DO YOU KNOW THE WAY?

heidi08 Beaver ecological impact, Beaver population January 11, 2019

Coyote creek runs from the south bay sloughs directly through south San Jose. It is one of two big Rivers in the area (the other being its well known cousin the Guadalupe). It is known mostly for the trail that runs along side it, which is a popular biking and hiking destination. It has its share of troubles and was recently listed as one of the ‘dirtiest creeks in the south bay’ by the SF GATE.

And now it will be known for something else.

Rick Lanman (Wikipedia Rick and driving force behind the historical beaver papers) called excitedly last night all a flutter. Seems he’s the current president of the Santa Clara RCD (because good lord why wouldn’t he be?) and folks came in from friends of Los Gatos Creek with some very exciting photos to share.

Apparently, there are TWO ESTABLISHED BEAVER DAMS on COYOTE CREEK! About 6 miles upstream from the bay, north of Charcot avenue near the opera house.

Since we know there’s an established colony at Lexington reservoir, that means the lucky dispersers came down the Guadalupe, out to the bay and then up the slough and up the Coyote to find their home.

Rick’s off to take photos so he can update Wikipedia soon. And in the meantime you should just be very happy that there is, in all the world, at least one other person at all who’s EXCITED to find an beaver dam in an urban area.

God bless us every one.

Good luck little San Jose beavers!

There is more great news on the New Hampshire front, lovingly covered this time by CBC radio. You’ll definitely want to listen to this progressive discussion. I can’t wait until the same thing happens in California.

Jim O’Brien says ‘beaver deceivers’ help maintain water levels without harming wildlife

GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWNS AND BEAVERS

heidi08 Beaver Book, Beavers January 10, 2019

I listened to it yesterday and it’s not a terrible interview. The sound quality isn’t the best but other than the perryweather from marin and the GIVE a dam it covers fairly relevant ground in a focused way. Feel free to harken if you’re curious. I remembered yesterday that Worth A Dam donated 500 dollars to the Wildlife Services suit over beavers and salmon, so basically I paid to be called the wrong name if you think about it.

Tom says WS hasn’t even responded to the threat of suit because of the government shutdown. Which is just another way that it stinks.

HEIDI PERRYWEATHER FROM MARIN?

heidi08 Beaver ecological impact, Friends of Martinez Beavers January 9, 2019

Good lord. That radio interview was a tough gig. First off I had the time off by 12 hours so it was at night, not in the morning which is never my favorite. And then they let me know twice I would have less time so that Ben could have more time which makes sense but good lord let me go first and get it over with. The host started off by calling us Give a dam then basically asked Ben where beavers live if they don’t build a dam (indicating he thought beavers live IN the dam) and then the co-host said that beavers could be moved if there “wasn’t a population problem like there was in Martinez”. Which is the very opposite of what I said moments ago so we know how compelling I was and how closely he listened.

And at the end of the gig he thanked his guests calling me “Heidi Perryweather of Marin”.

Sigh.

Whatever. Talking about beavers is the point. Suffocating the airwaves with the beaver gospel. I guess that’s all that matters. Right? I’ll post a link to the atrocities tomorrow. A long time ago I had a very confused senior patient once who came in and met me and said with true affront “Dr. Perryman? But you aren’t a man at all? What’s going on?” As if I had changed my name to trick him. So I guess I can live with Perryweather even though it’s not even a real name. A google search showed nothing but the weather report in Perry, Georgia. And I’m definitely not moving there.

But beaver days are merciful. They usually have at least one irksome thing and one lovely thing. Yesterday was no exception when out of the blue I received contact from Annette Bellezzo of Chicago who happened to love beavers and wildlife, worked for the Humane Society and had a tradition of asking for donations for a favorite wildlife group at her birthday party year.

Hello! My name is Annette and every year I host an animal themed birthday party where I collect donations to a non-profit related to that animal. This year will be my “It’s my dam birthday: beaver themed!” party and I would like proceeds to go to the Martinez Beavers organization! I just wanted to let you know. The party will be in February and I will make a donation afterwards. I will make sure to take pictures and share them! I am located in Chicago and am turning 31.

No really.

I thanked her profusely, said it was a lovely tradition and mentioned we’d send a beaver care package and she thought that was a wonderful idea and asked if I could add anything to her Pinterest page for the event. So here it is and really you should help.

my dam birthday: beaver themed 31st

If you take a visit you’ll notice that the page has some cute things, some of our photos and some nutria and groundhog photos too. She definitely needs the care package. We’ll make sure her event has plenty of material. Happy almost birthday Annette, we think it’s the best dam idea EVER and beavers are on their way!

IF THEY CAN MAKE IT THERE, THEY’LL MAKE IT ANYWHERE

heidi08 Beaver Art January 8, 2019

Hmm what’s on Tuesdays agenda? Today I’m going to be on Humbolt radio with Ben Goldfarb and Tom Wheeler of EPIC discussing beavers and salmon and then I’m getting a haircut. My life is such that at the moment I’m actually more worried about the haircut, but I guess both could be a fiasco. I’ll keep you posted.

Meanwhile it’s time for another beaver first. Beaver poem in the New Yorker. by Maggie Millner. Click on the image to listen to the reading.

Etiology

I was born to watch
   the beavers’ chewing
flood the pond.
   Fated to bear witness
to such confident
   accretion, my life was bitten down

into a point
   that pointed toward
the dome, its whole shorn forest
   brought to thatch,
incredibly, by teeth.
   There is a seal

that spends each morning
   blunting its incisors
on the ice—
   rasping open breathing holes
that close if not
   routinely shaven back—

until one day its teeth,
   now dull and domed,
stop breaking through,
   the animal beating
its soft enamel
   on the ceiling

as it drowns. There can be no
    proceeding from.
There is only gnawing
   through the visible,
wearing down
   the center between living

and its damages, until
   the center’s broken door
stops granting us admission
   to our lives.
The beavers graft another
   layer on the dam.

They slap their tails
so loud a sound
like falling dice
skitters the smooth,
unfrozen surface of the pond.
Or what had been the pond

before it overflowed
   its banks and drowned
the meadow and the campsite
   and the fire pit we used
to turn our spits over,
   the tusky wooden tapers

of our spits. I was born
   in time to see it swamp,
my life a parallel, accumulative
   loss of definition.
If I am still enough, the beavers
   will reveal their door,

the jamb of which they clot
   into a lodge before my eyes,
the underwater hatch
   through which their chambered
penetralia take shape.
   My ways, my mammal acumen,

are forgeries of theirs—
   to have been underwater
all that time, salient
   to the outer world
only as a dome,
   before tearing through the doorway

of that world,
loud and blue
and sure my life was mine.

Hmm something tells me these are symbolic (and not actual) beavers. Too bad she wasn’t born to watch beavers create ecosystems or prevent fires. Of course the New Yorker has given us many of our best beaver cartoons. Who could ever forget this my all-time favorite? If you know the science it’s not even funny.

Alright, you’ve had your culture. Now it’s time for some radio fun. I’ll post the link when I can. Oh and happy Birthday to a certain Beaver author who’s making the news a lot lately.

BEAVERS AND FLOODING

heidi08 Beavers and Flooding January 7, 2019

It rained, and rained for forty dayses dayses
rained and rained for forty dayses dayses
Nearly drove those poor animals crazy crazy
Children of the lord.

I’ve been in the beaver biz for so long I’ve used this very song to describe my alarm at how beavers manage in high flooding. Lord knows we saw some glory days and some fire and brimstone days in our decade with the beavs. One year their lodge washed away entirely. And recently the little secondary dam was topped.

Now Tulocay creek in Napa is worrying about the same thing.

Tulocay Creek Beaver lodge flooded Sunday This morning Rusty forwarded me an email from a concerned neighbor who asked worriedly if beavers could survive in such flooding? I replied of course and much. much worse but I’m glad to know there are folks worrying about them and grateful Rusty braved the storm and took these photos.

In case you can’t make that out that’s their little island lodge flooded to the rafters in the background. Here’s a closer look.

A wise woman once said to me that the human vagina is a potential (rather than an actual) space. And that must be true for beaver lodges too. I remember after the great flood of 2011 we were so worried where our beavers would sleep when their lodge was flattened. The next morning we went anxiously to look and saw footprints in the mud where the youngsters had walked back and forth searching for their cozy home that was no more.

But beavers find a way. That’s what they do.