City Reports – Page 129

Crane Migrates North

heidi08 City Reports, Uncategorized October 22, 2008

Three updates and yesterday’s rundown. Two are worriesome. Yesterday SKip Lisle told us he is off to Vermont today, and he confirmed that last night. There will be officially be no oversight that can communicate with the workers on the project. Worse, Mom was observed by at least two people last night to have an eye injury/condition that has created a swollen ring around her eye, leaving the pupil barely visible. We will try to get a better look/photo and a vet consult to see if anything should be done.

Yesterday the Crane came to the end of its useful reach on Escobar, so was moved along. We had hoped (and been assured) that it was going to rest on the street and not (as rumored) on the grass directly behind the new lodge. As in nearly all things we were dissappointed. The Crane was laboriously fitted about 15 feet from the lodge, where it will rest for several days as the continue installation.

Even with this dolby-stereo vibration (the pilings in front and the motor behind) our beavers stayed hunkered, thank goodness. Sharp eyes on the bridges spotted only turtles and rats in the water, and this was a relief.

One bit of excitement during the day came when the peering property owner and crew sent down a camera to document the corner of his property which where the concrete was exposed. Skip was asked to get in the water and look for holes, which he did, and did not find. Everyone was snapping pictures of the space where a footing was apparently not present, although they had authoritatively told us that there was none to begin with. Funny how much time it takes to verify the absence of something you are certain isn’t there.

Skip expressed concern that there was greater impatience on the part of the crew that the work was taking so long. Everyone is well aware that this is not going to be the four day job advertised. We did have lots of positive contact with the crew today, one asked how to get a tee shirt and another went for a turtle tour with Cheryl. If nothing else, we have raised their curiosity.

Last night Igor Skaredoff and I presented on “beavers and watershed” for the Master Gardeners association in Pleasant Hill. It was a packed, cheerful, and organically intelligent group. Everyone appreciated Igor’s run down of the geology behind the waterways, and of course our furry heroes were a big hit.

Beaver Optimism

heidi08 City Reports, Creative Solutions October 20, 2008

UPDATE: Sheetpile delivered this morning, by a very nice truck driver who spent the last four days driving down from Ontario. Apparently he has beavers on his property too, and wondered why ours didn’t tail slap at him. He gave the kindly beaver watchers canadian nickles with beavers on the back. Four sheets installed so far, they are moving farther away from the wall, nearly five feet, which will narrow the creek channel considerably. No one is talking about how this will affect the West bank, but I have some hunches. No sign of our hunkered beavers, they are staying out of harms way for now.

One of the things I appreciate most about our famous furry family is their cheerful capacity to adapt to unwelcome changes. When life hands beavers lemons, they settle down to making quantities of lemonade. The most recent evidence of this is their plucky and creative use of the straw baffles down by the footbridge. These plastic wrapped eyesores are performing the inexplicable function of keeping the higher water from the lower water, but the beavers have finally seen the sunny side. They are climbing on them, sitting on them, and tonight lovingly piling one with sticks.

A Dam Starter Kit.

If you need a little more good cheer this morning, take a look at beaver friend Moses Silva’s recent patriotic in vivo experiment. He wondered how beavers might vote in the upcoming presidential election. Of course beaver supporters are heterogenous group, and will make their own decisions come election day, but if you want to know how this particular experiment ended up, you’ll have to see the answer for yourself.

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

Inspired by all this sunshine, I’ll try some beaver optimism. Here’s hoping the sheet pile gets safely delivered and ten sheets get installed today. No beavers emerge from their hiding place during the work, and five people contact me to volunteer for thursday and friday watch. How’d I do?

The Emergency That Waited

heidi08 City Reports, Educational October 17, 2008

Your tax dollars at work: Photo Cheryl Reynolds.

Day Four of the “Emergency bank stabilization” that was estimated to take ten days. We have ten feet of sheet pile installed for a 200 foot project. 5% complete. You know that algebra thing “if five percent of a project can be done in four days, how many days will it take to complete the entire project?”

A lot.

The needed sheetpile is supposed to be delivered on Monday. Skip Lisle is supposed to leave tomorrow. Yesterday he was going to approach the city about staying at least through the lodge installation, which we entirely support. I talked with Igor Skaredoff (who is on the oversight committee) and he agreed it was a good idea, and said he would approach city staff about it as well. I have not yet heard the outcome, but as we wait I thought I would just remind regular readers (and first time readers!) that us “crazy beaver people” have a list of good reasons to be doubtful of this “emergency”. This was printed in the Martinez Gazette yesterday.

A previous letter to the editor highlights the secrecy and delay of the Martinez City council, but falls short of describing the actual dishonesty that has taken place. Not only would there have been no emergency if the council had implemented our recommendations sooner, there is no emergency now.

In response to the February report alleging damage to the properties beside the creek due to beaver burrowing, the city issued a no-bid, unpublished, contract to a geotechnical engineer. He visited the site twice and released his report on September 9^th outlining that there was no damage to either building, that there was some separation of the bank from the wall, and that this could be cheaply addressed through the installation of pressurized grout and re-vegetation.

The city reviewed his recommendations and their modest price-tag in private and promptly demanded the expert revisit the property. Apparently his solution wasn’t expensive enough, and his findings weren’t dire enough. The expert obligingly returned ten days later and reported that the situation had gravely worsened. The only lasting solution was a 500,000 installation of sheet piling.

His report contained no photographs of this “alarming change” which constituted an emergency. There was no effort to assess the structure, design or age of the wall and there was no explanation of why the separation of a bank from a wall would constitute an emergency in the first place.

Is it a retaining bank?

Worth A Dam hired Laurel Collins, a fluvial geomorphologist, who spent 4 hours inspecting the creek and bank on October 6. She actually entered the water, which no expert had done. She identified a two-foot footing along the wall, which no expert had done. She assessed and documented each beaver tunnel, which no expert had done. She found the tunnels run parallel to the water as expected, not away from it as alleged. The footing is below the bank and likely predates the bank. There are no signs of stress from the slipping of the bank, which was never intended to “hold up” the wall. Ms. Collins’ report, which mirrored the city’s September 9^th report, was obviously not dire enough either. For mysterious reasons, the city is committed to a large scale project along this bank, and made sure their expert report justified it as an emergency. As with the Iraq war “the intelligence was fixed around the policy”.

We can only watch to see what follows: residents of the sheet pile-weary Bethel Island might suggest that the vibrating hammer technique to be used will cause significant structural damage to the properties along side the creek. Savvy residents who have watched this debacle from the beginning are waiting for the restaurant Bertola’s to be deemed structurally unsound, for the building to be torn down, and the arrival of a plan to install an underground parking structure in its place.

In the mean time, experts take heed. When the city of Martinez asks you for recommendations, remember to give them the most expensive solution possible.

Heidi P. Perryman, Ph.D.

President & Founder

Worth A Dam

Waiting for the Piling…

heidi08 Beaver News, City Reports October 16, 2008

So today the final sheet of the small section between the bridge and the lodge was installed, but the others haven’t been delivered yet so the work has halted. We were told that the obstuction yesterday was from a “tree root”. The explanation was that if it had been cement the metal would have jumped around, sort of like it did today, when Bertola’s windows rattled and the building shook.

If that was a tree root, then this must have been the tree

(In case you don’t recognize the picture this is the “Tree of Life” from Walt Disney World, and um, it’s made of cement.)

For this morning’s efforts they couldn’t install the last pile towards the wall to close off the curve. There were too many “roots”. They thriftily used the “left over” sheet pile from yesterdays scraps to close the gap between the pilings and the wall. It is resting atop the footing and will be welded in place this afternoon.

Skip is slated to leave Saturday, and the sheet piles may not arrive until Monday. What could possibly go wrong?

Holes

heidi08 City Reports October 15, 2008

So the crane was erected today, with weighty purpose. You can see how it towers above the county recorder’s building. Tomorrow the first pilings will be driven, from the lodge to the bridge. Dave Scola told reporters tonight the work will start at nine, but that means we’ll be there at seven, to observe where the beavers hole up for the day.

Tonight there were three kits in residence, and Jon and Skip on hand to watch them. Everyone noticed they seemed a little more disoriented and on edge (many passes necessary to find the apple and more squabbles than usual).

While this was happening staff was busy amusing themselves with the “discovery” of the 11 foot hole (although why this would be relevant now, I can’t imagine.) Through skillful maneuver no one was sucked into the vortex and drained away.

Dramatic eh? While this grim investigation was occuring, Hess laid a plank of sheet metal across the stream for the hydrolics to pass through. With no one to supervise they picked the cleanest easiest place to install it: atop the old lodge. Skip and beaver supporters were alarmed and made it clear there needed to be more communication before such decisions were made. Fortunately the lodge had already been punctured earlier in the day and any yearlings sleeping therein had swam in search of greater protection. These pictures are of Skip checking out the lodge interior.

I had contact with the Lindsay museum and they will have a vet on staff tomorrow, animal control has been notified in case we need to transport any unlucky beaver. Hopefully none of that will be necessary, but things aren’t hopeful.

Tomorrow will be difficult. Please come help and bring your binoculars and your prayers.