Good News from Unexpected, April 2010
That was some Winter! With it came at least three major snow storms and record-breaking precipitation up and down the East Coast. My definition for major snow storm: noun; a weather event resulting in my inability to leave the Refuge without assistance from a large piece of green equipment that I cannot safely operate myself.
You read about the unprecidented flooding here at the Refuge in January’s issue, and have no doubt heard stories of (or experienced) countless flooded basements, septics and roadways as well. When the automatic sump pump in the basement started coming on every 9 seconds, I switched it over to manual, lest the ancient motor burn out. The incoming water has abated, and we are finally starting to dry out.
With longer days and warmer earth, the plants and trees have begun to reach down into the damp ground to pull up all that moisture. During a recent three day warm, sunny spell, in what seems like the blink of an eye, everything exploded into bright green, rose and yellow life. Even the beavers’ precious lily pads in Main Pond are pushing up to the water’s surface far ahead of schedule. With all this ambitious growth, a new program has emerged here. It has been quite successful, so far, and if you want to join us, we would love to have you. Here’s the plug:
Feel free to join us every Saturday morning from 9 a.m. to Noon ’til the end of June!
Join us for easy trail maintenance activities. You will need loppers or clippers, gloves and waterproof boots or old work shoes. Dress for ticks (light clothing, tuck your pants into your socks and spray your legs with repellant) and bring a lunch.
Picnic area, beverages and ambiance are provided. Don’t forget your binoculars — the birds are showing off. Beaver activity is evident as well, with peeled sticks and mud platforms and perhaps an unexpected appearance.
No RSVP required, just show up at nine and we will head out to work (and play!) Steady rain cancels — call or email if unsure of weather.
We’ve had quite a few Spring visitors, to work as well as play. Augie and Nels stopped in on a cold rainy Tuesday morning for a little impromptu birding and to catch up. We lollygagged on the porch for a bit with binoculars and no particular agenda. The tree swallows dipped and dived in the light rain — we were lazy birders, watching nature through the glassed-in room. Then Nels spotted the otters moving upstream — two of them. Rolling and diving and, like us, in no particular hurry. They headed upstream in the cold damp morning air. Hopefully, they and their pups will be hanging around this summer, frolicking in the warm water. They usually have 2-3 babies every spring, and the whole family passes through on their summer travels.
On April 3rd, a lovely Spring day, we had our tenth annual Earth Day Clean-Up out on Piney Hollow Road. In March a few members of The Outdoor Club of South Jersey erected a sign in memory of our co-leader, Joe Trujillo (see BD October 2009), halfway to the work site. We stopped en route to the road, we told stories about Joe and had a small remembrance. We cleaned up trash and recyclables, did some trail maintenance and finished the day with a picnic in the Butterfly Garden.
In March, Bill Schillaci emailed me that he was handy and he and his wife, Thea Landesberg, wanted to help that Saturday. Music to my ears! Since they live near the NY State line, they stayed at a nearby hotel Friday night and joined us for the clean up the next morning. While we trash pickers were pickin’, Bill was working his way through the to do list I happily provided. He installed two bird feeders that the Boy Scouts made, fixed a badly broken bench (for Sally) and installed a brand new outhouse toilet seat (for Stacey). He also reattached Hope’s butterfly house (a gift for her 87th birthday) to it’s base — another casualty of the harsh winter.
A dozen or so years ago, Bill and Thea used to patrol with Hope during deer season. They were also fortunate enough to meet and feed the beavers over on Piney Hollow Road, and they provided the Refuge with some great photos of their special time here (two of them shown here). It is always a treat to meet and spend time with people who knew and worked with Hope. After a beautiful day spent working, playing and enjoying new friends, they packed up Bill’s tools and started their long drive home.
TIDAL LIFE | Let’s blame Elmer Fudd for our itchy trigger fingers
http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/whidbey/swr/lifestyle/84815217.html
May Time is Show Time
by Hope Sawyer Buyukmihci, undated
May Day — From any location in my New Jersey wildlife refuge I had a good seat, as the sun rose, and the curtain lifted on May’s performance.
Bluebirds were nesting in a birdhouse next to the pond, forcing a pair of tree swallows to settle farther from water. The tree swallows had not given up easily. Even now, en route from their house to the pond, they lighted on the bluebird house. When the male bluebird dashed at them, they fled, skimming out over the water to wheel gracefully.
The early-bird mocker began to sing from the top of the tulip tree as I walked toward the beaver dam, where a blue heron, who had been standing motionless, gave a “quawk” and flapped off. Out in the water, a male kingbird stood guard over his mate, who brooded eggs in the crotch of a dead maple. All around them, red-winged blackbirds where busy with nesting chores or searching for insects, even turning over lily pads to pick food from the undersides. Each time a male red-wing called “Oka-lee!” he spread his feathers to reveal a red and gold epaulet on each shoulder.
Mid-May — Red-wing nestlings were hatching, the kingbirds were feeding young, and baby bluebirds should be arriving. Dogwood bloom still drifted through the woods.
In a wild raspberry tangle, two male indigo buntings, seated side by side on the same cane, sang a duet. I’d never heard of such a thing! I’d heard, rather, that a male’s bird’s song was to warn other males away.
Arbutus had opened its pink and white flower near the old beaver lodge, creeping into my path. Through the fragrant patch of arbutus a snapping turtle with purposeful strides was headed toward the water, two hundred feet distant. His short legs valiantly overcame fallen branches, tufts of weeds, and tangled briars, but when he saw me he stopped. He tucked his head down and lifted the back end of his shell in a defensive gesture. I stepped aside and watched his slow progress until he had reached the moist margin of the marsh. In two seconds he disappeared in the friendly mud.
Farther on, a scarlet tanager sang a rollicking song. It may have kept his neighbors awake, for one infant raccoon peered out sleepily form his hole in a nearby gum.
As I continued walking, I was startled by a chickadee, who burst out of her hole in a pine, scolding me for passing so close when her eggs were about to hatch. Across the path a mourning dove sat on a few cris-crossed twigs she had placed in a blueberry bush. I stopped to chat, and she regarded me calmly as my voice blended with the many-footed rustle of squirrels and short-tailed voles who scurried through the duff.
Final Day — A drizzle gave misty beauty to everything outdoors. Among the pines a red squirrel sat on her house, tail over back serving as umbrella, covering her from her rump to the tip of her nose.
Near the pond I checked on a resident toad who had hollowed a snug form at the base of a certain grass clump, and retired to it each morning after his night’s insect-catching shift. He was there, huddled into the earth.
Close beside the pond, a red-eyed vireo flew from her nest in the maple bough which overhung the trail. Spreading leaves sheltered the cup-shaped cradle and shielded the eggs. I moved back and waited for the bird to return. After about ten minutes she alighted high in a dead maple, then spiraled downward like a falling leaf, coming closer and closer, often peeking at me from behind a bunch of leaves. Her mate appeared, and they talked to one another in low tones until she had slipped into the nest. The male then flew to a twig in front of me and stared into my eyes for a full minute before flying away.
By slow rounds I came back to the open field where the bluebirds nested. Seeing the female take a worm into her house, I knew that the young must have hatched. Soon the male appeared with a beak full of insects, while the female flew after more.
I returned home and stood for a moment in my yard. I stood so still that a pair of quail came skulking through weeds beside the cabin to make their daily trip along the brushy shore, and from her hole in an oak a mother red squirrel looked out at me. A rabbit hopped from beneath a lumber pile to nibble new grass, and at my feet two long blue beetles also feasted on tender grass blades. From high above came the thrilling cry of a red-shouldered hawk, “Kee-yay! Kee-yay!”, while the sun burst forth from a clearing sky.
It was nine o’clock on the last morning of May. I had to leave just as the day’s show had begun.
State of the Beaver 2010, After Shock
The February 3rd, 4th and 5th, State of the Beaver Conference hosted by the Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua Indian Tribe, co-hosted by the South Umpqua Rural Community Partnership’s, Beaver Advocacy Committee and The Partnership for the Umpqua Rivers at the Seven Feathers Resort and Convention Center can be viewed as a tail-splashing success.
From the Tribal welcome by Steven Rondeau of the Cow Creek Indians, to Leonard Houston of the Beaver Advocacy Committee’s opening speech, the conference took on a life of its own.
Dr. John Hadidian, Director of the Urban Wildlife Program, of the Humane Society of the United States was first at the podium where he took us on a journey back in time, from early American beaver management to current human animal interactions. His presentation was not only inspiring but thought provoking as he challenges us to find non-lethal techniques to deal with beaver issues that we might enjoy beaver benefits.
Following Dr. Hadidian, from Norway, Dr. Duncan Halley of the Norwegian Institute of Nature Research took us to Europe where we learned of the beavers reconquest. Duncan taught us how conflicting human / human issues are more the forefront than human / animal issues. He also taught us how those issues have been resolved, allowing beaver reintroduction which has been successful throughout most of Europe. Dr. Halley spoke again as keynote presenter at the Beaver Banquet once again taking us world wide with human animal conflicts and the human resolutions in order to preserve wildlife and protect human interest.
Beavers and salmonid production was brought to life and light, by scientist Dr. Michael Pollock of NOAA. Michael is a well known research ecologist recognized as the foremost expert on west coast salmonid production and the relationship to beavers.
Continuing the beaver, fisheries relationship, Jeff Rodgers accredited designer of the Oregon Coastal Coho Conservation Plan, appendix 3, and representing the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, beaver workgroup shared with us his research, and how beavers positively impact salmonid production.
Completing day one was Dr. DeWaine Jackson, of the ODFW presenting the Pilot Study of beaver translocation efforts here in the Umpqua Basin’s. DeWaine is the lead researcher for the entire project which encompasses both forks of the Umpqua.
Day two began with a new and exciting project utilizing a fish hatchery as a beaver nursery to hold captive beavers until family units are established before release. Kent Woodruff was kind enough to present this collaborative effort partnering agency and the Yakima Indian Tribe of the Okanagan Region of Washington.
Dr. Suzanne Fouty, a fluvial geomorphologist, showed us that beavers radically modify degraded stream systems, collecting sediment and recharging aquifers while elevating water tables. Her presentation was both scientific and passionate displaying a side of science seldom seen and richly rewarding.
Greg Jaclke an ODFW biologist then taught us of the past and present beaver management practices in the John Day River Basin in north central Oregon. Greg has an acute understanding of people and beavers with a promising future in beaver ecology.
Sherri Tippie of Wildlife 2000 then took us on a 24 year slide show of how she has moved over a thousand beavers. Sherri is a licensed beaver translocator by the state of Colorado and a true pioneer in beaver reintroduction.
Skip Lisle owner operator of Beaver Deceivers International then showed us how a wide array of his non-lethal management devices save beavers lives while allowing us to enjoy the many beaver benefits. Skip was another dual presenter hosting a four-hour workshop on building and installing beaver deceivers and flow control devices.
Skip was followed by Stephanie Boyles of the Humane Society of the United States on the cost and efficacy of Skips devices. Stephanie’S presentation showed how the state of Virginia hired Skip to install his devices in areas of beaver roadway conflict and how those installation and maintenance costs compared to prior costs associated with the same sites, it was nothing short of amazing.
Lewis Pence a retired Idaho Soil and Water Conservationist taught us how he used beavers to restore degraded streams in the high desert country of southern Idaho, his straight forward presentation was a visual confirmation of everything we had learned so far.
Following the banquet, to which we were welcomed by Sue Schafer of the Cow Creeks and featured Dr. Duncan Halley as keynote presenter, the conference quickly became a networking extravaganza.
Day three began with Mary O’Brien of the Grand Canyon Trust, outlining the new Utah statewide beaver management program. Mary is a former Oregon resident who is doing amazing things in the field of beaver ecology.
Dr. Jimmy Taylor of the USDA, APHIS, Supervisory Research Biologist then presented on the current research programs and beaver management policies of APHIS and his own beaver management actions. Jimmy is a very forthright and honest scientist who is actively pursuing non-lethal management techniques to enable beavers and humans to exist harmoniously and beneficially.
Following Dr. Taylor, Leonard Houston of the Beaver Advocacy committee, then took us along with the BAC and ODFW releasing and following transmitterd beavers of the Tiller Beaver Research Project, it was a first time seen presentation showing us where beavers go and what beavers do after being relocated. Leonard’s presentation then focused on future beaver plans for the South Umpqua, Elk Creek, Salmon Recovery Restoration Project and how landowners are partnering with agencies to provide habitat and home for beavers.
Steven Rondeau, Natural Resource Director of the Cow Creeks then shared the spotlight with Lewis La Chance, Cultural Resource Director of the Cow Creeks. Lewis presented telling us of how the Cow Creeks held beavers in high esteem and of great cultural significance. Steven Rondeau then talked of perspective of life and beavers focusing on how his people had survived to regain their rights and how it was similar to the plight of the beaver. Steven teaches us that when faced with incredible challenges, we can prevail.
The State of the Beaver 2010 has not only served as a powerful educational tool it has brought about a unification of agency and activist, it has created an opportunity to work together to create a new future, one in which man and beaver exist harmoniously.
(Leonard Houston is the SURCP Director of the Beaver Advocacy Committee. “Returning many years later to the forests of my youth, I was shocked to find that gone were the beaver, our pristine river and streams were now radically changed, the spawning beds and rearing ponds created by the beaver were now bedrock and barren rock bars. Millions of dollars were being spent to restore our streams and anadromus fish runs, yet something was still missing, the beaver dams and ponds of my youth.”
Leonard and his wife, Lois Houston, live in the South Umpqua River watershed and can be reached via email: beavers at surcp.org, or visit http://www.surcp.org/index.html to view their web site. Well worth the visit!)
HELP STOP THE BLACK BEAR HUNT
Please contact Governor Christie today, and say NO to bear hunting in New Jersey. Demand that Fish & Wildlife obey the law by enforcing garbage control now! (Black Bear Feeding Ban NJSA 23:2A-14.) Phone: 609-292-6000; Fax: 609-292-3454.
Key points to make when you call:
- The Division of Fish & Wildlife is a pro-hunting agency that profits from the sale of hunting licenses.
- Nonlethal Bear Management (proper garbage storage for example) is the only proven way to reduce bear nuisance complaints. But the Division does not enforce garbage control.
- In 2007 - 2009 the Division was required to conduct enforcement sweeps throughout bear country, yet they issued only two violations a year.
- The Division is breaking the law by ignoring the State’s Black Bear Feeding Ban/Garbage enforcement; the law requires proper containment of garbage in bear country.
- The Division is purposely sabotaging Nonlethal Bear Management. Their negligence causes bear incidents to occur, and they then use the inflated statistics to justify a bear hunt.
CALL NOW! You can go to the BEAR Group website, www.savenjbears.com for more information or to make a donation.