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An onslaught of ambitious beavers has damaged and felled several large trees along the banks of Sonoma Creek above and below the Ig Vella Bridge.

A stand of heavily-gnawed trees below Riverside Drive near Willow Street was discovered by local resident Robert Mercado who initially thought it was the work of a human vandal. Mercado said he spotted a vagrant whacking at a tree trunk along the creek with a chipped rock last summer and then saw several severely-damaged trees in the same area a week ago.

He called the Index-Tribune and contacted Sonoma County Regional Parks, who sent ranger Jonathon Umholtz to investigate. But it took only a cursory inspection by the I-T to determine that the culprit was beavers, not human vandals. A row of medium-to-large  trees were heavily girdled with tell-tale tooth marks and at least two smaller trees were felled. But while beavers can do considerable damage to trees, ecologists consider them, on balance, to be a boon to the environment.

Umholtz said he would contact the State Department of Fish and Game to see if they wanted to take any action against the beavers.

Meanwhile, Lisa Micheli, manager of the Sonoma Ecology Center's Restoration and Stewardship Program, said the center has been hired by landowners to protect some stands of large trees on private property south of the Ig Vella bridge. "The beavers have been very active this year," she said, "we don't know exactly why." Micheli said the large-toothed rodents have been taking on some very mature trees. "They are extremely industrious and very optimistic," said Micheli of the beavers. "We don't know if they intend to build dams with these trees, and we don't know how they would move them into the creek." She said mitigation measures may involve fencing large trees to deprive  the creatures of building materials.

Beavers have apparently had periodic residence along Sonoma Creek for centuries but had died out until new migrants arrived from the Delta in the 1990s. They made their presence known along the creek corridor in 1996 when a beaver family developed a taste for merlot grapevine bark in a vineyard beside the creek. One vine-loving beaver was dispatched, a furor followed and more benign policies were enacted. Ecology Center executive director Richard Dale pointed out that while beavers can cause what appears to be considerable damage, on balance they perform nearly "perfect stream restoration," because they cause the creation of deep pools, slowing the flow of flood water and enhancing fishery habitat. "They have some negative impacts but a lot of benefits," Dale said.

Micheli said conducting a beaver survey is one of the objectives of the Ecology Center's Stream Steward Programs, which are temporarily on hold because the state has frozen grant funds during the cash crisis caused by the ongoing budget impasse. The program is also trying to restore riparian tree stands to stabilize banks and prevent further erosion. The beavers, apparently, have somewhat different priorities.

But, said Micheli, anyone spotting beavers in the creek is nevertheless encouraged to contact Stewardship Coordinator Julie Jehly at 996-0712, ext. 115. She said the program will be up and running again as soon as the budget bottleneck is resolved.

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