Ducks Eat Beavers

heidi08 Beaver News December 1, 2008

Apparently we won’t have beavers at the Rosebowl this year, which is too dam bad given their feisty efforts. Now I’m not a big football fan, but you can’t have a google alert set for “beavers” without picking up a bit of Oregon state news. I even tried to get the Alhambra High School Marching Band Director to play the Beaver fight song at our April city council meeting, but I think she wanted to wait to see whose side was going to win before she signed on.

Alas for the Beavers, it would have been their first time at the Rosebowl since the year I was born, but instead the Ducks won to the tune of 65-38 which means they destroyed the dam and just played the hell outta what the Seattlepi calls “an eyepopping 694 yards of offense”. If you want an upclose account check out the smart “Building the Dam” blog which mourns the loss. It had boldly boasted, “Turkey on Thursday. Duck on Saturday”, but ended with (duck) egg on its face. It was the 112th “Civil War” game between the Oregon State and the University of Oregon which is a long time for an aquatic civil war to be around.

What we should feel most sorry for is the awful newsroom punning that will be drained of all resources for years to come. The “dam’s been broken” “ducks pluck beavers” “beavers gnaw lost hopes”. It will be bad. The media will use all their beaver punning in this extravaganza and we’ll get nothing but tired leftovers when they’re interested in Martinez again.

For the record, this is what didn’t happen:

[youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=fmugq7-Ke2c]

Thankful

heidi08 Friends of Martinez Beavers November 27, 2008

Today’s holiday is as good a reason as any to take a moment and think about what the beavers have given us this year, and what we’ve given each other as a result. They’ve been a destination, a mascot, a environmental repair crew, a publicity team, a socialization tool, a focal point, and a family-time soap opera. Along with your slice of pumpkin pie, I thought you’d enjoy a slice of comments from beaver supporters:

I work downtown and have been following your accounts of the precious beavers from the beginning. Thank you. I feel so special by seeing for myself how the many wonderful creatures have blessed Martinez by coming upstream and into the downtown. My friend/coworker and I have been watching from the first beaver sighting. However, I think I noticed the fish first, then the beaver, river otter and the muskrat. The water birds and the habitat changing has been just so amazing. I really liked seeing those two geese when I went for my coffee; I will miss the companion. I will be waiting in anticipation of how nature will fill the emptiness. SLH

Dear Heidi,

I am thankful to have witnessed your public activism during the last 15 months beginning when I first discovered your beaver videos on You Tube.

Your admirer,

GTK

i am thankful that they are still here and that they appear to be ok.

i am thankful that they have such a dedicated network of protectors.

I am thankful for cheryl’s beautiful pictures, which make the beavers so easy to see and understand.

We are thankful for the media boost you gave to the woodpeckers. Linda did a fantastic job of setting up those relationships.

I can’t believe your posting on the history of the wall. What scalawags! They seem to be unaware of that whole “photography” thing. It is great to have it on YouTube, now how can we get it into the hands of each and every citizen of MTZ?
Thank’s again!

Hi Heidi
You do a wicked presentation. You remind me of our Green Party leader. Calm, cool and very much to the point. As much as I admire a claymore (its a guy thing) her use of the rapier is artistry. The council must run for cover when they see you coming. Thanks for the beaver pictures at the end of the presentation.

WHG

I kept forgetting to thank you for the new beaver brochures. They have been lodged in their proper locations. They have been going quickly, so we would like to have more of them. This past weekend was the beginning of the holiday travel season, and timetables and other brochures were being sucked off of the information counter.

CS Amtrak Volunteer

Last night’s six thirty news had a story on the woodpeckers and the Mt. Diablo Audubon Society’s plans to partner with Rossmoor to find a different solution to the killing. I can’t even begin to say how gratifying it is to have played a small role in elevating the level of awareness for this situation. The reporter mentioned that a similar killing had already taken place but it had flown under the radar of the watchful eyes of the media.

Similarly gratifying was walking up to the Main Street directory last night and seeing the beaver sticker. I have a lot to be thankful for this year and am very happy to have you two to share that with. Feeling a bit sappy – but the news this morning said people who have the capacity to feel gratitude had lower instances of heart disease – so I think I’ll just wallow in my sappiness. Linda Meza VP Public Relations

Your sappiness is well deserved,and I feel the same. We have all done good work this year and the woodpeckers were a bonus. Cheryl Reynolds VP Wildlife

Heidi- thank you, I knew Cheryl would be on this. Mt. Diablo Audubon had asked me to be the contact person with the property manager and I am working on meeting with him this week to find out where they are going with this, we were told they are putting this off for “2 weeks” and I have been putting out feelers for the many alternative resources that were available to them before the spent $170.000 dollars over the last 8 years? So I really appreciate this contact take care DG

And that’s just a sampling of the kind words that have been thrown our way this year.We do get the other kind of words as well, but these are the ones we save.So what am I thankful for? I feel enormously blessed that the beavers came into my life and gave me such a perfect window into their activities. I’m grateful for the UCLA student I found on Craig’s list that taught me how to make videos and grateful for every person that watched them and came to see for themselves what all the fuss was about. I’m grateful for beaver videographer Moses Silva, who has spent more time with our animals than anyone and who has learned to trust me enough to share his precious footage with me on occasion. I’m grateful for every warm body that filled the performing arts center on Nov 7; the many who became personal friends and colleagues, but the more that I never saw or heard from again. I’m grateful for the media that pulled attention our way. I’m grateful for Don Bernier who decided this story was worthy of his documentary and has been a calming presence all the way through. Thanks for Bruce who started this webpage and Michael who fine-tuned it. Thanks to Mitch Avalon and Igor Skaredoff who were among our first creek-wary converts and became two of our most respected advocates. Thanks to Rona Zollinger and her inspiring ESA students who gave us a jump start of credibility. I’m grateful for all the beaver experts who gave me so much help and support over the year, Mike Callahan, Sharon & Owen Brown, Skip Lisle, Sherrie Tippie, Jake Jacobsen. Thanks to Kathi Mclaughlin who was our resident Brown Act expert and made the city do what they were supposed to some of the time. Thanks also to Lory who has been as devoted to the beavers as any of us, came to meetings and helped out, but skillfully avoided a formal role in Worth A Dam. Thanks a million to our anonymous benefactor who allowed Worth A Dam to challenge the city in court, and who never fails to make me smile. I’m grateful for my flexible life that allowed room for the beavers to expand their demands into running a webpage and a campaign, grateful to all the friends and family I’ve paid less attention to because I’ve been “beavered”, and grateful to my parents who knew I was crazy about the beavers so brought me the sacramento bee about Mary Tappel’s role in the Elk Grove killings because they guessed I’d be interested. I’m grateful to every person who helped us by watching the beavers and letting us know what they saw, who came to the festival, and who volunteered to sit on the unexciting bridge through first night and sheet pile installation and lots of time in between.

Last but not least, I’m grateful to the members of Worth A Dam, none of whom blinked when I asked them aboard. Our first treasurer Donna Mahoney who did so much to get us organized and keep us on track, and our second, Jon who stepped seamlessly into her role and who, despite his english upbringing, found himself a smooth and engaging beaver docent as he parked himself on the bridge during the work. After 23 years of marriage he is still learning my parents’ advice was true…”Life with Heidi will be a lot of things, but it will never be boring.” To our secretary Catherine Dalton, thanks for your faithful keeping track and popping in to ask questions whenever new items occur. Thanks to Linda Meza, who bravely stepped aboard at the very beginning and has never hesitated to do the things that fill me with the utmost dread, I am enormously grateful. Her background in sales has made it easy for her to approach and ask for things, and it was her skills that gave us the tree planting and the festival. She woke up for countless interviews at 3 in the morning, and worked farmer’s market most thursdays. Along the way she landed a column in the gazette that has made fans of many martinez readers. Linda is the heartfelt, fearless advocate who came to court looking very tall and stunning and reminded our new city manager that he could have hired her instead. Thanks for everything, and I mean it.

Finally I want to thank VP of wildlife, Cheryl Reynolds, whose photographs have given a face to the beavers’ story. On any given day she might be kneeling or sitting on the bank to get the best photo, and often has a telltale smudge on her trousers that has become affectionately known as “beaver butt”. I met Cheryl in the wee hours of the morning on beaver watch, and learned quickly that she was an amatuer photographer with a naturalist heart. Cheryl’s was there for Library night in 2007, and was the first to recognize our scaup visitors. She likes to say she is not a writer but at last count she has started two blogs to keep track of all her involvements. Cheryl ran the video camera at the festival, and took photos of the tree planting. Alongside Linda, she worked farmer’s markets and helped out with the massive summerschool program with far too many children. Her friendly nonconfrontational approach earned us friends and inside information during the sheetpile project and beyond. Thanks Cheryl, for all you do.

There are certainly eight more thankyous left, and as words really don’t seem to express what I owe them, I thought I’d give a video instead. Moses created and filmed this, and I think it is a great way to celebrate. The soundtrack was fairly unavoidable, as it is the most famous thanksgiving song ever written. I’m hopeful that Linda, with two children in the military, will not be too annoyed. Try not to think of it as an anti-war song…think of it as a “small govermment makes mistakes in a way that grows into larger goverment song”. Sorry to Arlo too for the edits…the full version runs nearly 20 minutes and youtube only holds ten.

Happy Thanksgiving All!

Heidi P. Perryman, Ph.D.

[youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=_04HUh5RoHU]

Kiosk Beaver

heidi08 Uncategorized November 26, 2008

Beaver friend LK writes enthusastically about the appearance of our furry friends on the “what to do in downtown Martinez” Kiosk.

“I think its really great that the city (or at least the people who maintain the Kiosk) are starting to buy into the beavers”

I agree, and we were all heartened by its appearance. It was council woman Delaney who approached George Bell of the Main street Martinez Merchants when they came to discuss the Kiosk at the last meeting. She specifically asked for a beaver on the display, and it was nice to see this carried out.

The sign locates the beavers at the site of the old lodge, which is still being viewed by the beavers as a fixer-upper. We think the yearlings have settled in residence there, and are practicing for their new digs when they finally launch. I am picky enough to think the image could use a little tweaking. For those unfortunate persons in the world who have not spent as much time in the company of beavers as some of us in Martinez, representing the face of a beaver in a work of art is sometimes a challenge. I have been given stuffed animals that resemble beaver-bears, beaver-otters, and even a beaver-mouse. Some of the children’s artwork from earthday included images that conjured beaver-cats, beaver-spiders and one truly adorable beaver-chicken. So I am not without compassion for the beaver-monkey which graces our downtown Kiosk. It is certainly better than the beaver-nothing which was there before.

I want to remind George and all the downtown merchants that whenever a beaver image is needed to advertise our aquatic heroes, they can approach Worth A Dam. We have wonderful childrens’ artwork, (two completed by a council members offspring!) and photographs galore. We would be happy to help.

Which reminds me that a new beaver brochure was printed in color last week and has been distributed to Amtrak and the Martinez Library, we will get it to local merchants soon. Thank you to our donors who made the printing possible, and thanks to PDQ who gave us a fantastic deal. If you’d like to volunteer to print some of your own, you can download the copy or write us for a publisher file. As always helpers are appreciated!

The Cost of Losing Credibility

heidi08 City Reports November 25, 2008

Who steals my purse steals trash; ’tis something, nothing;
‘Twas mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to thousands;
But he that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which not enriches him,
And makes me poor indeed.

William Shakespeare: Othello Act 3, scene 3, 155–161

And when the person that ruins your reputation is YOURSELF you are realllly in trouble. Here’s an example From Sundays Gazette, reprinted with permission from the author, Ken King:

If it’s “good to be king”, as Mel Brooks once quipped, it must really be good to be the king maker. You want it, you got it. You don’t got to esplian. Those of the well buttered bread in city hall know just what to do. Dunivan’s new $500,000.00 wall is but the latest example of some good ol’ boys and girls gettin’ ‘er done MTZ style. Never mind the conventional rules and procedures, the Brown act is for sissies. Open government, pfffft! Never mind that the situation creating the “emergency” had been languishing for years, or that there were a number of solutions available all along the way. No, that’s not how we operate here. In Martinez all roads lead to a redevelopment agency, or so the king makers would have it.

The prevailing idea here, since 1962, when the first Benecia bridge was completed and ferry service ended, seems to be, to let your, now devalued property, fall into disrepair in hopes of a bailout. While it is fair to argue that the property in question had been overlooked in a previous creek restoration project, there were rules to it. Now the same city council that failed to correct the situation for years suddenly decides, under threat from one of their main benefactors, that there is an “emergency”! As the Church Lady used to say, “How convenient”. No time for any of those darn reports, or stupid studies that might show pushing the structure over three feet into the channel may cause more of a risk to flood control than a beaver could ever dream of. If stabilizing the bank against floods and beavers were the only issue, there were too many cheaper and more aesthetically pleasing solutions. No, the idea was to drive the beavers off pure and simple.

And why is it RDA vs the beavers? There are those who feel that the future of downtown is in developing the very special assets we already have. Our historical architecture, the theaters, the marina, the Joltin’ Joe the opera and yes, our world famous beavers! And there are those who would carve our town into ever smaller pieces in the name of affordable housing Putting a RDA into the hands of a group who already shun accountability and making them completely and forever unaccountable is like putting a sledgehammer into the hands of a petulant child in a china shop! Bad idea!

Ken King

Bullets for Beavers

heidi08 City Reports, Creative Solutions November 24, 2008

It lacks the seasonal charm of “Toys for Tots”, or the spiritual intrigue of “Jews for Jesus”, but Rick Parker’s problem solving rhetoric in Sunday’s Gazette does have a certain clarity of purpose. He writes that if the emergency bank stabilization project was an effort to get rid of the beavers the city could have

shot them for the cost of a bullet instead of spending over 500,000 dollars.

Really? Shooting all 8 beavers with one bullet? That sounds like a fairly complicated proposal to me involving a billiards expert and maybe Cirque de Soleil. He goes on to say that there were “two engineering reports, one paid for by the property owner and one paid for by the city.” Actually there were three reports, the city demanded a second accounting when the first’ wasn’t alarming enough.

“Both basically said the same thing: the wall had moved in the previous six months more than 8 inches which explains the haste on the part of the city to effect repairs.“

Ahhhh, did you catch that meme-change? “The wall had moved“. Actually no report said the wall had moved, but that the supporting soil had moved away from the wall. With Worth A Dam’s historic evidence entirely refuting the bank bamboozle even Rick Parker knows there is no relevance to the soil argument. Maybe he had a heartfelt conversation with a council member, or city staff. Maybe he went to lunch with a beleaguered property owner, or watched the video, but Parker knows that the meme has to change, and quickly.

Otherwise, instead of looking like the city of Martinez wasted 500,000 dollars on a bunch of rodents, it will just look like they wasted it.

Beavers seen this weekend include dad, kits, and yearlings, just in time to be Thankful. Cheryl photographed this image of the lodge work on the west bank. Looks like the beavers have some recreational plans for the holidays. Yes, that is a putter.