Because the beaver isn't just an animal; it's an ecosystem!

Category: Beaver Art


It starts so small.

It always feels like getting the beaver festival to happen is like pulling up an ancient creaking sunken ship from the bottom of the ocean by only spider web threads. Impossible. Unlikely.  Not going to happen. Not enough music, too many no’s on the silent auction front, missed deadlines and escaped exhibits, but then finally it starts, painfully, slowly to take shape. Just the beginnings, mind you. Just the barest hint of an outline in the fog.

Slowly it transforms from flatly “impossible” to “Potentially possible.”

Cover in progress by Amelia Hunter

I read once a quote from American author Mignon McLaughin.

Even cowards can endure hardship, only the brave can endure suspense.”

Be brave.

 


新年快乐

Since it’s officially the year of the rabbit. Each zodiac animal is associated with one of five elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, and water) which also cycle through in their own direction. That means this year specifically is the year of the WATER RABBIT which I’m sure you can guess that I’m going to suggest a corresponding water rodent that is having an especially prosperous year.

Rabbits represent fertility, sociability and are generally ready to make others feel at home. In the year of the water they ascend into a fluid power that lets them be sensitive to others needs and able to solve problems.

The element of water also represents going with the flow, and being more receptive to our higher senses. Last year we experienced the element of Yang Water, which is connected to rapid-flowing water and large bodies of water such as the ocean. Yin Water however, is softer and is connected to slow-bubbling streams, lakes, and rain. 

You know it’s kind of a coincidence being the year of the water rabbit where this magical peaceful rodent can make things better for everyone and help everyone get what they need. Don’t you think that’s a coincidence?


Visions of beaver festivals have been percolating across the land. I am eager to see beavers celebrated in every place that has a zip code. We are already very excited about what’s coming in San Luis Obisbo on April 7th, and yesterday I had a nice chat with Nicole Fox of Durango, Colorado who wants to throw their first ever beaver festival this year.

Nicole spoke with me a few years back about wanting to start her own nonprofit for beavers, being inspired by our work and wanting to call it “Give A Dam” was that okay? And of course saving beavers is the point and I thought it was fine, (not as good as WORTH of course...) now she is wanting to put on her own festival.

So Nicole has been working to do class room educational activities about beavers and provide tours for local wildlife groups like the Sierra Club. She’s full of energy and eager to make a difference for beavers and the wildlife they support. She described one outdoor activity she does with long bolts of cloth where she has children recreate the streams that used to be here before all the beavers were trapped…this appealed to my medieval sensibilities because I could easily see it happening…then she described how she asks everyone wearing yellow to be the dragonflies, and everyone wearing blue to be the salmon, and everyone wearing green to be the herons, and everyone wearing brown to be the otters…Can’t you see how dynamic that would be on stage at our beaver festival for example?

Hmm stay tuned,,,


Our good friend Mike Digout of beaver fame in Saskatchewan was the subject of a fun podcast following urban wildlife. I’m sure you’ll want to listen in. He’s unbelievably good=natured and amiable. I can see why he and beavers get along.

The Beavers Who Live Downtown

Jason Allen

The Environmental Urbanist

It’s funny, Mike makes me think  of a more wholesome version of our own Moses Silva who was himself an innocent bystander unintentionally hooked into filming our beavers in every conceivable circumstance for well over a decade. I’m told Moses was a pipefitter for Shell who knew nothing about beavers but just thought the tightly woven dam was fascinating and wanted to watch it unfold more closely. I believe early on he found his way to buying a used video camera from some local news reporter he met downtown. Like Mike the man has mountains and miles of footage stored away in some garage of file cabinet that we will never, ever see see.  Long before the famous November 7th meeting he was taking that footage to senior centers and sharing it with county workers and around the community.

It turns out you don’t have to be a photographer or an environmentalist to have a huge impact, Beavers just have a way of recruiting their champions. Good work, Mike.

Photo by Mike Digout

Well it’s officially an old new year now. And very little beaver news to report other than more outlets carrying the fake story about beavers living in the dam and destroying wildlife populations. I thought I would introduce you to a new (to me) talent in the illustration world and show you the remarkable work by Kristin Link.

Wetland illustration for Chena River Interpretive Signs: Kristen Link

Kristin Link is a fine artist and science illustrator inspired by the natural world. Her drawings, paintings, and mixed media works connect people to nature while inspiring curiosity and learning.

You can encounter Kristin’s work on interpretive signs on the side of the Glenn Highway, inside National Park visitor centers, inside schools, and in books and magazines that teach about Alaskan natural history. Kristin has exhibited her field sketches and fine art at the Alaska State Museum as well as other locations around the state and she has received grants from the Rasmuson Foundation and the Alaska State Council on the Arts. Kristin has always been inspired by spending time in the backcountry. In the past, she has worked as a backcountry guide, caretaker, and trail maintainer.

Kristin received a graduate certificate in science illustration from California State University Monterey Bay and a BA in Conservation Biology and Studio Art from Middlebury College. She was born in Brussels, Belgium, and grew up in the more urban areas near New York City and London, but now lives in an off-the-grid cabin near McCarthy, Alaska on the edge of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve, which is Ahtna Athabaskan land.

I love just about everything I’ve seen of Kristen’s work. She reminds me of an American version of Lizzie Harper.  I imagine the two with with very similar backpacks full of feathers, seed pods and a few little rodent skulls leftover from their last sketching exercise.

I like the beavers in her wetlands illustration but I want to see more of them. I’m thinking she might need some encouragement? Maybe from some kinds of beaver nonprofit stateside…hmm.

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