Category: Festival

Wonderful things…

heidi08 Beaver Art, Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Festival, Who's saving beavers now? June 14, 2014

Fantastic new promotion this morning for the beaver festival from our friend Sarah Koenisberg of the Beaver Believers. It will get your toe tapping and your incisors chomping at the bit for this year’s festival. Feel free to share.

Martinez Festival 2014 promo from Tensegrity Productions on Vimeo.

Another great article this morning from Cows and Fish in Canada

Beaver dams can slow the flow of water and cool it for fish to spawn. Sediment can also reduce the speed of water during a flood. | Mary MacArthur photo

Beavers can help protect waterways

Natural water management | Studies show that ponds with beaver dams had more water during periods of drought

PRIDDIS, Alta. —

Rempel helps manage the 4,800 acre Anne and Sandy Cross Conservation Area. He said beavers should be part of a holistic conservation plan on the former ranch south of Calgary.

The ecology groups Miistakis Institute, and Cows and Fish, collaborated to reintroduce beavers to the watershed in 2011.

“Wherever habitat is suitable, beavers change the watershed,” said Lorne Fitch with Cows and Fish, the Alberta Riparian Habitat Management Society.

The change can be good when beaver dams and ponds increase groundwater, slow the flow of water and cool it for fish spawning, he said at a May 29 workshop in Priddis.

Sediment captured by beaver ponds broadens stream valleys with rich soil deposits over time. Up to 6,500 sq. metres or 382 tandem truckloads of sediment can be stored in each pond.

Beavers build ponds in a stair step style that can change the land gradients and reduce the speed of floods.

Good job Western Producerr! But honestly do we really require any more research to know that beaver ponds have more water in drought conditions? Honestly? Maybe we should also do some research on it being harder to see through a doorway when the door is closed? And children preferring jellybeans to green beans? And the canine inclination to rely on olfactory stimuli for information rather than social media?

Oh never mind. It’s a good article and we all start somewhere. Go read the whole thing here.

Meanwhile, did you hear the great news in downtown Martinez? We were one of the 20 winners in North America of the Benjamin Moore contest to repaint downtown. Sauciey’s bakery made a cake-sized replica of main street to celebrate. Guess what they included?

Martinez one of 20 cities in North America to get Benjamin Moore free coat of paint

MARTINEZ — It really is exciting to watch the paint dry on Main Street. That was the consensus when a crowd gathered to celebrate a colorful face lift for downtown.

Martinez is one of 20 cities across North America chosen for a free, fresh coat of paint by Benjamin Moore & Co.’s Main Street Matters program.

The public, local notables, business owners and shopkeepers joined Benjamin Moore executives for a full-blown party with music, balloon bouquets, drinks and a remarkable cake.

Saucie-cake — Martinez News Gazette – cake and baking team.

See that little ally in between the buildings? It’s the best part:

“It is the pinnacle part of the celebration,” Theresa Doolittle, owner of Saucie’s Bakery & Cafe said about the eight-foot long cake replica of Main Street Martinez, garnished with edible wetlands, a beaver and trees.

How delicious! I hope you save that piece especially for the mayor!

Come to think of it – maybe it would be better if he didn’t even notice. He just might send down Dave Scola to re-frost it?

(WGN in Chicago no long has this clip in their archives- but don’t worry. Heidi always will. Do yourself a Saturday morning favor and listen again.)

Great beaver viewing last night – but no baby sightings. At one point we were closely inspected by three beavers who came to the other side of the flow device near our bank to investigate!

New kit filmed by Moses!

heidi08 Beavers, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental, featured, Festival, Friends of Martinez Beavers, kits June 7, 2014

Cheryl and Lory were down on kitwatch last night and met Moses Silva who proudly displayed footage of Mom beaver with her new kit from 3:00 am that morning. He had been out at 1:00 all week and seen nothing so decided to stay all night! He was happy to share the news, but apparently not the footage. We’ll get the little tyke (and his brother or sisters?) soon. In the meantime, congratulations Martinez, it’s a beaver!

As if that wasn’t good enough news, an amazing workshop will be making its way down the Pacific Coast with the help of NOAA, USFW and PSU.

Using Beaver to Restore Streams — the state of the art and science

1-day workshops for practitioners, landowners, land managers and regulators

Nov. 20, 2014 – Juneau, AK

Jan. 14, 2015 – Seattle, WA

Jan 21 &22, 2015 – Portland, OR

Feb. 12, 2015 – Weed, CA

To Register go here.

Course Fee: $50

Presenters:

Michael M. Pollock, Ph.D. Chris E. Jordan, Ph.D. Janine Castro, Ph.D.

Gregory Lewallen Ecosystems Analyst Mathematical Ecologist Fluvial Geomorphologist Graduate Student

NOAA Fisheries NOAA Fisheries US Fish & Wildlife Service Portland State University

NWF Science Center NWF Science Center & NOAA Fisheries

These workshops will be offered for a nominal fee through a partnership with US Fish and Wildlife Service, NOAA Fisheries, and Portland State University, Environmental Professional Program.

Using beaver to restore streams is rapidly gaining acceptance as a cost-effective technique to improve aquatic habitat, especially for salmonids. Regulatory and institutional obstacles are being reduced or removed as scientific advances continue to demonstrate that beaver can restore stream habitat far more effectively, and at a much lower cost, than many traditional stream restoration approaches.

Join us for an intensive 1-day workshop symposium for the beta release of a state-of-the-science manual regarding the use of beaver to restore streams. Workshops will be interactive with the audience as we walk through the manual and describe its use to facilitate the restoration of streams. We will provide assessment tools for determining how, where, and when to use beaver in stream restoration. Also included will be a discussion of the regulatory process and how to maximize the probability of successfully obtaining permits.

As a leader in aquatic habitat restoration, your feedback on this document is very important to us and necessary to create an effective tool for restoration using beaver. We encourage you and your colleagues to attend a workshop and to spread the word. Please let us know if you would like to join us and/or if you know of particular groups who may want to attend by responding to this announcement, so that we may adjust the number of workshops as necessary.

Thank you and we look forward to hearing back from you.

For more information contact: Mary Ann Schmidt, maryanns@pdx.edu 503-725-2343

Michael Pollock contacted me a few weeks ago about how to get the word out. (he actually introduced me to Mary Ann as a kind of ‘beaver Maven‘ which ignorance forced me to go look up! After the initial glow wore off, I and lots of others implored for a Northern California appearance.

Yesterday Mary Ann wrote me that they are looking at just such a venue. Did I have any suggestions about a meeting place that could accommodate up to 50 attendees? I introduced her to Jeff Baldwin at Sonoma State who is very interested in the idea. And also suggested to the head of SRF that it might be worth combining it with the salmonid conference in Santa Rosa next year. Dana Stolzman wrote back very interested in the idea and I think everyone’s talking, which means if we just sit tight the conference may come to US!

(Maven!)

Meanwhile I’ve been working hard to get the word out about the festival. Hopefully we’ll have an fullhouse in the park that day, and a full cast of new beaver kit characters to feature! Stay tuned.

Diversity and Biodiversity

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental, Festival, Friends of Martinez Beavers June 5, 2014

A couple of folks have drawn my attention to the upcoming 10th annual beaver pageant in Durham North Carolina this weekend. It’s organized by the Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association with tongue firmly in cheek.

The purpose of the spectacle is to raise awareness of our community’s waterways and pockets of nature, and to raise money to help protect and restore these precious resources for all to enjoy. The Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association (ECWA) is grateful for the support it has received from the Pageant over the years.

The Beaver Queen Pageant is one of Durham’s marquee events and is rich in the history and culture of the community. Started in 2005 by members of the Duke Park neighborhood in order to protect beavers from a potentially harmful road construction project; it has grown into a large scale event that attracts hundreds of people from all over the Triangle who are interested in protecting wetlands and want to give a helping hand to beavers. It is a free, family-friendly beaver ‘beauty pageant’ that is a creative outlet for both the contestants and the audience.

I just adore their slogan. “Peace. Love. Beaver.”

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A newly released paper published in the journal Ecology of fresh water Fish has been causing a bit of a stir because it says beaver dams promote non-native species of fish, especially in dry areas.

Beaver dams shift desert fish assemblages toward dominance by non-native species (Verde River, Arizona, USA)

Overall, this study provides the first evidence that, relative to unimpounded lotic habitat, beaver ponds in arid and semi-arid rivers support abundant non-native fishes; these ponds could thus serve as important non-native source areas and negatively impact co-occurring native fish populations

I was very alarmed by this report and sent out a ‘bat-signal’ alert to beaver experts around the globe who might be able to argue with it. I got these comments back from Michael Pollock, who gave me permission to re-post them here.

This sounds like a certain person’s master’s thesis. This poor graduate student was sent out to sample beaver dams in remote regions of Arizona and didn’t really have time to come up with a good study design. There were all kinds of sampling, methodological and logistical problems with their approach and they really didn’t end up with much in the way of data that was very analyzable.

There are a lot of exotics throughout the system and little to suggest that beaver dams are responsible for that problem. Beaver have been part of natural stream and riparian ecosystem in that region for a long time and the native species have adapted, and potentially benefited from their presence. To conclude that beaver dams “could” negatively impact native fish populations is misleading. It would be just as reasonable to conclude that beaver dams “could” positively impact native fish populations, since that is what we see everywhere else, but that the timing and very low frequency of data sampling didn’t occur during the times of year that native fish might use beaver ponds.

The reality is that this was a poorly designed study that produced little in the way of meaningful results, but perhaps will guide future research efforts. Pretty typical for many Master’s thesis in natural resource fields-a good learning experience, but not a lot of useful information applicable to management.

Michael M. Pollock, Ph.D.

Ecosystems Analyst

NOAA-Northwest Fisheries Science Center

FE Division, Watershed Program

I believe the words “So” and “There” are in order.

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A stunning report out from Medicine Hat Alberta this morning which you will have to read to believe. I couldn’t possibly find the words to describe it.

Beaver activity has resident calling for action

Beavers are active in Riverside taking down mature trees that beautify the landscape and at a least one resident feels the City should be taking some action.

Guess what action? If you (like me) assumed that the proposed action involved trapping or shot guns, you’d be wrong. If you assumed it involved bringing in hand-wringing experts who looked at the situation and studied the issue, and THEN advised you to kill them you’d be wrong. If you thought maybe it meant moving the beavers to another location you’d STILL BE WRONG. Read the remarkable action for yourself.

“Wrapping the base of most of the trees in a wire mesh would at least help to mitigate the damage,” said Lorine Marshall. “I would like to see some wildlife management.”

Wrapping trees with wire mesh and cleaning up flood debris has already taken place in Kiwanis Park.

While most would rather the beavers leave established trees alone there are ways to re-direct their interest and/or encourage them to choose willows growing closer to the water which are quickly replaced with new growth, said Corlaine Gardner chief park interpreter for Police Point Park Interpretive Centre.

She says there has been a recommendation that painting the base of trees with a paint and sand mixture is a deterrent because beavers dislike the grit in their teeth.

Gardner says beavers can also be a great protection in managing the flow of water naturally.

Medicine Hat is in Alberta, Canada: about 5 hours away from Glynnis Hood and 13 hours away from Fur-Bearer Defenders. I cannot in my wildest dreams imagine how they got this smart about beavers, but I have a vague recollection of reading that city’s name before. However it happened, we’re impressed. As in free tee-shirt, name a kit after you impressed. Worth A Dam honors the remarkable beaver management skills of Medicine Hat.

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Finally, here’s a fun new problem to have. We just bought a new couch and had a consult to make sure it would fit through the old victorian doorway. The designer peered through with her tape measure and then asked quizically, “I just have to ask. What’s with all the beaver photos?” Which we dutifully explained. After the deal was made she went joyfully back to the showroom and everyone was thrilled to be selling a couch to the ‘beaver people from the news’.

So I thought, maybe I should ask if they would be willing to give retired fabric samples to us for tails?

Ethan Allen thought that was a lovely idea and gave us big beautiful squares of several different kinds of amazing leather. Now I’m wondering if these aren’t too nice for tails. Maybe they need to be stuffed beavers, or beaver bracelets, or beaver pins. Maybe you have some ideas? And just maybe you or your relative is a retired seamstress or craftsman and would love to donate some help to Worth A Dam?

Let’s talk. Oh and there’s a new “”Like” button on the website. Feel free to use it. A lot.

Showtime!

heidi08 Beaver-themed merchandise, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental, featured, Festival June 4, 2014

THE BEAVER BELIEVERS | a documentary

The urgency of climate change provides an unexpected opportunity for new partnerships and creative solutions in watershed restoration.

This inspiring yet whimsical film captures the vision, energy, and dedication of a handful of activists who share a passion for restoring the North American Beaver (Castor Canadensis) to much of its former habitat and range. Although this goal might seem esoteric or eccentric, The Beaver Believers shows us how this humble creature can not only help us restore streams and watersheds damaged by decades of neglect, beaver can also show us how to live more harmoniously with nature in an era of destabilizing climate change.

When beaver come into a watershed, they transform the stream system to meet their own needs for food and security. In so doing, their dams and ponds also create the conditions necessary for many other species to thrive. It’s a kind of generosity that is born of self-interest yet results in flourishing for all. What better metaphor to take to heart as we face the challenges that climate change brings?

In the end, our film is about much more than beaver and the people who believe in them, it’s about a new way of understanding our watersheds and our role in nature. By “thinking like a beaver,” we can create more bountiful ecosystems and more plentiful water resources, while also providing for our own needs and enriching our human communities at the same time. Beavers can show us the way and do much of the work for us if we can just find the humility to trust in the restorative powers of nature and our own ability to play a positive role in it.

Say hello to the launch of the new documentary ‘the beaver believers”. If it all looks vaguely familiar it should since they were filming last year at the beaver festival. They’ve been hard at work interviewing the other players and now are ready for film. Won’t you send them a little support to get post-production moving along? It couldn’t be easier and they have some adorable thank you gifts. I got the DVD of bloopers and out-takes because THAT’S what I really want to see! (Suzanne Fouty stepping in a cow-pie, or Sherri Tippie swearing like a sailor! hahaha) Go choose your own and show the world you’re a ‘beaver believer’.

Did you notice Cassy and our own Beaverettes in the promo? You better go watch it again. Go check out their slick website to see how it all fits together. I can’t put my finger on it, but this girl looks kinda familiar.

Carmel-by-the-beavers

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Environmental, featured, Festival May 24, 2014

There’s a great read this morning on beavers from the nearly 100 year-old Pine Cone in Carmel. This energetic reporter started out by contacting me last week, and followed up with Rick, our coastal paper and some requisite heavy weights at Fish and Game and the Forest service. It’s a very good article. Reading through it sounds like he really listened to what I said.

Aren’t you excited? Can’t you tell already that this is going to be a very good read? Oh yes, that second paragraph could only have be written by talking Heidi, because I’m a girl with a regional beaver overview.

Well not the city exactly – but thanks for the mention! He really goes head to head on the nativity issue when he talks to Tom Murphey of the USFS who says they don’t belong in the watershed.

Somebody’s been doing their homework! And talking to Rick obviously. The whole paper is obliging filled with the non-arguments of the “beaver-bad” school of thought, the gaping holes in which are repeatedly and cheerfully shown. I was worried when we checked in one last time on the phone. He said he had to present ‘both sides’. But one side clearly has research and resources and arguments, while the other sidehs….what exactly?

Hurray! Worth A Dam gets a mention! As a final note it is pointed out that the reintroduction of beavers would require an Environmental Impact Report, to which I say that’s fine.

I remember a certain lawsuit won at the appellate level that says the removal of beavers should too.