Has there ever been better timing for a magazine article to come out in the history of the world? The Orinda Library just posted about our Ranger Rick article AND the Library invited us to come do a ‘beaver story’ reading at their lunchtime children’s hour before the festival. Sometimes things just fall into place and I’m left wondering how on earth we ever get this lucky.
Then I sent the article to all the fence-sitter exhibits who haven’t gotten back to us yet about the festival and received five new confirmations! One is Ranger Rick himself who will be tabling with Beth Pratt-Bergstrom as the California representative of the National wildlife federation, another is the forest service who will bring their mobile ranger station, and a third is a man who used to exhibit for ‘save the frogs’ but now has started his own nonprofit and wants to table for them. “Save the Snakes!” it’s called!
We’re getting such a nice crowd for the event and I’m starting to need help visualizing it all so I worked on this yesterday, Jon says I’m insane but I just wish I had little tin soldiers to go with it.
I’ve learned to appreciate those special Sunday’s that arrive with good beaver press. Yesterday we were treated to a nice article in the Martinez News Gazette and the East Bay Times. Chalk it up to that media hound Ranger Rick, and our spotlight seeking beavers.
Children throughout the world will have their chance to learn about the locally ever-famous Martinez beavers in May as they make a splashy debut in the World National Wildlife Federation’s children’s magazine, Ranger Rick.
Water collects on the whiskers of a beaver that pokes its head out of Alhambra Creek in Martinez, Calif., on Wednesday, June 3, 2015. Heidi Perryman, president of Worth A Dam, was a the creek hoping to catch a glimpse of a newborn kit. (Susan Tripp Pollard/Bay Area News Group)
In 2015 nationally famous wildlife photographer Suzi Eszterhas spent the summer in Martinez checking out the eager, busy beavers as they worked their way throughout Alhambra Creek in the downtown Martinez area. During her stay, Eszterhas was able to see how the local residents helped the beavers in the creek by planting willow trees, one of their favorite foods, and other ways the locals encouraged beavers to make the creek their home.
“We are really happy to have a chance to show other cities nationally ways to co-exist with beavers,” said Heidi Perryman, head of the organization Martinez Beavers: Worth A Dam.
In the article Perryman talks about how Martinez residents learned over the years that beavers have helped Alhambra Creek by attracting new kinds of wildlife and turning the creek into a nature preserve.
The article shares pictures of the local beavers, sites from the Alhambra Creek bridge, residents planting trees and even those showing off crafts at the annual Martinez Beaver Festival.
Speaking of the Beaver Festival, since the beavers in Martinez have moved a little upstream, the annual show will move as well this year, in location as well as date. The new date will be June 30, and the event will be at Susana Park in Martinez.
To check out a copy of Ranger Rick’s “Leave it to beaver” story, go to rangerrick.org/ranger_rick/leave-it-to-beavers. Or pick up a copy of the May Ranger Rick Magazine at local retailers.
Wow, thanks for an excellent article Roni Gelke. When the reporter contacted me I had that weird sensation you get when you run into your kindergarten teacher in the grocery store: something familiar but out of context. It turns out Roni used to be the lead on the Delta Science Center who often exhibited at the beaver festival. She said the DSC had stopped doing events as the volunteers got older. Then pointed out that she had heard about the Ranger Rick story because of her work on the Fish and Wildlife Subcommittee where she serves as a board member!
(That would be the CCCFW that gave us our grant again or the festival activities this year, thank you very much. Small, small world.)
After chatting with Roni I was contacted by Donna Beth Wilenman of the Martinez Gazette, who also wanted to talk about the Ranger Rick article. She is a careful reporter who always pays attention, but I was surprised to find her story covered both the history of the beavers AND the history of Ranger Rick!
MARTINEZ, Calif. – When children across the country open their May copy of the National Wildlife Federation’s “Ranger Rick” magazine, they’ll learn about Martinez beavers.
Writer Hannah Schardt shared how towns once tried to keep beavers out of nearby rivers and streams, but now have decided to leave the animals alone, or go farther by welcoming them.
Martinez wasn’t the only city that became alarmed when beavers began building dams in waterways that could result in flooding of low-lying areas. Beavers cut trees, eat the leaves and twigs, then use branches to build the dams that block waterflow to form ponds where the aquatic rodents can live safely, Schardt wrote.
“Unfortunately, a beaver dam may cause the water to rise so high that it floods nearby streets,” she wrote. “So for many years, people tried to keep beavers out of their towns and away from their homes.”
That was the case about 11 years ago in Martinez, when a family of beavers built a dam in Alhambra Creek. That alarmed business owners who regularly hope that sandbags and other water blocks would prevent flooding inside their storefronts during winter rains. Some felt so strongly about the matter, they wanted the beavers removed or killed.
But not everyone agreed.
Heidi Perryman became the face of Worth a Dam, a grass-roots group that sought to protect the beavers. And the organization sought others who supported their viewpoint that beavers were integral parts of an aquatic ecosystem.
Fortunately, scientists had been researching the impacts of dams and had learned how they keep waterways healthy, Schardt’s article explains. Those beaver pools also become homes for fish, birds and other wildlife while filtering pollution out of the water.
Isn’t that a great way to read about the beavers? First promoting the city then promoting the beavers themselves? Honestly this article was much better than I expected.
This year, Perryman said during a recent Park, Recreation, Marina and Cultural Commission meeting, beavers have been spotted again in Alhambra Creek – near Susana Park. That inspired a change of venue to Susana Park, which also led to a change of date for the 11th annual Beaver Festival. It will take place June 30.
This year, festival goers will be able to see one of the two known beaver dams – one is visible from the Susana Street bridge. Another is near Martinez Junior High School.
This year’s festival will feature a noted Northern California chalk artist, Amy G. Hall, whose canvas will be the center of Susana Park. She will begin work on her chalk painting the day before the festival, and work on it throughout the event. Children and others will be welcome to make their own chalk drawings as well.
Like others who have come to love the Beaver Festival, Hall, too, has an affinity for beavers.
Hall’s design will be the picture children use to pick up stickers at various stations throughout the festival. Not only will they complete the picture, the experience will teach them about the importance of beavers to the overall environment
Perryman said the venue change will be good for the festival, which once again is the recipient of a Contra Costa Wildlife Committee grant.
Susana Park has trees for shade, water, electricity and restrooms, amenities the Beaver Park doesn’t have. Perryman said she had thought about changing the festival’s site. “When the beavers moved, that was a good sign,” she said.
The festival received mention in the Ranger Rick article.
Honestly, I hadn’t even started working on the press release for the festival yet. So this is all ‘icing on the cake’!
“The best thing article does? It’s a national magazine, so it’s in every single state and Canada, and there will be kids that read this,” Perryman said. They’ll learn that beavers can be tolerated in urban creeks and that communities can install devices that help the animals and people coexist. Back when Martinez did it, it had never been done,” she said. “Now everyone knows. That’s my greatest joy about it.”
A-a-a-nd scene! Very nicely done Donna Beth, a very interesting section follows on the history behind Ranger Rick magazine which you should go read. In the meantime I’m going to admit that I never tire about reading articles about the beavers that refer to me as “Perryman”. I feel like a general marching the troops into action.
Wait there’s MORE. How about our article in the Mt Diablo Audbon newsletter?
I know the calendar says it’s still April, but believe me when I tell you. It’s officially festival season now.
Susana Park, the new venue for the festival, has a very interesting history. From 1859 to 1930 it was the site of the Masonic Lodge in Martinez, the only hope for the blighted souls of the busling town that had become the way-station for the greedy and hopeful crossing the straits by Ferry on their way to the leftovers of the gold rush. In 1930 it was purchased by the city of Martinez and planted with trees from 19 countries. Including the cork oaks that line its boundaries donated by the Portuguese community in town. A redwood tree was plated for president Roosevelt on the site. Languishing in neglect for years, the park was ‘refurbrished’ a while back. Those historic stone benches built by those Portuguese removed. This caused such a stir that the backs of two benches were ‘recycled’ into the new design and serve as guardian walls to the entrance because in Martinez nothing is ever truly over.
The new park sports nice wrought iron benches, curved paved paths and three sturdy 2×3 information kiosks that to this date have NEVER ever been used. I like to call them the “More-money-than-sense-signs” because their perpetual emptiness suggests that Martinez has nothing noteworthy to offer.
That is, until June 30th, when a certain beaver festival will make splendid use of them for the very first time.
I just finished designing these to fit into the three stands. I think they will really add something special to the event, explain our story and why it matters, don’t you?
Ahhh that’s more like it! Hey, maybe the city will like them so much they’ll ask to show them permanently! Hahahahaha never mind. Just kidding.
Meanwhile our good friend Brian Murphy of Walnut Creek – who has been an exhibitor at the festival since our very beginning and who helped us hang the duck boxes on the creek – has some very special visitors living under his deck that I thought you’d want to see. These are grey foxes who he saw for the first time just last weekend and are growing up fast. In the beginning he just saw two, but now you can see from the last photo there are five. Mom used the same pipe to raise her kits last year so he was excited to see her return.
This seems like a perfect time to mention Robin Ellison of Napa’s donation to our festival, a children’s books which will help them make sense of animal tracks they encounter and understand the natural world around them. It’s a children’s book by Mia Posada. The cover is lovely but I’m strangely drawn to this particular page. I can’t explain why. Thanks so much Robin!
Every child knows what “Build-a-Bear” is. Just ask them. Hardly a birthday party goes by that some classmate doesn’t invite them to tag along. It’s as american as apple pie, and every bit as comericial as Disneyland.
I thought it was time they learn how to “Build-a-Beaver Pond” too.
Monday Amy G. Hall finished the art work for the “empty beaver pond” children will be filling with the wildlife stickers they gather at the beaver festival. Since yesterday was the last day of a 40% off sale at Vistaprint I worked hard to get the cards done so worth a dam would save a penny or two. These will be large glossy postcards that children will get from me to begin the activity. They will also get a map showing which booths to visit to gather the stickers and told they need to say why beaver ponds help that species to ‘earn’ that sticker.
The stickers will be under an inch and look like this, representing species that might be found on or under the water – or on the bank at a beaver pond. then the children can ‘place’ the stickers on the card where they belong and “Build” their own Beaver Pond.
It has already been hinted that the Contra Costa Fish and Wildlife Committee likes this idea and will be granting funds for this educational activity. Now I just need to finish the stickers and chose the groups who will be handing them out!
Meanwhile, Amy has the hard job. She will be chalking a 10X10 illustration of the “filled beaver pond” in the park center. By the end of the day it will look something like this:
Amelia Hunter is the Martinez artist who has generously donated her talent for the past seven beaver festivals. She has been hard at work on the new poster for the next. It has the hugely hard job of announcing our new location. I know it seems like summer is miles away but the artwork for our Bay Nature ad in the April issue is due mid February. Plus we want to get ready for the banners in the park to take advantage of the new venue,
We usually do a quarter page ad, but this year we are adding an larger section to promote Amy G. Hall and her street painting. This hasn’t quite been finished yet, but enjoy the first section. (I admit it took me a long time to accept the loss of that yellow aged framed wood, but now I’m loving the green and the vibrant look of this now). It says “things have changed for the better.” Don’t you think?
Our plan is to pay for a bigger ad and incorporate this image and text of Amy to make it even MORE compelling. Watch this space and see it all come together.
Has there ever been better timing for a magazine article to come out in the history of the world? The Orinda Library just posted about our Ranger Rick article AND the Library invited us to come do a ‘beaver story’ reading at their lunchtime children’s hour before the festival. Sometimes things just fall into place and I’m left wondering how on earth we ever get this lucky.
(That would be the CCCFW that gave us our grant again or the festival activities this year, thank you very much. Small, small world.)
Hall’s design will be the picture children use to pick up stickers at various stations throughout the festival. Not only will they complete the picture, the experience will teach them about the importance of beavers to the overall environment
This seems like a perfect time to mention Robin Ellison of Napa’s donation to our festival, a children’s books which will help them make sense of animal tracks they encounter and understand the natural world around them. It’s a children’s book by Mia Posada. The cover is lovely but I’m strangely drawn to this particular page. I can’t explain why. Thanks so much Robin!
