This has been a good week to be a beaver advocate, and Friday is no exception. We are, apparently, still in the “good beaver news’ eddy. This first example is from this month’s issue of the Estuary Newsletter. I asked our friend Lisa Owens Viani who USED to be the editor how it got in there. Apparently Riley (That’s Ann Riley of the most famous creek restoration book ever written) nudged it into the attention of the new editor.
Ahh thanks for the nice mention. I can’t wait for there to be a regular beaver column describing where colonies are on the move!
Then this morning I read a reminder on facebook that Beaver Creek will be featured at Kentucky’s Wild and Scenic festival. Amazingly, Ian had this to say about his work. I’m still blown away by the quote.
“Beaver Creek” episodes tell gentle stories about Twigs the beaver and his friends. Timothy’s inspiration for the series came from his interest in beavers and their beneficial effects on Kentucky waterways.
“I’m showing what happens in nature and being an advocate for the beavers, which some people don’t seem to like even though they’re such good animals,” Timothy said. “They do a lot for our watersheds, creeks and wetlands.”
Oh Ian, you are such a fantastic white knight for beavers! I am so happy that our paths crossed and grateful to know you. The entire three page article is an excellent look at the festival which will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act. Great work as always Ian!
This next story means as much to me as any I think I’ve ever written about. I would have embedded the video for you to watch but KCRA apparently doesn’t want me to. Click on the picture to go to a video of the meeting and the story of how residents of the four seasons are in conflict about the beaver(s). (I don’t think there’s any way we’re just talking about one beaver!) See if you can identify the very moment where I burst into happy tears.
Isn’t that amazing? Must see TV! And the reporters jibe at the end means that he has learned a lesson or two from Martinez. Did you find my moment? It’s from Jerry and it refers to the useless massacre at Elk Grove just 5 years ago. That was happening at the same time our own beaver story was getting complicated, and I was literally heartbroken when a story in the Sacramento Bee linked to a website that showed tens of trapped dead beavers. Would that happen in Martinez? El Grove was where I first read the name of Mary Tappel, who after advising them that sterilizing beavers stresses them out so it was much better to kill them, eventually came all the way to Martinez to tell our mayor and public works director that flow devices never work, that beavers breed for 50 years and that the father beaver should be killed so that the mother would have to mate with her sons and slow the population growth that way.
Elk Grove was the beginning of everything for me, and having this nearby beaver story unfold, with so many good people involved is full circle in a way I can barely describe. Honestly, nothing would make me happier than to award Worth A Dam’s second beaver management scholarship to someone that learned from Elk Grove that killing beavers doesn’t make them go away.
