Month: June 2018

LET THE COUNTDOWN BEGIN

heidi08 What's killing beavers now? June 20, 2018

Where do the days go? Yesterday we redesigned the stage musician sign and made 53 place cards so the exhibitors know where they set up camp. Oh and checked on Luigi to make sure sandwiches can be delivered to the park for our volunteers. Done, done and done.

Meanwhile I’m just stunned it took 11 long years for me to finally find the perfect ‘tagline’ for the festival. It finally just came to me while I was promoting yesterday’s article on facebook. I think this is beer commercial, madison avenue good. I played around with it a little yesterday, but I’m sure they could do something awesome with it.

I mean I suppose monkey festivals or rat festivals have a tail too, but they’re not here to defend themselves so I win! I never heard of a rat festival anyway but I bet there is a monkey one. Don’t you? I saw several species in Costa Rica but what I remember most about monkeys comes from a badly tended large cage when I was a teen on a spring trip to Mexico. There was a friendly adult and young monkey that would wrap their arms around you tightly if entered the cage, holding on for dear life. I guess it was boring in that cage. Or maybe they just knew that if they held on tight they had a better chance of bolting once the gate was open again,

All I know is that I quickly learned the only way OUT of the monkey cage was to get some other poor sap to come in and receive the eager primate hug so you yourself could make a break for it. It turns out there are many situations like that in life, and I remember the lesson well.

Just so we remember it’s not all sunshine and roses in a beaver life, lets take a fast visit to South Dakota.

South Dakota battles problems with beavers

MITCHELL (AP) – In the spring, Randy Becker’s workload gets busy. Busy as a beaver, you might say.

Becker is wildlife damage specialist for the South Dakota Game Fish & Parks Department. His job, otherwise known as “state trapper,” involves ridding nuisance animals like coyotes and beavers for South Dakota landowners. Yes, beavers – those little semi-aquatic rodents that can cause “a world of headaches” – are a big problem here.

“They’re an amazing animal, but they get themselves in a lot of trouble,” said Becker, who’s worked for GF&P for just shy of a decade.

In the past five years, GF&P’s Animal Damage Control program has received an average of 370 beaver calls annually statewide, The Daily Republic reported. The total funding spent removing beavers has climbed, too, and reached a peak in 2017 of $213,800. Since 2013, GF&P has spent nearly $1 million on removing beavers in South Dakota.

214,000 to kill 370 beavers? Wait, that’s like 60 dollars per beaver. Who gets paid 60 dollars a tail? If you consider 5-7 beavers per family then killing off a single colony is nearly 500 dollars a pop! You know what else South Dakota could do with 500 dollars? I mean besides open health care clinics, provide childcare and fix all the potholes. They could install flow devices that fix beaver problems for a decade, fire Mr.Becker (who will certainly never be able to take vacation in England with a name like Randy Becker) and do something useful with that million dollars every 5 years.

But hey, why FIX a problem that pays so well to stay broken?

FEELING FESTIVE?

heidi08 Festival June 19, 2018

Let the media promotion begin! The hard-working salmon spends an awful long time banging into the rock before it finally succeeds. And that is exactly how I have felt about getting attention for our whopping festival this year. Well, let this be the first sign that the tides are changing.

Beaver Festival gets new home at Susana Park

MARTINEZ, Calif. – After 10 years of annual appearances at a downtown area that became known as Beaver Park, the Martinez Beaver Festival is moving to Susana Park, organizer Heidi Perryman said.

It’s date has been shifted to the end of June, as well.

And in a fortuitous coincidence, a family of beavers have moved into the creek that runs near the park, she said.

“The 11th Beaver Festival will be full of surprises,” Perryman said.

“The improved venue has boosted interested in the festival, too,” Perryman said. This year’s edition will have more than 50 nature exhibits, making it the largest event since it was begun as a way to celebrate,. rather than condemn, the beavers that had been building a dam in Alhambra Creek in the city’s downtown shopping district.

Why is the festival so much bigger really? Is it just the nicer park? Is it the cumulative effect of being around for a decade finally making people feel like you’re for real? Is it because it’s earlier in the year and fewer people are on vacation? I just had to notify chairs for affairs yesterday that we’ll be needing twice as many tables as usual!

But the beaver dam and the nature exhibits aren’t the only things eventgoers will see.

Amy

Amy G. Hall, a noted chalk artist, will be creating a beaver-themed illustration on the concrete in the park.

Hall is a lifelong fan of beavers, and her home town, Napa, has some, too. Her chalk painting will be of a beaver pond, and it illustrates how beavers benefit other wildlife.

Children attending the festival will be invited to pick up some colored chalk and create their own artwork in spaces near where Hall is working.

HURRAY! Great job plugging Amy. Honestly in September I was worried that she and I might be the only one in the park that day. Now I’m starting to think that might not be so bad.

Ben Goldfarb, an award-winning environmental writer who covers wildlife conservation, marine science and public lands management, will be launching his book, “Eager: The Surprising, Secret Lives of Beavers and Why They Matter.”

He will read excerpts on the festival stage, and Chapter 6 focuses on California, beginning and ending with the story of the Martinez beavers.

The book is published by Chelsea Green, and will be released at the end of the month.

No more pre-orders. It’s out. I just got a notice from Amazon that its on its way. Hurray!

The festival also has inspired the west coast premiere of Sara Koenigsberg’s documentary, “Beaver Believers,” which looks at the animals in light of climate change.

The premiere will take place before the festival, Thursday, Jan. 28, at the Empress Theatre in Vallejo.

Koenigsberg and her students from Whitman College came to Martinez in 2013 to interview Perryman before filming the festival that year. The documentary also looks at how beaver damming could help prevent water loss in the west in addition to telling Martinez’s beaver story.

TAfter the article there is a nice section of how to buy tickets for the premiere!

While many new things are happening this year, those who have visited the festival in the past will see many familiar and popular things, from a day-long musical lineup that includes bluegrass and Dixieland bands, a nature-themed silent auction, the return of beaver tours and special activities for children.

This year, the first 100 youngsters to arrive at the festival will get to build a “beaver pond” of their own, by collecting wildlife stickers from exhibitors and learning how beavers help other animals, Perryman said.

This sticker adventure will mirror Hall’s beaver pond mural design, she said.

While Perryman praised the previous venue as a park that “served us well for a decade alongside our original beaver habitat, she said, “This new home is ideal for the everything we’ve become./” And since the new venue comes with its own dam a short walk away, she added, “it’s like the beavers showed us the way!

The Martinez Beaver Festival will take place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 30 at Susana Park, at the intersection of Estudillo and Susana streets. Admission is free. Those interested may visit the website www.martinezbeavers.org/wordpress.

Whooohoo! It used to weirdly bug me when reporters used my wording from a press release with their name as if THEY had written it. Now I love it. That’s growth, right? There are good things in the works and hopefully the East Bay Times article will follow soon.

Oh and just to keep me feeling relevant, I got a distressed email yesterday from a woman looking for help defend beavers to her HOA in a very large, notoriously unfriendly beaver state. Because of this website my beaver rolodex is large and growing every day, so I was able to introduce her to a local ally who agreed to help her going forward.

Put THAT in a mission statement.

BEAVERS AS NEIGHBORS

heidi08 Beaver Art June 18, 2018

Judy Atkinson of Port Moody B.C. passed on this delightful tale from CTV news in Canada of the very best burglar ever! If you didn’t watch it you should’ because this is a delightful and very Canadian story. You will remember Judy as the woman who got her neighbors to care about the beavers in Port Moody and then fought for their safety when a baby was accidentally killed. Well Judy and I have talked a lot over the year, and she and her husband are flying to San Francisco next week to attend the beaver festival.! That’s a journey of 919 miles for a beaver festival. Imagine! Make sure to tell her how amazing she is when you get to meet her in person.

Yesterday a package of these arrived at my house for Ben to sell with his book at the festival. Since I am donating my landlord services I felt justified in peaking. I had to steal one immediately and will pay for it when he gets here. You can obviously see why. If you want to buy one yourself right now now they’re available at her shop on Etsy.

Beaver Lodge Menagerie:

Sarah writes:

Beavers build landscapes. When the sleek rodents dam streams to make their homes, they create wetlands that support dozens of other creatures, including otters, moose, frogs, snakes, sawflies, songbirds, woodpeckers, and baby salmon and steelhead. Trumpeter swans even nest atop beaver lodges, like absurdly beautiful crowns. This watercolor, graphite, and ink illustration was originally commissioned for the book Eager: The Surprising Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter, by Ben Goldfarb–a gorgeous read for anyone interested in the connections between living things and living things, and living things and their landscapes.

The print is made on stunningly textured archival paper and just demands to be framed. If you buy it online it is a steal at 35.00. If you buy it in person at the festival they will be slightly cheaper, plus Ben and Sarah are talking about a book/print deal on the day that should make both irresistible.

Mine already is asking to be double textured matted and framed in wide layered barn-wood. Won’t that be stunning? But that’s just me. You’ll want to get your own.

A BEAVER HEAD FOR DETAILS

heidi08 Festival June 17, 2018

The other day we suddenly noticed that there was ONE more interpretive panel stand in the park than we had counted before. How is that even possible? The same way last minute details constantly keep surprising us. We ordered another one of these and it will surely come in time. It will be a great reminder of why everyone’s gathered there in the first place!

Crazy last minute changes abound. One exhibit suddenly needs a table. One exhibit thinks its unfair of us to “rent tables” (we don’t). One exhibit suddenly announces they don’t see themselves listed on the brochure and wonder why? (Because you never told us you were coming, dear.) Exhibitors seem strangely to need a little hand-holding. I remember that from my JMA days when I had to bring snacks at Earth day for a certain group of musicians who will remain nameless. Usually Cheryl does all that because she thinks I’m less patient (ha!) but this year she’s dealing with a ton of things and it’s fallen to me to do it before hand. She can have it all on the day.

Now I’m just hoping that there will really be room for 55 booths in the park after all. Fingers crossed.

Oh, and happy Father’s day!

MARTINEZ CA, TWINNED WITH MISSOULA?

heidi08 Beavers June 16, 2018

One summer, many years ago while I was still in graduate school, we rented a car and traveled through the hills and valleys of Scotland. It was a wonderful trip, we met the very best people, stayed in farmhouses, explored abandon castles and ate some amazing food. One particular unplanned afternoon we were driving southwest of Edinburg looking for a ruined castle we were never able to find and got briefly lost in the outskirts of what looked to be miserable industrial town where we were STUNNED to a street sign that said

“Dunbar Scotland, Twinned with Martinez, CA”

Of course we later realized that Dunbar is the birthplace of John Muir, Martinez being his last home. Since then our two cities have since strengthened their ties in many ways – in fact in my last year on the JMA board some members took a trip to visit his birthplace and original stomping grounds. But that morning, when we felt so far away and beyond the reach of everything it was just a surprise.

Now I’m starting to think Martinez is twinned with Missoula too.

Ninemile Creek, straightened by gold miners, restored by humans and beavers

NINEMILE — On what he called “a scenic death march through the bomb zone,” Paul Parson cheerfully pointed out how looks can deceive in the stream restoration business.

The results of some million-dollar-a-mile geoengineering looked suspiciously like a toddler was at the controls of the bulldozer. Every tree for 50 feet on either side of the little creek was knocked over. Scraggly willow shoots poked out of No-Man’s-Land rock piles. Weird reddish-orange scum floated on stranded ponds.

“When I saw that, I panicked,” said Parson, who oversaw the restoration project for Trout Unlimited.

The project was supposed to restore 7,000 feet of stream bed that had been forced into an artificial channel by gold miners a century before. He called a consultant, certain that mine waste was leaking into the watercourse intended to host trout. She informed him that no, it was a kind of bacteria that only grows in places returning to natural conditions.

For much of the early 20th Century, this creek drainage west of Missoula crawled with gold miners using pressure hoses and dredging machines to gouge their way 20 feet down to the bed of Glacial Lake Missoula, where deposits of raw gold had accumulated.

That’s a nice story about a damaged creek being fixed, but how is it like Martinez? Don’t worry, it gets better.

NWF saw an opportunity to showcase some natural restoration methods, specifically the engineering prowess of beavers. Former Ninemile District Ranger Greg Munther had done extensive beaver transplanting in the drainage during his tenure in the 1980s and 90s. Some careful stream grading could encourage those remaining beavers to add their efforts.

But that required overcoming a lot of misperceptions about beavers. Lewis and Clark hadn’t even made it back east to St. Louis in 1806 with their report of the Voyage of Discovery when they met beaver trappers heading west. Barely 50 years later, almost all the beaver in the West were trapped out.

The remainder got constant bad reps from cattle ranchers who dried their ponds for grazing pasture, farmers who hated their meddling with irrigation canals, anglers who thought their dams prevented fish from moving around, and road builders who thought they created unnecessary drainage problem

Better biology dismissed all those concerns. Beaver ponds do take up grazing space, but they also keep cattle from degrading stream banks and promote a much wider range of plant and tree growth. The ponds actually make refuges for many species of fish, which have evolved for eons to move through them in summer and survive ice scouring in winter. As for giardia, many animals including domestic dogs can infect a waterway with the intestinal parasite, and municipal water systems have to treat for it whether the water comes from a surface or underground source.

Beavers do mess with irrigation systems and present road construction challenges. But both can be overcome inexpensively. Meanwhile, the benefits they provide turn out to be stupendous.

Don’t you love that paragraph? If this is all sounding a little familiar, don’t worry: it should! We talked about this project a while back when Sarah Koenigsberg’s film debuted and the National Wildlife Federation did such a good job promoting the story of beaver benefits by holding some community discussions.

Trout Unlimited researcher Christine Brissette studied the Ninemile water flows before and after the stream restoration and beaver activity occurred. She found more natural floodplains, enhanced by beaver ponds, stored much more water and kept tons of sediment out of the Clark Fork.

In late summer, when some parts of the stream had shrunk down to six cubic feet of water per second, the improved water storage added one more cubic foot of flow. That’s a 15 percent addition that would have been lost to spring runoff, but instead was keeping fish alive in late August.

“Without it, the streams were going dry,” Brissette said. “This allows them to connect to the river below. It was really exciting to see that it works.”

Yes it is exciting to see what a difference beavers make. And we’re glad you were there to document it even if people will forget again in three months or three years. Just like Martinez forgot how many baby ducks and turtles we used to have in our creek when the beaver dams flourished. These things come in waves, and we’re in a fine one right now. Interestingly, Jon and I are seeing more ducks fly into and out of the creek upstream where the beavers are living now. And the other day we found a huge broken duck egg in the park!

And besides this great article by Rob Chaney, how else and Martinez and Missoula twinned? The west coast premiere of Sarah’s film is just two weeks away.