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How did the boxes open? Strictly on impact? How often was this done? Were the parachutes and boxes later cleaned up and reused? Did this curb the original issue

How did the boxes open? Strictly on impact? How often was this done? Were the parachutes and boxes later cleaned up and reused? Did this curb the original issue, beaver over population? I would imagine that overpopulation means hundreds, if not, thousands of extra beavers. How much did this operation cost? Who thought of this? It seems like something a child would dream up as a solution. lots of questions from that clip. I wonder if anyone looked at it and thought "they're going to be confused in the future when they watch this. lol" ?

trothamel 11y ago
If I understand it correctly, the problem isn't really overpopulation, it was a mix of overpopulation and underpopulation. IIRC, beavers were trapped for their fur, which lead to their population being wiped out in some areas. At the same time, you had beavers in urban or suburban areas, where their dams can cause flooding and other problems. So what they did was trap the beavers that lived close enough to humans to cause problems, and airdropped them into places where they would benefit the environment (at least from our perspective). I assume back then - when fur coats were a thing - the idea of increasing the beaver population was considered an economic win.
- hga 11y ago
  They're also ferociously devour trees; urban areas are less likely to be able to support that, e.g. see the penultimate paragraph of this section https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver#Urban_beavers_in_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver#Urban_beavers_in_United... in which a pair was reported to cut down $5 million in trees.
  - Johnny555 11y ago
    They also help preserve ecosystems even as they are destructive to human endeavors: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/environment-and-nature/20141220/leave-it-to-beavers-california-joins-other-states-in-embracing-the-rodent http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/environment-and-nature/2014...
    - hga 11y ago
      Well, it's all an "in the right place" sort of thing. Put them just outside a human area with too low tree density and pretty much everyone loves beavers, aside from as I recall trout fishermen who better running water. However, when the article says "Beaver dams bestow benefits to the environment that we humans can’t easily copy. They turn land into a sponge for water.", that presupposes there being some water for them to actually capture and manage! Kind of a bricks without straw problem; hopefully the 2015 El Niño will give them and everyone else a lot of water to work with. This being modern, high tech California, surely there's an opening for a "Disrupt Drought!" modern version of this Idaho effort using the latest in drones et. al. ^_^
  - dogma1138 11y ago
    Beavers do not devour trees at random, the mostly kill dead or dying trees which is very important for the forest. Killer trees in areas that lost their beaver population are actually quite a big risk to humans.
    - hga 11y ago
      Beavers do not devour trees at random, the mostly kill dead or dying trees which is very important for the forest. Bullshit. Not only is that contradicted by my very direct and personal observation of their targets, it obviously contradicts their use of bark as food.
      - Turing_Machine 11y ago
        Agreed. Also from personal observation, they prefer young, tender saplings, though they do seem to do some sort of tradeoff calculus based on size of tree/distance to water (i.e., they'll take a bigger tree if it's right by the water, so they don't have to drag it as far). Given their choice, they appear to prefer two or three inch saplings, but I've seen them take six inchers if they happen to be right on the shore. The OP is right, though, that beavers do serve an important function in the ecological succession between from stream->pond->bog->meadow->forest.

trothamel 11y ago

If I understand it correctly, the problem isn't really overpopulation, it was a mix of overpopulation and underpopulation. IIRC, beavers were trapped for their fur, which lead to their population being wiped out in some areas. At the same time, you had beavers in urban or suburban areas, where their dams can cause flooding and other problems. So what they did was trap the beavers that lived close enough to humans to cause problems, and airdropped them into places where they would benefit the environment (at least from our perspective). I assume back then - when fur coats were a thing - the idea of increasing the beaver population was considered an economic win.

hga 11y ago
They're also ferociously devour trees; urban areas are less likely to be able to support that, e.g. see the penultimate paragraph of this section https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver#Urban_beavers_in_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver#Urban_beavers_in_United... in which a pair was reported to cut down $5 million in trees.
- Johnny555 11y ago
  They also help preserve ecosystems even as they are destructive to human endeavors: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/environment-and-nature/20141220/leave-it-to-beavers-california-joins-other-states-in-embracing-the-rodent http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/environment-and-nature/2014...
  - hga 11y ago
    Well, it's all an "in the right place" sort of thing. Put them just outside a human area with too low tree density and pretty much everyone loves beavers, aside from as I recall trout fishermen who better running water. However, when the article says "Beaver dams bestow benefits to the environment that we humans can’t easily copy. They turn land into a sponge for water.", that presupposes there being some water for them to actually capture and manage! Kind of a bricks without straw problem; hopefully the 2015 El Niño will give them and everyone else a lot of water to work with. This being modern, high tech California, surely there's an opening for a "Disrupt Drought!" modern version of this Idaho effort using the latest in drones et. al. ^_^
- dogma1138 11y ago
  Beavers do not devour trees at random, the mostly kill dead or dying trees which is very important for the forest. Killer trees in areas that lost their beaver population are actually quite a big risk to humans.
  - hga 11y ago
    Beavers do not devour trees at random, the mostly kill dead or dying trees which is very important for the forest. Bullshit. Not only is that contradicted by my very direct and personal observation of their targets, it obviously contradicts their use of bark as food.
    - Turing_Machine 11y ago
      Agreed. Also from personal observation, they prefer young, tender saplings, though they do seem to do some sort of tradeoff calculus based on size of tree/distance to water (i.e., they'll take a bigger tree if it's right by the water, so they don't have to drag it as far). Given their choice, they appear to prefer two or three inch saplings, but I've seen them take six inchers if they happen to be right on the shore. The OP is right, though, that beavers do serve an important function in the ecological succession between from stream->pond->bog->meadow->forest.