Beavers binge along Columbia
Beavers are being more naughty — or gnaw-ty — than usual this year along the Columbia River near Wenatchee.
The four-legged lumberjacks have gnawed through trees up and down the river.
“We haven’t had problems like this with beavers in a long, long time,” said Matt Morrison, ranger for Wenatchee Confluence State Park. “It’s been like an explosion.”
Historically, the beaver population was relatively small along the Columbia before the hydroelectric dams were built, because frequent flooding washed away their lodges. Stable water levels allowed for the growth of cottonwoods and other softwood trees that beavers prefer.
The population was controlled by trappers until a 2000 initiative that banned body-gripping traps. The beaver population has been increasingly steadily since the initiative passed, said Paul Fielder, a wildlife biologist for the Chelan County Public Utility District, which owns the riverfront parks.
Fielder said there are at least 20 active beaver lodges between Rocky Reach and Rock Island dams, with an average of five to eight beavers per lodge. Some beavers also live under the riverbank.
Utility and park officials for years have wrapped trees in the riverfront parks with wire to protect them from beavers. But over time, the trees have outgrown the wraps.
Officials haven’t been diligent in keeping the trees wrapped because the beavers didn’t seem to be a problem, Morrison said. That’s changing now, as they wrap more trees with wire and cut down trees that could pose a danger.
“It’s kind of like weeds in your garden,” he said. “If you don’t have a problem, you don’t pay attention to it. Then one day you look and you’ve got an infestation.”
Staff and wire reports
CAMPING
Reserve campsites
Reservations are being taken for Corps of Engineers campgrounds that will open May 23 along Dworshak Reservoir at (877) 444-6777 or online at www.ReserveUSA. com.
Chief Timothy and Central Ferry campgrounds on the Snake River will open May 1. Lyons Ferry Park remains closed, although camping is available south of the river at Lyons Ferry Marina.
Early camping starts April 13 at Dworshak’s Dent Acres.
Info: www.nww.usace. army.mil.
Rich Landers
HUNTING
Oregon braces for bird flu
Oregon and Washington waterfowl hunters might find themselves on the front lines of the fight against an avian flu outbreak in North America.
Birds found in Oregon are known to mix in Alaska with birds from Asia, where the virus is most prevalent, leaving birds migrating through the western U.S. as one of the virus’ possible routes to America.
Waterfowl experts will be warning hunters to take precautions as a result, from wearing gloves when field-dressing waterfowl to dousing knives with a bleach solution when done. They also will be advising hunters to clean and disinfect decoys and waders if hunting in waters where the virus is found.
Hunters are also being told to provide samples of waterfowl they’ve killed for testing, and to ensure that all waterfowl are fully cooked before eaten.
“It’s like (hurricanes) Katrina and Rita,” spokesman Gregg Patterson of the Tennessee-based Ducks Unlimited. “You realize we’re not insulated against this kind of stuff. What everybody needs to do is prepare for it.”
Oregon expects to receive about $400,000 in federal funds for various sampling efforts beginning in the fall.
Associated Press