It’s been a bizarre clanging bell-ringing week for beavers.
I dreaded Monday because it was the artificial date I needed to decide in my head whether we were going to be beaver hermits again or try our best to put together a beaver festival. But I tried to face it bravely. Two weird acts of fate helped. The first was a phone call from the secretary from the county fish and game commission making sure that our grant application was the same as the one from last year which never was allowed to happen. She kindly said that we were likely to be approved. 
And the second was a completely unexpected large donation arriving from Mitch Wagoner the retired lawyer who argued the friends of Lake Skinner beaver case. He’s been a great mentor and support over the years but I certainly wasn’t planning on his help. What a difference that man has made in his life!
On Tuesday I received an email from the festival artist Amelia Hunter who said she’d be glad to help us again this year and adapt her California beaver summit logo for the festival. Almost immediately after that I got a note from Bay Nature magazine saying that the schedule for ad space in the Spring issue where we usually advertise was due by friday. And she offered us a discount for our usual quarter page ad.
It was around then I realized I needed to hear from the other festival champion Worth A Dammers and hear their thoughts about a festival. We are zooming this morning to discuss. But suffice it to say as a collective body we are all over the map on the issue, from the very hardy “ABOUT TIME!” To the meeker cautious “Maybe we should” to the wary “Only if kids are masked” folks and the stalwart “Not for me” folks. Maybe most surprising of all was the adamantly hardy “I will only do it if there are NO restrictions on participation!”
Beaver advocates are a mixed bag. I’ve said it before. (more…)
