beaver-area1

Alllll Aboard!!!!!!!!!!

heidi08 Creek Seekers Poetry Contest May 27, 2009

This was one of those deceptive days when it felt like FINALLY the beavers will be recognized as valuable and the city will wisely become their biggest advocates. The most respected environmental names in the bay area were in attendance, waterboards, estuary and state parks. You know the saying “preaching to the choir”? Well this was the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Their vocal range runs the entire Bay Area and beyond. There was a host of media and authors amongst them. Poor Igor wasn’t able to join us because of a sudden heath issue. A colleague from the urban creeks council filled in instead.

My favorite part of the day had to be THIS from the Oakland Museum. A pleisticine era beaver skull from the ice age when beavers were the size of BEARS. I looked at that and thought that is soooooooooo how the city imagines our beavers. Meddlesome and larger than life.

Sweetest part of the day? It had to been when music and beaver affianado Roy Jeans of Armando’s displayed the lovely chair he had painted for the occasion, with the words Worth A Dam, and Igor and Heidi emblazened on the surface. He gamely proclaimed he was selling it for 50 dollars and would donate the entire proceeds to Worth A Dam.

Exquisite day. Very tired, must rest now. Thanks Lisa for organizing it and Cheryl, Jon and Linda for being stalwart volunteers. Thanks also to our lovely beavers for being so photogenic.

Right here in River-City

heidi08 Creek Seekers Poetry Contest May 27, 2009

2009 River of Words Youth Poetry & Art Contest
Creek Seeker Grand Prize

Misunderstood

In a sacred place, a creek is alive,
Shallow, murky, moving water.
A water-strider walks along the water.
“Look closely, follow our movements,” the green water whispers.
A misplaced turtle bobs up and down, swimming gracefully.
Its striped shell and red head floats near the surface and then disappears.
Ripples spread over and over again, like a never-ending secret.
A wilted tulip drifts by.
Water springs out creating unforgettable ripples.

And if you look closely, you can see the copper glow of pennies, the
creek hopelessly misunderstood for a fountain. Dead leaves drift upon the
water.

The turtle observes this silently.

While the only spectator in the creek is Abe Lincoln’s copper face.

Caroline María Woods-Mejía, age 12
Berkeley, California
Poetry Inside Out
Teacher: John Oliver Simon

Tickets √

Lunches √

Beaver Video √

Projector √

Screen √

Speakers √

Presents for contest winners √

Tables for lunch in no-name park √

Thank you tshirt for Armando’s √

Losing my mind√

Flurry

heidi08 Beaver News, Creek Seekers Poetry Contest, Educational, Environmental, kits May 26, 2009

After the thrill of good news that we were the proud guardians of four baby beavers in Alhambra creek Once Again, there was a lot of work to be done. Linda rolled up her metaphorical sleeves and started chatting beavers with the media, which I’m sure you heard a little something about. Cheryl has been devotedly at the dam site trying to capture photos of our elusive quartet, and I have been avidly making and launching video, updating the website (In the past 24 hours we’ve had 2000 page views and web traffic from all over) and returning emails to folks who saw the story, and wanted to be involved.

Photo: Cheryl Reynolds 2008

This beloved picture is from last years brood, and I just received a copy of its appearance in the teacher’s edition of the Califonia Education and the Environment Initiative, “surviving and thriving” science curriculum which will be distributed to every 1st grade teacher in the state. Looking at this picture you can see why Cheryl should be given ample opportunity to be photographing the next generation. (So if you want to help out, go have drinks at Left Bank and tip her enormously so she can have more free time!)

Some wrote to complain that beavers should be exterminated and no city should have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on sheetpile “to protect them”. ARGGGHHH!!!! I don’t even react to the beavers-are-rodents-kill-them arguments anymore, but the sheetpile mythology makes makes my teeth hurt. Lets try this once more. The sheetpile wall was not built to protect the beavers. In fact, beaver supporters took the city to court to stop it, spent a great deal of money and time to fight it, and lost. The sheetpile wall was not even built to protect the bank, because historical photographs show us that there is another sheetpile wall directly behind it.

The sheetpile wall was built to protect the city’s relationship with a very important property owner. Period. Next question. Allow me to welcome any new visitors curious about this issue by inviting you to look at this video.

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

In the middle of this very busy beaver drama, we are trying to get ready for Wednesday’s creek seekers express visit. Martinez is hosting 50 visitors who will arrive on Amtrak, eat lunch and tour the habitat, and then come to Armando’s for a talk on the watershed by Igor Skaredoff, and a talk on the beavers by me. I’m still madly trying to add last minute footage to the powerpoints, and make arrangements for whose picking up lunches, drinks, and reminding the city to turn off the sprinklers. i’m fairly certain I have the basic talking points down pat, but there will be media and significant environmental players in attendance, so I want to make sure my beaver pitch is tuned to its most convincing

Congratulations also to Chuck who is the winner of our “baby pool”. Along with 9 others he guessed that mom would have four kits, and his name was drawn at random. He will be getting a Worth A Dam tshirt and the envy of all his neighbors. If you’d like a tshirt of your very own, drop us a line or come see us June 7th at the REI environmental fair.

Once we just get through wednesday then we can worry about the following week, when we have tree planting, a beaver class and REI to keep us busy….

Creek Cove Hides Baby Beavers

News10.net – ‎14 hours ago‎

Four new beaver kits were spotted in a downtown Martinez creek, bringing the colony to a total of nine beavers, a spokeswoman for the beaver advocacy group …

Four More Baby Beavers Spotted In Martinez Creek

CBS 5 – ‎15 hours ago‎

Read more in our Privacy Policy A baby beaver, like the ones found in Martinez. AP Four new beaver kits have been spotted in Alhambra creek in downtown …

KCBS

Four Beaver Kits Spotted in Martinez Creek

KCBS – ‎15 hours ago‎

MARTINEZ, Calif. (KCBS) — Four new beaver kits have been spotted in Alhambra creek in downtown Martinez, bringing the colony to a total of nine beavers, …

MARTINEZ: FOUR BEAVER KITS SPOTTED IN ALHAMBRA CREEK

CBS 5 – ‎16 hours ago‎

Four new beaver kits have been spotted in Alhambra creek in downtown Martinez, bringing the colony to a total of nine beavers, a spokeswoman for the beaver …

Martinez Beaver Family Adds 4 Fuzzy Babies

NBC Bay Area – ‎16 hours ago‎

Four new beaver kits have been spotted in Alhambra creek in downtown Martinez, bringing the colony to a total of nine beavers, a spokeswoman for the beaver …

Baby beavers born near downtown Martinez

KGO-TV – ‎16 hours ago‎

A video from a beaver advocacy group Worth A Dam shows four new kits, or baby beavers, in Alhambra Creek. That brings to the total number of beavers living …

NEWS FLASH

heidi08 Beaver News, Creek Seekers Poetry Contest, kits May 30, 2009

Confirmed sighting of FOUR new kits near the lodge. Footage here from Moses Silva.Have a cigar, Martinez. It’s a beaver!

Christening Party at the beaver dam and everyone’s invited! Worth A Dam’s core gathered at the water last night to see if it was really true. We were treated to a beaver display of grand proportions, Mom, Dad, three yearlings and two very persistent muskrats. There were even two tail slaps by Dad, although we never figured out what he was warning about.

Stalwart and intrepid videographer, Moses Silva, sought us out bearing a camera brimming with news. In the wee hours of the morning he had donned waders and strode through the water to find four new kits in a cove near the beaver dam. He filmed them with a flashlight taped to his camera. They had obviously been left outside in a protected area to get used to their surroundings. Click on the video above to see what he saw.

The group was giddy and celebratory. After all the “sheet” these beavers have been through this year, we wondered if there would even be kits, or if there would only be a few. Instead there is photographic evidence that there are four chubby and healthy little fuzzballs. In the video you can see them practicing grooming and nuzzling each other. Their teeth are very prominent, possibly because they haven’t yet started gnawing much to wear them down.

For those of you keeping track at home, this brings our current colony total to 9: two adults, three yearlings, and four new kits. Somewhere out there are two dispersers trying to set up life on their own. That makes a total of 9 healthy offspring mom and dad have brought into the world, and I got to watch. The notion that this is the third time I’ve been here makes me a little misty-eyed.

What better way to welcome wednesday’s creek-seekers train journey than with brand new babies?

Ohhh what a day!

heidi08 Beaver News, Beavers or Social Ambasadors, Creative Solutions, Creek Seekers Poetry Contest, Earth Day, Educational, Environmental April 19, 2009

Our build a beaver activity was enormously popular, and more than 100 children sat down with Fro to add something to our beaver habitat. Here’s some initial photos.

We sold 163 raffle tickets to the Creek Seeker’s Express, talked to many new and returning friends, and had made some nice contacts along the way. My guided beaver tours were snatched up at auction, and every wanted to know when we’ll have tshirts for sale. Gary Bogue stopped by to say hi and meet the folk, and State Senator DeSaulnier stayed for a much needed conversation about his missing barn owls. Thank you to all of worth a dam who stayed through the heat and crowds and helped sell tickets, spread the beaver gospel and keep everyone enthusiastic.