ecosystemengineers

I received a notice for this update and its purpose and responded with a letter and various source links to include BEAVER as a featured focus for improving monitoring and various Forest and Ecology goals. ( I hope they hear from lots more of us!)
As follows:

Dear Stacy,
I have received a letter from (signed) Thomas Wagner, Forest Supervisor about an effort to update the Forest Monitoring Program. Several of the “monitoring topics” have resonated with some of my longstanding concerns about activities and policies within the Nat. Forest, especially:

A) The status of watershed conditions;
B) The status of select ecological conditions including key characteristics of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems;
C) The status of focal species to assess ecological conditions;
D) The status of a select set of ecological conditions that contribute to the recovery of federally listed threatened and endangered species, conserve proposed and candidate species, and maintain a viable population of each species of conservation concern;
E,F,G,H) The status of visitor use…….; …Measurable changes on the plan area related to climate change and other stressors….; …Progress toward meeting the desired conditions and objectives……including for providing multiple use…..; …The effects……that they do not….impair the productivity of the land.

It seems to me that many of these concerns and goals could directly benefit from much improved monitoring and protection/promotion of Nature’s Ecosystem Engineer and true “KEYSTONE” species; Castor Canadensis or North American Beaver.

I have been involved in an un-official monitoring of beaver in the WMNF around Crocker Pond and Albany Mountain, Albany, Maine and elsewhere in the region. I have found, fairly universally, that beaver are too often missing or severely compromised due to many factors, including “recreational” trapping and conflict issues revolving around roads, logging activities and even various types of recreational trails.

I see this as a real platform for improvement toward many of the goals stated above, simply (and yet not always so simply), by allowing these unique animals to fulfill their adapted/evolved role in the ecology, as is well documented from many, and a growing number of, sources and scientific documentations.

I would like to promote this as a major part of any update to the monitoring and achievement of the above stated Forest Management and Status Goals. I believe that it must be realized that those goals will never be adequately reached without the keystone species, our native beaver, being allowed to fulfill their full potential activities and ecological role far more often than is now happening. This would require the protection of beaver active wetland complexes in their entirety and monitoring the results throughout the Forest.

I hope I can facilitate the inclusion of this awareness into the “Monitoring Update” process and will now try to list several quick and interesting sources for data and links to data and studies, including sources for protective devices* where beaver activity must be moderated for infrastructure concerns.: http://www.BeaversWW.org, http://www.martinezbeavers.org, http://www.thebeaverbelievers.com,
* http://www.beaversolutions.com, * http://www.beaverdeceivers.com, http://oaec.org/projects/bring-back-the-beaver-campaign/, http://www.hcn.org/issues/47.19/the-beaver-whisperer, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyAw83X1lxs, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unity_(film) , http://www.martinezbeavers.org/wordpress/2013/03/17/selecting-a-surrogate-species/ , http://www.cbc.ca/beaverwhisperer/film.html,

Yet another interesting short video, partly featuring beaver effects…: http://www.trueactivist.com/gab_gallery/how-wolves-change-rivers/

For: USDA Forest Service, White Mountain National Forest, 71 White Mountain Drive, Campton, N.H. 03223
From: Thomas G. Wagner, Forest Supervisor cc: Doug Chaltry

“Update Forest Service Monitoring Program” per Forest Service Planning Regulations (36 CFR 219; http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/planningrule/home/ ). Eight monitoring topics (partly listed above): 36 CFR 219.12(a)(5)

Current monitoring guide: http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5400432.pdf

Further info/contact: Stacy Lemieux,  slemieux@fs.fed.us or (603) 536-6222

Shared by: Richard Hesslein /  ecosystemengineers.wordpress.com  Tel. (207) 674-2884