Well by all accounts it was a helluva conference this time in Canyonville at the State of the beaver. Here’s a photo and Leonard Houston’s parting words to the attendees:
So happy to be home again but so sad to see so many old and new friends leave to journey home themselves, was a fantastic three days and just what we needed to re-energize the old beaver passion… Can’t really put into words how grateful we are to all who came and all who helped make the State of the Beaver 2023 an outstanding event. We can say this though, we love you friends of the beaver and looking forward to seeing you accomplish great things for our furry friends. Seek the truth, Speak the truth,change the world one beaver at a time and never forget you are an integral part of the Beaver Clan.
from left to right Kate Lundquist, Michael Callahan, Adam Burnett, Brock Dolman
Yesterday was meet and greet day at the conference with a few pointed here is where we are talks by the heavy hitters. All I heard from our BC friend Judy Atkinson was that she was overwhelmed with information, flying from one thing to the next and so busy connecting with people that she had no time to eat and was faint with hunger. So I think we can assume things are going as planned. Have fun on day two guys!
This morning they’ll hear from Alexa Whipple, Suzanne Fouty, and Mike Callahan with a retrospective at 10:30 that I’m told will include my Enos Mills Film and worth a dam slides. So it’s like being there right?
By tomorrow morning I predict the part of the conference will start that I do not miss. Which is the buzzing overwhelm where it feels like if one more person mentions beavers they will get a chicken hurled at them. But hey, maybe that’s just me.
We are just days away from the State of the Beaver conference where everyone will gather at the Casino in Canyonville and talk beavers. This year without me. I was touched to be contacted by Mike Callahan who is apparently presenting on the history of the beaver movement for the past 25 years and felt Worth A Dam should be included.
As you know, the SURCP State of the Beaver Conference starts in 10 days, and I will be giving a presentation reviewing the progression of beaver advocacy and management over the past 25 years. I am putting together my presentation right now (sadly last minute), and with your permission I would like to reference the great contributions you have made to our collective efforts.
If that is okay with you, would you be willing to email me a few sentences of what you would like highlighted from your work, as well as a few photos or logo I can show to the audience in my PowerPoint presentation? I would be honored to share them with the SOB audience. I only wish we could be there together again.
So I quickly made three slides with a short blurb for each and I thought you’d enjoy them.
No one expected beavers to move into Martinez California and build a dam in the middle of town. But they did. When the city worried about flooding and decided they should be trapped no one expected people to object either. But they did. Worth A Dam was formed to advocate for the beavers, teach people how to live with them and why they mattered.
We soon learned that the best way to change the city council’s mind was to change the voters minds and the best way to do that was by making information fun, friendly and accessible to residents and families. The first beaver festival was held in 2008 and this summer will mark the 15th. Once the Martinez beavers were safe Worth A Dam started to help other cities from New Hamspshire to New Mexico and Canada successfully coexist with their beavers.
Back when the beavers came to Martinez there were three sites on the entire internet about how to coexist. Heidi wanted information to be easier to get so her website has posted updated research, news, stories and facts about beavers every day since 2008. It’s how she met and introduced many of us. This lead to the publication of the California historical papers which changed thinking around the state. In 2022 Worth A Dam was able to pull sources together and organize the California Beaver Summit which had attendance of 1000 and prompted state wide changes in beaver policy.
One of Heidi’s favorite sayings is “Any city smarter than a beaver can keep a beaver, and knows why they should.”
Well now that was fun and it gives the illusion that my crazy life for the past 17 years actually makes sense, Of course no look back on the heroes of the past 25 years makes any sense without this: These voices are the real players.
Oh and if that’s not surprising enough for you and you can’t imagine what’s fun to do after June, here’s something to look forward to besides my birthday!
Planing a long lunch hour on Sept 13th and 20th because the middle states are about to get a belly full of beavers. Thanks to Rachel Siegal and her posse.It looks to be a pretty terrific lineup. The first day starts with Ben Goldfarb and launches into Emily Fairfax. The second day sees Michael Pollock talking trout to JUST the right places where they’re still blowing up beaver dams.
I am so impressed that this is happening and that the beaver message is rolling across the country. First with New Mexico that wanted to do what Utah did with Mary Obrien’s help, and only went virtual because of Covid and then with us in California that thought hey covid why NOT get people to talk about beavers which lead to the funding that paid for the lobbyist that triggered the big changes at CDFW then Colorado and now the midwest! We are all riding on the shoulders of greatness!
