Category: Beavers or Social Ambasadors

Worth A Dam Weekend

heidi08 Beavers or Social Ambasadors, Creative Solutions, Environmental November 6, 2009

So tomorrow will be the ceremony for the John Muir Association Conservation Award. It will take place downtown, at the Campbell Theatre and be hosted by Lee Stetson, the actor who played the affirming voice of John Muir in the Ken Burns documentary series. Awards will be presented for best organizational contribution (East Bay Regional Parks) best education contribution (David Loeb, publisher of Bay Nature), best business contribution (T. Marzetti Co in Ohio) and best individual contribution (Jeff Alvarez of the Wildlife Project).

Regular readers of this blog will recognize Jeff’s name as the biologist who had volunteered to help us with our interpretive signs grant way back when. Jeff has been an enthusiastic supporter for beavers and Worth A Dam, and will be joining our meeting this weekend to talk about upcoming projects. We couldn’t be happier for him or more excited about our work together. Here’s the press release regarding his much-deserved win:

Named Conservationist of the Year, Jeff Alvarez will be recognized for his lifelong advocacy for wildlife and habitat conservation. Alvarez is the owner and Chief Biologist for The Wildlife Project. His prodigious volunteer work on behalf of wildlife and the environment goes well beyond his business interests. As a volunteer, he has trained professional peers in federal permitting issues for special-status species in order to increase the number of qualified biologists able to work towards the conservation of threatened and endangered species in California . He has lent his expertise, as a volunteer, to assist the Agricultural and Natural Resource Land Trust of Contra Costa County, the Biological Field Studies Association, the Mt. View Sanitation District, and many others. He has created and published techniques for surveying wildlife that minimize impacts on the wildlife. His articles on special-status species have been published in scientific journals, and he shares his expertise by providing gratis presentations on natural history and wildlife management to public agencies and nonprofit organizations. Alvarez is currently fulfilling a ten-year volunteer commitment to assist CASA Avian Support Alliance in Belize with the assessment of reforestation and avian populations. He also assists with wildlife rehabilitation and environmental education, including The Resources of Belize Coloring and Activity Book to be distributed to children in Belize . Alvarez is one of those individuals whose wide-ranging enthusiasm on behalf of wildlife and the environment influences others to care about the natural world around them.

Alright, an award ceremony, a Worth A Dam meeting with brilliant new minds, aren’t you doing anything else this weekend, you lazy beaver advocates? How about a display at the Trail Adventure to benefit Save Mt. Diablo at Castle Rock park in Walnut Creek? Well, okay. We’ll be at the expo from 9-12 where you can learn all about the various advocacy groups in the Bay Area.

The Save Mount Diablo Trail Adventure presented by Chevron offers a Half-Marathon, 10K Run, and Family Hike beginning at Castle Rock Park in Walnut Creek, climbing the fire roads up the slopes of Mount Diablo and finishing at Castle Rock. The event includes post race entertainment by a live band, expo and lunch for all participants.

Save Mt. Diablo is the big leagues in non-profit baseball. It takes big money to save a mountain, especially when you are saving it from being sold for even bigger money. They invited us after seeing how enormously popular our site was at the Flyway Fiesta event. We will be there to talk beavers, make friends and find out some excellent ideas for next years beaver festival! Stop by and say hi!

Beaver Central

heidi08 Beaver News, Beaver-themed merchandise, Beavers elsewhere, Beavers or Social Ambasadors November 24, 2009

There are a few pieces of beaver news this morning, so I thought you’d enjoy a miscellany. First, Jon is off to Cordelia to make bird cages for IBRRC and generally offer a helping hand. Wish him a squaky, pecky, helpful day! Cheryl has been there from dawn to way-past-dusk every day since Saturday, and asked him to lend a hand. Their recent shipment from the coast guard had some 500 birds, so they need all the help they can get.

Photo: Paul Kelway IBRRC

Last week the remarkable Marin Watershed project S.T.R.A.W. (Students & Teachers Restoring A Watershed) saw its documentary screening in San Francisco. I’d been reading about them and was encouraged to make first contact. Were the children interested in letting beavers help them with their restoration work? Would they like to have some conversations about the role of beavers in the watershed? I got a lovely email back from education director Laurette Rogers, who notes that beavers are one of her favorite animals. She described getting a giggle when some restoration willows they were working on for a project in San Joaquin suddenly “disappeared”. She never saw the culprits but they slapped their tails at her!

A Simple Question Trailer from Trent Boeschen on Vimeo.

Meanwhile, I got a call from the president-elect of the Rotary club in Pleasant Hill, saying she had heard from a friend how delightful the beaver presentation was last week and would I come and talk to them? My Rotary club experience in Martinez was hardly the most heart-warming moment of my beaver adventures, so I am eager to replace that memory with a better one. Plus my head was buzzing when I noticed that the letterhead of her email said she worked for the Pleasant Hill Parks Department. I can’t think of anyone I’d more like to convince about beaver benefits, so of course I agreed!

Long time beaver friend and Food Bank Coordinator Kathy Gleason dropped me a note that someone had donated a large beaver stuffed toy of mother and baby, and would I like to add it to the display table? Thank you very much, Kathy. It’s been a week of odd fortune. Monday I got an email from a physician in the South Bay, telling me too look up the exciting Utah beaver reintroduction, and incidentally telling me about beaver history in San Jose.

did you know that Captain John Sutter bought 1,500 beaver pelts in 1841 at Mission San Jose! This means they clearly were distributed throughout the Bay Area.

He let me know that he’d been doing research about the area in the 1800’s and would be happy to share other related pieces.Of course we’d love to hear them.

Finally, this morning, I got a call rom a woman who had enjoyed our “charm bracelet activity” and who wanted information about where to buy the charms and how to implement it. Seems her daughter is a girl scout leader in North Carolina and she wants to encourage her to do it there. Ahhh, disciples in beaver-killin North Carolina. Nothing could make me happier. I will write back immediately! If you’re interested, I added the curriculum to the “teachers” part of the website. The charms can be purchased cheaply here:

Once Upon A Time…

heidi08 Beavers or Social Ambasadors, City Reports, Creative Solutions September 22, 2009

Once upon a time, in a very far off land where olive trees made a familiar pattern on the hills, a family of travelling magicians moved into the creek. There were three to begin with, a mother, a father and a healthy teen and all were adept at weaving straw into gold and sticks into shelters. They picked a neglected spot along the stream to make their home, right at the edge of the tide, and nestled in amongst the willows and rushes of their people.

Children and their parents sometimes stopped near their camp to watch a party trick or two. The magicians could juggle brightly colored lights and carry trees on their fingertips and it was amusing for the townspeople to see. But back at the castle, the stern old mapmaker was not amused, and argued that the magicians would call the Great Waters to rise up and flood the small village, drowning their homes and cattle. He directed the magistrate to kill the magician family, and the decision was swiftly made to execute.

‘Such decree of death caused public outcry for those who had enjoyed the magicians waterside display, and the sentence was softened to banishment when the children began to cry at the great meeting where it was considered. A gathering was planned to consider the fate of the magicians, and all the people left their huts and hovels to join in council around the fireside where important decisions were always made. There were four on the dais and four hundred in the fields. The magistrate’s brought in high priests with yardsticks to speak of the Great Flood the magicians would bring if allowed to stay, and the people spoke of their talents and treasures and asked that the magistrate find a wizard who could prevent the flood and allow the magicians to remain.

Faced with such a united and determined voice, the magistrate appointed a council of seven and charged them with the weighty task of finding such a wizard and setting him to its dilemma. Perhaps he expected the task to be impossible, and hoped to divide the inevitable failure by seven and share the blame for banishment. However, these seven quickly scoured the nation for the best skills in the land and the sharpest minds of the nation. After 90 days of searching they brought forth a great wizard the Green Mountain State and, after much council and deliberation, employed him for the position.

Sir Gallop of Lisle was tall and stern as he surveyed the magicians’ lair and considered the risks of the great flood. The pulses of many a maiden fluttered as he strode shirtless into the shallow creek to see what damage might be called. Despite the prodigious difficulties he knew just what must be done, and he used an enchanted conduit to move some of the powers from the area so that the magicians could cause no harm. With the new bypass in place, even the yardsticks of the high priests could assess no risk of flood. There was great rejoicing and many sighs of relief, and the townsfolk bought Sir Gallop many tankards of finest ale before he returned to his home in the green mountains.

Now the magicians have lived in the town for three autumns, and the townsfolk still love to gather and watch their displays. The enchanted conduit works day and night to direct the power, and in the late summer the townsfolk gather for a festival to celebrate the magicians presence in their town. Come join them some evening to watch the juggling of brightly colored lights at the waterside, and remember that your town may get magicians soon.

Yesterday in Beaverland…

heidi08 Beaver News, Beavers or Social Ambasadors, City Reports September 10, 2009

We had some nice surprises. I started the morning with a visit to the dam and saw a few yearlings mudding about. At one point there looked to piece of dark hard debris on the secondary dam- right in the gap the beavers use to cross over. How surprised was I when the trash sprung legs, a head and a tail and proceeded to crawl over the dam, using the depression the beavers provided. It was a western pond turtle! He musta’ been moving fast or I would be able to share a picture of my walking waste.

Later a couple of very nice emails arrived, sent to the beavers (care of me), one from a supporter in Oakland and one from the Orange County couple we met at the dam last week. The woman from the EPA that included our beaver photos in the curriculum of every first grader in the state wrote to get updates and addresses. And we heard from Worth A Dam member Lory (on vacation in alaska) that she was in Denali park excitedly watching beavers swim around.

At the meeting there were more beaver supporters in one place than I have seen since the festival. Robert Rust (the kayaking creek cleaner) was there, along with a bunch of beaver supporters I had never met but who wanted to thank me. Ken Dothee came to tell me that his performing son (Nick Dothee) was wearing one of our 2008 beaver t-shirts on a youtube video and we should check it out. Of course I came straight home to investigate.

[youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=96lnu7q3yOI]

Oh, and what happened at the meeting last night? Here’s the short version:

Sometimes Goliath wins.

Birds, Beavers and Girl Scouts

heidi08 Beavers or Social Ambasadors, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental September 4, 2009

So a very nice woman approached us the day of the beaver festival and asked Worth A Dam to be part of this years Amazing Bay Day for the Girl Scouts. You can reserve your space now. This year’s event will be held at Sugarloaf Open Space in Walnut Creek, and sponsored by the Lindsay Wildlife Museum. Our job was to offer some kind of craft or activity that would appeal to 500 girl scouts and teach the values of stewardship and respect for our avian wildlife.

Could we do it?

Luckily for us, beavers have been shown to have a direct impact on bird density and variety. In fact, one research project showed that as the number of dams in an area goes up, the number of migratory songbirds also goes up. So any Amazing Day that teaches about birds, has to be a day that teaches about beavers, right?

What if there were a way to visually show the links that beavers have to wildlife? Something tangible that you can touch and carry away with you. Something that you might have earn, like scouts earn badges all the time. And something cute. For 500 girls from 6-18 it would have to be cute.

How’d we do?

So the idea is that girls will be encouraged to learn about the relationships between beavers and birds, fish, and wildlife. Worth A Dam will have teaching materials and volunteers to help them understand, and then with a short quiz they can “earn” a charm to be added to the bracelet. We’ll introduce a new charm every hour until they’re all gone, and it will be a permanent reminder of why beavers are important to the habitat. Worth A Dam found some persuadable donors to pick up the cost for the charms, so they’ll be free for the first 100 girls. The grown-ups we’ve shown them to so far have only three words to say in response.

“I want one!”