Guess what I saw this morning?

heidi08 kits June 11, 2010

You know, every so often, since our kits didn’t make it last year, I try to tell myself that it really isn’t that important. We’ve had two happy generations. We were extraordinarily lucky. I’ve got to see all those family members grow and interact, and I’m more blessed with beaver contact than most other humans on the planet. The important thing, I try to tell myself, is that the beavers have taught so many people so much. Mom is growing older and its hard work taking care of kits and if we never get babies again that will be okay. And then, ahem, we get this.

And I know how much it means and how gloriously happy it makes me to see new faces swimming about the pond. My heart is so much lighter and suddenly I am less worried about mom and the gulf and the food supply. There isn’t a better morning than discovering two new kits in Alhambra Creek. Two! I’ve never seen two at once to start with, but I was lucky today. It’s June 9th, perfect timing if you look at the last sightings. One slightly larger than the other, both trying to act like they knew what they were doing, pretty awful divers, bobbing like corks in the water and making ripples as wide as a school of tuna with their artless skills. One went into the lodge first and the second hung around trying things out and letting me do a little filming. Then he/she glide-lumbered off as well, leaving me very excited to come back and download my footage!

Thank you mom and dad for doing just the right thing to feed and take care of them. Mom’s been looking less groomed lately and we’ve been worried about that. I see now that’s because she’s using the remaining oil from her castor gland to groom the kits instead, so they’ll be waterproof and ready for action. She’s taking care of their needs and not her own, as mothers everywhere have done since the beginning of time. I can’t tell you how grateful I am for their remarkable parenting.

Congratulations Martinez! It’s two beavers!

UPDATE: just got word that the footage was on channel 7 and the broadcaster said “so cute”. ahhhh now that’s news you can use!

UPDATE I: Lisa at the Contra Costa Times announces the news. Thanks Lisa!

UPDATE II: Carolyn Jones of the SF Chronicl e just called and will run a story tomorrow.

UPDATE III: Former Gazette editor, Richard Parks adds his voice on the bay citizen.

UPDATE IV: Martinez Gazette adds it voice to the chorus.

SRO in Montclair

heidi08 City Reports, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental June 8, 2010

My, my, my. That was quite a crowd. I’m told the room accommodated 100 people, but there were people standing and chairs being added. Apparently its one of the biggest crowds they’ve had. The space was beautiful, the people warm and generous and the entire evening was kind of magical.

If you’ve never been to Montclair Presbyterian, the church is nestled in this jewel of a setting with twisty streets under overhanging branches and homes that make you think you’re in Inverness or Occidental, not minutes away from the Caldecott Tunnel.The vision, heart and hands behind Close to Home is Cindy Spring, who was organized, appreciative and well equipped. The technology of the evening ran smoothly, and we had everything we needed for the 90 minute talk.

I talked about the beaver drama, the civic response, the publicity, the sheetpile, the children’s art, the festivals, the subcommittee and the animals themselves. It was delightful to finally have enough time too be able to explain it all. I was even able to conclude by mentioning the beaver historic prevalence research we are working on, which the room found very intriguing. I talked about salmon and bird populations going up with the number of secondary dams, and I’m pretty certain most of that room will be taking amtrak in the next month to beaver watch in the evening and have dinner downtown. Lots will come to the beaver festival too. And most will write the mayor when they do.

It was one of those tightly attentive groups where everyone laughs in the right places and rolls their eyes at the same things. When I finished talking there was applause but not a single person got out of their chairs. They had great questions and clapped again after I answered them. Afterwards, a handful of people came up to say it was a great presentation, to say they were inspired by the idea that someone could get so personally involved, and to thank me for making them feel involved too. Cindy insisted on setting up a donation box and we received generous cash donations in addition to the payment for the talk Close to home provided. All in all, it was such a positive evening that we chattered cheerfully all the way home and forgot to pick up Jon’s car from where he met me at the office.

Oops!

Thank you for a great night, and the final performance on this season’s beaver speaking tour! I won’t be doing any more beaver talks for the foreseeable future and can concentrate on the festival and the day job. Thanks Igor Skaredoff for introducing me to the Close to Home folks last year, and Cindy for reminding me how many caring, intelligent and responsible people there are in the world.

If seven maids with seven mops
Swept it for half a year.
Do you suppose,” the Walrus said,
“That they could get it clear?”
“I doubt it,” said the Carpenter,
And shed a bitter tear.

Lewis Carrol

More great gulf reporting from Rachel last night. The SF Examiner wrote about it this morning.

Here’s a little cold slice of fiscal responsibility you might consider as well from this mornings New York Times;

The idea that BP might one day file for bankruptcy, particularly as part of a merger that would enable it to cordon off its liabilities from the spill, is starting to percolate on Wall Street. Bankers and lawyers are already sizing up potential deals (and counting their potential fees).

Given the plunge in BP’s share price — the company has lost more than a third of its value since Deepwater Horizon blew — some bankers and analysts say BP is starting to look like takeover bait. The question is, who would buy BP, given its enormous potential liabilities?

Shell and Exxon Mobil are both said to be licking their chops. And already, flinty legal minds are dreaming up scenarios in which BP would file a prepackaged bankruptcy and separate the costs of the cleanup — and potentially billions of dollars in legal claims — into a separate corporate entity.

The Untold Story

heidi08 Educational, Environmental, Friends of Martinez Beavers, Why We Care June 7, 2010

So I’ve been scrambling about this weekend to get ready for my presentation tonight at Close to Home. There’s aren’t many beaver-speaking events I get nervous about. The Flyway Festival…the April council meeting….and this. It’s partly because it’s a paid event. Worth A Dam gets a 100 dollar donation for the talk. It’s partly because these are smart compassionate people who are for the most part well educated and ecologically minded.They’ll know what I’m talking about, both the advocacy and bureaucracy. If there is a “choir”, tonight I’m preaching to it. And I don’t know about your church, but when I gathered to sing in choir the priests act terrified around us.

This arrived today on my google alerts for “Martinez Beavers”. No pressure.

It’s also because I plan tonight to tell the full story of the sheetpile saga, and I haven’t really done that before. Mostly because the layers of lies are so convoluted and tangled trying to tell it leaves listeners glassy eyed and confused. Even my very kindest documentarian said to me gently, when I tried to explain on camera, “No. Just try to make it simple, okay?” I WISH. But tonight I’ll try, and I’m very interested in how I’ll do.

I’ll repeat the invitation to come. I would love some familiar faces in the audience. Hopefully they’ll be some heartily persuaded friends there as well. I’m fantasizing about a wordpress technician, an environmental lawyer, and a regional head of Fish & Game, who hear the presentation and just can’t wait to help. Dream big, I say.

A Charming Development!

heidi08 Festival, Friends of Martinez Beavers June 6, 2010

Yesterday I received word that the Kiwanis club of Martine z will fund the Charm Bracelet activity at the beaver festival. As you might remember, we first tried this activity at the Girl Scouts Amazing Day Flyway Fiesta. Girls earned charms by learning important facts about the way beavers impacted other species.

That particular experiment was a HUGE SUCCESS in much the same way that having a party that is attended by five times as many very fun people as you invited (or have space for) is a huge success. We had a half dozen Worth A Dam members on hand that day and we were all hopelessly overworked. If it had not been for some very blessed and generous parent volunteers we would never have managed. Thankfully good ideas make friends and we soon had all the helpers we needed.

We plan to set things up differently at the festival. Kids will start out getting the bracelet with me and earn their “Key” charm by learning what a keystone species is. Then go off to a linking station (where two jewelry minded volunteers are already lined up. We’ll need more if you’re interested?) and have that added to their bracelet while they bone up on details about how dams increase insect for the next charm. All the information they need to earn the charms will be easily accessible. Whenever they are ready they can trot over to the Friends of Alhambra Creek display to explain how we get better and bigger bugs because of the dams trapping sediment and organic material and thus earn their dragon fly charm. They can bring this back to the “linking station” and read up on how a better and more varied bug diet affects the fish population. Then take that knowledge over to the SPAWN display and explain what they’ve learned to earn their salmon charm. And so on for birds and otters.

The goal is to teach about the relationships in a tangible way that increases activity and visitation for all the booths. The very last charm they earn will be the beaver, and they’ll come back to me at the beaver information booth and explain how it all fits together. At the end they’ll have a beautiful charm bracelet paid for by the Kiwanis club, which can remind them about a head full of information about how the beaver-centered ecosystem works. The charms are purchased from Shipwreck Beads who are doing a special order for us. (They were out of beavers!) I am trying to persuade them to donate a few extra, so keep your fingers crossed. At the moment the activity will be free for the first 100 children, and any truly motivated adults can participate for a materials fee of 5 dollars.

It will be a dam fine bracelet and learning experience. Thank you Kiwanis, for making it possible!

(S)heroes

heidi08 Environmental June 5, 2010

Okay, I’m off this morning to talk beavers at Wild Birds Unlimited in Pleasant Hill but I thought I’d leave you with the voice of this remarkable woman I heard on yesterday’s Science Friday. Sylvia Earle was once the head of the NOAA and currently the explorer in residence of the National Geographic Society. She has spent more than 6500 hours under water, and in the 70’s lead an all woman team of “aquanauts” to live under water for 2 weeks.

She was asked yesterday about the wisdom of using millions of gallons of toxic dispersants in the gulf, and the likely impacts on the water column. She was thoughtful, reasonable, compassionate and exquisitely scientific. Her answers glowed when you held them up to the light. I have never heard a voice that made me feel as hopeful about an event that has made me feel as despondent. Her Science Friday interview can be accessed at the link. Below that is video of her speech as a one of three winners of a TED award in which she invites the audience to change the way they think about the “the blue heart” of the world. I know with perfect certainty that she would like beavers. Enjoy.