Happy International Beaver Day,
I am getting the feeling that in the future there will will only be the time that came before the fiirst California beaver summit and the time that came after it. It’s that important. And its feeling that way. Final sign up numbers 979 from 31 states including Iowa and Tennessee. More CDFW more USDA MORE CCC and more waterboards.
We freaking did it!
International beaver day is going to be BUSY this year.
Besides the first ever California beaver summit AND the Trust’s beaver quiz help in the UK you are invited to break open a brew with some friends of beavers in Arizona that night.
This virtual gathering will feature stories from biologists, ecologists, and community scientists working directly with beavers in the San Pedro and Santa Cruz international watersheds. Tune in to learn how beavers introduced to the San Pedro River in Arizona have made their way upstream into Mexico and even walked overland to the Santa Cruz Watershed. We’ll have lots of opportunities for questions and toasts (brindes) with all our beaver friends.
Our binational beaver believer speakers are Allison Kreis with the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, ecologists Antonio Esquer and Mario Cirett-Galan with Profauna México, biologist Carlos Valdez Coronel with Naturalia, Mike Foster with Friends of the San Pedro, and Steve Merkley with Cochise College.
This event caps off WMG’s Release the Beavers spring fundraising campaign. Help us reach our goal of raising $75,000 to support our river restoration and community conservation initiatives and ensure beavers can reclaim their spot as a keystone species in our desert rivers! All donations given by April 7th will be eligible for our matching fund. You can donate when you register for the event or contribute online here.
Wow! Beers with Beavers! All the other days in april are going to be jealous of the 7th because they aren’t nearly as cool! I only know one of the speakers, Mike Foster who I’ve been exchanging beaver video and questions for a decade, but I’m fascinated to hear the others.
And besides, who doesn’t need to have a beer with beavers at the end of a hard day?
Yesterday was data drop day at beaver central. We are up to 798 registered for the beaver summit. Not bad for a state that never thought about having a beaver event before. 541 are from California but there are people from 26 states attending an four countries.
I wish we had 10 more state park attendees and 20 more waterboard people but it’s not bad first effort. There are also hundreds of various non profit attendees and lets hope they hold some feet to the fire so that those that can’t attend this time will learn in the future,
In the meantime there was a darling/terrifying story yesterday from Canada of a beaver turning up in the subway and making rescue. Poor little disperser who tried to use public transit.
TORONTO — An entrance to a Toronto subway station was temporarily closed due to a wandering beaver. According to the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), the beaver strolled into Royal York Subway Station on Bloor Street, near the Humber Marshes, early Thursday morning.
As a result, the TTC temporarily closed the Grenview entrance to the station “due to an animal in distress.” The station entrance has since reopened.
You have to love the Canadians for closing the station. I don’ even want to think about what would have happened to a beaver who wandered onto BART.
I was waiting for this yesterday, This is a great article and Estuary magazine has been a good friend to beavers. From the very beginning. Unfortunately Cheryl’s lovely photo is mistakenly attributed, but I’m thrilled with the article anyway.
It seems destined that two species known for their environmental engineering would struggle to live in unison. However, municipalities like Napa and Martinez in Contra Costa County have learned to live with their beavers, and the upcoming California Beaver Summit aims to set the record straight.
“Our approach is hands-off,” says Jeremy Sarrow, a resource specialist with Napa County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, describing the county’s tack toward managing beaver dams built along inhabited waterfronts. Sarrow suggests that a three-foot-high wrapping of hardware cloth (similar to chicken wire but more durable) around the trunk of a tree is sufficient to deter a beaver.
A fine nod to Napa. Now lets go looking for other clues that Estuary understands this story. Lets see. What really matters to California? Oh that’s right. Fire.
Furthermore, it’s becoming increasingly apparent that beaver habitats have a lasting positive impact on surrounding ecosystems. Emily Fairfax, a scientist and assistant professor at California State University Channel Islands interviewed by Estuary News last April, has focused her research on beavers’ impact on fire resilience. “In severe fires, areas with beaver dams held up pretty well,” says Fairfax. Viewed from
Beavers are getting a pretty deep bench. Did you notice? So many things are going right for them. And the best people seem to be on hand to make the best poings. Thanks Emily.
Recent Bay Area history has also shown that when a beaver moves in, a whole lot of biodiversity follows. In 2007, when one settled into Alhambra Creek in Martinez, Heidi Perryman and other community advocates fought to protect it from government-ordered extermination. “Within a few months, we saw green herons, wood ducks, and river otters returning to the creek,” Perryman says. She went on to found the community group Worth A Dam to tell the story of the Martinez beaver and advocate for a similar approach in other urban waterways.
Oh yes, Et in arcadio ego. And there Martinez is. Smack dab in the middle of a dynamic beaver tale once again.
To help educate the community and share best practices across agencies and counties, Perryman and others have organized the California Beaver Summit this April 7 and 9. Speakers will clarify beaver history, share the benefits their presence provides, and teach how to interact more responsibly with them. Fairfax, a featured speaker on the second day, will discuss her recent research on beavers and last year’s historic fire season.
“It’s not about having enough evidence at this point,” says Perryman on the value beavers bring to California waterways. “Everybody that drinks water and doesn’t want their house burned down should be interested in something that solves both problems.”
And………………………..scene! Credit to Napa, and Martinez plus some shade to Brentwood which is as it should be. This is a fine article to read and share. Share with as many people as you can think of. It’s so nice that this came just in time to promote the summit. Sometimes I do get the feeling that the earth is tipping in beaver favor.
I dreamed last night that the beaver summit was happening or about to happen, and I was very pleased to see that it was going really well. In real life we have about 700 signed up as of last friday – more probably after that interview aired this weekend and the article coming in tomorrow’s Estuary newsletter.
There are basically three jobs in pulling something like this together. Get the website/logo together. Get the speakers together. And get people to sign up. I’m pretty happy with all three at the moment. The event itself is really just icing on the cake to come.
And if you’re wondering what to do to stay busy on the first half of that important day, the beaver trust has some helpful ideas.
In celebration of the International Day of the Beaver – Beaver Trust are putting on a *LIVE* quiz to remember!
Eva Bishop and Sophie Pavelle, presenters of The Lodge Cast and dynamic duo of the Beaver Trust communications team, are joined by an array of famous faces including Chris Packham, David Oakes , Maddie Moate, Hannah Stitfall and Megan McCubbin – to see how much you really know about the second largest rodent in the world.
Grab a pint, pen and paper, and join in a lively and hilarious tribute to the beaver. (Spoiler alert: you might just learn something too!)
Well that sounds like a fun way to burn off the hour while waiting for an event you spent 6 months planning. Maybe I will grab a pint and be there. It’s free to attend but you have to buy a ticket to win prizes.
Besides. be fair, I have no idea who she is but just the name “Megan McCubbin” indicates fun WILL be had.
Oh and to celebrate after the first day of the conference? How about a Q&A with Ben Goldfarb himself?
Join us and Ben Goldfarb, author of Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter, for a live online presentation and Q & A on the amazing adaptations and capabilities of these natural engineers.
April 7, 2021, International Beaver Day, at 6 p.m.
Register at International Beaver Day – April 7th | The Wetlands Conservancy.
