Wednesday, December 2, 2009
The Beaver is back: another busy day on the bike trail
The Bakersfield bike trail beaver is back, as evidenced by his handiwork as seen these photos. This is a tough one: do we protect the beaver (who after all is just doing what he knows how to do) or do we protect the lovely shade trees that have grown along the bike trail behind the Park at the RiverWalk in Southwest Bakersfield? These photos were taken Wednesday morning (Dec. 2) by Jim Pappe, a bicycle commuter who works at Lightspeed Systems downtown as a software engineer. Thanks for sharing, Jim.
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5 comments:
This isn't such a "tough" one. Protect the trees AND the beavers both. How? Use wire to wrap the trees or paint with sand to discourage chewing for those trees you want to keep. What the beavers nibble will eventually encourage new growth through "coppicing" which will make important bushy bird habitat. In the mean time you can fix the problematic aspects of this easily and cheaply. Check out our website for information
Heidi Perryman
President & Founder
Worth A Dam
www.martinezbeavers.org
Why are officials going to so much trouble to dig up the stumps and remove the trees cut down by the beaver? Cottonwoods naturally grow back from the stump and roots. I know from experience. A neighbor's cottonwood tree broke the water line to his house and he had it removed.
I am still fighting the new growth coming up in my yard five years later.
I dig up roots and spray with roundup but they still keep coming. Do we really need to plant any new cottonwoods to replace the ones cut down by the beaver? You can plant a cottonwood by just cutting off a branch and sticking it in the ground.
The beavers eat the bark and branches and use the trunk to build a dam and lodge. If we keep taking his trees away he'll keep cutting down new ones. The beaver actually prefers the new young shoots that come up, and there will be plenty of those.
Why not just leave things alone? The beavers that were once in the Kern River never denuded it.
Robert C. Hargreaves
Sir,
I am sick of reading about a beaver killing beautiful trees that have taken years to grow. Who ever is responsible for making a decision in this matter should get rid of that beaver quickly or stept down and let someone else do it for him. How many trees do we have to give up just because "thats what beavers do"?
It is fairly stunning how the community resists solutions of any kind. Here are my thoughts about your emerging 'dangers' in August.
http://www.martinezbeavers.org/wordpress/?p=1409
"Martinez", Where are you from? Do you know anything about this area? If these rodents are lucky, they will be coyote food. They are living in a river bed that hasn't had water in...what...3 years? and with the Isabella dam problems and water being re-directed under the new conservation guidelines, the only humane thing to do is re-home or exterminate them.
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