What: On our wander, I wanted to show Clay the new beaver pond. Clay and I have been exploring the various iterations of beaver ponds in Centennial for about 5 years now and he hadn't seen the new neighbors since they moved in sometime around the beginning of October.
Ecological notes: For the 4th year in a row, beavers adopted Centennial Woods in the middle of fall, which is a rather late start as far as beavers go. Typically beavers have their winter homes already staked out and built up by the end of summer. In a new area without previous beaver structures, they'll first dam up the river and live in a burrow in the bank while raising water levels high enough to where they can build a lodge in the newly formed pond. They won't start caching (storing for later) food to last them through the winter until sometime in the fall when the trees have stored more sugars in the bark. To be doing all of this in the late fall is quite the herculean effort.
Three years ago a family moved in after Hurricane Irene, made it through the winter and left in the spring. This repeated the past two years as well, and not to disappoint, beavers moved back in this fall around the beginning of October.
I've been away the last month and went to check in on them as soon as I got back. The pond is open thanks to the recent rains and warmer weather and their dam is active and in good shape. No lodge, so they must be nesting in a bank, but haven't found that spot yet.
Where: Centennial Woods, upstream for Fox Meadow by Centennial Field.
What: Julia and I had craft night on Wednesday (not different from most nights), and I finally made some good progress on a project I started a few months back. Back in the fall I had gotten a bunch of aspen logs that had been cut along the bike path. I cut it into disks (about 3" diameter) and have been drying it along with sections from beech, white birch, hemlock, and yellow birch. For the disks I wanted to translate photos I've taken into woodburnings of animals that live in and around the beaver pond in Centennial Woods. Last night I made the above disks. I've already finished a chickadee, chipmunk, eastern newt, and mink. I still have the following: great blue heron, honeybees, and wood frog.
Some great news! UVM has decided to pull the kill traps, at least over the holiday break, expressing also that after break they would return to the issue and re-evaluate other options. There's even the possibility that they'll convene a group from Rubenstein and the community to discuss these other options. Thanks again to everyone for providing support in their own unique way. Alicia keeps reminding me what a complex issue this is, which is why it's so important to have so many voices and perspectives, to remind us of the complexity when we try and control/manage wild things.
And a huge thanks to Katie Flagg, who wrote the 7Days article, for shedding light on this, and acknowledging the complexity. She was on WCAX this week to talk more about her article. I love the end: "The Centennial Woods [Natural] area is really beloved by a lot Burlingtonians. People use it to walk their dogs, they go out there all the time, but there isn't a great way right now for teachers, students, Burlington residents to weigh in on how that area is managed. The beavers themselves are now actually slightly outside of the Centennial area. What everyone would like, and I think UVM and the naturalists have agreed on is better communication about how the land is being managed."
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What: 7Days just published an article about the beaver situation. Thanks to all the people that have gotten in touch with me about ways in which they can help. I was called a "renegade" by one staff at UVM Grounds, which was unfortunate to be labeled a renegade for making public what's happening on public land. Though, I suppose I'd be in alright company. In Thoreau's Civil Disobedience he writes, "But, to speak practically and as a citizen, unlike those who call themselves no-government men, I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government. Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it." So for all the people that have gotten in touch with me (from around the country too!!) asking how they might get involved, I encourage you to speak up, to let folks at UVM know what you want to see happen, whether you agree with me, them, both, or none of us. Simply let your voice be heard.
I'd start by reaching out to me, Enrique Corredera, who is the director for UVM communications, and Sal Chiarelli, Director of Physical Plant. You can also write letters to the editor to comment on the 7Days article. As Alicia said in the article, this isn't a case about good vs bad. There are cases to be made for many different solutions, so it's important to be strong, but open minded in this; as were Afrika Bambaataa's renegades of funk.
As mentioned in the article the three initial conibear traps were removed by someone walking into an unmarked, retention pond with a gate wide open. In response UVM started locking the gate and put up no trespassing signs to secure the new traps the hired trapper set on the berm between the upper pond and lower pond (I've seen deer on several occasions in the retention pond, though even with gates locked the deer could walk in through one of the other large holes in the fence). So accessing the pond would now be a legal violation (I think this statute covers the possible repercussions, though there may be others as I don't know the legal system).
Last year NPR's Fresh Air had a special celebrating 100 years of Woody Guthrie. They talked about a verse often edited out of "This Land is Your Land":
As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing."
But on the other side it didn't say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.
Other notes: I'd also like to expand on Katie Flagg's use of the word tame in her article. To me that word is less like the domesticated use of it (like kitty-pets in Erin Hunter's Warriors series), and more like the meaning Antoine de Saint-Exupery describes so poetically in his book The Little Prince:
"No," said the little prince. "I am looking for friends. What does that mean-- 'tame'?"
"It is an act too often neglected," said the fox. "It means to establish ties."
"'To establish ties'?"
"Just that," said the fox. "To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world..."
"I am beginning to understand," said the little prince. "There is a flower... I think that she has tamed me..."
What: I've just finished editing and touching up my students' entries to the Natural History Dictionary. Took a lot longer than I hoped, but it's certainly worth it. Definitely a work in progress, but I think it's shaping up to be something really really helpful and fascinating!!
So last Friday the kill traps went back up. UVM has killed at least one of the beavers so far, and another one went missing since last Thursday (with finishing up grading I haven't been able to spend as much time out there, so there very well could still be three left, but I was only been able to see/hear 2 last night; all the time spent grading means that this footage is all old). I'm not universally opposed to trapping, I just think in this case it's being done irresponsibly (ecologically and in terms of the community perspective), in a short-sighted way, and as a result of prior ineptitude.
UVM Grounds won't respond to my questions about the process involved or why it's so imperative to kill them - an unfortunate lack of transparency - so I'll speculate based on personal observation and what I've heard second hand. From what I gather the beavers have to go because part of the requirement for managing the retention pond (built as a mitigation for paving the parking lot next to the Centennial Field) includes monitoring and managing for both water quality and water height. Apparently they have to check these every month to meet legal obligations. Water height is an easy one, but I would assume they're either not doing it regularly or doing it poorly as the beavers have been there for 4.5 out of the last 7 months (a 2 month stretch from June to late July, and again from late September until now). Most of that time the water has been about 4' higher than normal.
As for pollution, I don't know how beavers being there would make any difference or what kind of pollution they'd be measuring (biological or chemical). It's not like any of the vegetation is doing any biofiltering of anything this time of year. And the volume of water flowing out should be the same as if the water were 5' lower. Beavers don't really carry rabies and there's never been a rodent-to-human infection, not that that should be a concern (if it was they'd probably want to do something about the raccoon population.
Beaver scat! A rare site! Basically it's just saw dust. This is from Mill Pond
Humans are far more likely to carry giardia than beavers (beaver fever's a misnomer - most birds and mammals can carry the parasite, and people get giardia when they go camping usually not because they drink contaminated water but because their hygiene goes down the tubes). A study in the northeast found that muskrats had a prevalence of for trophozoites (the stage where the parasites is actually parasitizing, rather than just being transferred from beast to beast) of 96%!!! while for beavers it was less than 15%. There are two muskrats living in the lodge with the beavers and were here well before the beavers established their home and will be here well after (they don't share the same resource depletion strategy as beavers). It seems unreasonable that they'd be testing for Giardia sp., however, and I'm sure there's another reason why the beavers need to go. I'd love to know...
Where: Retention pond under powerlines in Centennial Woods
The amazing capacity of beech to stump sprout. Look at all those latent buds!
I'd love to not be posting exclusively on beavers, but they've been on my mind an awful lot these last couple of months. Other stuff is still happening (like a wild hive of honey bees a student of mine found nestled in an old white pine), so more to come on that later.
Other notes: Following up on my Monday post, the second reason that I'm upset by the way the "beaver problem" was handled is that it shows a lack of transparency and input from public voice. It's not surprising that Centennial Woods holds a dear spot in many people's hearts. Every time the University or City proposes some other development in or around CW, it just galvanizes the residents and students that love it. We want to have a say in the shaping and management of CW, to make sure that the emotional connection, and personal experience of the woods holds weight in how the land gets managed and stewarded. The decision (and lack of public input) doesn't appear to take this in to consideration; it doesn't even show a huge consideration for or knowledge of the ecology of that area. Even if Fish & Wildlife said that the beavers could be trapped and not moved, that doesn't mean that that's the other only option. I see two sets of options.
The first in relation to the beavers:
1. Trap all the beavers
2. Relocate the beavers
3. Do nothing
4. Wait until spring to see if beavers leave on their own, and then return to questions 1-3
The second set of options is what to do after the beavers are gone
1. Install beaver baffles around the outflow pipes
2. Cut down trees around pond to remove habitat
3. Do nothing
I'd prefer options 4 and 1. Again, people love this area and want input. Much like CW, few animals are as charismatic as a beaver is. These beavers in particular had become small-time celebrities - so when FWS says "yeah, go ahead and trap them" their comment is on one hand practical and on the otherhand completely ignorant of the context of this specific case - how embedded in the education of many students and hearts of community members these beavers were.
Two of the boys I mentor, one 7 the other 9, came out to Centennial Brook with me last year to meet the parents of one pair of these beavers. When I told the older boy the beavers had moved back in to Centennial Woods, he gathered up a group of his friends and brought them out to meet these beavers. While out visiting the beavers, Sam (the TA for my Natural History of Centennial Woods class) ran into them and they exchanged stories and watched three beavers making last minute preparations for winter, caching beech, cherry, and birch saplings near their lodge. The following day the boy brought his mom and grandma to the pond to meet Melvin and the other two beavers. I got to follow up with them and exchange more stories. Almost every time I go to the pond I meet up with someone down there and we share stories. The beavers have become an anchor for those of us who are connected to Centennial Woods.
It would be amazing if management decisions as sensitive as this were based not on relative ease, but took time and weighed multiple options with multiple voices. It might take more time, but it would empower community members and students to share their voice and make sure that management decisions reflect the needs, desires, and heart of the community that they effect. It'd be great if making "the right decision" included more that just a dialog about how to maintain the functionality of the outflow pipe. How wonderful if the list of consultants contacted for this decision included people deeply connected to the land, who knew this land not from a distance, but hold its stories in their hearts.
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Beaver clearing trail for a beech sapling
What: Centennial Woods feels a bit emptier today. On Friday afternoon I got the very sad news that UVM was kill trapping the beavers that many of us have come to know so well.
What I know so far is that they have killed one of the three beavers, the one we called Melvin, using conibear traps. There are three conibear traps set up on well-worn trails running between the upper and lower reservoirs of the retention pond. Conibear traps are incredibly effective at killing animals. While they can be baited, these aren't. UVM hasn't locked or closed the gate to the detention pond in over a year and with regularity I find mink, gray fox, raccoon, red fox, deer, domestic dog, and domestic cat tracks in the pond (this morning fresh raccoon and red fox tracks on the wet snow inside the gate). While the traps weren't baited when I checked them, they're located in access points the beavers use with regularity. Trappers place traps where their quarry go. And where their quarry go so do their predators - or anything curious about their scent. This is why Conibear traps also kill so many beagles and other domestic dogs that investigate the one place around a beaver pond where a beaver leaves its scent on the ground (you can find lots of depressing articles on beagles found dead in these types of traps).
Sam and I spooked the beaver while
coming down to check the game cam
Rose Leland told me on Friday that this was the best course of action and that everyone they had talked to recommended this. I find this problematic for two main reasons. I'll post my first here, and the second in a couple of days. First, it's irresponsible management. The beavers had obviously moved in during the summer, immediately backing up the outflow pipe, felling several large beech trees that landed on the fence, and built a visible lodge. All of this is easily visible from UVM's Ground's office and the spot where UVM Grounds employees hit golf balls down into Centennial Woods. They clearly could have seen the effects the beavers were having.
If the beavers were indeed a problem, UVM could have done something at that time to a) beaver-proof the fence around the retention pond, and/or b) transplanted the beavers. The beavers did move out of the pond sometime during the late summer (perhaps UVM did transplant the beavers). But because the habitat and access to it still existed, it would only be reasonable to assume that beavers would return, which they did in late September. Again the signs of their presence was obvious. UVM's negligence in dealing with this until December (almost 10 weeks later), meant that options were severely limited as it's now too late in the season to transplant them. But even the assumption that killing them is the only way to deal with them (if you believe dealing with them is even necessary) is false as beavers have been known to adopt other beavers in their home territory. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the initial pair of beavers adopted the second pair after UVM destroyed their habitat at the other retention pond. An assumption on my part, but due to last year's long growing season and tame winter, beavers this year should be better off and have larger caches. They would, therefore, be more likely to adopt other beavers. Had UVM responded sooner we wouldn't be mourning the loss of a beaver that had touched the lives of so many.
What: I went back and set the game cam up further back from the fence. It doesn't quite capture them crawling under the fence (I put it too far back), but it does give a pretty good sense of how curious and observant they are. They definitely, in both this video and the previous one, noticed the game cam and spent time to investigate it.
Ecological notes: The three or four beavers that live in the pond are two pairs. The second pair moved in about 4 weeks ago when UVM Facilities destroyed the habitat surrounding the other constructed retention pond by the Sheraton. With no food the beavers headed down stream, found this pond and took up residency with them.
I think that two of the beavers were siblings (one from each pair). And I think that they're probably also the same beavers that were living here last spring. Sam and I have both been watching the beavers in the spring, and it took time to earn their trust (where they wouldn't slap their tails at us). I would assume that this beaver remembered me (and the trust it had for me), which is why it only took a couple times to have it come right back up to me.
What: Sam and I went out last Tuesday afternoon (11/27) to set up the game cam. They've got a number of trails that run under the fence around the retention pond that they've used so we decided to stash some aspen on the uphill side of the fence and put the game cam facing the water on the downhill side so we could get video of them dragging the branches back to the water.
We got about 70 videos starting at 4:30pm and ending around 4:30am. The beavers used the path about every 30-45 minutes or so for the whole 12 hours. The video is a compilation of the three beavers making foraging trips from the retention pond to the beech stand (we caught about a dozen trips on camera). The photo to the right is of our second set up to get shots of the beavers crawling under the fence. The game cam is attached to the beech log in the foreground. Ecological notes: There were 4 beavers in the pond three weeks ago, but we've only seen 3 at a time in the past couple of weeks. Their cache seems to be primarily beech, with some red maple, white ash, elm, white birch, and witch hazel in the mix. They've also been eating heaps of staghorn sumac, scant black cherry saplings, and an occasional glossy buckthorn. Stay tuned, as there are more videos to come (with all the warm weather, the pond should stay thawed for at least another week or so and they'll be out and about)!!
Where: Retention Pond under powerlines in Centennial Woods
*** This will be the first in a series of three or four postings on the beavers that are inhabitant the detention pond under the powerlines in Centennial Woods. I've got some videos from a game cam as well as other information on how they prepare for and deal with the transition into winter. Subscribe with link to the right to keep up to date on Wild Burlington happenings!
What: The above photo I took on November 28. The pond started to freeze over on the 23rd with a thin sheet. Over the first few days the beavers were actively maintaining openwater. They've since stuck to maintain some exists along the edge of the water as well as a few openings in the middle of the water. The darker "C" shape in the middle is where the water is deeper and therefore warmer. The little snow fall we've gotten has melted into the ice. There's more snow on the right side of the pond (it's the south side and is shaded by a thick wall of white pines). The lodge is constructed on the bank. It's unclear if they've also dug into the bank while constructing it.
Walking the perimeter, they've done substantial work since they moved in about a month and a half ago. Looking at the northern border of the detention pond, there's no doubt that beavers are skilled at what they do. Each of the few dozen trees they've felled are all in perfect alignment. The one thing they didn't account for was the chainlink fence. Hopefully when the big red maple still standing in the background comes down it will crush the fence and make some of those trees a bit more accessible for the beavers.
The "dam" is really just an outlet flow structure for the detention pond. You can see the open water channel running on the upper left corner where the beavers move back and forth from their lodge to the dam to do maintenance work. They maintain holes throughout the winter, or at least try to. I'm not sure the exact reason, but I would assume it has something to do with keeping an escape route in a dire emergence and also having access to land if their food cache runs low mid-winter. It might also allow them to access early spring vegetation even if their pond hasn't frozen over.
The beavers have a number of runs that extend from the pond up to the surrounding woods. They've harvested mostly staghorn sumac, and actually have climbed a rather steep slope maybe 60' or so from the water to drag them back down. They did quite a bit of work flattening out a good deal of the phragmites, making channels to bring back the haul back to their larder.
And our beavers appear to have a flair for the artistic. I've been continually impressed at their ability to chew plants that are three plus feet off the ground. This one stood about 2.5 feet at the top.
What: Our first rains in ages!! And that new rain seemed to be a bit too much for the beavers of Centennial Woods. The rain started on Saturday night and continued well into today (Monday). I was out yesterday and the lower dam (which burst in January and was repaired in February) blew out by about 1pm. Sometime later on Sunday the upper dam blew out. Luckily over the last week they had built a new dam in between that kept up a channel about 3' deep.
Ecological notes: The water was awfully murky from the heavy siltation due to all the rains. Not only was this the first rain in a while, but the temperature has dropped considerable. I watched the beavers from about 4:30 to 8:30 and by the end I could see my breath pretty clearly. Since the beavers are right next to the trail, it was neat to watch how they respond to dogs and hikers. They definitely perceived the hikers with dogs well before those without. It also took the beavers less time to return to baseline following a hiker without a dog. Hikers with dogs were less likely to notice the beavers. Everyone was definitely enthused about the beavers though and it was great to get to share their excitement.
And I'm still trying to wrap my head around why the beavers will slap their tail. It's not as easy as they do it when they feel threatened and to ward of would-be-predators. I think they will do it to communicate to others over longer distances. This one slapped its tail while it was on one side of the bridge and the other two beavers were upstream. It was as though it were saying, "Hey don't forget about me, I'm down here where all the people are (there were 8 of us at one point)." It seems to also serve as an indication of investigation, as with the chickadees, "Chicka-dee-dee" call they make when they get close to people. It seems like they're saying, "I"m going to go investigate something, would you check in with me in a little bit to make sure I'm still alright." I've seen beavers make this sound to nothing in particular before they headed upstream out of eyesight of other beavers.
Where: Middle terrace of the beaver dam under the Velco powerlines.
Other notes: Twas also a great afternoon for birds. Saw a pair of geese land in the retention pond, a Cooper's Hawk, flicker, and phoebe skirting the edge of the pond, winter wrens singing, and lots of cardinals, robins, song sparrows, grackles, and red-winged blackbirds. Surprised I haven't seen more nests yet - I'll have to spend some more time tracking individual birds. And no sign of Ryan's ruby-crowned kinglets today.
What: One of the beavers wound up passing out on the bank of Wool Pullery Brook and slept there for 10 hours! I had watched it the night before and caught it on my game cam. I figure it was active for about 12 and a half hours straight, plus the three previous days had been super warm. Like everything else it was probably just enjoying the first taste of summer in March!
Ecological notes: While the videos are from last Friday, I was back out at the pond tonight. The weather is about 60 degrees colder now and a thin sheet of ice is blanketing the pond. I watched as the beavers actively cleared out the ice by putting their heads above it and pushing down. It was funny to watch as one of the beavers had chunks of ice stuck to its nose.
Where: Wool Pullery Brook at the upper terrace of the beaver pond (there are now three terraces). Still haven't their upper den, but I think it's right next to the upper dam.
Other notes: The beavers seem to start being active around 7pm, an hour or so before it's dark.
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Ecological notes: For the 4th year in a row, beavers adopted Centennial Woods in the middle of fall, which is a rather late start as far as beavers go. Typically beavers have their winter homes already staked out and built up by the end of summer. In a new area without previous beaver structures, they'll first dam up the river and live in a burrow in the bank while raising water levels high enough to where they can build a lodge in the newly formed pond. They won't start caching (storing for later) food to last them through the winter until sometime in the fall when the trees have stored more sugars in the bark. To be doing all of this in the late fall is quite the herculean effort.
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