Entries by Kevin Swift

Beavers in Mountain House, CA—an open letter

Dear Mountain House You’ve got beavers in Mountain House, and I’m writing in the hopes that the following can be of some use in capitalizing on this incredible opportunity that lies before the community. Done right, I won’t even have any work to do—talk about win/win! That’s the rah-rah portion of this letter. The rest….not […]

CalTrans Pilot

The CalTrans pilot is in and has been working flawlessly since June. For the moment, we’re not releasing the location, just in case folks might harass the beaver—the pond is really close to the road. Here’s a picture of the site looking downstream. CalTrans built an absolutely gorgeous park here, while replacing a dangerous intersection […]

Beaver Mating Habits-new research!

There are only two beavers in all the world: Castor Fiber or the Eurasian beaver, and Castor Canadensis, our North American beaver. It’s been reported that both kinds of beavers mate for life, and new research has proven that Castor Fiber really does! Thanks to Heidi at Worth A Dam for the following link: Beavers […]

Beaverpalooza & Propaganda

Well, it’s been a banner week here at team beaver. With Kate Lundquist and Brock Dolman of Occidental Arts and Ecology Center’s WATER Institute, I’ve been traveling to some incredible places and meeting incredible folks—we’re calling the trip Beaverpalooza. Along the way, I picked up my backstop business cards. The real ones are being made […]

Beaver things that Humans do

We’re not so different, after all. Boy beaver meets beaver girl, they mate for life, build a house, have kids, carry their young in their arms, teach them how to survive, have affairs, and ultimately send them out into the world to make their own way. We do the same. Along the way, we both:

Flowchart—Are You a Beaver?

Ever wondered if you were actually a beaver? This simple flowchart will help you find out. The answers might surprise you.

Open-source fish counter updated

UPDATE: After meeting with Mike and a whole host of awesome beaver believers at the State of the Beaver Conference, I’ve updated the fish counter design a bit. To everybody on the Snohomish Pond Leveler crew, here are some of my thoughts for a fish counter on the cheap. As Mike and I found out, […]

Child’s Meadow amphib-stravaganza

A few weeks ago, I was privileged to attend a weekend conference in Child’s Meadow, up by Lassen. It’s a property that The Nature Conservancy owns, and we got to take a tour of the beaver dams at the lower end of the meadow. Thanks Brock and Kate of OAEC for the invite. Child’s Meadow […]

Phillips 66 pond leveler is IN!

This was a great install. I couldn’t have asked for better. Acknowledgements first—hat tip, Heidi at Worth a Dam for fielding the call and handing it along. Michelle at P66, you’re a saint for wading through all the paperwork (a YEAR of steady effort!?). Sherri Guzzi of Sierra Wildlife Coalition, you made my plans sparkle. […]

Colorado training with Sherri Tippie

I just got back from a two-week trip to the Colorado home of Sherri Tippie, beaver trapper extraordinaire. Here’s a highlight, or rather, THE highlight—releasing four “problem” beavers into Beaver Creek (!) high in the Colorado backcounty. Kate has put together this great PDF chronicling the adventure, which is definitely worth a look: Live Trapping […]