Homage to the gopher

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/08/2010 (5905 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The word doesn’t exactly bring to mind the same images as “dog” or “horse,” the majestic, loyal, animals that work for the good of their human “companions” or creatures of admirable qualities. Maybe it’s for good reason though. I mean gophers have a bad reputation as a pest. They apparently destroy agricultural land and are the bane of Ranchers and their cattle. Now I’m not about to go and start the argument that every single creature in nature is wonderful. I don’t know that I will ever see the mosquito as something that should be paid some homage to, but the gopher, well, maybe they are just a little misunderstood and due a second look. Could they even teach us something?

Gophers, or more accurately, Richardson’s ground squirrels, are assigned blame for every cow’s broken leg, child’s twisted ankle, or poor crop yield.

But is that reality or just something some farmers cooked up because they don’t like them? Gophers burrowing actually aerates the soil and helps it to absorb water, and their waste even fertilizes the soil. Gophers improve the forage for cattle and they help maintain the grassland. It’s very rare that cattle or horses break any legs in gopher holes, I mean give them a little credit for watching where they walk!

Gophers are amazing architects (and some like to stack things). Their burrows are twisty, winding tunnels that are the envy of many animals. As soon as one of their burrows is left empty — bam — it becomes a home for the endangered burrowing owl. Getting rid of the gopher means eliminating the burrowing owl and a whole host of other predators that (gulp), eat gophers.

Yes, without the gopher say goodbye to the rare black-footed ferret, the swift fox, the ferruginous hawk, and a dozen other species.

Fortunately, gophers are tenacious. Just because a golf course owner wants a smooth uniform lawn, doesn’t mean they get to have it. I mean gophers have been around longer than we have, and we have the nerve to keep forcing them to become suburbanites.

If you take a trip to the Royal Tyrell museum in Drumheller, Alta., you will see what gophers used to look like (think a small tank with really sharp teeth and claws), and you can thank your lucky stars they are just small little furry creatures now.

I like to think that gophers can teach us about community and having respect for your neighbours. Gophers live in these colonies where they live together, work together, and look out for one another together. Sure, they have their squabbles and fights, but they always seem to work out. I’m fairly certain any gopher would send out that shrill warning cry in a heart beat if they saw any member of their underground neighborhood in peril (even if they did plant a new burrow right in their view of the setting sun).

Gophers to me represent an underground culture, a place that we know very little about but seem to be bent on destroying, just because they make a few holes in the ground. In Alberta, gophers are becoming more revered as tourists and visitors clamour to see the Gopher Hole Museum in Torrington, celebrating their industrious and artistic nature (albeit in a stuffed kind of way), but what other rodent has claims to that kind of celebrity?

In this day and age, it would be nice to teach children about recognizing the importance of sharing our land and having respect for all species, not just the cute and furry ones (although gophers certainly have that going for them). And if I am going to pass on some pieces of advice, I would certainly teach them not to play on roads where too many gophers end up. And not in a good way.

So in paying homage to the gopher I salute their tenacity, their resilience, their architectural brilliance, and their ability to foster a community with all different species. Believe it or not we would all miss the gophers if they disappeared, and I’d prefer to be able to go out onto the prairies to see them in real life, and not just in a picture book, although that’s a good place to start!

Mike Boldt is the Alberta author and illustrator of the recently published children’s book: Gophers in Farmer Burrow’s Fields, available at boltmanstudios.com.