Beavers or Social Ambasadors – Page 26

Well, did you go see it?

heidi08 Beavers or Social Ambasadors, Educational March 14, 2010

Isn’t it the prettiest bridge ever? Looks like grouting has to wait until tomorrow when Dimitry and Jon can team up again. In the mean time you should take full advantage of this gorgeous day and walk down to the beavers. It’s definitely worth seeing.

Life is becoming beaver-busy again for Worth A Dam. I will give a short phone interview today for a freelance reporter that wants to write about the bridge project. Next week I will be presenting to the Moraga Rotary club at St Mary’s College and talking about the investment Martinez made in its beavers, and illustrating how that’s paid off for the city and the habitat. Moraga is a small, wealthy town with some lovely creeks and the massive upper San Leandro Reservoir, so its a good place to preach the beaver gospel. Interestingly, it is the former employer of our current city manager, who wanted to start an RDA there as well but was forcefully re-educated. We’ll see what Martinez teaches him.

The week after that I have a interview scheduled with a New York watershed reporter who wants to do a story on beavers and beaver management. I had written her months ago trying to persuade her on the benefits of beavers in the habitat when she wrote some rather ungracious words about our beaver friend Mike Callahan. Turns out she was intrigued. She is repositioning herself as editor of the Watershed Post and feels that a story on beavers is probably a good way to start. Okay then.

The next weekend Worth A Dam will meet with our new wikipedia friend who is turning out to be a crackerjack researcher on historic beaver prevalence. He recently got interested in idea of “place names” in california with the word beaver. Might that mean that was a historic trapping area? I pointed out amusedly that there was a “Beaver Street” in Kings Beach, Tahoe. (Where they were happily killing them because “they weren’t native”, which is kinda what got us started with this whole project in the first place.) Well he contacted the historical society of Kings Beach to learn about the name, and the woman he spoke to said, that’s interesting, because my daughter discovered a beaver colony in Lexington Reservoir! Turns out she’s the mother in law of Mercury Freedom, the man who took the amazing photos of beavers in Los Gatos!

Small beaver world. But you knew that already right?

Ahhh okay, where am I. Then its April, with a second conference call for the nine and John Muir Birthday-Earth day on April 17th. The following day is a Dow watershed event that we are supposed to be at as well. Then its Wild Birds Unlimited on mother’s day and Friends of Marsh Creek which should take us to June when the Martinez Beavers will be the second monthly lecture for Close to Home’s “It’s all connected” ecological seminar series. Some where in here I think I have traded favors with a beaver friend whose involved with the preschool at the near by catholic school and will be doing the beaver dance with some perky three year olds in exchange for some leads about the history of beaver legislation in California.

Then its August and the 3rd annual Beaver Festival. Ack!!!!!!

A Bridge Apart…

heidi08 Beavers or Social Ambasadors, Creative Solutions, Tile Bridge March 12, 2010

Yesterdays tile installation was a wonder to behold. All 100+ tiles were laid by noon, and traffic was literally stopped as people slowed their cars to admire how it looked. Channel 2 came for an interview and footage, as well as the Contra Costa Times and Record.

We still have grouting and UV protection to add, but the hard part is done. Our generous contactor Dimitry Doronkin did an excellent job, but very much appreciated his hands on assistant, Worth A Dam treasurer (husband!) and beaver friend Jon. Yesterday I wasted no time writing the council, inviting them to come see for themselves, and asking for a donation to pay for this years festival art supplies! I got some positive responses, too, so we’ll see what transpires.

I was saying yesterday that designing the tile layout and counting the needed border tiles for the perimeter was one of the most challenging beaver labors my brain has faced. Its not what I generally do well. I tried begging some designers for insight, but no one felt so inclined. I was helped, oddly enough, by using scrabble tiles on a raised deluxe board (letter up: colored tiles, wood surface: border tiles) and lots and lots of repetition. Turns out my uneasy calculations were exactly correct. We had three extra tiles.

Come down and admire the artists work in all its bridge-y glory. Stop by the primary dam and see its disarray and then stroll to the footbridge to admire where the beavers have been putting all their effort. It has been a magical week aboard the beaver madness express. If there were any more room in the scrapbook, this would definitely go in it.

Passing on the Beaver Gospel

heidi08 Beaver News, Beavers or Social Ambasadors, Educational February 20, 2010

I was contacted this week by Mary Grim of the Contra Costa Resource Conservation District. She was involved with a project to provide materials to elementary teachers in Brentwood and Oakley about their local environment. Might I consider sharing the kids beaver powerpoint for them to use?

Might I indeed!

Brentwood and Oakley are two areas of California in particular with whom I’d be happy to pass along some beaver-understanding. There are beloved beavers at Big Break in EBRP and some protectively undisclosed beavers around the watershed, but the delta region in general is phobic of beavers. (Worried that they will tunnel through the eroding levy walls and cause massive flooding.)

So I can’t imagine a better way to effortlessly pass along the things we’ve learned about beavers first hand. I added notes to the presentation so that teachers would have an easier job, and included the handout I worked on with Mike Callahan for his DVD, “What good are beavers?” The powerpoint emphasizes the way beavers adapt to their environment using our beaver photos with children’s photos and drawings.

Anyway, Mary was thrilled with the product, and very generous with her enthusiasm. She also wanted to know if we had really seen all those new species first hand and did I really think they were drawn by the beaver ponds?

I assured her the photos were most definately taken here, and invited her to come see how beaver ponds attract wildlife for herself!

Remarkable things

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Beavers or Social Ambasadors, Creative Solutions February 7, 2010

Day 1 of the flyway festival was amazing in almost every way, with fantastic connections between beavers, birds, salmon, and natural history. If you can’t remember what birds and beavers have in common look here. Details of the day will follow, but I thought I’d get you in the mood with some adorable footage of mom and dad trying to keep the young’ins in the lodge.

I started the day off with a note from Leonard Houston of the State of the Beaver Conference. He said the event was an incredible success, and thought that it seemed a good idea to announce our next beaver festival to everyone in the room! Which he did.

“Why Beavers Are Worth A Dam” Sunday at 1:30. Wish me luck!

Sample children’s creations for banner/quilt project

Just in time!

heidi08 Beaver News, Beavers or Social Ambasadors, Environmental, Festival, New Species January 27, 2010

I was getting ready to announce Worth A Dam’s presence at the Flyway Festival the 6th and 7th, when two very fine events coincided to assist. The first is that we had a fantastic new bird visitor at the damlet site yesterday, caught by Cheryl here:

Clearly there is going to be a housing boom. This is a common merganser. Avid beaver fans will remember that a hooded merganser was filmed at the primary dam last February, so its obviously the time for visitors. Like wooduck, these birds are what’s known as “obligate cavity nesters” which means they lay their eggs in holes they cannot dig themselves. (“much obliged!”) And bird boxes. Like the one Mitchell installed three days ago. Cheryl saw him check out the area up stream and downstream. Expect to see more of this pointed face!

Today I noticed a little surge of activity on the webpage and went to see where it was from. I discovered that the Flyway Festival has put our information and program on the schedule!

1:30pm – 2:00pm

Why Beavers are Worth A Dam

Slide show presented by Heidi Perryman, Ph.D.
The Martinez Beavers have been the center of controversy, environmental growth, and community action since 2007. This presentation will use footage and stills from a collection of local photographers to show the beavers’ unique impact on the habitat, including birds and other wildlife. It will outline tools used by the city to manage their continued presence. Heidi Perryman is a child psychologist who became an accidental beaver advocate when the family moved into the urban creek near her home. She began filming the beavers and writing articles for the local paper. Eventually serving on the “beaver subcommittee”, she formed the group Worth A Dam (associated with the 501.3 (c) Land for Urban Wildlife) to advocate for their continued care and teach others about the value of this Keystone Species. Learn more at www.martinezbeavers.org/wordpress Join an artist from their team for a kid’s “beaver art” project on Saturday at the Wildlife Expo.

The entire roster of events is dazzling. They get 7500 people in a weekend. This is the BIG BIG BIG bird and watershed event of the year. And it is safe to say, in the history of the known world, they have never had a beaver display before. How exciting is that? Getting thousands of avid birders interested in the relationship between beaver dams and birds, and talking about the resources for beaver management? I can’t think of a better investment of a weekend. Come by and say hi and help us with our “build a banner” amazing art project!