Dam Status

Amongst Royalty

heidi08 Beavers, featured, Festival, Friends of Martinez Beavers July 23, 2013

So the Beaver Believers film crew went out live trapping with Sherri Tippie two nights ago and were rewarded with a mom, dad, and two kits for their efforts. Not to mention some excellent footage and very fine conversation, I bet. 1011393_198095830351460_1058026479_n

“Waist deep in a stinky, skanky pond in urban Aurora, Colorado, filming a live trapping effort to relocate a beaver family to a happier home in Glacier National Park.”

What an exciting couple of days will be! – culminating in a release! If Sherri doesn’t inspire every one of you, you’d better visit the cardiologist very soon and check if your hearts aren’t made of stone. When I heard her speak I sat in the audience the whole time weeping, I was so happy. Not that I got to see her, not that I was invited to the same conference as her – but just that she existed. I can’t help thinking that coming to Martinez after all that excitement might be a bit of a let-down….but come anyway.

Which reminds me…with apologies to Mother Theresa…

If you are kind to beavers, people in your city might get mad at you;

Be kind anyway.

If you are successful at saving beavers, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;

Succeed anyway.

If you are honest about beavers and frank about solving problems, people may cheat you;

Be honest and frank anyway.

What beavers spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;

Let them build anyway.

If you are happy with your website and celebrate in festival, people may be jealous;

Be happy anyway.

The good for beavers you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;

Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have for beavers, and it may never be enough;

Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you beavers;

It was never between you and them anyway.

Tom Reynolds (Madrone Audobon) Photo of Martinez Beaver Kit

SRO at footbridge

heidi08 Festival July 22, 2013

kit and mom — Mom and her kit – Photo Cheryl Reynolds

Last night the beavers drew quite a crowd. Some were regulars, and some were part of Jack Laws sketchbook troop that weren’t able to make it wednesday. The beavers, as usual, did not disappoint. Cheryl was able to snap this excellent photo of mom and one of her three offspring while he or she decorated the earth with a lovely beaver whining sound!

Heard yesterday from National Wildlife Federation. They just heard of our event and want to feature it on their blog and would it be okay if they come and bring free copies of Ranger Rick for the kids?

Yesterday had more good news. I heard from Safari West that they were interested in bringing their Jr. Keepers down for the festival and wanted to know if they could help out, stay for dinner and see the beavers! Jr. Keepers 12-16 and make a fairly long-term commitment while they get training caring for the animals, docenting and public speaking, Which makes them expertly qualified to help with a beaver festival.

The Big Day

heidi08 Festival July 21, 2013

It’s Sunday so we are officially less than two weeks away from the big day. Worth A Dam will gather this afternoon for our last meeting, and yesterday my dining room table looked like Pier One Imports with all the items gathered for the silent auction. The musicians are lined up, vendors confirmed, and everybody but one group has paid for their tables so that’s promising. Prompting the inevitable question: Are we ready?

Now look at this map for a minute and just let it all sink in how much bigger this is than last year or the year before that. 40 wildlife groups is the absolute limit of what we can shoe-horn into that park, but what an amazing group of people. There are a lot of new groups that I’m very excited about, and some familiar groups that I’m thrilled to have back.

As you can see we have a new beaver charm this year, and a water drop which should be a nice addition. Since Kiwanis couldn’t donate as much this year, I’m planning to let adults do the activity for 10 dollars, so if you’ve been dying for one of these you’re in luck.

Now if you’ve finished your necklace and are tired of walking around talking to all the amazing folk about what they do or the wildlife you saw in your backyard that night, this should keep you busy. Why not sit and listen to some amazing music? The San Francisco Scottish Fiddlers are joining us this year and that should be incredible!

This year’s auction will feature some remarkable items, including a ‘not available in the entire country’ DVD of the Beaver Whisperers CBC Documentary donated by the filmmaker herself which won’t be aired in the US until November or so. Honestly, this could cause an international incident but it is so, so worth it. I expect a bidding war of beaver devotees

You could also spend some time talking to these nice people. They are the Whitman College students behind the new documentary in progress “The Beaver Believers”. They just drove back from Utah where they filmed Mary O’brien. This is a great shot of Mary and the director of the Semester in the West program, Phil Brick.

Now they are heading to Colorado to film Sherri Tippie. After which they’ll be heading to Martinez to film you-know-what!

You can follow their progress by liking their Facebook Page, and we are very excited to have them! If you need a reminder about the Beaver Believer project, listen to this. All in all, it should be a fairly amazing day.

Beaverstock

heidi08 Beaver-themed merchandise, Festival July 10, 2013

Castoro Cellars has been very kind to us in the past, and this year they’ve donated two weekend passes to their Beaverstock event and a tshirt for the occasion! If you are interested in some fine wine, fine music and excellent company you should bring your checkbook to the silent auction and make sure to bid!

This is an all ages event but you must be 21+ to purchase alcoholic beverages. Children 10 and under are free with a paid adult ticket. All others must have a ticket to enter the event. Tickets are not “in and out” so once you come please plan on staying for the duration.
Bring a low back lawn chair or blanket to enjoy the concerts! No seating provided.
Food and wine will be available for purchase. No outside food or beverages allowed.
Admission ticket (one day or two day) includes complimentary parking and a full day of live music!

Martinez Beavertising Campaign!

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Educational, Environmental, featured, Festival, Friends of Martinez Beavers, In the News, kits July 5, 2013

A steady stream of fire-works bound families crossed the bridge yesterday, maybe thousands. A good 300 got up close and personal beaver viewing with a Worth A Dam docent to explain what they saw and point out arrivals. Both kits were in evidence, as well as Jr and a bigger adult. When things got more explod-y the beavers ducked under the bank and hunkered for the duration. Here’s our two kits in tandem coming down from the primary dam.

Amazing how many folks knew about the beavers and had seen it on the news. Always fun to see people who were completely startled to see a beaver dam in town. “Is that a beaver dam?” was a not uncommon question from some mid-wester who was proud to show he recognized it. The best answer was always, “Yup, and that’s a beaver!” One man talked about loving beaver dams as a child in Oregon because that was always the location of the best fishing. There were watchers lined up with cameras along the parkside length of Alhambra Creek below the footbridge. That’s why this kit got a little spooked and gave what appears to be his first attempt at tail slap! This deserves a much better movie but I’m dashing out the door and it’s the most I have time for. Be patient and enjoy!

You can hear in this video what a rapt audience the pre-firework beaver-works drew. The children were awed and respectful, some of them recognized us from class presentations. I did my best to plug the festival and several folks were interested. One child asked if they were otters, and one adult asked if she could pet them. No and No, were my answers.

All in all, a good night. I don’t think there is another city in america that combined the celebration of independence day with the interest in beaver-nature as fine as Martinez did. Our ad is up on the Bay Nature website, and because its a little glitchy they’re supposed to offer us a profile. We’ll see what happens. In the mean time you and I both really need this. It’s from a freak hailstorm in New Mexico yesterday which dumped about two feet of ice!