Folkmanis will be friend to the beavers…

heidi08 Beaver News, Beavers or Social Ambasadors June 24, 2008

One of the most popular exhibits at our beaver display is this furry finger puppet from Folkmanis. I have struggled to keep him out of the coat pockets of many an adoring child, and given several as gifts. One went to appreciative beaver-expert Skip Lisle and is now enjoying the summer in Vermont. Believe it or not, I first purchased mine in Juneau Alaska, when the time away from our beavers was beginning to take its toll. Others I gave as “Welcome aboard gifts” to the members of Worth A Dam. A final specimen sat on my notebook during most of the subcommittee meetings, and it was an electric day when a certain beaver-unfriendly attorney accidentally knocked him down and had to gingerly pick him up and place the stuffed critter back where he came from.

Recently I wrote Folkmanis, which is based in nearby Emeryville, to ask whether they had heard about the Martinez beavers and would consider helping Worth A Dam by making these finger puppets available to us at cost. Worth A Dam could sell them to beaver fans, raising money for beaver maintenance. I was delighted by the response and learned that they were animal lovers who had followed the beaver saga closely and would be thrilled to help out! There are a few details to take care of, but expect to see these little critters for sale soon either at our display and/or the local merchants. It never fails to surprise me how many people have heard of this story and been affected by the beavers and the humans lives they have touched. The other evening we met a family from Indiana who were visiting relatives in the area and specifically asked to be taken to the beavers “they had seen on Fox news.” I can assure you they weren’t disappointed. Help us keep collecting stories of beaver recruits and write with anything you encounter. In the meantime, check out Folkmanis’ remarkable collection and website, which is a lot of good fun and not just for children.

Meet the Beaver-Defenders of the North

heidi08 Beaver News, City Reports, In the News June 24, 2008

Fur-Bearer Defenders is a non-profit society dedicated to the prevention of cruel trapping. They are located in Vancouver, Canada, and were involved in the Surrey Beaver situation. They have been around for several decades, worked on a couple continents and know all the excuses humans give for harming wildlife. We swaped stories and invited the program coordinator, Fannya Eden, to guest blog.

From Fur-Bearer Defenders: There are many alternatives, such as pond leveler and other various types of water-flow devices that would allow us to live in harmony with our wildlife beavers. Among these alternatives, relocation is the last resort and should be done with the up most care. Trapping is cruel, and it is NOT a solution. Killing and removing the beavers from what is naturally their habitat will simply vacate the area for other beavers to move in. This only further perpetuates the cycle of cruelty and killing.

From The Province newspaper, June 7th, 2008:

… The killing hasn’t solved the flood-risk problem, a wildlife advocacy group said. “If one beaver is killed and removed, another beaver will actually move in,” said Fannya Eden, a project co-ordinator for the Fur-Bearer Defenders office in Vancouver. “That will just start the cycle of killing and cruelty.” “When they have family, what do you do? Trap the whole family? Do you take the parents and let the babies die?” Eden said there are various structures made of fencing, posts and tubes that can eliminate flood risk while allowing beavers to remain in their habitat.“It takes a bit of tweaking and care and maintenance to have the structures work,” Eden said. “There are ways we can coexist with beavers. It’s nice to have wildlife in our area and be able to observe them and take joy in watching them.” And beavers, she said, produce ecological benefits.

“Beavers are very important natural engineers,” she said. “They preserve the wetlands.”

We couldn’t agree more, Fannya! Thanks for all you do. It sounds there’s a little more work ahead in Surrey, where they’re now suggesting residents can “adopt” troublesome beavers. This is a cozier idea but still ignores the fact that if the habitat supports beavers, more will come. Let us know if there is anything Worth A Dam can do to help out!

Halcyon Days of Summer

heidi08 New Species, pictures January 7, 2010

Then for the teeming quietest, happiest days of all!
The brooding and blissful halcyon days!

Halcyon is the Greek name for the newest residents of our pond. The talented Cheryl Reynolds snapped these remarkable pictures. The ancient Greeks named them after Alcyon, the eldest sister in the pleiades. They believed their kingfishers nested on the ocean and made the waves calm during the two weeks before winter solstice when their eggs were hatching. It was a great gift to sailors. Hence the term “Halcyon Days” which was quoted by Whitman and others. The only Kingfisher we have in most of the US is this: the belted Kingfisher, named for the obvious band around his neck. Although the Kingfisher was a very occasional visitor to the pond last summer, they are firmly in residence now and spend their time going back and forth between two particular trees. A kingfisher sits very still on a overhanging branch, spies a fish in the water, and makes a sudden drop dive, spearing the animal and returning to the branch to eat it. They make a loud, rattling call, but only when they fly, and their beak size is enormous compared to their tiny bodies. This particular Kingfisher appears to be “tenderizing” his fish by whacking it on the branch before swallowing. Halcyon Home-Ec?

The series of photos from last nights dam visit are some of the most “beaver expressive” ever. Enjoy!

Full Screen

Try the dip…

heidi08 Friends of Martinez Beavers, New Species March 4, 2009

He is the mountain streams’ own darling, the humming-bird of blooming waters, loving rocky ripple-slopes and sheets of foam as a bee loves flowers, as a lark loves sunshine and meadows. Among all the mountain birds, none has cheered me so much in my lonely wanderings, —none so unfailingly. For both in winter and summer he sings, sweetly, cheerily, independent alike of sunshine and of love, requiring no other inspiration than the stream on which he dwells. While water sings, so must he, in heat or cold, calm or storm, ever attuning his voice in sure accord; low in the drought of summer and the drought of winter, but never silent.

John Muir: The Mountains of California The Water-Ouzel

Our weekend in the mountains contained a dramatic animal rescue attempt. Off highway 88 at about 4000 feet is a lovely rushing river, meadow and campground. We went to check under the bridge to see if the American Dipper who nested there last year was back again. Dippers are amazing birds, and you would know them instantly if you saw one. In addition to their “namesake” dipping kneebend, they can actually walk along the bottom of the stream bed, under rushing water, hunting for bugs. They typically nest along rockfaces over streams, but have recently been studied using bridges more often. This female had laid her remarkable nest in the underside of the bridge at the middle of the stream, some 40 feet in the air. We watched her bringing food to the young ones, and heard their lovely singing.

Then it happened. PLOP! A hatchling fell from the nest and landed in the rushing snowmelt, quickly sinking. We generated enough public interest to get the young boy wading near it to fish the fellow out of the water and bring it over. Then PLOP! A second casualty. We didn’t know what to do. It would be impossible to put them back, and cruel to leave them to drown. They were so small their eyes weren’t even opened. We weren’t sure why they fell but there were a number of bees circling the nest and that might have had something to do with it. Or there may have been some interloping cowbird eggs laid in that nest who grew faster and pushed the rightful residents out. We will never know.

So we tucked the bedraggled pair into a bowl, and kept them warm while driving down to the local wildlife rescue center in Jackson. Tri County Wildlife has helped us with several rescues in the past, and are on our regular donations list. I first learned about them when we stumbled acrossed a trapped cornsnake and called the Lindsay Museum for advice: they directed me to the nearby facility. Sadly, one of the hatchlings died in transit, but the other one seemed fairly strong. He was singing and pecking my finger for food all the way down. I’m hopeful his story will have a happy ending. I was reminded though, when I saw the awed faces watching the rescue, that taking care of wildlife nurtures a deep place inside humans as well. Holding those fluttering wings gently in my fingers is a feeling I’m not likely to forget.

I eagerly await the day we see a dipper at the beaver dam. It could happen…

Watershed Steward

heidi08 Uncategorized June 22, 2008

It occurred to me that it may be ironic for the mayor to express concerns about willow trees impeding the creek flow, but not mention the dead body found in the creek the day before. I imagine a body would interfere with flow as well. Worth A Dam’s trees were subjected to gravest scrutiny, but the body of a woman was left long enough to decompose. It seems in heartless poor taste to even mention the disparity, but it can’t be ignored. The city’s has minimal interest in the creek: I noticed this when I was thinking of the planting and realized there were no gates to get onto the banks. I understand the city wants to keep people out, but a locked gate is really just like a fence that sometimes opens. They could have planned ahead.

Jake Jacobsen of Snohomish County in Washington is the Watershed Steward for his region and has been helpful to us with all sorts of questions. He knows the creeks inside and out, and helps property owners with riparian and beaver management. Steward positions are under the public works department, and the county pays him to know the waterways.

What would it be like if Martinez had an Alhambra Creek Steward?

A steward could walk the creek regularly and notice anomalies in the stream bed. They could map the location of trees and let staff know if any is a problem. They could find the baby alligator a boy just told Moses he released because he couldn’t keep him anymore as a pet. They could notice where homeless encampents were located, and figure out which houses were dumping christmas trees into the water. They could identify and remove invasive species like the Arundo growing on the lodge. They could test BMI and water quality to find any healthy or unhealthy sections of the river, and they could spot the occasional dead body.

The concern that our trees, planted on the bank in accord with the city plan and in cooperation with the city engineer will impede flow, is pure theatrics. Exaggerated attention is directed to the beaver portion of the creek, and people who never glanced in its direction before are watching with hawk’s eyes to find proof that the beavers are bad news. The kindest interpretation of this is that people see things in a new way when they are alarmed. There are several less charitable explanations.

An example: At my old office I had birdfeeders and a number of feathered visitors. Goldfinches, white and red breasted nuthatches, and downy woodpeckers to name a few. My downstairs neighbor complained about seed husks so we would sweep his porch every week to keep it tidy. During one such sweeping event, the crabby old accountant watched with folded arms and said, “What about all the green stuff. Get that too.”

The “green stuff” in question was pollen from the hundreds of digger pines in the area and had been on his porch every spring for as long as he had been there, but of course he had never seen it before because he had never looked with this particular set of eyes.

These are the type of eyes directed to downtown’s portion of Alhambra Creek right now. Every piece of trash is noticed, every newly planted tree is a possible hazard. This exaggerate concern could be used to fuel major improvements and developments. There could be pipe weed to attract butterflies and wildflowers to brighten the waterway and benches to stop and appreciate the habitat. There could be a creek walk and signs to direct visitors to different features, like the kingfisher nest recently noticed at the primary dam.

But there won’t be. The only opportunity being seized here is the opportunity to disparage the beavers and the people who advocate for them.

Martinez does not “steward” its watershed: it exploits it.