Month: January 2012

Beaver Creek: Martinez Episode

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Friends of Martinez Beavers January 13, 2012

Guess who flew in from Kentucky yesterday, drove around San Fran, made the necessary pilgrimage to Pixar to have his photo taken there before stopping in Martinez on the way to the Wild and Scenic Film festival? Ian Timothy and his very sweet parents Karen and Joel walked around the dams and swapped stories of urban beavers, watched a night heron in the trees and generally impressed the lot of us.

It is hard to describe how much this meeting meant to those involved. We have become such fans of Ian’s work that he has almost achieved hollywood status. Ian was one of my first ‘beaver contacts’ way back during the fight with the city, and as he’s achieved greater and grander things, I have watched his skills and talents grow and gradually came to imagine that ‘Twig’ was probably just a vehicle for his remarkable art and that he probably wasn’t really committed to ‘beavers’ per se but rather exploring his craft and telling a story.

Yesterday, he excitedly talked about other beaver colonies he watches in the Ohio River, noting the changes in habitat they made, while his parents emphasized how important the Martinez Beaver story was for him, and how closely he followed it. I realized that we were every bit as important to him as he was to us, and it was a strange feeling to think that our story had cast such a big shadow on this talented young man, who will obviously accomplish so much in his life.

The meeting was strangest in it’s failure to be at all strange. We didn’t feel like we were meeting newcomers, but rather welcoming old friends. There wasn’t an huge California-Kentucky road block and we could easily have taken them home to dinner if there was more time. The other thing that impressed me about Ian was that he was so NORMAL! If I imagined a shy, socially awkward, asperger’s-type teen who worked obsessively with clay because real life was much too challenging, I was entirely delighted to find out that Ian has a natural, easy personal style with an even pacing and great smile. His parents were warmly genuine and seemed to truly respect their son’s gifts while still treating him like a son. I loved hearing about how his work took up space in their home, in their lives, so that ‘Twig’ and ‘Drake’ were almost a part of the family. Of course it made me think about how much space the beavers have taken up in my own life leaving a trail of evidence in almost every room of my home from the door knocker to the back porch.

Here’s the gang with Ian at the tile bridge, (imagine Cheryl there too taking the photo)! I repeated to Ian and his parents how profoundly touched I was when he included mom’s tail notch in episode 6. Even now as I think of it my eyes blur. The Martinez Beaver story has taken us so far and brought us so many new friends. This year alone we’ve had visitors from Utah (Mary O’brien of the Grand Canyon Land Trust) Washington (Amanda Parrish and Joe Cannon of the Lands Council) and now Kentucky!

Thank you so much for finding time to stop by Martinez on your glorious adventure and I hope you rock their world in Nevada City! Apparently the film festival will travel to Louisville eventually and Ian has already been asked to speak at the event!

For some reason this poem has been lurking in my head all morning and I will have to finish this post with its feathered weight.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

How does your wildlife grow?

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental, Friends of Martinez Beavers, Video January 12, 2012

Isn’t that a beautiful front page? Chris Mclaughlin is a gardener-extraordinaire and the author of the Savvy plant, she used to be in charge of the wildlife blog for the examiner too and we became beaver buddies back in the Martinez drama days. Now she’s working with a team of others on an exciting new website called “Wildlife garden” which advocates redefining what makes a beautiful garden to include more natural appreciations.

Guess who wins recommendation in the new year?

Beavers as Master Builders of Wildlife Habitats

Turns out that North America’s largest rodent is extremely important for wildlife habitat restoration, as well as increasing bird populations. Beavers end up reviving natural stream function, repairing degraded streams, recharging local water tables, and creating wetlands that encourage the survival of numerous plant and bird species.

Chris! Welcome to the beaver-believer club! That’s beautiful, and am I blushing or beaming (or both!) when she advises readers at the end to learn more about beavers by visiting the WORTH A DAM website. She’s in the Sierras where beavers desperately need a few more well-placed friends, so I couldn’t be more thrilled.

Go read the whole beautiful article and see some adorable photos. But the money part?? Check out the comment from a reader three down.

Town Mouse says: January 2, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Great post! And let’s not forget that beavers do live in CA, even in large and busy towns! Have a look at the story of the Martinez beavers https://www.martinezbeavers.org/wordpress/ (now buried under other beaver-related news, but they really do have beavers, which you can watch while having supper downtown in summer.

Ahh TM! What a gallant comment! We so appreciate being remembered. Never mind that our story is “buried” under the tab on the menu bar reading “STORY” or that Chris herself linked to us in the article. But still, its dam sweet to read your remarks.

Speaking of our beavers, they have been doing some serious tree-targetting, finishing off the shining (rough barked) willow at Starbucks and another smooth barked morsel behind ward street, rounding the meal off with a hardy harvest of coppicing near the old lodge. January is tree month. It always has been. Maybe the tulle roots get bitter, or they need something harder to chew. Maybe they’re having a growth spurt?

Oh and if you haven’t seen this you really should. This preview of this charming National Geographic special is not to be missed – but after you watch it, beaver-savvy readers, see if you can spot the error.

I already wrote a host of suits about the mistake. Let’s see if we can get them to change the title!

Like Minds…

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Beavers or Social Ambasadors, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Environmental, Friends of Martinez Beavers January 11, 2012

The amazing case of the Stittswell beavers in Ottawa, Canada brought a host of new friends and supporters. I didn’t realize at the time just how many. This arrived over the weekend from the president and co-founder of the Ottawa-Carleton Wildlife Center.

Dear Heidi

I wanted to thank you and your amazing team for the work you do on behalf of beavers. It is not only an inspiration but your website provides an exceptional forum for supporting and promoting the value of wetlands and beavers. So often people working on wildlife issues feel isolated and alone, particularly in challenging the status quo, so the value of Worth A Dam simply cannot be over estimated.

Our Centre has been in operation for over 20 years but it has only been in

the last eight years or so, with increased development in the region, that we have become involved in beaver issues. We have worked with individuals quite successfully on beaver solutions and have attempted to get the City of

Ottawa to adopt more progressive practices, particularly with respect to storm water ponds. As you can attest, it is not easy changing mindsets within government but we are determined to do so while recognizing it will be a long battle.

As you know, most recently we have been involved with Anita Utas, a local resident, in challenging the City’s plan to trap beavers in a Stittsville storm water pond. Anita is an amazing advocate for beavers and we hope to continue working with her and to involve her in our school program wherever possible.

Most of our Centre’s efforts are directed to providing education on urban wildlife through area schools but we also have a growing community outreach

program, giving presentations to a wide range of groups on wildlife issues, writing a weekly ‘Living with Wildlife’ column in regional newspapers ( website version that features the Stittsville beavers) a website (www.wildlifeinfo.ca) that provides detailed conflict prevention information, and we do extensive work with other environmental and animal protection organizations on specific habitat and wildlife issues.

Since learning about Worth a Dam, we have been very pleased to have been able to direct a number of people to your website. Like the proverbial ripples in a beaver pond, it is spreading the message and doing much good.

We can’t thank you enough for the dedicated and talented campaign you have undertaken. We wanted you to know that it’s positive impact and influence is

being felt throughout the country.

Donna DuBreuil

Ottawa-Carleton Wildlife Centre

Donna! That’s the best letter EVER! Coming from a woman who started a wildlife rehab center with her husband more than 20 years ago after finding a baby squirrel, we take your appreciation very, very seriously. The facility helped injured and orphaned wildlife for many years, trained volunteers, encouraged humane solutions and made a massive difference. When regulations changed in the country they stopped being able to do animal rehab, and made the decision to go full time into education. I am awed by their dedication and commitment to teaching children to appreciate wildlife and making sure adults know how (and why!) to live with it.

Well, the next time I’m feeling like our flailing efforts to save beavers and teach folk about their importance to the watershed don’t make a whit of difference, I will reread Donna’s words and keep trying a little longer. Thank you, Donna, for taking the time to write a beautiful letter, giving me permission to post it, and making us feel like all our hard work really is Worth A Dam!

Lost & Found

heidi08 Beaver News, Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Environmental January 10, 2012

Is your family big enough to have one of those cousins that always got in trouble at family gatherings for chasing the cat or trampling grandma’s petunia bed or stealing cookies off the dessert tray before dinner was even served? You know the kind that started taking Ritalin in grade school after he set fire to his friend’s dad’s garage? Maybe he went on to be come a challenging teen who slouched through high school smoking weed and skipping classes before getting his girlfriend pregnant and dropping out entirely. The family eventually stops expecting him for Thanksgiving and finally only mentions him in hushed “bad-seed” tones .

UNTIL one evening he’s suddenly on the news for saving a baby from a burning building, or opening a dance club that attracted a movie star or maybe even finding a cure for throat cancer. The point is, that this thuggy kid that no one expected anything good to come out of, suddenly shines by doing something amazing and the first reaction out of the family, even though its really, really good news, is just, “HUH???”

Well, meet your cousin.

The Forest Service is known for developing partnerships to get the greatest good out of scarce fiscal resources. On the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest one of the partners is four-legged.

Human activity has damaged the habitat for many species in and around the streams and rivers in eastern Oregon.

The Forest Service hopes to reverse these decades of neglect by first restoring beaver habitat and enticing the animals back in several tributary streams of the North Fork Burnt River.

“Beavers have a knack for environmental restoration,” says Suzanne Fouty, District Hydrologist for the Whitman Ranger District.

“As they build their dams in streams they transform those systems from single thread channels with narrow riparian zones to complex systems with wide riparian zones. Beaver dams enhance watershed conditions by raising the water table in the valley floor leading to more forage, diversified and improved wildlife and fisheries habitat, and improved flood control,” she explained.

I’ve seen a lot of surprising things in my time as beaver crossing guard and I’ve covered stories from Saskatchewan to Sedona but I must say that I never expected to read ANYTHING like this from our very own USDA. It’s true that we mostly notice what happens at APHIS and the forestry service is a kinder, gentler, fruit-producing branch but still I must have stared at that page for five minutes before I believed the acronym. Suddenly I risk becoming the bitter grandma with a grudge who can hardly bring herself to say something nice when the kid does better than anyone expected him too.

The goal is to have beavers establish a core zone of stable beaver dam complexes that will allow them to expand their water storage and modification influences outwards into other tributaries.

“It’s exciting to be part of a project that has multiple partners, can begin to yield results within a couple of years, is cost effective and produces multiple environmental and economic benefits,” says Fouty.

Wow. Just wow. Suzanne Fouty is a beaver hero of epic proportions and is obviously doing something amazing by nudging things on the inside one stream at a time. I’m so grateful for her work and pleased that it caught the attention of Matthew Burks who posted it for all to see that I won’t even comment on the blog’s kind of creepy motto of “Reaching out. Every day in every way“. I’ll just enjoy this moment for what it is, and hope for more on the horizon. Bring on the fatted calf or whatever…

And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.

The opposite of “progress”

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions January 9, 2012

The Congressman learned of a flood control concern resulting from an interesting party: a new family of beavers that are habitating in Chartiers Creek. The animals have been damming up the creek, preventing the water from flowing and resulting in flooding. The beaver dams have put in jeopardy the millions of dollars invested to control overflow, and the local community has been discussing options for protecting wildlife habitat that won’t result in property loss or additional safety concerns for the area. Congressman Murphy offered to help the community work with state wildlife officials to appropriately protect the federal investment delivered through the Army Corps of Engineers.

Whoa! Did anyone else just get a weird Deja-vu feeling? Yup, Bridgeville Pennsylvania has obviously slipped into some repeat-cycle in the space-time continuum where they are reliving the Martinez story right down to the last detail of hyperbole and exaggeration. (And since when is “habitating“even a word?)

Remember the good old days when people kept saying we spent millions on the flood control project and the beavers were systematically destroying it? Unless the money was hidden in a tree that the beaver chewed through, how is that possible anyway?

Well, asking your congressmen for beaver solutions is like asking your landscaper for medical advice. It’s like asking your waiter to rotate your tires. It’s like asking your scout leader to hem some pants. I’m sure Cong. Murphy is very busy approving fracking of the entire state, undermining unions and getting re-elected so has little time to set aside for beavers. Ask us instead. We have nothing better to do than tell cities how to solve problems with long-term solutions that make a difference.

Added Bonus: Keeping your beavers will also take care of your birds your fish and your wildlife. And we’ll stop writing mean things about wildlife management in Pennsylvania. It’s the trickle down economy that works.