pictures – Page 13 – Worth A Dam

Beaver Fever: New Believer

heidi08 Beavers or Social Ambasadors, Festival, pictures September 6, 2008

Hey now that’s a Dr. Suess book just waiting to be written. Check out your gazette this morning which says that this Art in the Park had the largest attendance of any in memory, with visitors numbered in the thousands.

Now I just want to point out that based on indendent analysis and solid science the increase in attendance covaried with the increase in beaver displays (r=1.0 p>.0001). I’m not saying Worth A Dam should get all the credit, but it seems silly to hide our beaver light under a bushel.

Combining the beaver festival and Art in the Park, Worth A Dam can boast some 65 new memberships and nearly 2500 dollars raised in small donations. Thanks to everyone who helped and invested in the Martinez Beavers. We’ll make sure your gift to them will keep on giving.

Foot Traffic on the Fourth

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers or Social Ambasadors, kits, pictures July 7, 2008

Last night it seemed all of Martinez (and much of Concord, Antioch and beyond) came downtown for the fireworks. According to time-honored tradition they parked above Main street and walked in ice-chest-bearing droves down Castro across the footbridge to the Marina. Worth A Dam was there, with a little display and docents at each bridge to point out beaver activity and keep an eye on safety. There were lots of first timers to the dam and much to explain. Also old beaver friends happy to come back and follow up on the story.

The evening started quietly. I even photographed a green heron walking the pipe at the primary dam. A single kit made an appearance at the Escobar bridge before seven o’clock, and clusters of people were excited to mark his arrival. The famed family of the seven-sweetest-and-best-behaved-children-ever we met at the farmer’s market were there in their jammies, as were some first timers excited by the viewing. A little later mom started mudwork on the primary dam, and three kits scrambled about “helping”. One admirer caught a lovely photo of the moment, and hopefully that will make its way to the web page soon.

Closer to eight the traffic increased, and there were literally hundreds moving across the footbridge. Jon was there pointing out beaver behavior to a fascinated crowd that squeezed onto the bridge to have a better look. There had never been a larger group of first-timers, or a more generous beaver display. Babies on the bank, mom’s back, mom on the bank. It was well worth the look. Lots of “Oh I never knew they were so big!”,”Oh they’re so cute” and “Oh I heard they had been moved.” I would say our beavers visibility increased nicely last night.

By nine though, the beavers had hunkered down and out of sight. The vibrations, horns and explosions had driven them underground. One straggler kit was still swimming under the Marina Vista Bridge when the fireworks started, and I made sure to watch him head back up over the primary dam to safety. It’s a little harrowing to have that many patriotically intoxicated humans at close quarters with our beavers, especially when you throw fire danger into the mix. There were many comments that with the 1200 fires already burning in the state this early in the year, the County should have banned fireworks altogether. A Eucalyptus tree caught fire on the east hills of town, and the brush beneath it burning was visible from the street.

I personally think we need a more grandly structural solution, suggestible only by an enormously popular president. Celebrate fourth of July in the winter. You could switch festivities with some existing holiday so no one loses the day off, maybe Thanksgiving, (which is also kinda patriotic anyway). Then the fire danger would be very low and you could have all the fireworks you wanted. Businesses could still make money selling firecrackers and cherry bombs, and American families could still get together in midsummer and eat and drink themselves silly. The English celebrate Guy Fawkes day early in November with bonfires and explosions (Penny for the guy!). Fawkes was notoriously remembered for his attempted treason when barrels of gunpowder were discovered under parliament. His traitorous act is remembered for its failure and punishment, while (if you think about it in the abstract) ours is remembered for its success.

Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot…

Okay, its just a thought. Anyway Worth A Dam did good work last night, teaching visitors about beavers. And turtles. And otters. And muskrats. And herons. And….well you get the idea.

Beaver Fan Lory Bruno sends the following photos from last night’s patriotic floor show:

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Beavers clean up dam site

heidi08 Beaver News, Creative Solutions, pictures July 1, 2008

Cheryl Reynolds sends these pictures of one kit’s stewardship efforts. Someone upstream obviously let a blue fellow float downstream.

Our beavers (ever curious) needed to investigate. They clearly read the article about not having obstructions in the creek.

After the human removed the monster the beaver thanked her with this expression. That kit obviously found the blue monster amusing.

Thanks Cheryl!

Find something…

heidi08 Creative Solutions, Educational, pictures May 9, 2010

Find something outside yourself that is yourself

Then devote yourself to it with all your heart.

Bob Walker, Photographer and Activist

Cheryl Reynolds sent me this quote by Bob Walker, photographer for the East Bay Regional Parks. His photographs and passion are credited with saving much of the open space in the Bay Area and beyond, and with helping people see their own backyard in an entirely different way. He apparently became an activist after a “For Sale” sign appeared on one of his favorite landscapes.

When working with local officials failed, he stepped up to the task by offering slide shows of the region, leading hikes into the area and raising public awareness. He brought his images to the EBRP: interesting staff, persuading local officials and gradually shifting the focus of the board. He worked with several conservation groups on open space issues, including Save Mount Diablo and the East Bay Trails Alliance. In 1998 measure AA was passed, largely because of his efforts, a $225 million dollar bond that increased EBRP space by a third.

A retrospective of his work “After the Storm:Bob Walker and the Art of Environmental Photography”, was shown at the Oakland Museum and a book of the same name was published. A showing of unpublished photos is a current exhibit at the Oakland Museum “In our Own Backyard“. Walker died young but left a remarkable living legacy that spans more than the nine Bay Area counties.

I guess I know the thing I’ve found “outside myself that is myself”. Walker used this metamorphosis to transform the Bay Area. All we’ve done is extend the life of a few beavers.

Thanks to all our donors at the Farmer’s Market and beyond yesterday. My favorite story of the day was the possible existence of a group at County hospital forming called “Doctors for Beavers”. Worth A Dam and friends had a good planning meeting which will help with this next leg of beaver support. We passed around the book and toyed with the idea of a Beaver Better Business Bureau. In closing I’ll leave you with a final Walker quote

“To involve the public you have to make each one of your pictures a thousand times more spectacular than what you would see on the most exquisite day–otherwise you’ll never convey one tenth of what it feels like to be there on the dullest gray day when nothing’s going on”

A Beaver Miscellany…

heidi08 Beaver News, pictures July 7, 2008

With yesterday’s exciting turtle discovery, there is a renewed interest in our beavers as a keystone species. Sliders are not rare, and are in fact mostly descended from pet releases. Still, their complete acceptance of the habitat is a very good sign that our beaver dam has done good things for the creek. We encourage you to help us keep an eye for new and returning species to the area so that we can document their effect. In the meantime, you might enjoy these tidbits tracked down by our wildlife VP Cheryl Reynolds.

Beaver Video Game? Apparently! RealArcade just released “Dam Beavers” in which you help Quax the duck battle beavers by breaking down their dams so that he can continue swimming. Or something.

Like most ducks, Quax loves swimming. But today an unruly gang of beaver baddies insist on building their dams upstream, reducing his favorite swimming pond to a mere puddle. Determined to swim again, Quax has constructed a dam-busting catapult to smash the beaver dams and restore his peaceful pond, but he needs players’ word-building skills to help him battle the beavers. Players will click letters to form words and give Quax the ammo he needs to demolish the dams. Featuring stunning artwork, hilarious characters, unique power-ups, and more, “Dam Beavers” is a blast of word game fun for the whole family.

Never mind that we have more ducks IN our beaver pond than OUTSIDE it. But hey, its a game, You can download a free trial version if you go here

Next comes this delightful letter to the editor by Greg Brown Meaford printed in the Chicago Sun Times:

In response to the news item “Bevy of bothersome beavers,” a colony of beavers in Southgate has proposed a bounty be placed on humans. At their monthly nocturnal meeting the pond manager, citing the destructive nature of humans in damning rivers, flooding vast tracts of land, disregard for other species and uncontrolled population growth, stated “Something has to be done.” In a unanimous slap of the tails the suggestion was approved. The next step will be to contact other beaver colonies seeking their support.

Greg, any time you want a Martinez vacation, I know a lot of people who would buy you a beer!

And finally my favorite find, “Beavers Don’t Make Good Pets” from Audrey Tourney of Ontario, Canada who writes about raising beavers in one’s living room. Yes you read that right. Her loving and practical account of life with a beaver resident was a delight to read.

First of all, beavers defecate in the water: That means, unless you can manage a pool in your kitchen, that at least twice a day you will have to put enough water in the bath tub so that he can swim and dive and defecate. Then, of course, you will have to clean the tub thoroughly. His idea of what is tidy will not necessary be the same as yours. Boots, rugs, pillows, even chairs, can be rearranged at his will. When a door closes behind him and he doesn’t want it closed, he simply eats through it. A wooden door takes about 20 minutes.

Oh and the part about the piano and the last book chapter….well go read it yourself, you won’t regret it. If nothing else it makes all of us beaver fans seem relatively conservative by comparison. Thanks Cheryl for the beaver Miscellany! You can always send beaver sightings and ideas our way. (But please don’t send that story of the beavers building the dam without the permit because if one more person mails that my way I’m going to start charging admission.)