Feedback from the lion’s den. Imagine how happy I was to get this from the commissioner who invited me.
Hi Heidi,
Your presentation was right on – just what the Commission needed to here. I really enjoyed your style and the Point-on photos too. Also appreciated that you often included information from research. Thanks too for the brochure, very helpful, I will put it to good work. … I had a little chuckle when you mentioned that some commissioners were not watching the screen – you could not see it, but each of us has a private monitor directly in front of us on our desk. It mirrors what is shown on the big screen. We can see the presentation much better, especially the details, when we watch it from our own monitor. J … I believe you captivated us all.
With deep appreciation for the work you do on behalf of Beavers, and also for coming such a long way to share your knowledge us. You did a fantastic job!
Whooo hoooo! Now this truly makes me happier. And certainly makes me feel like I didn’t waste my time or theirs. I really couldn’t believe they wouldn’t look at all. I’m glad to know they were able to watch without swivelling. Good then, time for me to get over any hurt feelings and buckle down with Deidre and Leslie to organize the Hundred and twenty items we have for the silent auction today. We have wonderful items grouped by Household, Things to do, Jewelry, Artwork, Apparel, Books and Toys. Some 4500 in value and I’m hoping we generate a nice amount of funds for the mural and festival, You’re gonna help, right?
The struggle to find housing is a classic Vancouver dilemma and it seems even beavers in this city aren’t exempt.
A growing family of beavers living in a park by Vancouver’s Olympic Village may soon find themselves struggling to find a new habitat because nearby urban areas suitable for rodents are at capacity.
Based on public videos and photos, Vancouver Park Board biologist Nick Page believes up to three baby beavers are now are living with their parents in Hinge Park.
“The challenge is as the beaver population expands, that habitat isn’t large enough to support even a pair of beavers,” said Page.
Hinge Park, a man-made wetland, is considerably smaller than the usual habitats beavers tend to occupy — which means far less food. The baby beavers will likely live with their parents for at least another year before a new litter comes when he expects the trio will be forced to move out of its current lodgings.
Hmmmm that’s a head-scratcher for sure. Where the heck will those three beavers go to find their home? Obviously they won’t be allowed to stay in Hinge park. How can they POSSIBLY escape with all that concrete? I have a guess. Do you?
Apparently Canada has forgot A LOT of what they learned about beavers – including that yearlings stay with the family another year or two to take care of the new kits. And they forgot that beavers don’t need to live in small waterways and can be perfectly happy in larger bodies just like they are on the Carquinez strait which gets salt water from the ocean and fresh water from the valleys. There are a lot of bays and inlets in that Salish sea that will probably work and remember beavers can thrive in water as salty as 10 parts per 1000. IF all three kits live that long, which isn’t a sure thing in this world they’ll find a home.
Yesterday we worked on the prize wheel that was generously donated by Jeanette, shown with her niece working at prior festivals here. She was planning on being there to borrow one of the large ones from her corporation, but when that didn’t work out she bought one for us instead. This will be at the membership booth and donations of 20 dollars or more will earn a spin and win one of these fine treats! Hopefully the lovely clicking noise it makes when it spins will lure traffic to the booth and compel hard working folks to invest in some amazing beaver opportunities!
“He’s got some pretty big ferocious claws and teeth,” said Fiona Gibson, who said she was once charged by the aggressive animal. “He came at me! I was surprised, it’s not something you expect from a beaver or a rodent,” she said.
Justin’s aggressive antics are so well-known that he’s even been ratted out to the BC Conservation Officer service.“The Conservation Officer Service received a report that there was an aggressive beaver that possibly attacked a resident’s dog,” said CO Daniel Eichstadter.
But conservation says the rodent is just acting in defence, and the public needs to do its part to steer clear and keep dogs on a leash.
What a mean beaver! Refusing to play with that nice big dog they sent to wrestle with him. Why on earth would he ever, ever harm him? And what possible explanation is there for him coming out at dawn and coming out again in the mornings. Seems pretty darened suspicious if you ask me.
A young Vancouver couple is making a big splash with their first child, probably because this Olympic Village family has webbed feet, and a big tail. Park Board biologist Nick Page says a pair of beavers moved into Hinge Park last summer and have added another member to the family.
He says that while urban wildlife has been recovering in recent years, this birth is particularly exciting.
“Beavers I mean, they’re sort of this iconic animal for Canadians generally, they were part of the fur trade and part of colonial development of Canada, and now they’re returning to the city after their populations had been trapped and hunted out in many parts of B.C.”
Ahhh I miss the kit-love of summer. Looks like we might not get any vicarious parenthood from Napa which appears to be taking the summer off. Still I’m hopeful that we’ll see kits eventually. Based on that mating Moses filmed I’m expecting bright shining faces in early October. Aren’t you?
I haven’t addressed such a beaver-hostile room since 2008. You forget what it’s like, the rude ignoring of what you’re actually saying while they wait for their chance to explain why its not true. The ignorant questions that come right after you answered them because they weren’t really listening anyway. Let’s not beat around the bush. There’s a REASON Placer kills 7 times more beavers than any where in the state.
The most surprising part to me. and truly this wasn’t my first rodeo, was the fact that 4 out of 5 of the commissioners NEVER EVEN LOOKED UP AT THE SCREEN to see what I was presenting. Seriously. Fancy bureaucratic leather swivel chairs never once swivelled to see the footage of beaver, otter, merganser, mink etc. I thought maybe there was another screen I couldn’t see hidden from my view. But no. They truly NEVER LOOKED. Just stared blankly at me with steely opposition.
Well, they were forced to listen anyway to 25 minutes of the best damned beaver information they ever endured. And after it was over and the stubbornest ‘old boy’ of the resistance brigade said something about how the research didn’t apply to them because THEIR salmon had to go SO far and were too tired to jump a stinky beaver dam. No really. Tired aching salmon who didn’t believe that crazy NOAA research. At this two REMARKABLE voices broke into the conversation from the back of the room: one was Damion Ciotti from Fish and Wildlife the other a reservation manager in Placer whose name I didn’t catch.
They addressed the unsootheable fears and talked about how even high beaver dams blow out and let salmon pass, and how much BETTER things were when they started to work with their beavers rather than trap them. The gave examples of specific projects in specific areas that had shown dramatically positive results. They were, in a word, wonderful beyond anything I could have hoped.
The resistance brigade coughed and asked their credentials and then asked for their card, and then coughed some more. Then one of the thugs actually asked for MY number to talk to a Roseville colleague where they were having problems.He explained that they told them they had ‘moved the beavers’ but he thought they said they could use some help for next time. I said I’d be happy to talk to them, but that was unlikely they had been moved since beaver relocation was illegal in CA.
I commented that his friend may have told them they went to live ‘on the farm’ but in that probably wasn’t true. That got my only laugh of the day which I guess was something. Then Damion talked some more, they pontificated some more, and said that Jack Sanchez of SARSAS was wrong to be so excited about beaver, and mentioned the member who I’m sure is responsible for the Mary Tappel presentation every year.
And then we were finished, and I got to chat a little with the wonderful supporters there who stayed behind to address the beaver dicks more. And supporter Janet Thew who bravely attended and helps at the festival every year told me to come to her car and showed me THE most amazing bronze beaver sculpture she had recently bought.This photo doesn’t do it justice, but believe me it was the best part of a long night!
Afterwards we asked ourselves, was it worth it? It was HOT in Auburn and we passed through temperatures of 111 to get there in our 1.5 hr drive each way. I still can’t believe they never glanced at the screen. I think maybe its like when you’re a child and your mom insists you try a food you KNOW you’re going to hate. You may force yourself to swallow it – but you NEVER taste it
Here’s what I am sure of. That last night the county that kills the most beavers of anywhere in the entire state received some of the very best beaver information they ever encountered and were forced to spend time actually thinking and talking about their irrational beliefs. They listened to beaver advocates and scientists from their own neighborhood and realized they weren’t the only opinion in town. Or possibly even the most informed.
And then I got to leave and come back to a city that had actually saved its beavers, and was having a festival in 9 days.
