Environmental Study Of Lechtenberg Park

[freeztar]

Yes, the beavers could be a problem. Unfortunately, the trees probably do not have any kind of protection themselves (unless there is some new state tree protection law I'm unaware of). Also, since the beavers are on private property, it gets complicated.

 

There are a couple approaches that come to mind for dealing with the beaver. If it can be shown that the beaver are also working nearby areas (either the road right of way or the county owned land across the street), then the county/state can be notified and they should come out and set traps. The other option is to make a case for the beavers flooding the surrounding areas. People don't care much for trees, but if you tell them they are going to lose property it's a different story. :thumbs_up

 

I'm also very curious about Goodwin Road. How is Lacamas crossing Goodwin? Is it a box culvert? How big? Any fish ladders present?

 

The reason I ask is because culverts are designed to handle certain volumes of water. Depending on where the beaver set up camp, they could cause problems for water passing through that culvert which can cause problems for the road. It would be very costly for the state to try to address the problem after the fact. If you decide to pitch this to your officials, I recommend stating your concerns in this order: roads and safety, water quality (the beavers could turn a slow stream into a *really* slow stream and then you would have algal blooms in the creek and it would create an even bigger mess downstream), endangered species (fed concern), and then finally the trees (local advocacy groups like Cascadia would be good, if they still exist).

 

If I have some time later on, I'll draft a letter to the WDFW. :)

[Turtle]

Yes, the beavers could be a problem. Unfortunately, the trees probably do not have any kind of protection themselves (unless there is some new state tree protection law I'm unaware of). Also, since the beavers are on private property, it gets complicated.

 

 

There are a couple approaches that come to mind for dealing with the beaver. If it can be shown that the beaver are also working nearby areas (either the road right of way or the county owned land across the street), then the county/state can be notified and they should come out and set traps. The other option is to make a case for the beavers flooding the surrounding areas. People don't care much for trees, but if you tell them they are going to lose property it's a different story. ;)

 

good stuuff maynard. i looked this morn for some info on moving beaver & found stuff for wisconsin but nothing local so far. i've also seen local park media touting "beaver viewing" south of the park along the relatively new Heritage Trail which goes all the way from Goodwin road along lacamas lake & down to it's end. now, economics is good to bring up because lacamas lake is used for recreation and many local businesses depend on those recreaters and all these problems with water quality have caused lake closures for spendy fixes and the businesses loose business. seems shortsighted to not fix the ultimate problem(s) up-stream. :eek:

 

I'm also very curious about Goodwin Road. How is Lacamas crossing Goodwin? Is it a box culvert? How big? Any fish ladders present?

as far as i have noticed there is one culvert under the road only. i have never measured it but i'd guess 5 feet of headroom and maybe 20 feet wide. there is a state(?) water-flow metering station just inside lechtenberg park at the crossing for lacamas creek. 2 years ago, i think i blogged on it a bit, but that december the whole park & its surrounds were under at least 2 feet of water. i noticed the county records we have looked at said it was a 500 year flood zone and since the water was pretty high this year too for a while, i question this assessment. i do think more culverts under the road west of the present one would let the water out instead of it backing up behind the one culvert. :shrug:

 

... The reason I ask is because culverts are designed to handle certain volumes of water. Depending on where the beaver set up camp, they could cause problems for water passing through that culvert which can cause problems for the road. It would be very costly for the state to try to address the problem after the fact. If you decide to pitch this to your officials, I recommend stating your concerns in this order: roads and safety, water quality (the beavers could turn a slow stream into a *really* slow stream and then you would have algal blooms in the creek and it would create an even bigger mess downstream), endangered species (fed concern), and then finally the trees (local advocacy groups like Cascadia would be good, if they still exist).

 

If I have some time later on, I'll draft a letter to the WDFW. :)

 

:) roger & acknowledged. i still never have id'd the water plants & snails in the lechtenberg stretch of creek that i posted earlier here. :)

 

so i just checked e-mail & no word yet from county or newspaper. i'll give it a few days & if if i don't hear anything i'll find some new contacts at the state level to notify. also will look for any "heritage tree" program we might have in the state & see if i can find a record garry oak to compare to that 42 incher i just found. :doh: :thumbs_up i'm more than a little cheesed that the public & i were mislead, intentionally possibly, about this being a public county park, and i'm not gonna let this go easily. as i'm fond of saying, cha togar m' fhearg gun dìoladh. :) :D

 

ps nothing yet for largest, but got this from north of me. boldenation mine. :doh:

 

...The oldest living things in the Puget Sound area are the Garry Oak trees. Some of those curly-crowned, deciduous giants are between 250 and 500 years old; in other words, they were saplings sometime between when Columbus discovered America and the Founding Fathers wrote the Declaration of Independence.

 

The Garry Oak, the only native oak in western Washington, grows no where else in the world other than the coastal region of British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and Northern California. It is also known as the Oregon White Oak. These trees extensively covered the prairies that are now Parkland, midland and Lakewood, but only about 7-10% of what once existed still survives. The majority have been cut down to squeeze more houses into developments or because their shedding is mistakenly seen as a nuisance to roofs and lawns, but each tree cut down is an irreplaceable loss to the beauty of the skyscape of the Puget Sound area. ...

 

http://woodcreekwa.org/index_files/Page390.htm

[Moontanman]

Turtle, maybe if you got a pic of one of these beavers you could show it around and get someone to pay attention? :)

[Turtle]

Turtle, maybe if you got a pic of one of these beavers you could show it around and get someone to pay attention? :eek:

 

yeah; but even if it is a county park, overnight camping is prohibited. beaver feel & smell you coming & immediately retire to their dens. to get a photo i would need to set up a blind & wait. the point seems moot now however. nonetheless, i gave evidence of current immediate beaver activity by my still photos. they are conclusive. if you missed it, this is from my last visit on sunday the 7th of february in the year of 2010. :doh:

 

 

i took this shot the same day, but hadn't posted it. this hardwood on the side-channel of lacamas creek in lechtenberg park (didn't check if it's garry oak or oregon ash; stupid turtle!) was girdled & killed by beaver since i started visiting the park 3 (or is it 4? :thumbs_up) years ago. it is at least 150 years old; well, was i guess. :)

 

 

nonetheless, you are right that more measures for bringing this to folks' attention are in order. thanks so much moonster for taking time out to look into to this for me all the way from the east coast. :) i hazzard a guess that you, and per se all the dear tender dear readers here, have some similar woodlot or such a matter within 25 clicks of where they be. nothing like this is "secret" in some senses in this day & age of the internet & the likes of Google Earth. Yay Google Earth :) :shrug: may i say, because if you go back to post #1of this long thread, you will see it is they & only they that brought this little patch of forest to the attention of my inquisiting eye. :doh:

 

well, i do run on. now what do those young people call it when they all text each other to meet at a place and form up a large, in-ignorable, group? suffice it to say, the very few belonging to the exclusive group of folks that i have taken to visit the park, well, they be young folk. moreover, as you might well imagine of anyone who would go along with me anywhere, they be young folk with chutzpa. :)

[Moontanman]

Beavers are quite common here and do much damage, last summer i was out with a group surveying fish populations and we drove along I noticed the water along the road was a couple feet higher than the road. We pulled over to find a beaver damn several hundred yards long where the industrious little (?) rodents had dammed up a swamp stream. Normally these damns are found before they get that large and destroyed by dynamiting them.

[Turtle]

Beavers are quite common here and do much damage, last summer i was out with a group surveying fish populations and we drove along I noticed the water along the road was a couple feet higher than the road. We pulled over to find a beaver damn several hundred yards long where the industrious little (?) rodents had dammed up a swamp stream. Normally these damns are found before they get that large and destroyed by dynamiting them.

 

i get to use dynamite!? :doh: :singer: oh wait; i'm no allowed to do anything. :doh: back to reality. i have not seen any new damns dams this month. the last incursion the beaver made a couple small dams on the side-channel, but the flooding in the winter washed them out. as i said, there is not, & will not be, sufficient space here for beaver. they didn't succeed before, & they won't. what they will, and have started to, do however is kill the old trees & by extension the whole forest. it is not enough to simply set aside an area if no one is tending to maintenance. we learned this lesson when we started the first national park at yellowstone. those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it. ~george

 

 

:naughty: . . . . . :eek2:

[JMJones0424]

Turtle- I've never dealt with beavers, and I'm sure you've already done a more comprehensive google search then I have. However, I have some ideas.

 

Find where the beavers are making their den or their dam and identify (or create) choke points and trails they use repeatedly and place traps there. From what I have read online though, beaver is one of the more difficult animals to trap, so you may want to enlist some local experienced help for this.

 

If traps aren't up your alley, and you have some cash to throw at the problem, you can mount one or a few game cameras to catch the little devils red-handed. However, I think the pictures of their damage should be conclusive evidence of their presence.

 

This site seems to give a lot of suggestions-

Control of Beaver Damage

Tree protection

Beavers can be fenced out of a treed area or individual trees can be wrapped with galvanized metal or chicken wire to a height of at least 1 m. Valuable broad-leaved trees can be protected by a galvanized metal fence at least 1 m (3 ft) high and 0.5 m (18 in) below ground; however, this protection method can be expensive.

 

Repellents

Thiram, the only repellent known to reduce beaver damage, is applied directly to trees and shrubs. However, this method will usually work only where beaver have alternate sources of food, i.e. other trees they can cut for food. No license or permit is required to purchase or use this product.

[Moontanman]

I used to trap muskrats for fur and food, beaver traping is somewhat similar, beavers are very good eating, so if you manage to trap one you can alwasy eat it.

[Turtle]

I used to trap muskrats for fur and food, beaver traping is somewhat similar, beavers are very good eating, so if you manage to trap one you can alwasy eat it.

 

roger. you can always eat bugs too, but we haven't come to that yet in this county. :singer:

 

so, here's what those young uns can get up to that i was alluding to: :eek2:

 

A smart mob is a form of self-structuring social organization through technology-mediated, intelligent emergent behavior. The concept was introduced by Howard Rheingold in his book Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution. According to Rheingold, smart mobs are an indication of the evolving communication technologies that will empower the people. ...

Smart mob - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

 

:naughty:

 

[Turtle]

:phones: i noticed a guest or two trying to respond here the last day & being stopped by error messages. no worries; you simply have to join the forum as a member. it's free & takes just minutes. :rolleyes:

 

Register @ Hypography

 

i've heard nothing from the county or paper yet. i,m not holding my breath though. i figure the county will get lechtenberg off their park lists and no trespassing signs will go up at the "park in name only". who ya gonna call? maybe that nice 17th district legislator that sent a newsletter this week asking what we the people want done? que sera sera . . . . .

[modest]

...beavers are very good eating...

 

I don't know... I've tasted some pretty rank beaver.

 

~modest

[Turtle]

I don't know... I've tasted some pretty rank beaver.

 

~modest

 

 

Q: what does beaver taste like?

 

A: a lot like bald eagle. ;)

 

source

 

 

good times. ~ :hihi: COUNTRY STYLE BEAVER RECIPE

[DougF]

 

Q: what does beaver taste like?

 

A: a lot like bald eagle. :eek:

 

source

 

good times. ~ :hihi: ;)COUNTRY STYLE BEAVER RECIPE

 

Then why does it smell like Fish? :hihi: We don't have Beaver around here the Gators would eat them.

[Turtle]

Q: what does beaver taste like?

 

A: a lot like bald eagle.

 

Then why does it smell like Fish? :hihi: ...

 

why, because bald eagles feed on fish of course. which raises the question, "do bald eagles ever eat beavers?". ;)

 

funny as that is, we musn't leave it at that; the answer is, yes, bald eagles do eat beaver. :hihi:

 

What types of animals do bald eagles eat?

...

 

Mammalian prey includes rabbits, hares, raccoons, muskrats, beavers,

WikiAnswers - What types of animals do bald eagles eat

 

moreover, i have seen & videographed bald eagles at lacamas lake just 1/2 mile south of lechtneberg park-in-name-only . what beautiful majestic birds. :hihi: :eek:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcW7UNGqybw

[DougF]

Eagles are beautiful majestic birds, and I would like to see an Eagle pick up a Beaver thats one big bird or a small beaver. :hihi:

[Turtle]

Eagles are beautiful majestic birds, and I would like to see an Eagle pick up a Beaver thats one big bird or a small beaver.

 

well, they wouldn't need to pick it up to kill it and they do feed on the ground when that's where the food is. i couldn't find any video of a bald eagle attacking a beaver, but i did find a bald-eagle-attacking-a-black-bear vid. i'm sure i i'd a black bear paw print from lechtneberg park-in-name-only early on, but darned if i can find the reference or a photo. :hihi:

 

 

...The Bald Eagle is a large bird, with a body length of 70–102 centimeters (28–40 in), a wingspan of up to 2.44 m (96 in), and a mass of 2.5–7 kilograms (5.5–15 lb); females are about 25 percent larger than males.

 

...

 

Bald Eagles have powerful talons and have been recorded flying with a 15-pound Mule Deer fawn.[27]

 

Bald Eagle

[Turtle]

found it! over in the Wildlife Tracks thread. black bear? oui y no. (no scale, but as i recall, the track was ~ 4" across the central pad area there.)