Second Annual Mountain Boomer Day On February 2nd

Second Annual Mountain Boomer Day On February 2nd

Brightwood, OR.  The Second Annual Mountain Boomer Day Celebration will occur on February 2, 2013 at Barlow Wayside Park .  The public is welcome to join in either of the 1.5 mile trail walks. Beginning at 9:30 a.m. a group doing light trail work will encounter Barlow or Belle Boomer. The second 1.5 mile walk will begin at 10:30 with no trail work. Celebrants expect to see our own Boomer or Mountain Beaver show up to see if his/her shadow is visible and thereby determine whether there will be six more weeks of winter.

“Some think this day is all about another kind of rodent made famous by Bill Murray in the movie Goundhog Day,” notes Mitch Williams, a Barlow Wayside Park mover and shaker. “In fact. February second began in England as ‘Hedgehog Day.’  Here we have Barlow Boomer and we so look forward to seeing him again.”

Mountain Beavers are also known as Boomers or Ground Bears or Poor Folks Guinea Pigs. The Mountain Beaver doesn't actually belong to the beaver family. It's considered to be a primitive rodent. In most cases Mountain Beavers have a brown fur, but in some cases they will be blackish or reddish. The tail is short. The weight generally ranges between 500 and 900 grams (18 to 32 oz). The length of a male Mountain Beaver is between 30 and 50 cm. 

They live in burrows that have specialized chambers for food. They usually eat ferns or other fleshy herbs. The Mountain Beaver breeding season happens during the first three months of the year and each litter has 2 or 3 newborns. Their lifespan is between 5 and 10 years.   For more information on Mountain Boomers, see http://viewfromcrutchersbench.blogspot.com/2011/04/mountain-beaver-or-boomers-or-ground.html

“Since February is breeding season for mountain boomers, we will be very lucky when Barlow makes his appearance,” explains Nancy Hegg of Brightwood, who knows and named our community’s own Barlow Boomer. “He might be joined by his beloved partner, Belle Boomer,” she continues.

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Also  folks that want to help on trail sprucing up, we encourage you to bring a garden (steel tined) rake!

 For more information about the park and directions, please visit http://www.mthoodmagazine.com/winter/68-recreation/102-jonesing-for-a-snow-free-hike

Viewing Mountain Beavers

Mountain beavers are abundant and active year-round, yet they are seldom observed due to their subterranean existence. Although active on and off throughout a 24 hour period, they are only occasionally seen wandering around on the ground or climbing in trees during daylight hours. They find the majority of their food and water within 150 feet of their burrows.
Mountain beavers have various calls; the most frequent is a chattering produced by gnashing the tips of the lower and upper front teeth. This indicates irritation and at close range is best heeded, because mountain beavers have sharp teeth and can be swift, vicious biters if cornered.

A mountain beaver's hind tracks are 1¾ inches long and ¾ inch wide. The front tracks are slightly shorter. (From Pandell and Stall, Animal Tracks of the Pacific Northwest.)

Source:  http://wdfw.wa.gov/living/mtn_beavers.html

For additional information, the journals of Lewis & Clark have a section on the mountain beavers.  To read their entries please go to this site   http://lewis-clark.org/content/content-article.asp?ArticleID=1948