Through the course of Life many of us have discovered a great many things: the post office key doesn’t work in the car and vice versa; things do not cook very well if you don’t turn the oven on; coffee tastes better if you actually add the water; and clothes come out cleaner if you put them in the washing machine before running through all the cycles.
Come discover your library. Every child deserves a best beginning. Wedsworth Memorial Library is a home for Montana’s D.P.H.H.S. Child Care Assistance program to help Montana families pay for child care costs. Stop on in and pick up an application for Family Connections of Montana Scholarships.
Need to know where to access free legal forms? Stop on by. W.M.L. has phone numbers and information on the Court Help Program which explains what the Self Help Law Centers can do for you.
Also on hand is info on the National Neighborhood Watch Program, how to prevent healthcare fraud, and the basics on Medicare Drug Coverage. Information on the Victim-Witness Assistance services provides local phone numbers to access help from various local government agencies.
Researching family history? Wedsworth Library has data on all the cemeteries in the county and birth stats dating back to the 1800’s. There is this and so much more to discover at your local library.
Do you want to know what happened in the area 20 or 30 or a 150 years ago? Take a peek at the Cascade Courier on Microfilm. Many a fine story has been discovered by browsing through the files.
Have you ever sat down and thought about just how important our local library is? “Montana libraries have an impact on their patrons and communities. Montanans across the state are improving their lives, achieving their life-long learning goals, furthering their communities, and connecting with family and friends at their public libraries,” said Jennie Stapp, our Montana State Librarian.
We are often busy as beavers here. Speaking of which. Did you know there is an International Beaver Day? Beavers Wetlands & Wildlife chose this day to observe beavers because it is the birthday of Dorothy Richards (1894 -1985), who vastly studied these animals for 50 years.
“They are considered “ecosystem engineers,” recognized for their ability to construct dams and create ponds. And while some might consider beavers to be pests, they can actually help us manage water-related issues such as drought, flooding, and water pollution.”
Did you know there are two species of beaver? The American beaver typically weighs 60 lbs. and are 23 to 39 inches long. The tail adds another 7.75 to 12 inches to its length, according to National Geographic. Before European settlement, there was an estimated 100 million beavers populating North America. By 1930 it is estimated that only about 100,000 of the animals had escaped commercial trapping.
“Eurasian beavers are around the same size. They usually weigh from 29 to 77 lbs. and are 29 to 53 in. in length,” according to the Animal Diversity Web (ADW) at the University of Michigan. Their tails are narrower and skulls are smaller than those of the American beaver. “Eurasian beavers once lived all over Europe and Asia. Now, they only live in small numbers throughout southern Scandinavia, Germany, France, Poland, and central Russia due to overhunting.”
Beaver’s rudder-like tail and webbed feel propel them through the water at 5 -6 mph and they can stay under water for around 15 minutes. Beaver kits can swim 24 hours after birth. They are the largest rodents in North America.
When building a dam, beavers set in motions a huge amount of ecological actions. The weight of a pond presses water into the earth where microbes filter out heavy metals and other pollutants. This underground waters cools as it flows and then seeps to the surface downstream. The wetlands created by the dams can absorb powerful floodwaters to reduce a flood’s destructive force. Snowmelt is captured and stored instead of causing massive runoff and erosion. Dams prevent snowmelt and rain from rushing downstream straight to the ocean.
Deep ponds that don’t freeze provide winter refuge for other wildlife. The deep ponds also trap sediment that would otherwise wash downstream and cover spawning gravel. Dam complexes have been known to slow or halt wildfires. The algae and plants in the pond improve water quality by absorbing dissolved nutrients, processing organic wastes, and detoxifying runoff toxins (e.g. heavy metals, pesticides and fertilizers). These wetlands serve as the “Earth’s Kidneys”.
Beaver ponds also recharge our drinking water aquifers, stabilize the water table, and better maintain stream flows during droughts. Beaver lodges help preserve local watersheds and habitat for wildlife and provide critical habitat to some migratory songbirds. Trees toppled into the water provide resting places for turtles, birds and other species.
All the extra water and vegetation is a boon to fish and wildlife. Moose, deer, otters, mink, muskrats, great blue herons, ospreys, bats, woodpeckers, and kingfishers are just some of the wildlife that benefit from the green meadows surrounding beaver ponds. Fish benefit from increased stream flows and the oxygenated emergence of cold water below beaver dams.
Some dams are several feet long, while others are hundreds or thousands of feet across. One massive beaver wetland complex in Alberta is visible from space with a dam stretching a half-mile long.
Beavers do cause concerns and the FWP are finding ways to find solutions to the problems. To solve the problem of flooding from the backed up water and lower water levels on flooded fields and roads, pond levelers are being installed to lower water levels without having to remove beavers and destroy dams. Crews are finding ways for co-existence between beavers and salmonids, along with finding ways to help increase Montana’s bull trout and graylings. Across the West, scientists and land managers are using artificial beaver structures to heal damaged streams, reestablish beaver populations, and increase water storage.
So stop on by and check out a magazine or book about beavers if you would like to find out more fascinating facts. Whether you pop in because your computer is on the fritz, make copies, grab a book, find a DVD, or check your email; we are here when you need us. Remember how important your library is to the community. There’s lots to find at the library. All you gotta do is stop by and take a peek.