Tracker Finds Beaver Sign in Humboldt

beaver1In spite of place names like Beaver Butte, Beaver Flat and Beaver Creek (all northeast of McKinleyville,) most Humboldt folk don’t know that these flat-tailed rodents live in this area.  However, on March 15, Kim Cabrera, who runs a website devoted to tracking, spotted beaver sign on the South Fork of the Eel River.

Rain had softened the sand where the impressions were discovered south of Dyerville but Cabrera, an experienced tracker, is confident that the signs belong to a beaver. (See photo to the left.)

Cabrera says that even though no beaver dams have been spotted in the area doesn’t mean that there aren’t beavers. According to her website,

Beavers do not always build dams. They can live on a river and use burrows and eat vegetation without building any structures. Look for their tracks and signs along sandy river banks. You might find areas where limbs have been dragged into the water. Beavers will come ashore and gnaw off branches then take these back to eat later. Look along the shores for branches showing the tooth marks of these large rodents.

If you think you see some tracks belonging to beavers, send them in to [email protected] and we’ll have Cabrera identify them.

Like posts about wildlife? You might be interested in Cabrera’s capture of a puma family with a game camera set up near Redway.

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Gary Lester
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Gary Lester
8 years ago

Beaver are common on the lower Mad River. They occur at Clam Beach ponds (active dam at Patrick Creek currently, directed one off Hwy 101 20 years ago & picked up one roadkill there). I recall beaver burrows along the lower portions of Redwood Creek.

go beavers
Guest
go beavers
8 years ago
Reply to  Gary Lester

Yes I have seen signs of them on the lower mad river near the pump station off west end road, just a bit east of the frisbee golf course. Same area every year has downed (small girth) trees with amazing sharpened cones as stumps. Its great to see!!! They are such a forgotten piece of river health, from what I have read they created great pools for salmon&helped regulate flows with natural “log jams”.

Barbara Giannini
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Barbara Giannini
8 years ago
Reply to  Gary Lester

I grew up in Orick and they were in Prairie Creek and Redwood Creek.

Lynn H
Guest
Lynn H
10 months ago
Reply to  Gary Lester

Wow. Thanks.

solarae
Guest
solarae
8 years ago

I find beaver chewed saplings along the north bank of the Mad just south of Lindsay Creek (Fieldbrook) all the time but it’s been some years since I’ve actually seen one.

Mark
Guest
Mark
8 years ago

Haven’t seen the actual beavers, but commonly see beaver-chewed trees on the Mad right by the Trinity county line, 6-7 miles downstream of Ruth Lake. Ie the upper Mad river.

Beel
Guest
Beel
8 years ago

I’m always excited to see signs of beaver on our rivers. This photo is from the Trinity River

Beel
Guest
Beel
8 years ago

Here’s something on another animal in our midst your readers may be interested in:
http://caforestpestcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/rick-swietzer.pdf

Tulip Torpedo
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Tulip Torpedo
8 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

Same here. What happen to them all? Love the beavers. I got try to see them.

Lynn H
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Lynn H
10 months ago
Reply to  Tulip Torpedo

Fisher cats eat them.

Lost Croat OutburstD
Member
Lost Croat Outburst
10 months ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

The last porcupines in my area near Honeydew disappeared in the early to mid ‘80’s. I remember sleeping outside while a porky slept on a branch above me, front and back legs on either side. Last sign I saw was bark chewing on my young chestnuts. I did not kill them.

moocow
Guest
moocow
8 years ago
Reply to  Beel

We used to have porcupine here (the dogs would come back with quills in their noses ;*p) but as you pointed out, seems like there’s not as many lately…..

N Judah
Guest
N Judah
8 years ago
Reply to  moocow

Yes, I remember { with a cringe } using channel locks to pull the quills from my poor old Mosely’s nose and muzzle. We could not afford the trip to the vet. Unfortunately, he did not learn from this torturous procedure and went after them three more times . I have not seen a porcupine in years.Racoons seem to dominate the landscape now.

Jim Baker
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Jim Baker
8 years ago

Excellent paper published by Tom Keter written in 2013 re: the historical range of beavers in California and the history of trapping them by Hudson’s Bay brigades and American trappers like Jedediah Smith. Most of this took place in the 1820’s, 30’s and 40’s, after which time their numbers were reduced almost to the point of extinction. Tom’s paper, entitled “Beavers in the Yolla Bolly Mountains?”, can be accessed at his website http://www.SolarArch.org. It should also be noted that beavers were reintroduced by Hammond Lumber Company to the Little River drainage near Crannell in the 1930’s. Signs of their continued habitation there could still be found when I was a boy living near there. Green Diamond wildlife biologists might have some current information on their current status in that area. Nice to see them apparently coming back in many areas of the North Coast!

Rick Lanman
Guest
8 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

There was a maritime or coastal fur rush where Russians and Americans bartered with Native Americans to scour the coast. So when Jedediah Smith arrived on the northern California coast there were few left. We discussed this in the publication. It’s pretty easy to extirpate, or nearly extirpate, a fur bearer once you have steel traps.

Lost Croat OutburstD
Member
Lost Croat Outburst
10 months ago
Reply to  Rick Lanman

Are you talking sea otters, river otters or beavers?

Lost Croat OutburstD
Member
Lost Croat Outburst
10 months ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

This could be a common name problem. The “mountain beaver” might not be related to the water beaver. Possible species confusion.

moocow
Guest
moocow
8 years ago

Our neighbor had something she called “mountain beaver” – wonder what she was talking about

moocow
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moocow
8 years ago
Reply to  moocow
Lost Croat OutburstD
Member
Lost Croat Outburst
10 months ago
Reply to  moocow

I think you are correct. This is what I was thinking of, but you took the time to verify. Good job.

H carter
Guest
8 years ago

Several years ago heard beaver tail slap on lower mad river. I think they burrow in the steep banks at rivers edge.

Kyle Keegan
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Kyle Keegan
8 years ago

Last week, a woman at “Earth, Water and Fire Day” told me that there are active beaver dams on Outlet Creek in the Little Lake Valley area. It would make sense that beavers would be trying to expand their range down stream to other areas of the South Fork Eel. The paper that Jim Baker refers to above is a great read. Fun stuff!

Kyle Keegan
Guest
Kyle Keegan
8 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

Sure thing. My understanding is that some of the co-authors that wrote the paper on the historic range of beavers in CA are piecing together a similar paper that shows that Gray Wolves were once a part of North Coast ecosystems prior to Euro-American contact. The historic presence of Gray Wolves in our coast ranges has been debated. I want to learn more on this topic.

silverlining
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silverlining
8 years ago

That headline is so ripe for misuse.

Rick Lanman
Guest
8 years ago

Nice blog, Kym. Great to see all the skilled citizen contribute all this great information. We pulled together a lot of evidence that beaver were native to California’s coastal watersheds, and published it here
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CB4QFjAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fnrm.dfg.ca.gov%2FFileHandler.ashx%3FDocumentID%3D78258&ei=U7oZVZukFImpyATZ1YLQBQ&usg=AFQjCNFElVybZpi1S7E0l_uDxkjPkn1Mvw&sig2=A-iM40WNs_xW-2La9mtGyw&bvm=bv.89381419,d.aWw

Jim Baker
Guest
Jim Baker
8 years ago

Wow! Learning a lot with this beaver thread. You seem to have attracted a different group of participants with your new blog format, Kim. What’s your secret to filtering out the usual predominance of negativity? I may have to return to starting my morning with your blog again, after giving up on all of them long ago in order to maintain what little remaining faith I had in the human race.

Jim Baker
Guest
Jim Baker
8 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

Looks like you’ve accomplished your goal so far, until the trolls shut you down under the guise of freedom of expression. I’ll stick with the nerdy beaver and history discussions. Less opportunity for incivility.

Ernie Branscomb
Guest
8 years ago
Reply to  Jim Baker

I agree with jim. A return to civility is refreshing. Blog trolls are easily discouraged by simply deleting or editing their crap. Welcome back Kym!

I do miss the “like button” though.

Eastside
Guest
Eastside
8 years ago

I still check on loco for news but the comment section is still descending into epic stupidity . Almost all the commenters I enjoyed are gone. Puff, Jackie Z, Nova, Uti, Farce, Juniper Pearl and many others, where are you?? Please come to RHBB, I miss you guys.

Jen
Guest
Jen
8 years ago

Along the Mad River estuary are often beaver-chewed sticks. There were several beaver dams on lower Widow White Creek one year, but now they are further upriver.

Dennis Halligan
Guest
Dennis Halligan
8 years ago

I have an old CDFG report (somewhere) that documents beaver being reintroduced into the Mad River from Oregon in 1954 or 55.

Sue
Guest
Sue
8 years ago

there are mountain beavers living at Park 1 on the Mad River

Susan Nolan
Guest
Susan Nolan
8 years ago

About “the historic presence of gray wolves in our coast ranges”: “It is hard to estimate the extent of occurrence of true wolves originally in this State. The accounts of early travelers in California are not particularly useful in this regard, because in them the term “wolf” is applied to the coyote….Unquestionably wolves ranged regularly over the northern one-fourth of the State and south along the Sierra Nevada at least….If the northwestern timber wolf ever occurred in California, which is not unlikely, it was probably restricted to the northwest coastal strip of high humidity and heavy timber. Its range would thus have coincided with that of the Roosevelt elk. –Joseph Grinnell, Fur-Bearing Mammals of California, 1937
The Yuroks had a word for wolves, suggesting they knew them at least distantly.

olmanriver
Guest
olmanriver
8 years ago
Reply to  Susan Nolan

Local wolf lore is of great interest to me as I look for historical mention. I took notes about a trapper getting a wolf in the S. Trinity River region in the 1910-20 period. The Kato of Long Valley have a story with Wolf as one of the animal/people in the tale. There was a trapper at Harris who had a pet wolf 40-50 years ago, I am trying to find out where it was trapped and will add it to this thread if I find it was a regional wolf.

Lynn H
Guest
Lynn H
10 months ago
Reply to  Susan Nolan

The Humboldt historian who writes here frequently has seen historical mentions of local wolves. They were described as smaller and sometimes reddish or brownish. Currently there are coastal wolves that match that description in BC. They have very different behaviors than the larger timber wolves and are really interesting.

In some parts of North America there are large populations of coyote-wolf hybrids, proven by DNA analysis. Red wolves of the south eastern seaboard and another distinct population in Texas are examples. The Eastern Coyote has varying amounts of wolf DNA, more wolf DNA the further north you go. The hybridization is still ongoing in Algonquin National Park in Canada. Anything smaller than 50 lbs is considered a coyote, larger than 50 lbs a wolf. It’s possible the smaller wolves here may have had some hybridization going on and could be related to the Vancouver Coastal sea wolf / Canis lupus crassodon. I can’t find any analysis of their DNA, but if you look at the reddish ones, they look like a possible old hybrid to me. I don’t know if anyone could reasonably argue that a Texas red wolf or that a 110 lb Algonquin cross is “not a real wolf” except for political reasons.

The smaller wolves would certainly habituate better. I’d rather see some more inland Coastal sea wolves introduced than the larger Timber wolves. I think they’d have a better chance. Someone somewhere must have some old wolf furs from this area for DNA.

Last edited 10 months ago
Lynn H
Guest
Lynn H
10 months ago
Reply to  Lynn H

That is, coastal wolves that are located from further inland. The ones directly on the coast of BC would have a harder time adapting..

olmanriver
Guest
olmanriver
8 years ago

Haven’t heard back about this ‘pet’ wolf at Harris, though I now suspect it wasn’t local. However I have turned up Native stories about wolves from the Kato and Nekanni (Bear River), and the word for wolf shows up in “Northern Sinkyone”.

gail D pelascini
Guest
3 years ago

Thanks for the info on the Beaver. Wow ya learn something new everyday.

Lost Croat OutburstD
Member
Lost Croat Outburst
10 months ago

A summer or two ago, I saw, along with numerous other visitors, an active beaver colony at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. They had created a beautiful pool where most of the elk were wading around munching on water plants. Reminded me of moose wading in a northern marsh. If memory serves, this was near the big meadow and very accessible. The fabled and proverbial Sistine Chapel of Redwoods is rumored to be secluded and protected in this beautiful park.

Lost Croat OutburstD
Member
Lost Croat Outburst
10 months ago

I’ll try again, short version. Prairie Creek State Park had an active beaver colony a year or two ago. I presume they are still there.