TAKING A BITE OUT OF NIAGARA'S TREES

[rick]

Industrious rodents have felled poplar trees along the banks of Six Mile Creek

Posted By RAY SPITERI; Alison Langley

One of Canada's national emblems is re-establishing itself in Niagara.

It's also making its presence well known to the public.

"Beavers are certainly making a comeback in Niagara," said Dan Andrews, a local conservationalist and environmentalist. "Whether they are bank beavers, or full-size beavers I'm not too sure, but they are making their mark."

Andrews wouldn't have to tell that to Hitomi Hofer.

Beavers have been invading her land since August, chewing down several trees that line her Thunder Bay Road property along the banks of Six Mile Creek.

"They've taken down about 15 poplar trees right along the one bank, so eventually there will be an erosion problem unless she reinforces the remaining trees on the property," said Dave Fernie, a good friend of Hofer's who helps maintain her property.

While Hofer doesn't mind having the semi-aquatic rodents mingling in the community, she is concerned about the rapid destruction of her trees.

She has since wrapped about 200 feet of chicken wire around 30 or so poplar trees on her property to try to combat the problem.

"I don't want anything bad to happen to the beavers. They have to live, too, and they were here before me, but I just wish they didn't disrupt my home," she said.

Fernie said he has been helping Hofer haul out several of the downed trees that have fallen into a section of Six Mile Creek, which breaks up the property.

"I find it neat that they are here," said Fernie. "They're bank beavers, they don't build dams so they're not going to back up the river. They just put their hut on the side of the bank and dig it out and they spend the winter in the bank. There's no way I want them trapped or anything like that. Just let them live."

Fernie said he has seen two beavers in the area "a couple times, only at night."

The last time was in September when they were swimming the waters of Six Mile Creek in the Carolinian forest across Hofer's property, he said.

"They are big - I would say about 40 pounds. They were in the water, flapping their tales."

Beavers are known for their "danger signal." When startled or frightened, a swimming beaver will dive while slapping the water with its broad tail, creating a loud noise, heard over large distances above and below water. This noise serves as a warning to other beavers in the area. Once a beaver has made this danger signal, all nearby beavers will dive and may not be seen again for some time.

Fernie described beavers as "mother nature's lumberjacks.

"What they are doing in this instance is chewing these trees down, cutting them into smaller sections, hauling them into Six Mile Creek and swimming it down to their lodge down the river where they make a feed bed for their winter storage. They are very smart and aware creatures."

A beaver's most natural trait is building dams in rivers and streams, and building their homes - known as beaver lodges - in the resulting pond. Beaver dams are created both as a protection against predators and to provide easy access to food during winter.

Beavers always work at night and are prolific builders, carrying mud and stones with their forepaws and timber between their teeth.

Andrews said other areas in Niagara have been impacted by beaver curiosity.

"The Niagara Glen recently suffered damage when beavers chopped down a heck of a lot of trees. I don't know where the fallen trees are going. Some are still lying there, maybe they are just keeping them there to chew on and get their teeth nice and strong."

While beavers can be a nuisance to homeowners, the animal plays a vital role in our ecosystem, said Ann Yagi, an area biologist with the Ministry of Natural Resources.

"They convert habitat to open wetlands for other water-loving species to enjoy," she said. "The unfortunate thing about beaver in Niagara, which is why they had disappeared for many years, is people don't necessarily want open water where the beaver want it."

Beaver dams and ponds can cause flooding and trees such as polar and willow can be damaged or felled by the hungry animals.

Despite its faults, Yagi said the animal should be left alone to continue what is referred to as a 'beaver meadow cycle.'

When food sources are depleted or an area becomes over vegetated, the animal moves to another location. The dam eventually decays, leaving a fertile meadow.

"That cycle is an important ecological dynamic in Niagara that we have not had for about 75 years," Yagi said.

The Wainfleet bog area, which is now home to a variety of wildlife species, is a perfect example of the advantages of having beaver in the backyard.

In some states in the U.S., beaver are protected because of those ecological contributions.

"Leave them alone and let the cycle happen," Yagi said. "Our society will benefit in the long term by having these younger wetlands develop into rare wetland types over time."

Beaver are not classified as a protected species in Canada. Nuisance beaver can be trapped by licensed trappers who receive appropriate permits from the MNR.

While the MNR does not keep records of permits issued, there has been a steady increase over the past 10 years.

Andrews said although he has not seen beavers in Niagara personally, "they are all through Niagara - in and around a lot of creeks.

"Plenty have been spotted in a harbour in Point Dalhousie. They are certainly making a comeback."

Earl Plato, a local nature activist, said he has received calls in the past from Niagara residents claiming to have seen beavers in the region, including beavers felling trees in Niagara Falls on the Welland River, as well as sightings in rural east Port Colborne and at Point Abino in Fort Erie.

"We had beavers down at Point Abino about 10 years ago where they built a dam and blocked a drainage ditch," said Plato.

In a regular blog he writes called "When Nature Calls," Plato discussed the issue of beavers in the area. In it, he says Canada was once "great beaver country."

After the decimation of the Attiwandarons Indians in the 1600s, the Niagara Peninsula remained a great beaver hunting ground for the Seneca Iroquois.

Europeans came regularly to Canada for the cod, but it was the beaver that beckoned them into the country's interior, he wrote. With the European beaver becoming virtually extinct, visiting vessels tapped into a luxury market in beaver pelts. Local natives were only too happy to trade for metal tools and implements. Europeans in the upper classes craved broad hats made of beaver pelts, but mercury was used to separate the fur from the longer guard hairs and to break it down to felt.

Sadly the poisonous mercury caused mental deterioration among the ungloved hatmakers, he wrote. The expression "mad as a hatter," became associated with the beaver pelt industry.

[bigugli]

For landowners abutting a waterway, beavers become a nuisance for cutting down trees. For the beaver man is the nuisance because he cut down thick stands of trees along the stream and only left a few ornamental specimens standing. Naturally, the waters edge should be choked with poplar, willow and birch trees while healthy clumps of dogwood,hazel, crab, etc.. fill in the gaps and stabilize the stream banks.

[knightfisher]

Fishstick and I noticed a couple of fair size trees near timmies a few days ago that

the beavers have been chewing on. More than half way through.

What's ya gonna do.

I would rather see signs of beavers than not.

[smerchly]

The beavers have dropped a lot of trees on Hendley Is. on the west bank ....some good size trees ! They have also chewed their way through some large trees along the 12 mile in the Welland Vale area . I have a short video of one slapping his tail several times only about 30' from me at dusk . They are nice to see , but I think this area is not suitable for them with housing and busy roads all around them .

[jwl]

there are more and more signs of beavers all the time,over the last couple years is pretty much the first I recall ever there being to much tell of beavers in general in the Niagara Region,only remeber ever seing them up north when I was a kid,now there are signs and have seen and have on video beavers from down in the Niagara Glenn,lots around here along parts of Black Creek as well..seems kind of just out of the blue they decided to make an appearance and comeback in the Niagara Area

[smerchly]

Question is .....did they migrate from the north ? Did they get a free ride by transport ,car etc......Maybe someone brought some young ones from the north & released them here.......They were native to this region long ago .....maybe some always remained here ? Possums have been here for a few decades or more.....they possibly came up from the south via trucks carrying produce . I think we can overlook a small population of beavers in Niagara but like deer , we may have to give some of them the boot if they get over zealous .......

[ROB MCINTOSH]

SAVE A TREE

EAT A BEAVER

[smerchly]

Perv..........

[bigugli]

SAVE A TREE

EAT A BEAVER

I knew 3 girls from the Cambridge area who would have yer guts fer garters for every time they heard that line.

Known affectionately to those at 6 Mile as the Beaver sisters.

[Dan Andrews]

That reporter misquoted me. I said "A" beaver in the harbor and the chewing sticks was tongue in cheek but he printed it.

[Guest IBC]

seen plenty of them throughout ... i have seen beaver on the green ribbon trail of martindale, one under the henley island bridge, Port Dalhousie, saw one in the Welland Canal below lock 1, I even saw two of them at Dufferin Islands last summer working on a tree that was blown over into the water.

I have seen plenty of beaver evidence as well throughout many spots and one resident of st. catharines had mentioned to my father that they had a creek running through their backyard and a beaver was downing everythign in the creek ... the size of the creek ... no more than two feet wide and it isnt visible on the majority of the city maps.

[Guest Rockfish]

Figured there would be some high heeled beaver jokes. I've seen a few big beavers and lots of activity in Port Robinson, downing trees all over by the Welland river. I've also seen them in the Hammy harbour and Otters which haven't been seen in 30 yrs someone was telling me. So maybe these water dwellers are just making a comeback. Beavers will need to be moved when they are damming up small creeks used for watershed and flood control.

[Dan Andrews]

Someones been killing them at the same location as the story. I gave that info but the person who forwarded that info earlier this year was afraid that the beavers would be killed rather than moved. This probably isn't far from the truth.

Beavers are considered a pest because of their forestry and damming practices. There isn't the tree cover there used to be and too many beavers in any area can be very destructive. Moving a beaver elsewhere means moving the problem and even maybe creating an imbalance somewhere else. They hate them in the North and don't eat them . A commercial on wild TV suggest going to your local trapper and acquiring one to use as "bear bait".