0:09

Hi, I'm Chris Morgan. You're

0:11

listening to The Wild on KUOW.

0:14

I'm a wildlife ecologist and host of The

0:16

Wild. I hope you're having a great weekend so

0:18

far and maybe getting out in nature.

0:31

Last week we asked you all to send me some

0:33

of your wildlife encounter stories.

0:36

Thanks if you wrote in. Here's a couple of them I wanted

0:38

to share. We got an email from Barb

0:40

in Seattle. She says she had an encounter

0:43

years ago. She was a bridge

0:45

tender, a person who operates and

0:47

maintains bridges in Florida at the

0:49

time and she's still doing that now. And

0:52

she's on the bridge checking out the navigation

0:54

lights when she hears the sound of a blue

0:56

heron. Like, quack, quack.

0:59

And she's heard that sound loads of times.

1:01

But then a third round of squawking

1:04

happened. Barb was then struck

1:06

with a jet stream of water. Turns

1:08

out it wasn't

1:09

a heron, it was a dolphin.

1:12

Barb did some digging and learned a real gem

1:14

of information. Dolphins are renowned

1:17

vocal mimics. This one had learned

1:19

how to sound like a heron.

1:21

Amazing.

1:22

Thanks, Barb, for sharing that one. Here's

1:25

another email. Reinhardt writes

1:27

that he was camping with his wife and two dogs

1:29

in the Canadian Rockies and one morning their

1:31

two dogs start going off. They're trembling

1:33

and barking at something right outside the tent. And

1:36

he says, my wife says, look outside, see

1:38

what's there. Oh, very brave. See

1:41

what's outside the tent. So he pops his

1:43

head out of the tent. Camera and

1:45

bear spray, he says to his wife. There's

1:48

a massive black bear next to the

1:50

tent. He doesn't get the prettiest pictures.

1:53

But if he had, he might have realized

1:55

that he was really taking a picture of a 700 pound

1:59

grizzly bear.

2:00

A couple of park rangers filled

2:02

him in later on that day on a

2:04

grizzly bear that loves to rummage through the

2:06

bushes around the campsite for berries.

2:09

That grizzly visited them almost every day

2:11

of their camping trip, took a seat,

2:14

took a few sniffs and then wandered off.

2:17

I love this Reynard, thank you for sharing

2:19

it because all we ever seem to hear are

2:22

the headlines about bear attacks and

2:24

negative encounters. We never really hear headlines

2:26

about peaceful interactions

2:28

with people. Just there to feed on huckleberries

2:31

this grizzly bear was. So keep them

2:33

coming folks, it's great to hear your stories.

2:35

You can email them to us at thewild at

2:37

kow.org. Okay

2:40

let's talk about today. We're heading to the

2:42

water twice this hour. And

2:45

first up, beavers.

2:48

I've got to say, brace yourselves for

2:50

a string of surprising facts

2:53

and stories about these unlikely heroes. This

2:55

is one of our most popular episodes

2:57

of the wild. And it's timely too,

3:00

you know, we like to be topical. About

3:02

now, in the fall, beavers are

3:04

caching food for the winter. They

3:06

jam branches into the mud

3:09

under the water to eat over

3:11

the winter, even when the pond is frozen

3:13

solid like a lovely winter

3:16

larder. So they're very busy

3:18

right now. You can see the wood chips around

3:20

the forest, there's something really cool

3:22

about finding them when you're poking around in the

3:25

woods or by a wetland. Little

3:27

cookie cutter sized chips with

3:29

these straight teeth marks across

3:32

them from a fresh chew. The beaver's

3:34

teeth wear down more

3:36

easily on the back surface than

3:38

on the front surface. So as they bite

3:40

down with that beaver overbite,

3:43

they sharpen their teeth. I

3:45

think it's really tantalizing to know they're there

3:48

gnawing away and at the same time

3:50

making an ecosystem for other creatures.

3:53

We start this episode in a city

3:56

park in Seattle.

3:58

Ah,

4:01

it's so beautiful! It's like a mini

4:03

white Lincoln log, or

4:05

a large Lincoln log, I guess, just floating in the middle of the

4:07

pond. Completely stripped of bark,

4:09

so it looks white. And then these fresh

4:11

tumour, because that looks pretty fresh, doesn't it? Yeah, it looks

4:14

really fresh. I'm standing in a pond

4:16

in Magnuson Park in Seattle, holding

4:19

a small log. The

4:21

leftovers from somebody's lunch. That

4:23

somebody is a creature that's almost comically

4:26

cute. When I ask my friends what

4:28

comes to mind when they think of a beaver, they

4:31

all smiled. Fucktooth

4:34

Mescots. Fucky the beaver.

4:37

Leave it to beaver. Justin beaver.

4:40

Whatever that means. I love the

4:42

far-side cartoon of a beaver. He's standing

4:44

in front of his fridge with his hands on his hips, and the

4:46

only thing in the fridge is wood and twigs.

4:50

But there is far more to this little creature

4:52

than just a pop culture caricature.

4:55

The mighty beaver has altered landscapes,

4:58

affected economies, and even changed

5:01

the history of the world. And this

5:03

is their story. The

5:29

reason I've come to Magnuson Park is to see

5:31

beavers in action. I

5:33

meet up with Ben Dittbrenner. Ben? Chris. Hey

5:36

Chris. Nice to meet you. Good to meet you too. Yeah.

5:39

You caught me getting tied

5:41

up in knots with my waders here. Beavers

5:43

have come back to this city park over the last

5:45

few years. Now I've been around beavers

5:48

in some wild, out-of-the-way places, but

5:50

these urban street-smart beavers

5:52

are a different matter. I want to know

5:54

more about them in this unlikely

5:57

place. So we've got to be

5:59

prepared to get wet.

5:59

Can't help but already

6:02

feel inadequate, you know? Like the

6:04

beavers are out there in this freezing cold water without

6:06

waders on. What's my problem?

6:09

Ben is working on his PhD at the University

6:12

of Washington and is also the executive director

6:14

of Beavers Northwest. He tells me city

6:17

planners created what was supposed to be a few

6:19

ephemeral wetlands at Magnuson Park

6:21

to help support some wildlife. The

6:24

idea was that they would provide wet habitat

6:26

in the spring and then dry up in the summer. But

6:29

the beavers had a different plan.

6:31

And then about five years

6:33

ago beavers moved in from Lake

6:35

Washington. They had been all over Lake Washington

6:38

and as soon as permanent water

6:40

was really established here, they found

6:42

it pretty quickly.

6:43

The beavers moved in and started

6:46

building dams, which is what

6:48

beavers do.

6:49

You see, beavers can't stand

6:52

the sound of running water. It drives

6:54

them crazy and they have to stop

6:56

it. It's a nagging, innate thing because

6:59

that sound of trickling water spells

7:02

failure for their engineering efforts. It's

7:04

something that they have to fix. People

7:06

have done some really cool studies where they've even

7:08

taken radio with the sound

7:10

of running water and put it in a field. And

7:13

beaver will come out and build a

7:15

little circular dam over the top

7:18

of the radio. So

7:20

they are really motivated

7:22

by that sound of running water. It's amazing.

7:25

I want to do that today. It's like

7:27

beaver OCD. They can't help themselves. It

7:30

reminds me of that beaver from Disney's Lady

7:33

and the Tramp. You realize every

7:35

second 70 centimeters of water

7:37

is wasted over that spillway?

7:39

Yeah, but got to get this log

7:42

moving, sonny. Got to get it moving. And

7:45

I saw that obsession firsthand. Ben

7:48

shows us a drain in the middle of a pond. The

7:50

drain makes sure that the road that's nearby doesn't

7:53

get flooded out. The park

7:55

manager put a fence around that drain

7:57

to keep the beavers off of it.

7:59

that would actually stop them. So the

8:02

fence around the drain that

8:04

drains water out the pond that we're standing in right

8:06

here and the sound of that draining

8:09

forced the beavers to come and fix it and

8:12

they couldn't get into the fence to fix it so they've

8:14

built all around this fence and it's

8:17

thick with this silty mud here. Greeds

8:22

and grasses and whoa! Almost

8:26

went then. It is an amazing

8:28

accomplishment. We wade through the water

8:30

picking our way through the vegetation and mud.

8:33

I mean, looking across at this pond and it very much

8:35

feels like a naturally created pond

8:37

that doesn't feel like we're in a man-made

8:40

park in Seattle, you know, and that's because the beavers

8:42

have created this pond and it's full of wildlife, it's

8:45

full of the ducks all over it. You know,

8:47

you can imagine in the summer, in the spring, it must be packed with

8:49

insects and songbirds and

8:51

part

8:51

of the ecosystem these guys are creating.

8:54

We get to the main dam, the heart

8:56

of the operation. We're standing on this, what looks

8:58

like a big muddy mound, but there's

9:00

a slider that goes across it from the pond

9:02

to my right that's higher than the pond to the left.

9:05

And the beaver has got this slide, which is basically

9:08

a little beaver highway going from one pond to another

9:10

to help him maintain this. And

9:12

it's worn away the mud, so you can see all

9:15

these different layers of sticks underneath

9:17

it that are exposed.

9:20

Then it looks like a dam. You

9:22

can see that there's a construction under this muddy

9:24

mound.

9:25

It's amazing.

9:26

So Chris, if you look at the

9:28

way that the beavers have positioned the logs

9:31

on this dam, you can see they kind of would do it differently

9:33

than how we would do it. So we probably, if we

9:36

were going to come out for the day and be

9:38

beavers and build the dam, we would probably take these sticks

9:40

and put them on the channel perpendicular

9:42

to the flow. But beavers don't do that. They're

9:45

approaching it a little bit differently. They're taking the sticks

9:47

and they're pushing them into the mud so

9:49

that they're facing upstream. And even as the

9:52

sticks get old and brittle, the force

9:54

of the water and the mud just further

9:56

pushes those sticks down into the

9:58

substrate. makes the dam

10:01

even potentially stronger. Picture

10:05

yourself standing by a creek or

10:07

a small river flowing through a forest

10:10

or a glade of trees. You

10:15

see a pretty view, but

10:17

the beaver sees an opportunity.

10:20

The beaver needs that pond. It's

10:23

where he builds his lodge, where the whole beaver

10:25

family lives, in fact. So

10:27

he builds the lodge in the pond where it's

10:29

safe from predators, and the

10:32

pond also allows him to swim. They're

10:34

way better in the water than they are on land.

10:37

So that way they can swim away from predators

10:39

and also towards food, the

10:42

trees and the shrubs that are now in

10:44

and around the water in the flooded area. It

10:48

becomes a pantry right on

10:50

his watery doorstep.

10:52

When the beaver runs out of trees

10:54

in his immediate pantry, then he starts

10:56

to dig channels, literally like excavating

10:58

them out of the ground. Like fingers of

11:01

water that extend from the pond so

11:03

that he can swim to new forage further

11:05

out from the main pond. He'll even float

11:08

logs and sticks down those channels and

11:11

pretty cool. Some of them to eat and

11:14

some of them to reinforce the dam, and

11:16

then some of them to pile on top of the lodge to

11:18

shore it up. So these three components,

11:20

the dam,

11:21

the lodge and the channels,

11:23

are the beaver's world. And it's really interesting

11:26

to look for all three of those features when you're

11:28

out there near a beaver pond. It sort of brings

11:30

it all together and makes total sense. The

11:33

primary motivations of the beavers is to be safe

11:35

and to have sufficient food. So they're

11:38

building those dams and increasing

11:40

the pond area to achieve

11:42

both of those goals. The beavers pretty

11:44

much took over this part of the park and

11:47

have changed the hydrology of this entire

11:49

site. The ephemeral

11:51

ponds became permanent. And

11:54

park planners have been really open-minded

11:57

about the changes that they've been seeing and instead

11:59

of trying to...

11:59

to trap the beavers out and actively

12:02

fight them. They've been working with the beavers and

12:05

adapting to what the beavers have been doing. So it's

12:07

a really cool kind of story of how

12:10

people and beavers are working kind

12:13

of together to try to find some

12:16

middle ground that works for nature

12:19

and for the needs of the park

12:21

and everyone else. It's like the beavers

12:23

are on the planning committee, right? They're part of the process,

12:26

that's all. Yeah, I think that they put themselves

12:28

in the planning committee and people

12:31

realise there's no way they get those beavers off the planning

12:33

committee. If you can't beat them, join them kind of thing.

12:35

Yeah, exactly. It is a little bit that way, hey, sounds like.

12:39

But beavers are not always welcomed

12:40

by everyone. Because as

12:42

much as they create habitat, they can

12:45

disrupt it too, for humans. They

12:47

can flood agricultural land by damming,

12:50

which isn't good. Or on the other

12:52

extreme, they can deprive land of

12:54

water by blocking the flow of that water.

12:56

It's

13:02

complicated. But there are still

13:04

a lot of people who are pretty passionate

13:06

about beavers,

13:07

like Ben Goldfarb. There's so much

13:09

to say about sniffing beaver butts, it's really kind of remarkable.

13:12

Ben is an environmental reporter and author

13:14

of the book Eager,

13:16

a surprising secret life of beavers

13:18

and why they matter. And before

13:21

you jump to conclusions about Ben's enthusiasm

13:23

over beaver butts, a little context here,

13:26

it's impossible to look at a beaver and

13:28

know what sex it is. They

13:30

have internal genitalia. It makes

13:33

sense, swimming between all those snags.

13:37

So researchers determine the sex of a

13:39

beaver, not by sight, but

13:41

by smell.

13:42

What you can do is basically find

13:45

the anal gland, one of the

13:47

scent organs, and squirt out

13:49

a bit of scent secretion and sniff it. And if

13:51

it smells like motor oil, it's

13:54

a male. And if it smells like old cheese,

13:56

it's a female.

13:59

hopefully never have the opportunity, but if you do,

14:02

now you know. It's good to know these

14:04

things. I don't know how I would have coped without it, you know. Thanks

14:06

for that background. I love that. That's

14:09

news you can use.

14:10

So the anal gland is called the castorsac,

14:13

and the liquidy substance it secretes is

14:15

called castorium. It's even featured

14:17

in their scientific name, Castor

14:19

canadensis. It's this very

14:22

strong-smelling kind of musky, but

14:24

with hints of vanilla. It's a very unusual aroma.

14:27

And for a long time, castorium is actually used as

14:30

a flavor additive in things

14:32

like fruit sodas and vanilla

14:34

ice cream. It's still used to this day

14:37

in some perfumes. It's

14:39

a pretty unique scent. I've

14:41

never eaten vanilla ice cream again in my life.

14:44

But Ben's real fascination with beavers comes

14:46

from their incredible ecological

14:49

contributions. We think about them as

14:51

being kind of these fun little rodents

14:54

and don't always give them credit for

14:56

being these incredibly dramatic

14:59

ecosystem engineers and architects.

15:02

But these unlikely

15:03

ecosystem engineers

15:05

are benefiting way more than just themselves

15:07

with all this busy behavior.

15:09

Other species benefit too. Even though

15:11

they're expanding their own habitat, they're also inadvertently

15:14

creating habitat for all of these other creatures as

15:16

well, right? I know that on this planet,

15:18

water is life, and there are so many animals

15:21

from ducks to frogs

15:23

to fish to moose that

15:25

are dependent on the kinds of wet

15:27

habitats that beavers are creating. So

15:30

they're building their own shelter, but in the process,

15:32

they're creating shelter for this vast ecosystem

15:34

as well.

15:35

Goldfarb goes into this in his book. He

15:37

argues that this kind of habitat engineering

15:40

is what makes beavers a keystone

15:42

species. To understand the importance

15:44

of a keystone species, picture a stone

15:47

arch. The keystone is the block at

15:49

the top of the arch that holds the entire

15:52

arch together.

15:53

And if you take out that block, the whole arch

15:55

comes crashing to the ground. A keystone

15:58

species plays a similar role in any case. ecosystem

16:01

and beavers are playing that same role as well.

16:03

They're also a species without which ecosystems

16:06

collapse because again, they're building

16:08

all of this wet habitat for

16:11

literally thousands of different species that

16:14

are depending on them for

16:18

ponds and wetlands and wet meadows. So

16:21

that's what a keystone species is, a species

16:23

that disproportionately holds

16:25

up an ecosystem and to me there's no question

16:28

that beavers are doing that. Beavers

16:29

create a nourishing wetland system

16:32

that help all kinds of species from songbirds

16:35

to mink to otters.

16:37

They even help orcas.

16:40

Their ponds are really good habitat

16:42

for young salmon. Salmon that eventually

16:44

find their way down into the sea and

16:46

some of them into the mouths of orcas.

16:49

Ben

16:49

Goldfarb says you could consider

16:51

beavers unlikely heroes. Aside

16:53

from humans, they're really in many ways,

16:55

you know, our continent's most influential

16:58

animal and you know again, they're these kind of chunky

17:00

balls of fat and fur, but they're doing

17:03

a lot of work. And this had been happening for thousands

17:05

of years like a natural system

17:07

that worked very well with the beaver at the

17:09

heart of it.

17:11

Native Americans knew this long ago. They

17:14

called the beaver the sacred center

17:16

of the earth because of their role

17:18

in making habitat for other animals and plants.

17:22

But then we arrived, Europeans,

17:25

and we wanted beavers in a bad way.

17:28

I'll tell you why after the break.

17:38

When extreme weather comes your way, what

17:40

do you do? I'm Erin Baldessari,

17:43

host of Sold Out, Rethinking Housing

17:45

in America, a KQED podcast

17:48

all about how the warming climate is threatening

17:50

the places and people we love. But

17:54

this is not a story about the apocalypse. This

17:57

is a story about solutions and

17:59

the ways we can all come together to adapt

18:02

and face the future. Our

18:04

new season just dropped. Check

18:06

out Sold Out, rethinking housing in America,

18:09

wherever you get your podcasts.

18:12

This second part of the story talks

18:14

about beaver hunting, how they became

18:16

a massive commodity around the world. But

18:19

thankfully times have changed. Fast

18:21

forward to today, and I just heard

18:23

that a baby beaver was born in the wild

18:26

in London for the first time

18:28

in 400 years. It's

18:31

yet to be announced if it's a female or

18:33

male. If you're listening to our episode,

18:35

you'll understand why. Anyway,

18:38

what fantastic news. I see

18:40

headlines about beavers all the time these

18:42

days, how they're being encouraged back in various

18:45

parts of the world. Some covert

18:47

conservationists are even doing it illegally,

18:49

sort of dropping them off by a creek in the dead

18:51

of the night. And it's because these creatures

18:54

can help us solve so many issues like

18:56

water storage, climate, habitat

18:59

restoration, rewilding. I

19:01

was deep up in the mountains in the North Cascades

19:03

last weekend tracking wolves, and

19:06

I stopped for lunch at a creek. And

19:09

I could see where that creek began

19:11

up in the ice of the glaciers way up

19:13

high. So I sat there staring

19:16

at that water, thinking it's

19:18

gonna run out. When that ice and that snow has gone,

19:20

it will. It'll run out. That creek

19:22

will run dry. But it also made

19:25

me think about beavers who can help.

19:27

They can help us store the water as

19:30

it tumbles down from the mountain. Okay,

19:33

back to the story. What

19:40

did make beavers so popular

19:42

way back when?

19:46

Hats. Beaver hats

19:49

were the hot fashion item in the 16th to

19:51

18th century in Europe. High

19:53

society, monocles, a

19:55

kind of a status symbol. Kind

19:58

of take the under-fear of the... beaver

20:00

and felt it up and it turns into this really durable,

20:03

pliable, waterproof material that was

20:05

sort of the finest hat making stuff. Beavers

20:10

had almost been hunted to extinction in Europe

20:12

to feed that hat trade and

20:14

America had a plethora of them.

20:20

So much so that beaver pelts became an

20:23

economic driver for early settlers

20:25

here.

20:25

Pilgrims had to pay back debt to those who

20:27

had funded their journey to America and

20:30

they did it by trapping beavers and selling

20:32

their pelts.

20:33

Pelts made the Massachusetts Bay Colony

20:36

financially solvent.

20:38

Then there was the beavers role in

20:40

politics. Yes, politics.

20:43

The Revolutionary War, one of the things that the

20:45

British did to anger the American colonists,

20:48

was deny them access to beaver trapping

20:50

grounds west of the Appalachians. You know, so beavers

20:52

played a role in the American Revolution. The

20:55

Louisiana Purchase, Westwood

20:57

expansion, the market for beaver

20:59

fur was a factor in all these decisions.

21:02

These creatures were helping to shape

21:04

history,

21:06

all while being slowly annihilated.

21:08

These animals are just so

21:10

integral to our own story

21:13

as a nation. Amazingly so, yes. And

21:15

incredible to think that so much of it began with

21:17

a hat fad

21:20

in many ways. I

21:22

mean, it's an insane thought that we could

21:24

have such an impact on a species because of

21:26

a fashion item.

21:28

Yeah, I know it's true, but then you think, I

21:30

mean, that's kind of the story of our relationship with wildlife

21:32

in so many ways. You know, we wiped

21:35

out bison in part because, you know, we wanted to

21:37

use their furs as robes and,

21:39

you know, we eliminated, you know,

21:41

I mean, untold billions of

21:44

songbirds because, you know, we used their plumage

21:46

in hats. You know, it's amazing the extent to which

21:49

fashion has basically driven our relationship

21:51

with the environment for centuries.

21:54

best

22:00

estimates put the beaver population at 400 million.

22:05

That's a lot of hats. That's more than

22:07

the number of people in the USA

22:09

and Canada today. But by 1900 or

22:12

so, after a massive continent-wide

22:15

trapping effort, there were only 100,000 left.

22:18

And in Europe, they were down to around 1,200

22:21

beavers in the wild. The

22:24

loss of these animals has literally changed

22:26

the geography of North America.

22:28

My own view of what a stream

22:30

should look like was in many ways inaccurate,

22:33

because I too had omitted beavers

22:35

from this historic picture. You

22:38

read old explorers and trappers accounts

22:41

of crossing North America before all the beavers

22:43

were eliminated, and places that

22:45

today we associate with desert, like

22:47

much of New Mexico and eastern Wyoming.

22:51

There, explorers encountered marshes

22:54

and wetlands and ponds, and a lot

22:56

of that was beaver influence. This is

22:58

an animal

22:58

that can make a desert into a wetland.

23:01

It's incredible to think that North America's

23:03

landscape used to actually look and feel

23:05

different because of beavers. So much

23:08

so that even today, we don't understand

23:10

what a river actually is supposed to look

23:12

like. But over the last century,

23:15

beaver numbers have started to spring

23:17

back. People started to understand that

23:20

beavers improved biodiversity and

23:22

the health of habitats probably shouldn't

23:24

be blindly exterminated everywhere. And

23:27

it often happens when an animal population comes

23:29

back. There were growing pains

23:32

with the surrounding human community.

23:34

These types of conflicts played out in a very

23:36

unique way in Idaho in 1948. This

23:40

man is carrying beaver live traps. Beaver

23:43

populations were increasing and causing problems with

23:45

local irrigation systems and orchards. He's

23:48

on his way to a beaver pond, where

23:50

he will remove the busy engineers who

23:52

will become too numerous. The

23:55

state's Department of Fish and Wildlife wanted

23:57

to eliminate these human-beaver conflicts.

24:00

So basically decided to live trap a bunch

24:02

of a bunch of beavers and relocate them To

24:05

the to the wilderness which was you know a really

24:07

a really nice idea Live beaver

24:10

for new waters the initial

24:12

challenge was that they tried to move the beavers on

24:14

horseback But the beavers spooked the

24:16

horses and made them hard to manage, you

24:18

know, you can't really blame the horses for not Being

24:21

a big fan of having you know beavers trapped to

24:23

their back So transporting the beavers

24:25

on horseback wasn't going to work So how

24:28

are these biologists going to translocate these

24:30

beavers into the backwards of Idaho?

24:33

Well, this was just after the end of World War

24:35

two and somebody gets an idea There

24:37

are all of these surplus parachutes on hand.

24:40

They've got some airplanes. So, you know, why not try? Tossing

24:43

beavers out of airplanes. Oh, you

24:45

can't make this stuff up. That's just insane Plan

24:50

B parachutes anybody parachutes

24:52

are attached to cargo lines nearly

24:55

ready for that flight back into the mountains

24:57

This one biologist this guy named Elmo heater Designed

25:00

this this special crate that you could strap

25:02

to

25:03

a parachute and then the crate would fall open

25:05

upon impact and the boxes are Stacked

25:07

in rows along the waist of the plane Ten

25:10

boxes to a load 20 beaver

25:12

ready for the flight to mountain Meadows.

25:15

So that year in 1948 they dropped 76 beavers

25:18

out of airplanes and these specially designed

25:21

crates attached to parachute

25:23

the plane makes a careful approach Ready

25:25

for the drop now into the

25:27

air and down they swing down

25:30

to the ground near a stream or a lake

25:33

Unfortunately one little beaver

25:35

somehow got out of the crate midair

25:37

and fell to his death But 75

25:40

of the 76 beavers survived to go

25:42

on to start a family in the wilds of Idaho

25:44

Away from any conflict with humans

25:47

the box opens and a most unusual

25:49

and novel trip ends for mr The

25:52

really remarkable thing was that when they when they flew over

25:54

those same areas the next year They found that beavers

25:57

had actually built dams and

25:59

and logic in all of the places they'd been dropped

26:01

off. So the beavers not only survived

26:03

the initial landing, they actually built

26:06

dams and flourished. Today, there

26:09

are about 15 million beavers in

26:11

North America.

26:12

So from that perspective, it's certainly a wonderful

26:15

story of recovery and conservation.

26:18

But then you consider the fact that historically there

26:20

were likely several hundred million, and

26:23

you realize that we still have an awfully long way to go when

26:25

it comes to returning this species to many of the places

26:27

that it was eliminated from. But it is an

26:29

amazing start. And even in Europe,

26:32

where the whole problem began, you know, with their

26:34

hat fetish, well, even there,

26:36

there are now half a million beavers, thanks

26:38

to some really effective conservation efforts.

26:42

Today, beavers are being looked

26:44

at as a way to help us deal with one of the

26:46

greatest challenges we face on the planet,

26:49

climate change. That's

26:52

because it's all about water. As

26:54

we lose that snowpack, as precipitation

26:56

falls as rain rather than snow, it becomes really

26:59

important that we figure out new strategies

27:01

to capture some of that water, to hold water

27:04

up in the mountains, up in the high country.

27:06

And, you know, hey, here's this nifty little

27:09

rodent capable of creating thousands

27:11

and thousands of reservoirs up

27:13

in the mountains to keep that water on the landscape

27:16

and keep our streams and rivers

27:18

hydrated into the summer

27:20

and fall as it gets hot. So I think that

27:22

idea that beavers could be a water

27:24

storage solution and help us adapt to climate

27:27

change is a really big reason why

27:29

there's so much interest in these animals right now. Ben

27:31

Goldfarb says that these reservoirs also

27:34

create fire breaks on the landscape that

27:36

help slow wildfires. And

27:38

we know how bad those have been in recent years. You

27:41

can actually, in many cases, achieve

27:43

a lot more and certainly do it much

27:45

more cost effectively by letting

27:48

the rodent do the work, as

27:50

many beaver scientists say. You

27:52

know, basically getting out of the way, relocating

27:55

or, you know, restoring these animals

27:57

somehow and essentially letting them...

28:00

build their dams, create ponds and wetlands,

28:02

store water, make amazing wildlife

28:04

habitat, improve water quality.

28:07

They do all of these wonderful things if

28:09

we basically stay out of their way,

28:12

don't kill them, and take

28:15

steps to help them recover. So to me, that's

28:17

the lesson, is more than anything else, we

28:21

humans are so infatuated

28:23

with our own god-like powers, but

28:26

here's a case where we can actually make more progress

28:29

by turning restoration over to

28:31

another species. Back

28:34

at Magnuson Park, standing knee-deep

28:36

in the pond with the other Ben, Ben Dittbrenner,

28:39

I have a new respect for the beaver. The

28:42

landscape of this urban park that they have helped

28:44

build is teeming with wildlife.

28:47

In these wetland systems we see herons,

28:49

and we see all types

28:51

of shorebirds, and then in

28:54

the surrounding areas we see a huge diversity

28:56

of songbirds. And when

28:59

we look at wildlife camera footage

29:01

at night, we see that the area is teeming

29:04

with

29:05

mammals like mink

29:07

and otter and all types of, just

29:10

a huge diversity of mammals. Ben

29:12

Dittbrenner says beavers are a great investment

29:15

for the future. Our allies

29:17

in so many ways. And they're free.

29:20

If we had to come in here and try to replicate what

29:22

beavers were doing, it would be $100,000 easily. Beavers

29:26

come into the system, and they do this

29:28

for free. And when we have big storm

29:30

events and the dams blow out, if

29:33

we were in charge, we probably would never get

29:35

around to fixing those dams. But the beavers come back

29:37

out the next day and start rebuilding.

29:40

They start rebuilding.

29:41

Rebuilding nature. Putting

29:44

back the pieces. It's

29:46

an amazing thought.

29:49

We may never have 400 million beavers

29:51

back in North America, and frankly there isn't

29:53

room for that many of them these days.

29:56

But I do like the idea of just getting

29:58

out of their way and having so many people.

29:59

Some parts of the old place, just the way they are

30:02

supposed to be. Beavers

30:04

on the planning committee of planet Earth.

30:07

Just hold the vanilla ice cream

30:09

please.

30:27

Okay, next as promised, it's

30:29

time to disappear into the

30:32

watery world of the sea lion.

30:34

A bit of behind the scenes. The wild team

30:36

and I were really grappling with this story

30:38

when we produced it. Something was off. I

30:41

don't know. It was missing something.

30:43

Didn't feel different enough. And

30:46

then I said, wait, I know. Let's try and tell

30:48

the story from the sea lion's perspective.

30:51

I love trying to get into the minds of animals

30:53

to see things through their eyes. So

30:56

we did. A couple of years ago, I played this

30:58

story to a small group of people

31:00

on a ship up in the Arctic. I had them all lying

31:03

down on their backs on the deck really

31:05

quietly to focus on being underwater

31:08

like a sea lion. It was great. People

31:10

really enjoyed it. A bit of underwater

31:13

animal meditation. But

31:16

as you'll hear, it's not all roses for

31:18

a sea lion. They live in a complex

31:20

natural world and have to make a living.

31:23

Then you add humans into the mix and things become

31:26

even more tricky for them, including conflicts.

31:29

Part of the story is about dropping explosives

31:31

into the river. You'll hear some of that in

31:34

this episode. This is a protected

31:36

species to sea lion, chasing

31:38

down an endangered species, the

31:40

Chinook salmon. Our story conveys

31:43

some of these complexities. It's an ongoing

31:45

journey, how to manage the various needs.

31:47

But thankfully, a lot of very smart people

31:50

are trying. So it might be your

31:52

only chance in life to stop what you're doing

31:54

for 15 minutes, if you can, maybe even

31:56

close your eyes

31:57

and become a sea lion.

32:05

Picture yourself in an underwater

32:08

world, the

32:10

world of the sea lion, on the west coast

32:12

of North America, where an ecological

32:15

puzzle has become unexpectedly

32:17

complicated. This is a story

32:19

of oceans, rivers, salmon

32:22

and survival. It's also a story

32:24

of bombs, guns and billion

32:27

dollar infrastructures. It's a story

32:29

that's been told before, but not like this.

32:32

Because this is an opportunity to take

32:34

to the water and channel your inner

32:36

sea lion, to find out just what

32:38

it takes to maneuver in an ever changing

32:41

aquatic world when everyone wants

32:43

a piece of the prize.

32:45

Imagine you're a sea lion. You're

32:48

a 900 pound male California

32:50

sea lion, at sea. You're entering

32:53

the prime of life. Five years old,

32:55

eight feet long, bold and brave.

32:58

But a little naive.

32:59

The

33:02

sea

33:02

is your complete comfort zone.

33:05

You've been out here at sea for six straight

33:07

days, away from land. And you're

33:09

hungry. You might even be

33:11

a bit irritable. Cruising

33:14

through the green cairn, twisting

33:16

and turning like underwater

33:19

flight, you follow your nose, whiskers

33:21

feeling their way. You swim through

33:23

a dense shore of smoke. The little

33:25

fish are easy to catch, so you grab two

33:28

of them and guzzle them down. They

33:30

ease the hunger a little bit, for now. A

33:35

few days ago, you were in the place of your

33:37

birth, way down south, the

33:39

Channel Islands of California near Los

33:41

Angeles. You were there

33:44

to breed. And this year, you

33:46

hit your stride as an emerging dominant male.

33:48

You sired eight pups from as many females.

33:52

And that was all a thousand miles ago. And

33:55

now, instinct and your big brain

33:58

and your youthful curiosity have

33:59

driven you north, way north,

34:02

on a migration. Occasionally

34:05

you travel with other males heading north

34:07

to the coastal waters of Washington, Canada

34:11

and even Alaska. You're

34:14

first to seek a powerful

34:16

predator, but you also

34:18

pray. Your flank has scars

34:21

across it from the time you got away from the teeth of an orca

34:23

last year, but nothing will

34:25

stop you from finding what drives you.

34:27

Hade. What's

34:30

suddenly something changes? The

34:36

taste of the waters has

34:38

turned from salty to

34:41

fresh. This

34:43

is the mouth of the Columbia River. It's

34:45

three miles wide right here, where the river

34:47

spills into the Pacific Ocean between the states

34:49

of Oregon and Washington.

34:50

A

34:53

giant silverfish flashes past

34:55

your face. Whoa, it startled

34:57

you, and without even thinking, you bank

35:00

right and

35:00

clap, touching the thrust

35:02

of your enormous flippers. You've

35:05

now entered a different ecosystem, and

35:07

as a sea creature, it's a place you

35:09

knew nothing about. You have no

35:11

idea what's ahead on this river.

35:16

No other river pours more water into

35:18

the Pacific from the North American continent than

35:20

the Columbia River. Other

35:23

giant rivers themselves legendarily

35:25

pour into the Columbia, and

35:27

it's here that a strange chase

35:29

begins. The giant silverfish

35:32

you are chasing is a Chinook Sen, 50

35:35

pounds of determined muscle. No

35:38

wonder they call them kings. And

35:41

this is where your plans to head north

35:44

change. You're

35:46

sleek. Your body drives through

35:48

the water after the fish. You're

35:50

a perfectly tuned underwater version

35:52

of the sea lion most humans don't ever see.

35:55

If anyone can catch that fish, you can.

35:58

But it's not easy. It's a race

36:00

that's evolved over millions of years,

36:03

and the salmon is as good at escaping as you

36:05

are at chasing, even at 25 miles an hour.

36:08

It's an evolutionary arms race.

36:11

The Chinook is the largest salmon in the

36:13

Pacific.

36:14

Their meat is packed with 30,000 delicious

36:17

calories, and they're on a mission too. This

36:20

female salmon, whose tail you're on, she's

36:22

been at sea for four years. But

36:25

her life started in the river,

36:27

as an egg in a small tributary

36:29

of the Columbia River up in the mountains.

36:32

Then as a 12-inch yearling,

36:34

she swam down this very same river

36:36

towards the sea.

36:39

Four years at sea have toughened her, but

36:41

now she's back in fresh water, and

36:44

it's the beginning of the end of a really

36:46

long journey for her. She's heading home,

36:49

back to her birthplace in that mountain

36:51

stream. She has a fight on

36:53

her hands to get there though.

36:57

You find the taste of the fresh water

36:59

strange, but other than

37:01

that, this still feels as big as

37:03

the sea here. It doesn't feel like a river

37:06

at all. But it doesn't even matter.

37:08

You're just following the food, and the food

37:11

is heading upriver, away from the sea,

37:13

and everything you know. You

37:17

push on against the steady flow of the river,

37:19

and it feels unusual to you. It's different

37:21

to the tides you're used to. You

37:24

sense it's worth it.

37:25

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

37:31

When Lewis and Clark were here in 1805, 35 sea lion generations

37:33

ago, they saw a river very

37:38

different to today's. Native

37:40

American people were living from the riches

37:42

of the water and the land, people

37:44

that gave the mighty Chinook salmon its

37:46

name.

37:48

The place was throbbing with life back

37:50

then.

37:51

Beavers making ponds, bears

37:53

eating berries, huge flocks

37:55

of birds, wolves chasing

37:58

elk.

37:59

In the 1800s, over 10 million

38:02

famine would return to the Columbia River. It's

38:05

closer to 2 million today.

38:07

Because of habitat loss and lower

38:09

water quality, a warming climate.

38:12

And to make matters worse, fewer

38:14

fish have to feed more hungry mouths,

38:17

including the sea lions, whose numbers

38:19

are actually up. Protection

38:21

in the 70s worked for the sea lions. So

38:24

now we have a protected species, the

38:26

sea lion,

38:27

chasing an endangered one,

38:29

the salmon. Your

38:33

race for the salmon continues up the river. Through

38:36

the surface of the water, you see buildings

38:38

on the shore.

38:39

Always curious, you pop your head up

38:41

for a look. There's

38:43

a wooden dock, and it's packed

38:45

with sea lions. There must be 100 or more

38:47

of them. They're

38:50

piled two or even three deep in places.

38:53

They're a social bunch. And

38:55

there are more now than there ever have been. You

38:58

haul out and join them. Time

39:01

for a rest. Conserve some energy.

39:04

But most of these guys won't be as ambitious

39:06

as you. You were born with extra

39:08

drive and extra strength. About 1,600

39:12

sea lions have entered the river, but only

39:15

one in 10 of you will push onwards, a

39:17

long way onwards. Smell

39:22

guides the salmon. She's stopped

39:24

eating since she hit the fresh water. She's

39:26

carrying 15,000 eggs, and

39:29

her only remaining task in life is to

39:31

lay them in the tributary she was born. The

39:34

male salmon are on the same journey to fertilize

39:36

them. So

39:39

her 100% focus is making it

39:41

there, home, which is 200

39:43

miles upstream, a

39:46

journey that will take her about 18 days.

39:53

The trundle of logging trucks vibrates

39:55

through the water, and you can feel it in your

39:57

long whiskers.

39:59

really unfamiliar territory. Human

40:02

dwellings are everywhere, and they seem

40:04

very close. Voices

40:07

carry across the water.

40:10

The river becomes narrower now.

40:12

You're 50 miles from the coast. A

40:15

huge chinook zips by, and right on its

40:17

tail, a massive sea lion, twice

40:19

your size. It's a stellar

40:21

sea lion, an intimidating 2,000 pounds.

40:26

You keep swimming, following the salmon. 70

40:29

miles upriver, 80, 90 miles, and past 100. You're

40:35

feeling quite alone. You've not

40:37

seen another sea lion for a while, and you

40:39

wonder if you'll ever catch a fish.

40:41

The ocean is a long way behind now.

40:44

The water is murky,

40:46

thick with silt. 140

40:48

miles upstream, and

40:50

you start to hear a strange, distant

40:53

rumble. It vibrates

40:55

the entire river.

40:56

And it's getting wet. A

41:00

shadow in the sky. A bald eagle suddenly

41:03

swoops down overhead, scattering a

41:05

dozen noisy gulls that are hovering above. A

41:07

firm salmon remains in the water.

41:10

Then suddenly, there's mayhem. It's

41:13

like the water has turned into a bubbling cordrum.

41:16

The salmon in front of you is totally disoriented

41:18

in

41:18

the front of the water. You're

41:20

a lot of tar on the fish with a huge push

41:22

of your giant flours, but you miss

41:25

another sea lion's speed from nowhere.

41:27

No one's passed you and perhaps the fish.

41:29

And more salmon's

41:31

passed you, and two other sea lions. For every

41:33

salmon, there are several sea lions now. All

41:36

hell has broken loose.

41:38

Then, through the murky water,

41:41

you see something white ahead. As

41:43

you swim closer, it gets bigger and

41:45

bigger. Suddenly, the

41:48

river stops, and you can't

41:50

go any further. A wall.

41:52

A wall has trapped the fish. A

41:56

lot of fish. And they're easy

41:58

prey now.

42:02

Suddenly, the world is good.

42:06

The wall is a dam,

42:09

Bonneville Dam. It was built in

42:11

the 1930s during the Great Depression

42:13

at a cost of 83 million

42:15

dollars. That's about one and a half

42:18

billion dollars today. And the

42:20

Bonneville Dam, it didn't just bring

42:22

electricity, it also brought hope.

42:25

It was built in the form of thousands of jobs to

42:27

fuel a nation that was thirsty

42:29

for good news and growth. A

42:32

rise of human willpower and

42:34

ability, conquering nature, and

42:37

even holding back water,

42:39

including a man-made

42:41

lake, a 50 mile long reservoir,

42:44

taming this mighty river.

42:47

But it's also become

42:49

the focal point for a struggle for survival

42:51

involving humans, and

42:54

you, the

42:55

sea lion. As

42:57

you chase another cornered fish, you

43:00

begin to surface out of the water. You

43:02

see the white concrete wall rise

43:04

to the sky, 200 feet high

43:07

and a thousand feet wide. And

43:09

that's when you hear it. A

43:12

huge explosion booms through the water

43:14

and shakes every fiber of your sea lion

43:16

body. A fish scatter. You're

43:19

dazed and terrified. You've never felt

43:21

anything like this before. In a panic,

43:23

you swim to the surface to figure out what's happening.

43:28

Then you see a

43:29

boat. A boat full

43:31

of humans.

43:35

For the last 146 miles, you've been chasing some. But

43:40

the tables have turned. Oh, you're

43:42

the one being chased. And

43:45

the men on the boat want you out of here. And

43:48

if that takes underwater explosives

43:50

and shotgun bangers, then that's what'll happen.

43:53

These Native American men are the defenders

43:55

of the Chinook.

43:57

Their lifeblood.

43:58

If these fish don't make it up

43:59

stream,

44:00

then their ancient cycle is over. Scaring

44:04

away sea lions like this is legal.

44:07

Some of the more troublesome ones are even euthanized,

44:10

and Native Americans depend on the salmon

44:12

they have for thousands of years. But

44:15

the dam has thrown the ecosystem out

44:17

of work.

44:18

The salmon to get past the dam, they

44:21

have to swim up a series of man-made,

44:23

elevated water pools, a fish ladder.

44:26

But first they have to survive the gauntlet

44:29

of hungry sea lions, up to 300 of them

44:31

during spring, that have learned

44:33

to catch the salmon at the base of the dam. And

44:36

spring the sea lions can eat around 20-40% of

44:38

the Chinook here. Future

44:41

generations of salmon are under threat.

44:45

And Native Americans are doing what they can to protect

44:47

the salmon, and this ancient

44:50

cycle. And

44:53

it's not just people who depend on these fish, but

44:56

countless other species too, from orcas

44:58

to bears. What's most surprising

45:01

is that the salmon are still here at all, the

45:03

odds are against them from the moment they're born. But

45:07

some do make it to the stream of their birth,

45:09

where they will lay their eggs and die,

45:12

her body returning nutrients to

45:14

the water and the forests.

45:17

With some luck, her offspring will

45:19

then head down river, ocean bound,

45:22

for the ancient cycle to begin all over

45:24

again. An

45:27

ancient cycle in a modern human world,

45:30

and a new kind of normal. A

45:33

normal where sometimes the pieces of the puzzle

45:35

don't quite fit like they used to,

45:38

and where nobody was really the winner.

45:42

It's been an experience for you, the sea

45:44

lion, but the explosions are

45:47

all too much, and you're a treat from the

45:49

dam. But at least you caught two salmon,

45:52

and not only that, you learned a lot along

45:54

the way. But the salt

45:56

water is calling you back, and eventually

45:58

home to California.

45:59

all those miles away. This

46:02

is what you do. You survive

46:04

and learn. And you'll most likely

46:07

be back here next year playing

46:09

your role in an ecological puzzle and

46:12

the complicated path of the Chinook.

46:30

Well that's our episode for this

46:32

week. Thank you for

46:35

tuning in.

46:38

I'm

46:41

really enjoying bringing some of our favourite episodes

46:44

along with some updates. And some stories

46:46

from you too. You can find more episodes

46:48

of our podcast The Wild with Chris Morgan

46:51

at KUOW.org, Apple

46:53

Podcasts, Spotify or wherever

46:56

you get your podcasts. We

46:58

promise to take you to wondrous

47:00

places to meet really fascinating wild

47:03

animals and people with stories

47:05

you'll hopefully want to tell your friends. The

47:08

Wild is a production of KUOW in

47:10

Seattle and me, Chris Morgan, with support

47:12

from Wildlife Media. Our producers

47:14

are Matt Martin and Lucy Suchek. Jim

47:17

Gates is our editor. This broadcast

47:19

version is produced by Brandy Fullwood. A

47:21

very special thank you for their kind financial support

47:24

to Jill and Scott Walker, Rose Letwin,

47:26

Ellen Ferguson, Anna Kimball, John

47:28

Taylor, Paul Lister, Bob Yelalee,

47:31

Barbara Stallman, Julian John Hansen

47:34

and Annie Miles. Our production

47:36

team includes Paul Bikess, Juan

47:38

Pablo Tequiza, April Craig, Michaela

47:41

Janossy-Boyle, Tatiana Latre,

47:44

Kara McDermott, Darcy Riggins-Schmidt

47:47

and Brendan Sweeney. Our theme music

47:49

is by Michael Parker. We'll be

47:51

back with more of The Wild next weekend.

47:54

Take care of yourselves and keep your

47:56

nose to the ground when you're out in nature. You

47:58

never know what you might encounter. find and

48:02

keep in touch. Thanks so much for listening.

48:14

This is my voice. It

48:16

can tell you a lot about me and

48:18

I'm not changing it for anyone. In

48:21

NPR's Black Stories, Black Truths,

48:23

you'll find a collection of NPR episodes

48:27

centered on the Black experience. Search

48:30

NPR Black Stories, Black Truths,

48:32

wherever you get podcasts.