There’s good news after the big beaver meeting in Mountain House. Caitlin writes this morning that there was a fair turnout and she was able to point out that they hadn’t obtained a permit from the Army Corp of Engineers regarding dam removal. This will buy them enough time to formally challenge and get their ducks in a row as it were.
Good job team beaver!
In the meantime the Martinez mural had one step forward and two steps back yesterday. The city washed the bridge and put up the barricade. But they also pointed out that Mario needs to be insured to do this, which I’m sure is a brand new spankin’ rule probably invented just for us. I had long conversations with our foundation bearers ISI last night who pointed out that we might possibly be able to get a rider through their insurance IF it was in Worth A Dam’s name, but then the city would need to approve that and we would need to pay workers comp insurance.
There are a few other possibilities that are waiting results, but of course it means the cost of the job expenses go up and Worth A Dam is footing the bill. Last night I had a series of nightmares that I’m sure were all about the stress of figuring this out at the last minute – which you can guess how much I enjoy. At the moment we are in limbo with a cleaned barricaded bridge and no insurance. Will today bring a magic solution? Only time will tell.
No day is without some small progress. I heard from Amelia who is ready to start work on our event brochure and ad and verified that Aquarium of the Bay is coming with a touch tank of crustaceans that will be able to plug into our solar panel for kids to touch and learn and that will be a hoot. This is the secret weapon I used to successfully convince the piper. Do you think it can work with insurance?
What I really wanted to do yesterday was sneak away and see the tall ships at Bodega Bay. But maybe I’ll get lucky today and all this will get settled before afternoon?
Something suggests I shouldn’t hold my breath.
For the moment we should celebrate frogs and the 5 people in North Carolina that are happy to find beavers on their property.
“For the Frogs, Leave it to Beaver”
No leap-frogging here. The room was filled to capacity in the Science Building at Sheridan College as community members came out to hear Victoria Zero talk about Wyoming’s amphibians. She said we can learn a lot from common everyday species.
Currently across the nation, amphibian populations are declining, but add beavers to the picture and populations thrive, especially for our common Leopard frog.
Wyoming needs beaver believers. Good job Victoria! Now onto North Carolina where some folks are happy to see them.
Researchers find proof of beavers, foxes on campus
NC State’s campus is home to more than just students and grey squirrels, according to NC State biodiversity researchers. Bioblitz, a project funded by NC State’s sustainability fund, found evidence of grey foxes, coyotes and beavers inhabiting the areas on and around campus.
Michael Drake, a graduate student studying fisheries and wildlife sciences, began Bioblitz last fall to encourage people to think more about the wildlife around them.
“The vast majority of people on NC State’s campus aren’t thinking about animals every day like [wildlife scientists] are,” Drake said. “We just wanted to find a way that we can get people to realize that you don’t have to go all the way out to a national forest you can just poke around here on campus and find some pretty cool stuff.”
The project is not scientific in nature, but rather seeks to tell a narrative of NC State’s biodiversity, Drake said. Drake compiles information on what species people find, as well as where those species are found.
Through Bioblitz, researchers discovered a fully functional beaver dam along Rocky Branch Creek.
This could create more biodiversity in the area because, when beavers create dams, it leads to a flooded area on one side and eventually a meadow on the other. Drake compared beavers to engineers, citing their ability to build dams and change the structure of an ecosystem.
As a result of the dam, more ducks have begun coming to the area because they like still water, Drake said. However, due to the location of the dam, it will likely be torn down.
Good ol’ North Carolina. You are SO CLOSE to learning something new 
about beaver and understanding their value, and then throw in a sentence like that. I mean it’s an institution of higher learning and everything. You wouldn’t want informed decision making to get in the way of that.
