“Don’t be a Hugger”

heidi08 Educational, Environmental November 18, 2011

Yesterday, I was having the usual beaver conversation with a man I greatly respect and have known for 4 years. He is single-handedly responsible for saving thousands of beavers and is definitely playing for the home team. We were discussing this paper which proudly says flow devices never work and noting how officials prefer dynamite to maintenance or planning. In response he had just sent me a video of a beaver dam being blown up and I had told him next time to add a warning label so I would know what to expect.

“You can’t be like that.” He admonished. “The reason I was able to get things done is because people didn’t think I was a hugger“

In case you are unfamiliar with the term, hugger (i.e. Bunny or Tree) is a dismissive term for anyone who advises protecting animals because they’re cute or unrealistically thinks that other species have just as much right to exist as we do. Which of course in addition to being childish is entirely subversive and unAmerican. Serious people that value nature (SPTVNs) spend a long time clarifying that they’re not ‘huggers’ so that the world will take them seriously. Sending a person a video of a dam blowing up is one way of proving your a SPTVN. Saying that trapping is occasionally necessary is another.

His caution rankled me enough that I’ve thought a great deal about this in the past 24 hours. First of all, why on earth would we still have beavers in Martinez if it weren’t for ‘huggers’? And why on EARTH would I still be involved if I wasn’t one of them? And really when it comes right down to it, what actually saved the beavers? Was it science? Skip’s Flow Device certainly sealed their safety, but the city would NEVER have unclenched their purse strings for him to do his magic without HUGGERS. And Lots of them. In the paper every morning and ON THE NEWS EVERY NIGHT.

Calling someone a ‘hugger’ is shorthand for saying you don’t have to listen to them. Maybe they don’t get listened to. But if you put a few on camera they DO get seen. And they have power in groups, which is probably another reason why we are always admonished not to be like them. Beavers have a hundred solid reasons to protect them besides being cute. SPTVNs spend time showing how removing one species impacts another, or thinking of the cost of removing the animals again and again. I have learned to speak their language and am happy to do so when it will help the cause.

But I’m still a hugger. And I’m going to insist that hugger isn’t a bad word or a neutralyzing word. It happens to be a word that gets things done. Not everyone has time to learn the science or the hear the ecological explanation. But thank goodness lots of people can find time for CUTE. It’s never the end of the story, but fortunately for us – it is often the beginning of it.

Which leads me to my new term, for when that conversation strikes again. You have to be able to talk to SPTVNs and Huggers both, and you can’t afford to lose either side. I will smile and say firmly.

“Of course I’m a hugger! I’m a REALITY HUGGER”

heidi08 Beavers November 17, 2011

Very Bored Mountain Men

heidi08 Environmental, History November 17, 2011

This just in: all those mountain men like Kit Carson and Caleb Greenwood and even Joseph Walker (buried in Martinez) that once traipsed around the Sierras looking for beaver were actually stunningly confused and misguided – with nothing whatsoever to keep them in shoe-leather once they left the central valley (which is obviously why they kept going back). The fact that beaver skins were used as currency in the 1800’s means absolutely nothing about their prevalence and all those sierra tribal words for beaver are merely a curiosity. Never mind that beaver in Colorado or New Mexico survive equally well at 10,000 feet or sea level and exist on both sides of the Grand Canyon. California is different. Our rivers were less hospitable than the other 48 states. Our rocks were pointier. Our hills were climb-ier. Our beavers were lazier. Fish and Game in its infinite wisdom has definitely spoken and of course since they have taken great pains to reference themselves, it must be true.

Although beavers were native to California’s Central Valley in the early 19th century, they were not generally known from the Sierra Nevada except where introduced by humans (Tappe 1942, pp. 7, 8, 13, 14, 20). Native beaver populations experienced great declines during the early exploration of California by traders and trappers (Tappe 1942, p. 6). Subsequent reestablishment and introductions have extended their original range (CDFG 2006, p. 1). In the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountain ranges, beavers inhabit streams, ponds, and lake margins from Modoc County south to Inyo County (CDFG 2006, pp. 1, 2). Beavers commonly inhabit riparian areas of mixed coniferous-deciduous forests and deciduous forests containing abundant beaver forage and lodge-building material, including Salix spp. (willows), Alnus spp. (alders), and Populus spp. (cottonwoods) (Allen 1983, p. 1; CDFG 2006).

Oh and in case you wonder. They also go on to say that beavers interfere with Native trout but its mostly not a problem.

At Golden Trout Creek, a single beaver dam had been maintained since 2003. No negative impacts from the beaver populations were documented. Therefore, we conclude that beaver activity does not currently constitute a threat to the California golden trout, nor do we expect it to in the future.

To which I can only reply, that’s mighty white of you CDFG!

heidi08 Beavers November 16, 2011

Since she started with Beavers…

heidi08 Beavers or Social Ambasadors, Uncategorized November 16, 2011

Every now and then you encounter a happy accident on youtube and it introduces you to something you never would have saught out on your own. That’s true for this song by Jonathan Richman whose original recording I don’t really like, but inspired this young woman to record her own version. It starts off a bit rocky, but stick with it for a treat.