I’m liking this story, which apparently is a gift that keeps on giving! It is so nice to see these bright and shiny faces that are completely unfamiliar saying exactly the right things! Got a call from the paper article earlier asking to print my letter, so I’m hopeful that Oregon will soon be reading about Martinez.
Instead of taking months, using heavy excavators and hundreds of thousands of dollars to build the dams necessary to restore the area, the group spent about $60,000 and six days to remove the berm. They are leaving the rest of the work to beavers in the area. The group knew there was a beaver colony nearby and thought if they offered the animals a new home they would come. They did.
How much do you love that! If you can believe it, Doug was actually on the city council for 7 years and worked mighty hard to teach old dogs new tricks. I’m trying to imagine our council members saying positive things about beavers on camera. Nope, can’t do it. Well, Seaside was LUCKY to have you Doug Ray. And beavers too!
Friday’s beaver-burst of good news also prompted me to write Carol Evans of the Bureau of Land Management in Nevada and she wrote me back the nicest letter and some amazing photos of their work. She said I could share them on the website, so take a look at what controlling grazing and some beaver dams can do in a arid Nevada stream.
Well, is it true? Are 4 pictures worth 1000 words?
Certainly not in Oklahoma, where I was treated to a rousing slam yesterday when I posted the benefits of beavers on the website for Okie wildlife control. Apparently they are so committed to wildlife that someone wrote back angrily on facebook that if beavers allowed for better water conditions then it would encourage more bobcats and coyotes to move in and they might eat stock or pets. Plus beavers cause Giardiasis and children could get sick did I ever think of that with my selfish, mud-slinging, city ways?
Or something.
Anyway, the defensive rebuttal AND my comment were gone when I got home from work. So I think that tells us something about how ready Oklahoma is to learn new things. But maybe I’m being too hard on them because of the three comments posted on the news site, this was one:
Canada and great britain are supporting beaver populations upstream to limit downstream flash floods. sometimes, nature knows better than we do.
