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Busy beaver damages trees
Officials hope to relocate rodent responsible for nine fallen trees
| Tuesday, Dec 11 2007 8:05 PM
Last Updated: Tuesday, Dec 11 2007 8:18 PM
Bakersfield's latest vandal will not be charged with destroying public property. Instead, city officials have opted for relocation.
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Just two of several trees damaged by a beaver along the bike path, just west of the Elephant Bar, on Stockdale Highway.
A bicyclist glances at the remains of a tree on the bike path west of the Elephant Bar. This tree and others like it are being felled and damaged by beavers in the area.
Parks officials have asked California Department of Fish and Game to assist with a beaver that has gnawed down nine Cottonwood trees along the Kern River Bike Path near the Park at Riverwalk in the past three weeks.
Estimated damage: $4,500. (Each tree is worth about $500.)
The rodent's work was on display Tuesday on the section of the path just east of the park. In one area, a row of trees lining the path was abruptly interrupted by four chewed and faded stumps -- clearly some of the beaver's early work.
A little farther east were five freshly felled trees, four of which were discovered Monday by city parks workers.
"It was a very busy weekend" for the beaver, said Darin Budak, city parks superintendent.
Budak has asked state wildlife officials for help removing the beaver in an effort to save other trees in the area.
"We're going to work with them and their resources to find a solution," Budak said. "They're the experts in that."
Fish and Game officials could not be reached to answer questions on the removal process.
While the Kern River is dry, the trees were near a gully filled with water likely left over from recent canal maintenance that caused a brief wet spell in the river. No dam was visible, but the beaver appeared to have built a den along the bank.
The trees will likely grow back, said Bill Cooper, co-founder of the Kern River Parkway Foundation, a group that has planted hundreds of trees along the bike path in efforts to beautify the river and revive wildlife.
"Within a couple years they'll be 6 to 8 feet tall again," Cooper said.
Beavers are native to California and are known to inhabit the Kern River, according to Debby Kroeger, education and volunteer manager at the California Living Museum.
Kroeger said trees provide the rodent with building materials and food. The beaver eats leaves and smaller branches at the top of the tree and "since they can't climb the tree, they need to bring it down," she said.