Martinez goes to the Zoo

heidi08 Beavers, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental November 15, 2013

heidi at zoo

Yesterday was a busy day for beaver supporters in Martinez. We carpooled to the Oakland zoo for their continuing education brown-bag series, where about 75 zoo keepers and volunteers gathered for the brown bag series – this time featuring beavers! It was a lovely hall with a great setup and many familiar faces dotted through the crowd. They were the kind of cheerful intelligent animal champions that laughed at every joke, oohed in all the right places and audibly gasped at Moses’ footage of mom beaver walking on her hind legs to work on the dam.

Although it was working perfectly when I set it up at first, the AV equipment developed an imperfect relationship with my mac, which the techs solved by telling the computer that it was projecting the image onto another computer to my right. This weirdly meant I couldn’t see the screen and some of the images that projected were blurry, but I forged bravely onward and it turned out alright anyway. Afterwards the woman in charge of the series told me this was one of the best presentations they ever had!

Here’s what enthusiastic zoo volunteer Cindy Margulis posted on facebook later:

Congratulations, Heidi! you did an AWESOME presentation today at the Oakland Zoo about those truly famous Martinez beavers! Zookeepers, docents, volunteers, intern and other zoo staff all enjoyed your delightful and insightful presentation. You have won a whole new cadre of beaver fans … and inspired everyone!

Gosh, could she have picked a better compliment? Thanks Cindy. I LOVE the idea that there is this army of beaver believers waiting by their creeks all over Alameda County with torches and pitchforks ready to defend the first brave disperser that shows up!

After the talk another woman told me that I did a delightful presentation and was “So Charming!” which made me laugh all day because obviously I’m sure that’s exactly how the mayor and a certain creek-side property owner think of me too.

Charming.

Beaver Care Package

heidi08 Beavers November 14, 2013

Our good friend, Worth A Dam’s VP & the beaver’s stalwart photographer was hurt in a serious car accident last Friday. She is still in the hospital but doing better and able to post on facebook yesterday. You can help by sending your cheerful get well wishes my way and I will compile and pass them on. Or by becoming assistant photographers and sharing any photos you might take in her stead until she’s back on her feet again! You are loved and needed, Cheryl, so rest and heal!

In the mean time, Lory, Ron, Jon and I are off to the Oakland Zoo this morning to talk beavers to the zoo keepers, convince the city it needs beavers, and take a special tour with our friend Cindy afterwards. Wish us luck!

Does HSI stand for “Having silly ideas”?

heidi08 Beavers, Educational, Environmental November 13, 2013

Problematizing Beaver Habitat Identification Models for Reintroduction Application in the Western United States

Jeff Baldwin Sonoma State University

Dr. Jeff Baldwin is assistant professor at Sonoma State and heads the Waters Collaborative there. He has been a long-time friend of Worth A Dam and is a student of Suzanne Fouty’s from way back in Oregon. He recently published an excellent paper in the Association of Pacific Coast Geologists on the inadequate way would-be beaver relocators currently assess where beavers could be transferred or HSI (Habitat Suitability Index). And guess what? It turns out that just because you get all scientific-sounding and apply acronyms to your ideas, they still might not be worth the paper they’re printed on!

Seems one of the problems isn’t that beavers chew trees or block roads, but that folks go through all the expense and trouble of moving them, even buildling them a little lodge they have to chew their way out of and when they come back to see how they’re doing they’re dead or gone. (And I’m looking at you Methow Project with a success rate of 50%!) Jeff concludes that factors like gradient slope and browse material might not be the most important considerations in where beavers can thrive.

Humans are not the only species that kill beaver. Bear, wolves, coyotes, and cougar/mountain lion are all natural predators of beaver, and in the Western U.S. the populations of each have been rebounding over the past few decades. These predators are particularly relevant to relocation efforts because beaver are most vulnerable to predation at times and in places when they do not have pooled water in which they can cover reasonably safely. In small streams this requires a natural pool, or a pool created by a beaver dam. Thus, the presence of human and nonhuman predators may have as much or more to do with beaver absence than any of the environmental attributes identified in HSIs.

As importantly, because the HSIs used for beaver relocation fail to include causes (human and other) of mortality and extirpation, their results are likely to continue to disappoint.

Yes because lots of things can’t wait to kill beavers. We know that in Martinez. Hey, I’ve got a great idea for deciding where beavers can live. Let them colonize the area on their own and move wherever the hell they want to! Teach every beaver relocator how to install a successful flow device instead and let the beavers settle where they chose and teach the people to adapt.

Am I Crazy?

That’s not so many beaver knick-knacks…

heidi08 Beaver-themed merchandise November 12, 2013

Betty Davis of Yucaipa is featured in “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! Dare To Look!” publication for her collection of beaver-related knickknacks. Davis has the majority of her collection on display in her Yucaipa home and her Redlands office at Beaver Medical Clinic. She is also a Guinness Book of World Records title holder. courtesy photo

Beaver collection worthy of ‘Ripley’s Believe it or Not!’

REDLANDS >> Betty Davis’ collection of beaver-related memorabilia is once again in the spotlight thanks to the new publication of the “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not!” annual.

The Yucaipa resident is featured in the animal section of the publication — themed “Dare to Look” — which also features “strange stories” from across the globe.

Davis, who works as a director of historical assets for Beaver Medical Group in Redlands, said she was surprised to learn of the honor. But once she did, she quickly ran out to pick up a copy of the book, which is on sale now.

I don’t know, Betty. That doesn’t look like so many beaver things to me. I mean, sure it’s more than most people have in their office, but is it really the world’s record? Do you have a beaver door-knocker? Beaver cookie-cutter? Or hand painted beaver tails? How about a giant beaver painted by 100 children? You can tell Mr. Ripley I think not!

A mother in Michigan contacted Davis about her collection and shared the story about her 9-year-old son who is into beavers as well.

Davis was so touched by the gesture, she said, that she kept communicating and soon sent duplicates to the boy for his “little collection.”

Cute about the little boy, and lord knows we need beaver advocates in Michigan. Yucaipa too for that matter, which is just outside Joshua Tree near Los Angeles. I hope you have inspired this little boy to grow up and becomes an important biologist who teaches his entire state to value this keystone species.

Looking closely at Betty’s collection I see a lot of stuffed animals and a beaver rug. Hmm, it’s true. I don’t have a beaver rug.

: Maryjane’s rugs. Hand made $800.Three Beavers 34″ x 18.5″

Yet.

Busy as a you-know-what…

heidi08 Educational, Friends of Martinez Beavers November 11, 2013

badges

On Saturday the excellent doggie day care program in Martinez (Bring Rover Over) hosted a “Earn an animal badge” event at their facility in town. Girl Scouts from Concord, Clayton, Martinez and Walnut Creek came to learn what they needed to know to earn their badge. There were folks teaching about oil spills, bunny care, making bat boxes, and of course WORTH A DAM to teach about beavers being a keystone species. Each troop rotated through each table so we had to repeat ourselves 5 times and let kids earn a beaver charm necklace by learning how beaver dams made a neighborhood.

Jon, Ron and Lory came along to help, and we were all surprised how tired we were at the end of the two hour day! As always it was a delight to hear children reporting back to me that beaver dams trap leaves and dirt to make rich soil that gets broken down by tiny bugs – (One child even said “microbes!”) which become food for little fish which get eaten by big fish which get eaten in turn by birds and mammals! I especially appreciated seeing their faces look horrified when I talked about people not being sure if the beavers should be trapped originally.

A favorite part was the thoughtful girl who responded to a standard riff that “today was one of the only days children could say the word dam a lot and not get in trouble” by gravely explaining to me that they were actually different words. The swear word was spelled “D-A-M-B“, didn’t I realize?

(But the B was silent.)

This got us ready for Thursday where I will be giving a beaver talk at the Oakland Zoo to keepers and caretakers there. Then beaver friend, and zoo keep Cindy Margulis will be giving us a special zoo tour and showing us amazing zoo things. You probably recognize her from the beaver festival! Oakland has plenty of places where beavers might move in so we might as well get them thinking about solutions and benefits.