To astonish you:
Beavers complete $1.2 million dam building project for free report our friends at the Regeneration Project From Regeneration, with Love
In a brief but heartwarming tale that will surprise no one familiar with the handy work of beavers, a dam project at a former army training site in the Czech Republic has been stalled since 2018— despite having $1.2 million EUR of authorized funding at ready. Meanwhile, a small beaver family (this takes you to a Guardian article with more details) took matters into their own paws to just get it done, building four dams “almost overnight” and are now working on a fifth. It’s a striking reminder that when humans step aside, nature not only takes care of itself but sometimes even solves our problems, too. Learn more about the industrious environmental engineers in our Beaver Nexus, or if you’re in the mood for a 45-minute beaver documentary, check out this flick from Real Wild.
To remind you:
Some of you may recall seeing Elsi the Beaver in the Westminster West Church parade in fall of 2023. She was a big hit with the kids who especially enjoyed making her head bobble as they pet her real beaver hair noggin. Elsi is the mascot of the Westminster Beaver Working Group which came together that year as a collaboration between Living Earth Action Group, Bonnyvale Environmental Education CenterBonnyvale Environmental Education Center, Westminster Conservation Commission, and Pinnical AssociationWindmill Hill Pinnacle Association. With funding from a major grant, we carried out public education, worked with the town and citizens on beaver conflict areas, funded installation of a flow control device (aka Beaver Deciever), guided highly popular walks to beaver sites, and of course, commissioned the creation of Elsi.
Then we disappeared…or so you might think, but actually throughout 2024 we remained active but kind of hidden under the ice, much as our beaver neighbors are right now in the frozen months. When I say we, I mean chiefly our active champions like Patti Smith of BEEC and Kathy Kingston who never seem to waver in their advocacy and caring for the beavers in our midst. Patti secured a second round of funding that provides us the opportunity to continue education, develop town policy, and assist with the installation of more flow control devices. BEEC sponsored a highly successful Beaver Camp which Kathy attended, and a second one is coming in April 2025 (see event link below).
Besides keeping an eye on our local beaver situations, Kathy has monitored activities at the state level and submitted comments to encourage the correct appreciation of how Beaver Decievers can mitigate human – beaver conflicts that currently often lead to trapping and killing.
We are making connections with the statewide Vermont Beaver Association (VBA) | Vermonters Helping Beavers co-founded by Beveryly Sovchak.
Recent events and links of interest:
Patti and Skip Lisle (Beaver Deceiver creator extraordinare) were featured on Vermont Edition on March 6th talking about beavers and beaver deceivers!
BEAVER CAMP II: Beaver Deceiver Build with Bonnyvale Environmental Education Center
Learn More and Register here
Statehouse attention to beavers: Final Reading: House Environment heard about the benefits of beavers - VTDigger
An excellent article on the Beavers role in our ecosystem featuring Bob Hyams advocating that the State should be paying landowners to coexist with Beavers
Busy beavers play outsize role in cleaning up waterways in Hinesburg and Vermont | Hinesburg News | vtcng.com
Beaver Working Group Current Activities:
Our Primary Mission:
To encourage practices, policies, and principles that foster non-lethal ways to manage beaver - human interactions to the benefit of both species and our ecosystem.
We are in the process of coming out of winter torpor with a focus on continued monitoring of beaver - human trouble areas in town, public policy formulation, and dispersing funding we have to assist people interested in flow control devices.
If you know of humans having a problem with beavers or Beavers in trouble from some humans in Town, please contact any one of us to tap into the expert people and resources we have to help resolve these conflicts. Our contact information is at the end of this post.
Contact information:
Michael Daley mjdaley@sover.net
Patti Smith patti@beec.org
Comments