Category: City Reports

A little gossip….

heidi08 Beaver Art, Beaver News, City Reports October 5, 2011

Seems the scandal of telling an artist what NOT to paint has garnered attention beyond our narrow shores. Not since the scuffle in Bemidji has any beaver painting got this much attention. You remember that story right? The artwork was said to look suspiciously like female genitalia and it was removed. The artist protested that it was praying hands and eventually got some friends to help restore it.

Well Martinez didn’t have the same restorative outcome, but it gathered some national attention none-the-less. Take this article from the St. Petersburg Times in Tampa Bay Florida for example,

Artistic impression: City: Mural doesn’t need dam beaver

Artist Mario Alfaro was commissioned to paint a mural celebrating the town of Martinez, Calif. It was to include pastoral scenes, native sons John Muir and Joe DiMaggio, bayscapes and other things relevant to the area. Alfaro included a beaver in his homage, because the city has a few of those that have made themselves known in somewhat expensive ways… Alfaro complied with removing the rodent, but painted over his signature while he was at it. “I feel they do not respect me,” he said. “It was really a very small beaver.”

Or this UPI (located in Washington DC)

Odd News Artist ordered to paint over mural beaver

Martinez officials said they had artist Mario Alfaro paint over the beaver because the animal, while beloved by city residents, does not belong on the downtown mural alongside images of Martinez natives including John Muir and Joe DiMaggio, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday.

Or the The SOP (student operated press)

Outrage: City Officials Force Artist To Paint Over Beaver In A Mural

(Which originally ran a picture of a nutria, but kindly switched for one of Cheryl’s when I contacted them about the mistake.)

A true artist doesn`t think in a linear fashion, and he doesn`t see randomness as an aberration, but as a constant in life. In Afaro`s artistic vision including a beaver alongside images representing the city of Martinez makes perfect sense.

Most of the residents of Martinez loved the beaver, and it`s a damn shame that the visionary was forced to paint over the beloved animal, because a few philistines complained.In a world teeming with rats, snakes, and politicians, we need more, not less beavers.

Or my personal favorite…from the Eric Milikin’s blog at the Detroit Free Press

San Francisco Chronicle says: “Everything was looking great in the mural … except for one thing: the beaver. …’I feel they do not respect me,’ said artist and Martinez resident Mario Alfaro …’Every day, people ask me, Where is the beaver? So I want to please the people and I put in a beaver. It was really a very small beaver. But the city did not want it.'”

And then the best part….

Eric says: Without the beaver, that mural won’t be worth a dam.

Thanks Eric. I couldn’t have said it better myself!

Lessons Learned

heidi08 Beaver News, Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions October 3, 2011

Mike Callahan, president of Beaver Solutions of Southampton, said he was on the road much of the time during the two stormschecking out sites where beaver flow devices had been installed.

“I was a little nervous, because in several cases flow devices were completely under water, but all of them were working. And in those cases the roads made out much better,” he said, explaining that fencing placed in front of culverts snagged beaver debris, and kept the culverts open and flowing, Mr. Callahan said.

“Where there were problems, were those culverts with grates right up against the opening that had become blocked by sticks and mud leaving the increased water flow no place to go except up and over the roads,” he said.

Beaver dam activity is seen off East Brookfield Road in North Brookfield, near the East Brookfield line. (T&G Staff/JIM COLLINS)

Apparently TS Irene damaged roads and culverta all around the state, and even though Massachusetts has “onerous” (read humane) trapping rules the state of emergency declared by the governor means all bets are off and folks are scrambling to kill as many beaver as possible before its lifted.

Luckily the areas serviced by beaver friend Mike Callahan aren’t as badly hit. That’s a perk. And the culverts covered with a metal grate are filled with debris, imagine that!

Mr. Coletta said that in those situations where flooding caused by beavers poses an immediate hazard, the priority is resolving the threat by whatever means necessary, and “dealing with the paperwork later.”

Kill’em first and ask questions later. Gosh you mean that TERRIBLE law that prevents the state from drowning beavers and cutting off the feet of coyotes allows for emergency exceptions? Don’t tell Massachusetts Committee For Responsible Wildlife Management, it would ruin their whole schitck.

Hmm…reading further in the article I am reminded that one of my favorite bloggers is famous for saying that “Every politician is going to break your heart” meaning that whether you adore Reagan or Kennedy at some crucial point in their political career they are going to make SOME decision that betrays what you hold most dear and make you feel bereft. It’s just the way politics works, and like all heartbreaks they hurt and have the potential to make you bitter or retaliatory. That blogger notes that its good to keep in mind that in the long run you’re better off having stuff you really respect about any leader and realizing they aren’t a savior.

I guess the same can be said for beaver experts.

Mr. Callahan said his wife is a licensed trapper, but most situations can be resolved without harm to either beaver or human by finding the right balance with flow-control devices.

Sigh. Who knew beavers were going to teach me so much about life?

And one upbeat note to take with you into your Monday. Apparently the muralist Mario was seen repainting his signature this week. I’m going to imagine that after reading Friday’s scathing article in the chronicle our city manager told our Director of Public Works to take him out for a beer and soothe his feathers so that he signed the damn thing and Martinez got out of the spotlight for a moment. Apparently the peace offering did the trick, because this appeared yesterday,

Um, look closely at the “O” and think about that story of Michael Angelo painting the pompous face of the Master of Ceremony in the underworld with Donkey Ears. Go Beavers!

He who laughs last…

Lemonade

heidi08 Beaver Art, City Reports September 30, 2011

Let say, (and why not?) that the myopic mean-spirited decision to remove Mario’s beloved beaver from the mural was a “LEMON” of a decision. Not even a sweet juicy meyer’s lemon but one of those really juiceless bitter lemons that will never make it to a glass of tequila or even a salad.

Got it?

Carolyn Jones story this morning on the front page of the SF Chronicle then would be a frosty cool glass of the freshest lemonade you ever tasted purchased for a nickle at the top of a mountain after a sweaty climb up in 100 degree heat. Enjoy!

Martinez mural artist forced to remove beaver

Capture — Artist Mario Alfaro looks at his mural, which no longer includes the image of a beaver - or his name.Photo: Paul Chinn / The Chronicle

Everything was looking great in the mural commissioned by Martinez to celebrate its heritage – except for one thing: the beaver. In the latest chapter of the city’s conflicted relationship with its resident beaver family, officials last week ordered the muralist to paint over the depiction of a beaver he had included in his panorama.

GO ENJOY THE REST and thanks Carolyn! And thank you also to our good friends at the city whose wisdom and decision making keep bringing us such good publicity!

Oh and since the article has already brought us attention from people far and wide who never heard of us up til now, this video will catch you up to date!

Stagnant & Smelly

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Who's Killing Beavers Now? September 29, 2011

Ever notice how the word “stagnant” is never applied to lakes or reservoirs? Or that deep fishing hole where you know you’ll catch the best German brown? Stagnant is reserved for things we dislike and it’s tossed around when folks want some new reasons to kill beavers. Stagnant is defined by Merriam-Webster as ” Having no current or flow and often having an unpleasant smell as a consequence”. ( I’m thinking its from the latin root “Staeg” meaning “blame the rodent” but I could be wrong.)

Never mind that beaver dams are actually referred to as LEAKY WEIRS that filter water as it passes through their woven surfaces. In fact if you go research any paper about how to BUILD a leaky weir for the purpose of filtering chemicals or fertilizer it will refer you to the BEAVER DAM as an example! But the good mayor of St. Charles says beaver dams are stagnant and stinky so it must be true. Right?

A series of beaver dams in southern Arkansas has lead to some smelly problems for the small Arkansas County town of St. Charles.“Beavers are building dams in one of the water ways that comes across the city limits and backing things up,” Mayor Robert Patrick said. “When a beaver backs things up for miles, it starts to smell and backs into people’s yards and everything else you could name.”

While there’s no damage yet, he said it is still a minor irritation. Patrick said the beaver dams have mainly backed stagnant water onto residents’ properties which smell and have mosquito problems. It will also creates the potential to flood a city road if it rains.

“That’s what makes it a little dicey when they build,” Patrick said.

Smell and mosquito problems! Say no more. Let’s kill those trouble-making beavers! We can’t have beavers stinking up our creeks and bringing in west nile virus can we? Mayor Patrick probably wishes there was something written about this so that folks could be sufficiently alarmed. How about this?

Beavers and the Environment: This of course leads to natural questions about mosquito larvae, which are known to accumulate in still pools. However, beaver ponds have been shown to actually reduce mosquito population . There are nearly 3000 known species of mosquito but beaver ponds tend to shift composition of larvae – making conditions less desirable for some and ideal for others. All mosquitoes are not created equal, some are much more damaging to human populations. For example, one of the species most associated with West Nile Virus and yellow-fever (Aedes) cannot survive in the permanent water of a beaver pond. Continued involvement by Mosquito Abatement can monitor conditions and help control negative species.

Summary for the Beaver Subcommittee by Heidi Perryman

-Dietland Muller-Swarze (2003). The Beaver: Natural History of a Wetlands Engineer. Cornell University Press.

-Baker, B. W., and E. P. Hill. 2003. Beaver (Castor canadensis). Pages 288-310 in G. A. Feldhamer, B. C. Thompson, and J. A. Chapman, editors. Wild Mammals of North America: Biology, Management,and Conservation. Second Edition. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

Oh. Gosh. Well now that you put it that way beavers don’t sound so bad. How does St. Charles usually manage them? Being so close to the state that invented the Clemson Pond Leveler and started us all thinking in a new way they must have some pretty advanced tools. Let’s see what they are?

The Arkansas County Beaver Control Program provides $21,360 to pay $20 each for 1,068 beaver tails. The county provides $11,360 of this fund while the Arkansas County Conservation District donated $10,000. Property owners pay an additional $5 per beaver tail and provide a written statement that the beaver was trapped on their property within Arkansas County.

Wow.

Just. Wow.

That’s some pretty remarkably cruel and short sighted problem solving. Anything like that ever happen in St. Charles before? How about what’s sometimes considered the biggest lynching in the history of America? A series of assaults in 1904 resulted in 13 deaths in a span of a few days.

I guess given its “colorful past” we should be grateful that St. Charles only pays for cut tails.

The Opposite of Progress

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions September 28, 2011

Village will stay flood-free for $413,620

“That’s the final tab for the recently completed dam in the John Mathison Conservation Area just north of Havelock. The concrete dam has replaced a 10-foot high beaver dam immediately upstream from the village that was holding back an extensive pond encompassing at least 100 acres of the conservation area.

Council made the decision two years ago to build the dam because of growing concern about the flooding and damage that would occur if something happened to the beaver dam, the largest of several in the conservation area. The Havelock arena and the Havelock-Belmont Public School, along with homes and businesses, are only a few hundred feet downstream of the dam and would have been in immediate danger of flooding if the beaver dam was damaged, either by neglect or vandalism.”

Did you get that? This town is putting in a concrete dam in case the beaver dam gives out. No word on whether the beavers themselves approved the work or were harmed during construction. I suppose that no one wanted to affect the dam before because the water would flood the town, although it seems they have constructed a beaver-hampering buffer zone now so I wouldn’t say the beavers were safe. Hmmm you can build an awful lot of flow devices for 400,000 dollars.

I wonder what the trout will say about the substitution? Or all the insects that thrived on the organic floor? Well its done now, and apparently paid for with some fund shuffling. I’m sure it will last forever. It’s not like anyone ever changes their mind about concrete in streams, right?

Cheryl ReynoldsIMG_32-sm — Beaver Kit Growing Up - Cheryl Reynolds

Oh, and congratulations to our own Cheryl Reynolds who learned this weekend that one of her photos of our stalwart three kits born last year will grace the 2010 Watershed Calendar for Contra Costa. Nice work Cheryl! For at least a full 30 days during some lucky month every single flood district worker and public works employee will be forced to think about beavers belonging in creeks.