Don’t miss Ben’s interview this morning at nine on Jefferson Public Radio in Oregon.
With the news of the horrific Grand Jury report in Pennsylvania, I’ve been remembering a major player in the early story of the Martinez beavers who happened at the time to be a leader at S.N.A.P. (Survivor Network for those Abused by Priests). Joey Piscitelli is a general contractor who lived downtown in a small victorian that happened to be on the same street the beavers moved into. So he was an early observer of their arrival. When the city decided the beavers would be killed Joey used his not inconsiderable connections to the media that he had developed through S.N.A.P. and guided them to the story. I believe it was Joey 
who instigated the candle light vigil, but I’m not sure. I couldn’t even attend it because I had to work that evening. The city notes from the November 7, 2007 meeting read:
Joey Piscitelli thanked Council for removing the “death threat”. He asked them to listen to the people and keep the beavers. He agreed a committee should be formed to study the matter.
Unlike me, he was not afraid to issue a challenge. I remember one morning after that big meeting he and his wife stopped by to talk about their plans to pressure the state senator. In those early days I was so full of the positive energy of that meeting I completely trusted the process and didn’t want to look ungrateful. I must not have seemed enthusiastic because I don’t think we ever spoke again, I can’t remember him being involved at the april meeting or the sheetpile (by which time my outlook had entirely changed). I’m not sure I heard from him after that.
When I think back to those days I can imagine that he felt he had done a great deal of work to push the heavy rock up the hill, and I swept in a pushed it down the hill getting all the attention.
Of course neither of us could know how many, many more hills there were to come. I never forgot what a crucial role he played, or how much he contributed to keeping the beavers alive. People often misunderstand that November meeting and think it was something I made happen. But I always correct them.
I didn’t make that meeting happen. That meeting made me happen.
In other news the Salmon Coho Confab is just around the corner. With plenty of local and not so local watershed heroes. Of course we all know who will be the furry flat-tailed wonder of that meeting.
Three-day symposium focuses on coho salmon
Fisheries scientists will visit the South Fork of the Smith River next week for a symposium focusing on the endangered coho salmon.
Held Aug. 24–26, the Salmonid Restoration Federation’s 21st-Annual Coho Confab will focus on watershed restoration, techniques and efforts to help coho salmon recover. The symposium will be held at Rock Creek Ranch and will include tours of stream and valley floor restoration efforts in the Lower Klamath tributaries as well as a tour of large woody debris projects led by Dan Burgess, of California State Parks.
The people who will be presenting at the symposium include Michael Pollock, who promotes the use of beavers, which had been native to a lot of coastal streams in California and create deep pools, helping to rehabilitate lower parts of the Smith River, according to Stolzman.
You can tell not even the reporter quite believes that beavers matter to this story, but that’s why we bring out the big guns. Hurray for Michael Pollock and our friends at OAEC and we hope this can change some hearts and minds!
