Category: Friends of Martinez Beavers

HEIDI PERRYWEATHER FROM MARIN?

heidi08 Beaver ecological impact, Friends of Martinez Beavers January 9, 2019

Good lord. That radio interview was a tough gig. First off I had the time off by 12 hours so it was at night, not in the morning which is never my favorite. And then they let me know twice I would have less time so that Ben could have more time which makes sense but good lord let me go first and get it over with. The host started off by calling us Give a dam then basically asked Ben where beavers live if they don’t build a dam (indicating he thought beavers live IN the dam) and then the co-host said that beavers could be moved if there “wasn’t a population problem like there was in Martinez”. Which is the very opposite of what I said moments ago so we know how compelling I was and how closely he listened.

And at the end of the gig he thanked his guests calling me “Heidi Perryweather of Marin”.

Sigh.

Whatever. Talking about beavers is the point. Suffocating the airwaves with the beaver gospel. I guess that’s all that matters. Right? I’ll post a link to the atrocities tomorrow. A long time ago I had a very confused senior patient once who came in and met me and said with true affront “Dr. Perryman? But you aren’t a man at all? What’s going on?” As if I had changed my name to trick him. So I guess I can live with Perryweather even though it’s not even a real name. A google search showed nothing but the weather report in Perry, Georgia. And I’m definitely not moving there.

But beaver days are merciful. They usually have at least one irksome thing and one lovely thing. Yesterday was no exception when out of the blue I received contact from Annette Bellezzo of Chicago who happened to love beavers and wildlife, worked for the Humane Society and had a tradition of asking for donations for a favorite wildlife group at her birthday party year.

Hello! My name is Annette and every year I host an animal themed birthday party where I collect donations to a non-profit related to that animal. This year will be my “It’s my dam birthday: beaver themed!” party and I would like proceeds to go to the Martinez Beavers organization! I just wanted to let you know. The party will be in February and I will make a donation afterwards. I will make sure to take pictures and share them! I am located in Chicago and am turning 31.

No really.

I thanked her profusely, said it was a lovely tradition and mentioned we’d send a beaver care package and she thought that was a wonderful idea and asked if I could add anything to her Pinterest page for the event. So here it is and really you should help.

my dam birthday: beaver themed 31st

If you take a visit you’ll notice that the page has some cute things, some of our photos and some nutria and groundhog photos too. She definitely needs the care package. We’ll make sure her event has plenty of material. Happy almost birthday Annette, we think it’s the best dam idea EVER and beavers are on their way!

FOLLOW-UP

heidi08 Friends of Martinez Beavers November 1, 2018

So I wrote the naturalist Stan Tekiela that I enjoyed the photos and interview and talked to him about yearlings and dispersal. He very promptly wrote me back agreeing and praising our Martinez story and website. He actually wondered if the beavers were still visible and he could come to town to meet them/me. I told them they were living private lives now but encouraged him to come to the beaver festival, meet like minds, and maybe sell some books/photos. I also suggested he buy Ben’s book, which he was happy to do.

Consider that episode of reaching out success.

Less successful was my letter to Dr, Justyne Kostkowska in Tennessee who I wrote after that story a few days about the trapping in Tennessee. I told her our story, about flow devices, and about the good work being done to coexist with beavers just one state down in Georgia by our friends at the Blue Heron Nature Preserve. I gave her information and resources and even suggested Worth A Dam could provide a scholarship for materials to do this better next time around.

I wrote her the day after the story was published and have received no response.

I am left to wonder whether she just disliked my letter or never opened it. Looking at this follow-up story I’m persuaded to try again.

Murfreesboro confirms 2 beavers were killed after animals built dam, caused flooding

The city of Murfreesboro confirmed it had two beavers killed after they say the animals built a dam that caused flooding, a move that infuriated local environmentalists.

According to U.S. Department of Agriculture biologist Blaine Hyle, Murfreesboro contracted USDA Wildlife Services in April to examine a dam made by beavers at Sinking Creek that caused flooding.

“Several property owners were affected by rising water levels, as well as Highland Avenue and the tributaries that run under this road,” said Rachel Singer, superintendent of Murfreesboro Parks and Recreation.

Kostkowska, an MTSU professor, is part of Friends of Sinking Creek Wetlands and was a driving force behind the preservation of Oaklands Wetlands when a housing development was proposed for the area in 2017.

Beavers, known as a “keystone species,” are an indication of a healthy environment. Otters had moved into the area and fish were beginning to grow in the pond made by the beaver dam, Kostkowska said. The area is home to 141 known species of birds.

Singer says the city “absolutely” considered beavers’ impact on the environment when making its decision.

“We did everything we could to allow the beavers to stay,” Singer said. “This area is important to us as an urban wetland and serves as a refuge for many species. We remain committed to protecting these areas and the flora and fauna within.”

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we’ve heard it all before. “We tried so hard to save the beavers but doing the right thing that everyone else knows how to do is just too difficult. It required we read information and talk to people and stuff. And you know how icky it feels to get your feet wet.“

Pardon me for not believing the ‘team’ ever planned for any outcome but this one.

Cities lie about beavers. Trust me. And they act wounded that you wouldn’t believe their lies. That’s par for the course. I’ll try sending my letter to Justyne again.

Did you see the image from Oakland Zoo yesterday? They tweeted some “Ghostly” animal x-rays of their patients, along with my very favorite one. Check out those vertibrae tail bones. That’s why you don’t pick up a beaver by the tail by the way.

Here’s a reminder why beavers need all those complicated, fluid, descending vertibrae.

JOHN MUIR AND BEAVERS

heidi08 Friends of Martinez Beavers, History October 18, 2018

Beavers in the John Muir Association newsletter! If you aren’t a member yet, you really should be. I was asked to write a few word about this years festival and the association’s participation. It came out this morning in their fall newsletter.

The 2018 Beaver Festival was remarkable in many ways. Located in historic Susana Park, the John Muir Association, Mountain day Camp and John Muir National Historic Site displays all nestled under the tall trees there. They were joined by some 50 environmental exhibits including NOAA fisheries, the Forest Service, the EBRP fish mobile, and the pipevine swallowtail project from the Academy of Sciences. Co-president Bruce Campbell and board member Lynn Quinones lit the stage with the popular Alhambra Valley Band to start the day of music and festivities. Beaver tours of the new habitat near the park delighted guests, and children were encouraged to earn wildlife stickers and create their own memorable “Beaver pond” to take home.

For the first time, the event featured dynamic chalk artist Amy G. Hall of Napa who spent two days crafting a giant mural of a beaver pond and the wildlife it supports in the center of the plaza. A final dramatic first featured acclaimed environmental author Ben Goldfarb, who launched his new book by signing copies and reading aloud the Martinez chapter on stage. In addition to earning praise in National Geographic, Ben’s work has captured the attention of Science magazine, NPR, Audubon and the Washington Post, meaning the story of the Martinez beavers coming to John Muir’s home town has been proudly carried alongside its wake.

If there were ever a better way to celebrate beavers, we sure don’t know what it could be.

“Heidi is a a child psychologist who didn’t know much about beavers until 2007, when beavers showed up in downtown Martinez, California.., the former home of John Muir. She now organizes an annual beaver festival in downtown Martinez”

August 2018 National Geographic Review of Ben Goldarb’s “Eager: The secret and surprising life of beavers and why they matter”

In case you don’t recognize the penmanship. yes I wrote it. But doesn’t it look nice?

RIPPLES IN THE WATER

heidi08 Beavers, Educational, Friends of Martinez Beavers August 22, 2018

Sometimes its hard to know if what we do here makes a difference. And sometimes we’re reminded in wonderful ways that it all matters very much. This has been a week for remembering that our actions cast ripples in the water that ring outwards for miles without us knowing.

Take Kris Shoemake for example.

Kris is a kindergarten teacher at the Clairborn school in Pasadena who recently recently reached out to Martinez’ own Cassy Campbell the director of the Martinez Early Childhood Center (where I worked for a decade while I was in school). Cassy has great ideas for getting kids personally involved – like letting them “SLAP” their tails by painting with flyswatters, or letting them makes bread sticks so they could “Chew sticks” like a beaver. Cassy is also the fearless spirit who coordinates our children’s parade at the festival each year.

Seems Kris is working on STEM project about beavers and dam building and reached out to Cassy for ideas. Cassy sent told her about the flyswatters and sent her to me. So this weekend I wrote Kris about the paper bag puppets and other things we do. Here is her email back.

Oh Thank you so much for emailing me back! I love the puppets and telling about beavers build a neighborhood and I had no idea there were beavers in Temecula! HOW AWESOME!!! I am excited to get this together and hopefully do it in a way that will really enrich our learning! Your ideas are great and I will get back to you if I have any questions! Thank You SO MUCH!!!

Kris

Which is wonderful in a warming kind of way, but it ain’t over yet.

Remember Carmen of Texas who was trying to save the beavers on the lake where she lives in Tyler? Seems she was on vacation last week in New Mexico and got talking beavers to the rangers at the US COE (thats the army core of engineers) up that way, and they loved beaverstoo and were excited about their coming back. Carmen wrote me about it last night.

“There is an effort on the part of COE and local Cochiti tribespeople to plant Cottonwood trees around the lands since most have disappeared for a variety of reasons including erosion and fire. The beavers are continually chewing down the small trees and the tribespeople are starting to shoot the beavers. The COE have talked to them about ways to protect the trees and will continue efforts to get them “to see the bigger picture.” One of the COEs asked me to look a website that has a lot of information on the positive impact of beavers across arid lands…it was the Worth a Dam website! I was happy to say I know you.”

Imagine that! A COE from NEW MEXICO praising our website to a visitor from TEXAS. I think I need to sit down. This is the kind of impact I always dreamed of making. Lead from the bench indeed…

Then I got an email from Carol Evans in Nevada, seems she and Jon Griggs have been working with a director on program about using beavers in arid regions to restore water. The producer is in Las Angeles but I think the director is in Japan. Anyway, they asked Carol for footage of beavers building dams which she doesn’t have. But she had just finished Ben’s book and read that I had “Two terbytes of beaver footage” and sent them my way. (HA!)

I showed them some youtube clips and they asked me what I would charge per second of footage. (!) So who the hell knows. The Martinez beavers might be in a film about Nevada shown in Japan and the funds will go to Worth A Dam.

Not bad for a days work.

Oh, and here is one of the clips I showed them. I’m sure they’ll edit out the train noises.

ALL GOOD NEWS FOR BEAVERS

heidi08 Friends of Martinez Beavers July 22, 2018

There’s plenty of good news on this particular Sunday. First off this letter which Jim and Judy Atkinson cc’d me on. It’s being sent to the mayor and entire council.

Isn’t that lovely? Thanks so much Judy for following up with these very kind words! And hey speaking of the beaver festival. Jon took this photo yesterday of the remaining images of Amy Gallaher’s hard work and I thought it was delightfully ghostly I shared it with her. Turns out she had just finished reading Ben’s book and had loved every last word. She was glowing with beavers and even though I had made myself promise never to mention a future beaver festival until a full month had passed,, I decided to mention that if she was ever crazy enough to want to decorate a beaver festival again we would love to have her.

Guess what she said?

“I thought you’d never ask! Of course I’ll be there”

Which if course made us laugh, thinking of me trying to be polite with duct tape over my mouth to keep from saying anything, and her wondering why we didn’t ask sooner and worrying that we didn’t want her.

You see how silly it is not to say what you’re thinking?

More good news, this arrived yesterday, My first ever income from the written word. Which of course I’m donating to Worth A Dam. Mind you I’ve been published in journals and the like, but they just take your work, they never give you dollars!

Hmm that’s a bucket load of good news. Is there anything else? Oh yes, Ben was on WAMC in New York yesterday talking with Joe Donahue about beaver benefits. Why don’t you play us out Ben.