Category: City Reports

Silicon Valley Beavers

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Video April 7, 2013

A pair of beavers spotted along Guadalupe River in San Jose. Wildlife educators are hoping they stay, saying the beavers are a benefit to the environment and great ambassadors to children coming to the area to learn about the ecosystem.

Well, well, well. I was diligently holding the story until I had ‘permission to set it public’ but it looks like someone let the cat outta the bag. This appeared on KGO friday morning. Believe me when I say that I’ve been straining to influence how this unfolded and whether they had problem solvers already in place before the hounds were released. Well, now let’s get this party started!

I see the video doubled in the number of hits last night so that’s not really a secret any more either. Good. You should all be very very proud that the story credits beavers for helping rivers and teaching children. If Worth A Dam flogged NOTHING else, we’ve promoted that message over and over, in the many corners of the earth, far and wee.

Now, San Jose invite Worth A Dam and maybe Mark Ross down for a meeting, figure out how to wrap trees or protect culverts or install a flow device, and let’s get on with already. You know it works. You know you can do it. Think of us as the test case.

Best part about the KGO story was the comments that mentioned Martinez over and over! And the announcement by the reporter that there were only two colonies of beavers in the Bay Area. Martinez and the Lexington Reservoir.

Shhh…they’re so cute when they’re sleeping. Let’s not wake them.

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Oh and they’re just in time for this!

What is in a name?

heidi08 City Reports April 1, 2013

Martinez renames street to honor rodent mascot

After years of controversy, hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on a retaining wall and 5 beaver festivals, Mayor Rob Schroder announced this morning that he will adopt the suggestion of advocates to rename “CASTRO” street to “CASTOR” street. (Castor is the latin name for beaver)

“It’s a simple change for us, that will really mean something to the city.” the mayor explained wednesday night. “The city spent a lot of time and energy trying to figure out a compromise on the beavers, and the update reflects that.”

In November 2007, 200 people attended a dynamic city meeting to discuss what to do about the beavers. Many were residents who felt passionately that the animals had created a sense of community for the city. Some were business owners who just wanted to avoid a new flooding situation. Forced to compromise the city paid an expert from Vermont to install a flow device that prevented flooding and allowed the beavers to remain. “We worked hard to solve a problem and succeeded.” said the mayor. “Why not switch two letters to commemorate that in a street name?”

Not everybody is happy with the decision. “Those beavers have cost this town enough money as it is” said lawyer Al Turnbaugh whose office is next to the creek. “If Martinez had any sense at all the only memorial we’d be making from those beavers is a hat.”

Public works crews will be repainting the signs starting tuesday morning, and are not enthusiastic about the project either. “Castro street is a lot longer than anyone realizes” complained director Dave Scola. “There are three sections that go all the way to highway 4. That means 29 signs for us to paint.”

But advocates couldn’t be happier. Worth A Dam founder Heidi Perryman said that it will reflect the important story of the beavers role in Martinez. “When else has Martinez ever been on national news? She asked pointedly. “Castro street runs right past city hall, through the center of town, directly to the beaver dam itself. We all had to work together as a community to figure this out. That seems worth remembering.”

The change will be the first of its kind for the city, and for the country, since while there are plenty of Castro streets on the map, (including the infamous district in San Francisco), are no other “Castor” streets listed in the geographic street names for the entire United States.

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Don’t forget to read the date on this story, by the way.

International Acclaim

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental March 25, 2013

Beaver boom benefits German rivers

Beavers, long believed to be under threat of extinction, are making a comeback in Germany. The dam-building critters are now even a common sight in big cities such as Frankfurt and Berlin, said German conservationists over the weekend.

The beaver boom is a welcome development, said Harthun, as their presence encourages the growth of other species along Germany’s riverbanks. “Beavers pave the way for the rehabilitation of our rivers,” he said.

Nice to see the Germans recognizing beaver benefits! And love the rehabilitation sentence. It’s especially welcome after that exciting crocodile mistake earlier in the summer. (I have to be honest. That remains one of my favorite stories. Ever.) In case you forgot:

‘Crocodile’ terrorising German town turns out to be a beaver

Two visitors to the Bavarian city’s local lake, Klauensee, claimed to have spotted a crocodile in the water. After deploying dozens of searchers, including a dramatic night-time boat operation with more than 70 police, fire fighters and aid workers, officials in the town now believe they have spotted the missing reptile. But Klausi the crocodile, it turns out, is actually just a beaver.

My helpful graphic was offered to assist the challenging discrimination at the time. Ahhh memories.

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Well, onward and forward! Reviews are in on “The Beaver Whispers” which debuts this Thursday in Canada. Veteran critic James Bawden says the program is a ‘delight’.

I’ve just finished reviewing a CBC documentary about dogs. Now I’m being asked to review one on beavers? I was skeptical but after plopping in the DVD I couldn’t stop watching. To her credit Osborne seeks out the experts who argue beavers can bring back long neglected wetlands. They may be one part of our ecological survival –miniature animal flood control engineers.

Pre-hype is excellent wondrous news because it means more folks will sit down at their TV and learn why beavers are good for water and that there are actual ways to solve problems instead of trapping. Exciting. I can think of a few city mayors and magistrates in particular (and I’m looking at you, Jim) I hope open a cold one, put their feet up, and pay attention.

Now this third and final promo is excellent advertisement, but it contains one truly miraculous bit of mind-blowing footage that I want to be the first to draw your attention to. Watch specifically at 1:08, where an underwater sequence shows how their tail can propel them underwater at jaw-dropping speeds. The first time I saw it I thought it had been sped up. Now I know why the pope in the 14th century classified them as a fish.

Click for final promo — Click to watch amazing underwater footage

The Beaver Whisperers –Final sneak peek…

Saturday Sunrise

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental March 23, 2013

Multimedia beavers? Well, you know it had to happen. This morning beavers better qualities are hitting the air waves across the country and we should enjoy it. Let’s start with this excellent radio broadcast from Michigan Radio.

The Beaver is back in southeast Michigan

›Listen

It has been nearly 150 years since the beaver has made its presence known along the Detroit and Rouge Rivers.The hardy little critters were done- in by trappers and toxic water.

It’s a nice look at the period of 5 seconds of enjoyment folks first have when beavers come back to a river. Don’t miss this glorious moment in time, but I’m sure we’ll hear from them again soon.

And this from Utah which was both adorable and thoughtful enough to unclench my purse strings to make a donation. You should too. When we think of expensive re-branding efforts and major ad campaigns, a donation is pretty cheap good-will investment. (Plus beavers wrapped in towels.)

Capture — Click for adorable footage and an excellent beaver quote

The story inflicted me with the magical memories of Dr. Seuss last night so you get my own meager version of the final stanzas of Horton Hear’s a Who this morning.

“Keystone species”, they said, “with their toothsome behaviors

Chopping trees, building dams, they’re the watershed saviors!

It is time for all folks who want rivers to flow

To recognize beavers save water, you know!

We’ve got to keep dams in much greater amounts

So, get to the watershed, for every dam counts!”

Thus she spoke and she typed until everyone knew

Beavers are working for me and for you

And that spill-

That one leaky pipe put caught the cam’ras

Until finally at last they knew what good the dam was

And beavers were seen, in all their furred glory

While fish and birds smiled, “Now do you get the story!”

They’ve proven their value, to all sir and ma’am

And their whole world was saved by that one beaver dam!

New friends in high places…

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Environmental March 12, 2013

Beaver at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens. Photo by Glyn Lowe Photoworks on Flickr.

Appreciate our furry ecosystem engineers

by Malcolm Kenton

The DC area’s beaver population has boomed in the past 20 years, and that’s a great thing. It’s a sign that our region’s waterways, having suffered from decades of channelization, pollution, neglect and mismanagement, are starting to regain their ecological health, though much work remains to be done.

The industrious creatures’ presence brings challenges when their work conflicts with human activity, but beavers, which biologists recognize as a keystone species, benefit the environment far more than many people realize.

Well? Is that not the best thing that ever came out of Washington? Are you hooked? Go read the whole thing just in case he gets credit for the number of hits it generates. I will wait right here. You know someday there will be dozens of regional sites about beavers, and martinezbeavers.org/wordpress will just be one of many. Then you can decide every morning to read about beavers in the north, or in the great plains, or beavers from a more ecological or scientific perspective. Right now I’m the only game in town but don’t think I don’t know those days are numbered.

Shhh this is my favorite part:

But perhaps the best-known “downtown beaver” success story comes from Martinez, California, a Bay Area city that rehabilitated part of the creek that runs through the center of town. When a beaver colony established itself there in 2008, the local government threatened to have them removed. But citizens’ organization Worth a Dam rose to the creatures’ defense, and the city has come to celebrate its newfound furry, feathered and finned denizens, which have even attracted visitors from around the country and overseas (many of whom arrive on Amtrak).

Did you just get a tingle from your spine to your toes? That’s US! (It was 2007 and not 2008 but who cares!) I absolutely love the fact that its 6 years later and folks are still finding out that cities can work to live with beavers. Thanks so much Malcolm. Really, go read the whole thing. I met him on facebook and when he was kind enough to send his comments on beavers as a surrogate species he described himself thusly;

I’m an urban environmentalist and animal advocate. I grew up in Greensboro, NC, where I double-majored in Political Science and Environmental Studies at Guilford College.

Go say ‘hi’ to Malcolm and welcome him to team beaver. You will be hearing more from him when I get around to posting a collection of comments recommending beavers as a surrogate species. This is a busy beaver time, it seems. I have too many things to tell you about every morning.

But this can’t possibly wait. Jon saw a small beaver working on the secondary dam yesterday morning. Spring is here! Yeah!