Three Drop Thursday Beavers? Depends (plus a few words from Mildred)
Friends of Confluence West -
Welcome to Three Drop Thursday. We decided that highlighting “the Year of the Beaver” is how we want to wrap up 2023. So many great new books are out, and research and practical applications are increasing. There’s compelling new evidence that beaver habitat protects watersheds even when a huge wildfire is roaring through the landscape.
Does this mean beavers are the panacea for a climate change-driven western landscape? Yes – it depends. Humans have a history of enthusiastically introducing species to a landscape without considering the overall impacts on the larger ecosystem. Sometimes, we get it right – e.g., the re-introduction of wolves to Yellowstone. Sometimes, we get it really wrong - e.g., eucalyptus trees.
Can we get the re-introduction of beavers right?
As we wrap up the year, we recommend checking out Mildred’s offer to tell you a joke and the recent stories on the Colorado River Basin and protecting headwater systems.
For the West,
Kimery
Beavers? Yes? No? It Depends
Let’s start with a critical look at beavers. In a recent Writers on the Range piece, Ted Williams raises important concerns. He notes that beavers are beneficial – in the right place. Williams provides a number of examples of how beaver dams have wiped out native fish on some streams.
He notes: In the wrong places, beavers grossly overpopulate, blocking trout migration, stripping streamside cover, choking spawning gravel with silt and muck, and converting oxygen-rich streams to dead water. That’s because humans have eliminated wolves and old growth from most of the West, and stream corridors now grow willow and aspen — beaver candy.
William’s piece ticked off a lot of people. While many of you won’t agree with his findings, he raises some cautionary flags on the human predilection for “easy” fixes (especially with there’s a charismatic critter in the mix.)
Beaver climate action plan?
Dr. Emily Fairfax and Chris Jordan call for that in their 2020 publication Beaver: The North American freshwater climate action plan, noting that beaver-based low-tech stream restoration helps build climate resilience. They also include the caveat that not every stream is a good candidate for beaver-based restoration.
They note how beavers help create complex water pathways: Naturally occurring beaver dam complexes are uniquely rich and varied components of riverscapes that contain highly heterogeneous water velocities, temperatures, depths, vegetation communities, and geomorphic structures within relatively small areas of the riverscape This heterogeneity results in particularly diverse and resilient habitats and is a large part of why beavers are keystone species
One of our favorite parts of their study is about “slow water” – how beavers keep water in the soil during a drought (or aridification.) King County (Seattle region) has a “beaver climate plan,” calling beaver dams comparable to speed bumps – slowing down water (or cars) as they move through their respective ecosystems.
Talk to the sheep
Most of you have already met Mildred on our Three Drop masthead. Peering over her glasses, she says what’s what. While she would disagree that she’s pretty silly, she firmly believes the world needs more chuckling.
Mildred asks everyone to please support our work with a tax-deductible contribution. She points out she could give a long lecture or publish a 20-page annual report about the great work Carpe Diem West (DBA Confluence West) has been doing in 2023, but she thinks that if you want to know more, you can always check out the website (or email us with your questions.)
Mildred and all her humans say, “Thank you!”
BREAKING NEWS: For the first time in 75 years, The CA Department of Fish and Wildfire released beavers on to Mountain Maidu land in Plumas County https://youtu.be/ZBIznLMvH30 Enjoy!
Please support Confluence West (aka Carpe Diem West!) Since our founding in 2007, we've been building successful alliances and campaigns and bringing new climate science and opportunities to put innovative, sustainable regional water projects into motion in the American West. You can read about our current projects and the ones we're developing. Thanks for your support!
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