Yesterday was grant-writing day. Worth A Dam is submitting two to the Contra Costa County Fish and Wildlife Commission, who generously paid for our button project last year. This year one grant is asking for funds for the Ecosystem Engineer teaching project using Wildbryde charms to make the bracelet project called “A.L.L. A.B.O.A.R.D.” (A little learning about beaver operations and riparian dwellers). Each charm will be a wildlife railcar and the beaver will be pulling the train.
The second grant is for the beaver mural, and I’m calling the project “The bridge to nature” and saying its civic and ecological to pay attention to what the beavers did in our creek. I have no earthly idea if they’d consider a project like this, but I figure I might as well ask. Because of my recent work on the urban beaver chapter I was able to pull some nice language out of my section and use it in the grant, which I think makes us sound really deserving, but that might be just me. We’ll see.
Amongst the crowded demands on urban waterways, expected to handle storms, street runoff and flood prevention, there is often little attention paid to the habitat needs of wildlife drawn to urban creeks. This misses a critical value for both the watershed and the public. Numerous studies have shown the psychological and physical benefits to residents of urban wildlife. These include reduced stress, greater satisfaction and even crime reduction! Some researchers argue that urban wildlife’s significance in urban planning should be regarded with as much weight in composing a healthy community as open space or air quality. In addition to encouraging social cohesion, people consistently report feeling enriched by living with nature, even when they are challenged.
Martinez became an unsuspecting (and not entirely willing) test case for all these benefits with the arrival of the beavers in Alhambra Creek in 2007.
I’m actually very proud of that introduction, wonder if anyone else will like it! There are strict page limits on your submission so I’m using the graphics in the footers as attempted subliminal influence. Jon will drop them off monday afternoon, and then we’ll try to forget about them and not wait anxiously by the phone. Worth A Dam will still fund both projects regardless of their decision but approval would be nice! I found a great quote for the mural one too, which I’ll share.
“While the end products—the works of public art—are always beautiful, their deeper value lies in the conversations we create, the connections we build, and the legacy of relationships we foster along the way, often with transformative results.”
Jane Golden Mural Arts Program, Philadelphia
Meanwhile the terrible decisions in Tom’s River NJ have prompted a full protest, which is something considering the cold weather. I personally can’t see what it can possibly accomplish because I’m sure those beavers are already long gone. This brand of outrage is more likely to teach the administrators to be more sneaky next time, than to encourage actual reform. But who know’s? Once upon a time Martinez got lucky.
Beaver trapping sparks outrage, protests in Toms River
A Toms River neighborhood has become divided over how to handles the town’s beaver population.
The Toms River township administrator tells News 12 New Jersey that the town had to hire a trapper to catch the beavers after neighbors complained about the population around Lake Placid. Neighbors complained that the beavers have chewed up the trees and their dams are causing flooding.
Ahh memories.
