In a television interview during the last news cycle surrounding the un-vote of April 16th, one subcommittee member likened the beavers to a child’s gift of fuzzy chicks, ducklings and bunnies during the Easter season. Initially cherished and loved but quickly discarded and ignored.
After spending many evenings meeting new people down by the lodge or dam I’ve discovered there are a variety of reasons why folks decide to while away an hour or two hoping to catch a glimpse of a beaver. For some maybe it starts off as a novelty, like a fuzzy yellow chick but then as they witness a cautious beaver approaching the dam sniffing the air for danger and crossing over to find food for the evening I’ve watched as novelty turns to kinship.
Last night I met a young couple and their three children hoping to catch a glimpse and after what looked like ‘big daddy’ (as he’s affectionately referred to) crossed over the dam the human dad said “well I guess we’re officially Martinez residents.” I met another family (actually three in all with small children) who came over from Oakland. The dad was a camera guy (video camera should have been my first clue) for a local news station just enjoying an evening out with his wife and son.
There are a myriad of reasons why folks come out – and maybe for some once their curiosity is satisfied they’ll never be back. All I can do is draw from my own experience as a single mom raising three children and express what going on our ‘nature walks’ has come to mean for us.
During the bitter cold of a winter spent in boot camp next to Lake Michigan, my son called to tell me that he’d caught a flash of red perched in a leafless tree and when his shipmates asked him what he was all agog over he exclaimed “look a cardinal!” Unfortunately his enthusiasm wasn’t shared, undaunted he explained “yeah well we don’t have them in California.”
And on her most recent deployment to the west coast of Africa my daughter shared that while on safari she managed to get up close and personal (to the chagrin of her guide) to a pregnant giraffe and stroked her.
As adults would they have had this same sense of wonder and appreciation were it not for those walks that sometimes elicited an “are we done yet?” maybe, but then again maybe not. Will the kids I saw out at the dam last night grow up to share that same wonderment and appreciation – I sure hope so. Is this relationship we feel towards our little band of beavers a fleeting fancy as previously expressed? Based on the people I’ve met and spoken with –no– it is perennial and deserving of protection.
Linda Meza
