Our ad in Bay Nature’s August issue just came out. We’re nicely placed in the upper right hand corner of page 17. Thanks Bay Nature for promoting our beavers! And Amelia for the awesome artwork.
And just in case the nature crowd misses the ad in BN, check out the article in this month’s newsletter for the Mt. Diablo Audubon. The editor kindly allotted me 300 word to convince bird lovers to come to a beaver festival. I am very proud of this particular work. In addition to being one of the most carefully crafted and pithy things I think I ever wrote, it is also exactly 300 words.
Except for the last sentence about MDAS having a booth. Ellis added that.There’s a new chapter of meet the characters for the Beaver Believers film, and it’s not me, but it should be someone you know. In case you don’t recognize her right away, this is the beaver magician Mary O’brien who attended our festival in 2010. She has, along the way inspired me, delighted me, encouraged me, exasperated me and terrified me. Not necessarily in that order.
Surprise-AZ Surprise police protect the city from more than unruly humans as wild animals are often the subject of calls. Police responded to a beaver sighting about 6:30 p.m. June 20 near Nick’s Diner at Litchfield and Waddell roads. Police captured the beaver with a shopping cart and then called Arizona Game and Fish Department.
“Surprise” is actually a city outside Phoenix and not too far from the Agua Fria River which flows down to the Gila. But the real surprise is here is what happened next.
Darren Julian, an urban wildlife specialist for the agency, said beavers are indigenous to Arizona and are usually found in areas with water such as the Salt River and Lake Pleasant.
“This one was probably in the midst to find some open water to recolonize,” said Mr. Julian, noting they do not have to swim and can move long distances in canals and drainage areas. It is unlikely the beaver hitched a ride on a truck or trailer.“They are pretty heavy and low to the ground,” he added.
Someone from Fish and Game (sorry, in AZ it’s Game and Fish!) actually knows about beaver dispersal? And even understands about overland dispersal? Are you telling me Game and Fish has a special warden assigned to urban wildlife?
Someone hand me my smelling salts, I’m feeling faint.
Darren Julian sounded like such a potential beaver friend I had to go look him up. I found his contact info at the Global Institute of Sustainability where he presented a poster session with colleagues in 2007 called
An integrated approach to resolving urban wildlife conflicts by using public education and community involvement. Poster presented at the January 10, 2007 CAP LTER Ninth Annual Poster Symposium, Global Institute of Sustainability, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ..
No seriously. He was the lead on a project that educated citizens about living with wildlife and gave them tools for effective coexistence.
That’s right. Someone from Game and Fish presenting on coexistence. Go read the whole thing and maybe drop Julian a note of gratitude. I did. Julian_et_al
In the mean time, that lucky beaver got dropped in the river. Not that icky urban Gila where he would have been trapped out in minutes mind you (just a 20 minute drive from Frys). He was delivered to the beautiful and mostly wild Verde River which is 40+ miles to the east.
Do you happen to remember a post I wrote about the old woman getting her pig over the stile? I drew a parallel between the elaborate manipulations she had to go through make it happen and the dramatic conundrum of putting together a beaver festival. You probably thought I exaggerated?
I had a dream this year of amplified sound that could be heard all over the park just like a real event. Wouldn’t it add cohesion and joy to the event? I asked the city for electricity and was told that whatever power lurked in the park to control sprinklers and operate night lights was not for us to use.
Never mind, undaunted I found portable solar generated power that we could rent and talked them into making an affordable contract with us. Then, feeling excited and proud of myself, I went looking for someone to handle the audio. My first choice was obviously the talented John Koss who had donated the audio service for Earth Day for more years than either of us can count. But he’s a richly talented man who does theaters and events all over the south bay and I wasn’t holding my breath.
To my delight John said YES and agreed to add the Martinez Beaver Festival to his long list of events. GREAT! I introduced John to our rep at the solar company to figure out exactly what they needed. Then I told all our musicians the good news. I was so excited!
Not so fast, little girl.
The whole thing ran into danger when the solar company suddenly said our event insurance needed a special rider to protect their property and the company handling our insurance said such a rider would cost us an extra 1000 dollars! Fortunately, the head of ISI stepped in (Dr. Loren Cole) and gallantly said that in 37 years of organizing events he’s never heard of a rider being required. After that challenge the insurance and solar company were able to sit down and work out some mollifying language in our existing (250.00$) event policy that the city requires us to hold. And it’s official. We will have amplified sound this year at the cost of s 200.00 rented solar truck.
Whew!
Then our talented charm designer Mike Warner of Wildbryde gave me a scare. He’s a very busy man and his ouzel tags are getting more popular every day. When he finally had time to work on our designs and pricing, I was alarmed to se the figures were twice what we paid last year! When I asked about the cost jump he said that a lot of his labor had been donated before and he was now too busy to give us the same deal. Ack!
To make matters worse the charms used to be totally paid for by a grant from Kiwanis, but Kiwanis’ new rules meant we got a smattering of donation from them this year. We brainstormed about pricing and he was eventually able to cut some corners and offer us slightly fewer charms for about the same price. Since this year we’re doing silver tone I spent yesterday counting up our old silver charms which should be able to round things out a get complete sets for 120 kids, 25 adults and all of Worth A Dam.
Whew again!There were sadly many more of these but their resolution was too pedestrian and tedious for even me to write about here. Suffice it to say that when I wasn’t at my real job or solving a crise du jour I was watching this several times during the week.
Surprised, she reaches in her apron pockets and finds a tiny crust of bread which she lays in front of the mouse. He nibbles appreciatively, then agrees. And after all that asking the mouse begins to gnaw the rope. and the rope begins to hang the butcher, and the butcher begins to kill the ox, and the ox begins to drink the water, and the water begins to put out the fire, and the fire begins to burn the stick, and the stick begins to beat the dog, and the dog begins to bite the pig, and the pig decides to finally go over the stile…
And that little old woman really does make it home that night!
That’s when Michael Enright and Grace Cochran of Five Rivers MetroParks conservation team rescued the stranded baby beaver from a river bank at RiverScape MetroPark in downtown Dayton.
“He was so small that he would have been an easy snack for a predator if we hadn’t helped him out,” said Enright, the conservation manager.
The tiny furball was taken to Brukner Nature Center Wildlife Rehab Unit to be cared for until he is old enough to be returned to the wild.
“We’re hoping he will grow,” Enright said.
I’m no rehabber but I’d like to think a wildlife rescue facility sets its goals a little higher?
I’m glad this little guy is going to rehab, it’s better than being tossed like a football or eaten by a coyote, but do you really think he’s orphaned? Or that Brukner Nature Center is going to keep him for 2 years? That’s how long it takes to learn what a beaver needs to know. More than likely they’ll give him a few more fundraising photo ops and then put him in a nice local zoo. The beaver trapping rates for Ohio are fairly staggering, and I bet there are lots of ‘orphans’ to go around.
Mind you the trapper that picked him up with huge eagle-talon proof leather gloves waited around a bit in broad daylight to see if the nocturnal parents came looking for him. He must be really knowledgeable about the habits of these animals. At least he understands they’re dangerous. You have to be really careful when handling them.
Good lord! Aren’t they afraid about being bitten by this terrible menace?
Living on Bear Creek, we take great pleasure in watching the wildlife. A few days ago, my partner, Tom, came running in shouting, “Beaver! Beaver in the river!” He grabbed his binoculars and raced to the back window.
I grew up in a big city and thought beavers were ancient, extinct creatures seen only in picture books. I was shocked to actually see one in my backyard.
She was standing in the water on her hind legs, reaching for leaves on a tree that had fallen across the creek. Through the binoculars, I could see her chubby, brown belly and her tiny little hands carefully picking the leaves and stuffing them into her mouth. After she had eaten everything she could reach, she let go and floated down the river.
The image of the beaver stayed with me all that day and into the next. It felt like a gift meant to be treasured. I kept telling myself: Don’t forget the beaver. Hold on to the image of her in your mind.
The Daily Tidings is a charming media group out of Oregon and Jessica Bryan’s joyful descant on having a beaver in her backyard is a welcome change. You might want to go read the whole thing so they can count your traffic as evidence that beavers sell subscriptions! In the mean time, I will just think about what we’ve all learned from keeping beavers in our minds.
Yesterday I received a pressured email from Michelle Roberts of NBC Bay Area wanting to talk about beavers and turtles – she said she saw an article where I discussed (I can’t imagine?). We set up an interview that got eclipsed by several fires and arrests in the South Bay, so I introduced her to Beaver friend Leslee Hamilton of the Guadelupe River Park Conservancy and she did a short interview at the end of last nights news, which I sadly can’t find online. You might have seen it? I also spent the day fixing our paypal link and learning about Paypal Here which will let us take credit cards at the beaver festival!
Cheryl took this awesome photo Sunday night with our new festival team members after our cheerful, productive dinner. Clearly the beavers were grateful for our hard planning work and decided to put on a show. If you made a paper bag beaver puppet at Earth Day you know that kits start out with white teeth which turn orange as they grow because of the iron in their diet. This teenager shows us he’s well is well on his way to the bright orange badge of adulthood. See for yourself for yourself:
Yearling shows off 2014 his growing up teeth – Cheryl Reynolds
Word is out about the 2015 State of the Beaver Conference. Leonard is happily lining up presenters and sponsors. He has asked me to present again on our famous urban beavers, and we found the perfect house by the river belonging to his friends which we can rent that will take the dog. (No WIFI though, so you may have to live without my dulcet ramblings for a few days.) Maybe I can dash something out at the hotel during the breaks!
I’m thinking the poster for such an important conference might need more pizazz. So I dressed it up a bit…too much?
And just in case the nature crowd misses the ad in BN, check out the article in this month’s newsletter for the Mt. Diablo Audubon. The editor kindly allotted me 300 word to convince bird lovers to come to a beaver festival. I am very proud of this particular work. In addition to being one of the most carefully crafted and pithy things I think I ever wrote, it is also exactly 300 words.
There’s a new chapter of meet the characters for the Beaver Believers film, and it’s not me, but it should be someone you know. In case you don’t recognize her right away, this is the beaver magician Mary O’brien who attended our festival in 2010. She has, along the way inspired me, delighted me, encouraged me, exasperated me and terrified me. Not necessarily in that order.
Then our talented charm designer Mike Warner of Wildbryde gave me a scare. He’s a very busy man and his ouzel tags are getting more popular every day. When he finally had time to work on our designs and pricing, I was alarmed to se the figures were twice what we paid last year! When I asked about the cost jump he said that a lot of his labor had been donated before and he was now too busy to give us the same deal. Ack!
