I am in love with this letter to the editor, and before you ask, no. I swear that I didn’t write it. It is from Tillamook Oregon.
Letter: Stop destroying Clear Lake beaver dam
My wife and I own a residence at 488 South Anchor St., Rockaway Beach, where we have been part time residents for over 20 years, improving the property, participating in the community and enjoying the setting.
Our yard backs onto Clear Lake, a beautiful pond of several acres, the center piece of a large wetland, that drains directly into the ocean. The pond is home to large large numbers of birds, small fish, mammals, including beavers. The latter have had dams for a number of years, which maintain the pond level.
Several times, the city has torn down the dams, leaving only slightly Mudflats and destroying the habitat so central to thls wetlands ecology. I have complained, only to be told that some people do not like mosquitoes. There are none, of course, because the swallows, bats and fish control the insects.
You see of course why I am in love with this letter? I am especially fond of the argument that there are no mosquitoes because the thriving bird and bat population eat them. That is a rare counter argument that rarely gets raised.
The author is very skilled. Maybe we know him or her?
This year I called the city manager to compliment the city for allowing the DAM to exist. It had meant some species of birds had appeared who had disappeared over the last few years, including Osprey and wood ducks. I returned yesterday to find the dam destroyed, the pond gone and only ugly mud flats and puddles left.
I am appalled. The beauty is gone. An invaluable community asset is destroyed. Moreover, my wife and I feel financially damaged, as we have just spent $25,000 for a new roof, on a home now significantly devalued.
I invite you to come and see for yourself. I will send separately photos from last week and yesterday. Please feel free to call me to discuss this.
Art Lafrance
Rockaway Beach
Thank you Art LaFrance. I consider myself somewhat of a connoisseur of letters to the editor about beaver dams as I have written and read them over and over again for a mere 17 years.
And yours is the best. The apex of letters. The gold standard.
The only thing it lacks is children. Say if every third month you had first graders wearing felt beaver tails from Miss Tillie’s class over for a field trip to count the species they can find or maybe draw them in crayon for a new urban wildlife children’s book the school is working on,
Come to think of it, invite the mayor and city manager and the local news that day. That w0uld have been better. See if you can’t add that next time.
Otherwise, great work, Art.
