developed his own full time business around beaver management. His vision of the best use of management skills included a teaching DVD that would allow property owners, cities and transit workers to cheaply implement tools that could manage problematic beaver behavior. He is well aware that allowing this keystone species to remain takes care of so many others, but Mike is a pragmatic beaver defender who helps businesses focus on the bottom line. Installing a successful flow device, he argues, can manage the problem now and in the future. Hiring a trapper is a temporary solution that will get more expensive over time.

Mike was awarded a grant from the AWI last year to make the DVD, and has been working towards its release. Expect it in the Spring of 2010. Recently he approached me asking to pay to include three minutes of my beaver footage in the production. Since Mike’s smart website was the first place I turned with beaver questions LO these many moons ago, and we became friends over the ensuing years, I can’t think of anything more “full circle” than using that footage to help him and help beavers around the country for years to come.  Whatever financial agreement we figure out will go to Worth A Dam.

In the mean time, I am helping him spread the word about the upcoming project with an announcement postcard sent to beaver supporters and interested media. You might recognize my favorite photo from Bob Armstrong of the Mendenhall Glacier Beavers. (He gave his blessing on the prospect, and arranged for Mike to come do a beaver management plan in the state park there.) The idea is to follow up with a second announcement once the project is released. I’m hopeful that by helping more people learn that there are reasonable ways to manage beaver behavior, and inexpensive tools for learning about them,  we can significantly impact the well-being of beavers all around the country.

In the mean time, our wikipedia friend is supposed to be honing a “flow device” entry this weekend. It’s hard to remember so long ago, but in 2007 I definitely had to hunt to find out about options. Remember how many people talked about the Clemson Pond Leveler at the meeting? Someone from Lafayette even donated the funds for one. That was one tool that had been published and talked about, but the technology had already come a long way since then. Mike was the one who explained that to me. Let’s hope “flow device” becomes a household name - at least as common as “snare”.

Visitors to the dams this week have noticed that the primary sustained some dam-age. Our forward-thinking beavers invested their repair energy in the secondary dam, keeping the water at the gates. Jon says this morning they have done some major repairs on the first dam, using high bushy willow that makes the structure look a little madcap and creative. They haven’t mudded it yet, but firsts things first. It’s a start.

In the meantime, its time for the frog chorus again. Every year around this time we get a couple mornings with enormous frog song, as the male tree frogs gather in hope of luring a mate. Here’s what I said about it last year:

Last night’s visit to the dam showed four rascally kits, a yearling, and a very loud chorus of Pacific Tree Frogs. I remember when they showed up last year: (January 27th) after a rain, all at once, almost as loud as traffic. These are the males who come to gather and advertise for a mate. They use “ephemeral” wetlands that temporarily hold enough water for mating, but won’t run as great a risk of their offspring getting eaten by fish.

advertisement chorus

In the days after their population explosion we got our first scaup visitors, and oddly all the frog song got alot quieter. Turns out that scaup are carnivores, and they probably climbed this creek looking for the tastey makers of that song. I thought at the time that the song ceased because the adults been eaten, but actually the “mating advertisement” ceased because the campaign had been successful. Procreation had occurred and eggs were laid. I’m sure the Scaup enjoyed the tadpoles.

The 2008 state of the estuary report says that scaup are declining in number in practically every watershed in the Bay Area. Except Martinez, where there were flocks of 30-50 seen for the very first time.

Listen for the frogs and watch out for their predators. Apparently the females don’t make any noise and that’s how the males know who to breed with. I read that they sometimes accidentally choose a soft-spoken salamander by mistake. Keep that in mind while you enjoy them, and make a noise or two just to be on the safe side.

They seem to be farther down this year, more towards the fourth dam. I think Hess scraped away their favorite places. Hmm. Some of mine too.

Keep your ears open!

Photo: January 2010 Cheryl Reynolds

1922-2010 Goodnight Howard. Here is one thing he taught me that I would never have known about. There must be a million more.

I bet he would have loved beavers.

Early start to a long day. No time to post, but I will leave you with my most guilty-sounding snigger…

I was getting ready to announce Worth A Dam’s presence at the Flyway Festival the 6th and 7th, when two very fine events coincided to assist. The first is that we had a fantastic new bird visitor at the damlet site yesterday, caught by Cheryl here:

Clearly there is going to be a housing boom. This is a common merganser. Avid beaver fans will remember that a hooded merganser was filmed at the primary dam last February, so its obviously the time for visitors. Like wooduck, these birds are what’s known as “obligate cavity nesters” which means they lay their eggs in holes they cannot dig themselves. (”much obliged!”) And bird boxes. Like the one Mitchell installed three days ago. Cheryl saw him check out the area up stream and downstream. Expect to see more of this pointed face!

Today I noticed a little surge of activity on the webpage and went to see where it was from. I discovered that the Flyway Festival has put our information and program on the schedule!

1:30pm - 2:00pm

Why Beavers are Worth A Dam

Slide show presented by Heidi Perryman, Ph.D.
The Martinez Beavers have been the center of controversy, environmental growth, and community action since 2007. This presentation will use footage and stills from a collection of local photographers to show the beavers’ unique impact on the habitat, including birds and other wildlife. It will outline tools used by the city to manage their continued presence. Heidi Perryman is a child psychologist who became an accidental beaver advocate when the family moved into the urban creek near her home. She began filming the beavers and writing articles for the local paper. Eventually serving on the “beaver subcommittee”, she formed the group Worth A Dam (associated with the 501.3 (c) Land for Urban Wildlife) to advocate for their continued care and teach others about the value of this Keystone Species. Learn more at www.martinezbeavers.org Join an artist from their team for a kid’s “beaver art” project on Saturday at the Wildlife Expo.

The entire roster of events is dazzling. They get 7500 people in a weekend. This is the BIG BIG BIG bird and watershed event of the year. And it is safe to say, in the history of the known world, they have never had a beaver display before. How exciting is that? Getting thousands of avid birders interested in the relationship between beaver dams and birds, and talking about the resources for beaver management? I can’t think of a better investment of a weekend. Come by and say hi and help us with our “build a banner” amazing art project!

Available Immediately: One Room loft, creek front property, no previous owner and no downpayment required. Quiet downtown area with immediate access to public transportation and waterways. Close to schools and parks. This is a dream place to raise your feathered family! Famous neighbors a bonus. Call or come see for yourself!

Thanks to Eagle Scout candidate Mitchell Maisel, Wooduck expert Sandy Ferreira, and Installation Devotee Brian Murphy for making this all possible! I can’t wait to see what comes next!

Our VP Cheryl has been hard at (lovingly unpaid) work at IBRRC this weekend taking care of a peck of pelicans who have been adversely affected by all the runoff pollution in their water. It is hard, unforgiving work. These birds are nearly as tall as she is, and their beak can function as prodigious bayonet. Still the white pelican is one of Cheryl’s favorite birds in all the world, so she was happy to send this photo of a recovering patient:

Photo: Cheryl Reynolds

A marvelous bird is the pelican

His beak can hold more than his belly can.

He can store in his beak

Enough food for a week

But don’t ask me just how the hell ‘e can.

Dixon Lanire Merrith (1910)

Have I mentioned that I thought CDFG does an extremely thoughtful, honest job and was very respectful of wildlife in general and beavers in particular? Sorry, just wanted to know how it felt to type that. It’s opposite day. I’m perfectly sure I mentioned the other thing.

Well RL has been working on research of the California Fur Rush to document just where beavers were historically, and came across this paper, from Factless & Guilty describing the reintroduction of beavers in the 1930’s. Brace yourself for the author’s name and tell me that’s not destiny. You see the Mendocino reintroduction wasn’t a special case, this was happening all over the state. After the fur trade killed nearly all the beavers, there were none as far as the eye could see. Seems people had started to notice that without beavers the watershed doesn’t work as well.

“It is now understood that soil erosion and shortage of water in some places resulted from the destruction of the beavers, which formerly built, and kept in repair, dams on the upper reaches of many streams. The dams were the effective means of impounding water of the spring runoff, and distributing them slowly downstream through the summer.”

Tappe 1941

That was a great sentence, Mr. Tappe. Can I just pause a moment and enjoy the wisdom embedded in that sentence? Sigh. Unfortunately he keeps writing, summarizing the horrifically greedy fur trade forrays and the loss of beaver from everwhere. He describes the historic presence of beaver, and says:

However, as far as could be learned, these animals confined themselves to the parts of the stream below the 1000 foot level.

Got that? No beavers above the 1000 foot elevation originally. No beavers in Tahoe, or the Sierras, or Yosemite. No beavers on Mt. Diablo or Mt. Lassen. No beavers but the ones WE put there. Fish and Game has spoken in its infinite wisdom, every other naturalist in the world writes down this fact and puts it in books that get quoted. So that  70 years later they are killing beavers in Kings Beach because they’re “not native.”

You know what’s funny about that “native” word? There were these people here, before fish & game, before the trappers, before the missionaries. They like to think of themselves as Native. I’m thinking there must have been tribes above 1000 feet with lore/language/artwork that proves they lived with beaver. Lets look at what they have to say:

Hmmm, A.L. Kroeber is considered the expert on California Natives, my Dad pointed me to this book, which is partially online at the Yosemite Library. Handbook of Indians of California 1919. Chapter 30 talks about the Miwok tribe, which stretches from the central coast all the way to the Sierras. The Miwok are interesting to Kroeber because of their particular spiritual/lineage beliefs

With the Miwok we encounter for the first time a social scheme that recurs among several of the groups to the south: a division of the people into balanced halves, or moieties, as they are called, which are totemic, and adhesion to which is hereditary. The descent is from the father, and among the Miwok . the moieties were at least theoretically exogamic. The totemic aspects of these moieties are refined to an extreme tenuousness, but are undeniable. Nature is divided into a water and a land or dry half, which are thought to correspond to the Kikua and Tunuka moieties among the people.

So everyone and everything belongs to either the “land” moiety or the “water” moiety, and Kroeber kindly goes on to list which animals are classified in which group. Guess what’s on the list? Beaver, (water obviously) But he also notes that for the Yokuts the assignments with regard to beaver were reversed. This means all the Miwok used the beaver’s totemic meaning. Why would they do this if they had never seen a beaver? Thanks Dad!

The Modoc used beaver teeth as dice.Many burials around this area included the addition of a beaver mandible for ceremonial purposes. There are linguistic papers documenting the vocabulary of the word beaver from the Sacramento Valley to the Klamath.

For instance, beaver is unanalyzable Yurok teguuk, Hupa chwa’, but in Karuk it is sah-pihnîich ‘by.the.river–old.man’.

(Isn’t that a great name? By-the-River Old-Man!) Okay, not convinced beaver were above 1000 feet? How about this rock painting from the Tule Reservation, located at an elevation of 1600 feet and estimated to be between 500-700 years old.

That should do it. High-five everyone! Day of Research produces! Breakout the champagne and the willow leaves! Okay, I feel we’ve successfully laid to rest the spurious clam that there were no beaver above 1000 feet. I’ll expect your retraction and apology in the morning. In the mean time what’s this? On the new Fish & Game website?

Non-Native & Nuisance Terrestrial Vertebrates

Check out the mammal section.

Sigh. Time for a class action lawsuit?

So yesterday staff was able to cut the cables, remove the snag and upright the filter. No jet ski’s or motorboats were employed, and we couldn’t be happier. The secondary dam clearly did much better than the news thought, because there’s a great bump in the water that just needs sticks woven into the top. I’m not at all surprised, since they spent the lions share of their effort working on it the last few times. As the sun is actually shining today, I think there should be some serious rejoicing.

Not enough good news? I heard from a friend of a friend that the trees have been wrapped in Lincoln Park in Illinois! Mind you with actual wire, (well chain-linked fencing). Let’s hope they had some laying around and wanted to use up their supply, not that they didn’t choose it without reading about what to use. And let’s hope they left some space between the wire and the tree. The friend wonders if 6 feet of wire is a little ambitious, but since the snow could give the beavers a four foot head start, it seems wise. Of course the good news is that any park that wraps trees is a park that expects to keep its beavers, so hooray! Nice work!

A final cheery rumor is that I was contacted yesterday by a certain former editor of a certain local paper who is now at the UCB graduate school of journalism and he wants to do a project on a subject that is very near and dear to my heart. Not the one that is still getting hours of media attention, but the other one that should have.

More on this, later. In the mean time enjoy the sun!