Category: History

Pilgrimage to beaver Mecca

heidi08 Friends of Martinez Beavers, History August 27, 2014

Grey Owl’s cabin sits on the shore of Ajawaan Lake in Prince Albert National Park, Saskatchewan. Photo: Mark Stachiew/Postmedia News

Following the trail of Grey Owl to Saskatchewan’s Prince Albert National Park

“Far enough away to gain seclusion, yet within reach of those whose genuine interest prompts them to make the trip, Beaver Lodge extends a welcome to you if your heart is right.” – Grey Owl

I had long been fascinated by Archibald Belaney, the Englishman who escaped in the early 1900s to Canada where he sought a simpler life by taking on the First Nations identity of Grey Owl. He later became a world-famous author and speaker, urging us in his books and speeches to take care of our fragile environment.

Grey Owl chose this spot in Prince Albert National Park in Saskatchewan in 1931 to be secluded, but accessible. Most who visit today will hike the 20-kilometre trail to get there and sleep overnight in a nearby campground. We weren’t quite so adventurous, opting instead to cover most of the distance by boat with a guide from the Waskesiu Marina Adventure Centre, only having to hike a 3-kilometre trail there and back from the shore of Kingsmere Lake.

While it saves time to take a boat, you should consider the extra work needed for the 800-metre portage along Kingsmere River before you get to the lake. Fortunately, there is a railway track with a push cart that lets you move your boat that distance, but if you get to one end of the portage and the cart isn’t there, it means hiking to the other end and bringing it back. Needless to say, we had to fetch the cart each time which added another 3.2 kilometres of walking.

The cabin is known as Beaver Lodge for a reason. It sits right at the water’s edge and is actually built on top of a beaver lodge because Grey Owl shared his cabin with Rawhide and Jelly Roll, a pair of orphaned beavers he adopted when they were kits.

The interior of the cabin has few artifacts from Grey Owl’s life. There is an old bed, a table with a guest book and some tobacco offerings. Nearby is a stack of commemorative postcards that can only be found here, intended as one-of-a-kind souvenirs for visitors to bring home.

A short distance up the hill from Beaver Lodge is another cabin that was built one year later for Grey Owl’s wife Anahareo and their daughter Shirley Dawn. It was built because they tired of the nocturnal coming-and-going of the beavers in their house. It was also a place where visitors could stay. Because of his fame, Grey Owl would host hundreds of visitors every year.

A short walk away from the cabins is Grey Owl’s grave and the graves of his wife and daughter. I paused for a few moments to pay my respects and left a pebble on his headstone to mark my visit.

The spirit of Grey Owl lives on today in the men and women eager to share the beauty and wonder of Prince Albert National Park.

I, for one, know quite a few people in whom the spirit of Grey Owl lives on. Don’t you?

History Preserved

heidi08 Beavers, History August 17, 2014

There is no beaver news today, honestly. But today is an important day, so I thought I’d share with you that it’s the day Don Perryman’s Ohlone collection is given to the Martinez Museum. Museum director Andrea Blachman and member Cathy Ivers are driving to my parents home in volcano to make the transfer. My father willed it to the museum before he died and was eager to have this collection shown to the public.

My dad, who never graduated from highschool, served as a merchant marine because he was too young for the army during WWII, later pursued his GED and an AA degree in night school. He worked his way from an oiler to the top of management at general office in steam generation for PGE. In his spare time, as a shift work operator with 6 children he managed to become an amateur archeologist, researching, spotting and excavating Ohlone (he called Costanoan) sites around the Bay Area before the asphalt was poured over every piece of once tribal land.

One of these sites was the Fernandez Ranch in Franklin Canyon (unincorporated Martinez) which is where much of the collection was found. He was shadowed at the dig by UCB archeology students who later wrote up the findings in Archeological Survey No 49, papers 75 & 74 published in 1960.

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My father was meticulous and would tag and record every item, even if they just got placed in a shoebox later. Although he had stopped digging by the time I was born, he taught me how to recognize midden piles from Ohlone sites, and spot the glint of obsidian in the soil. Parts of his collection have hung before in the museum, and even in city hall when I was in Kindergarten. He was very proud of his work, and loved to talk to you about it, explain what it was used for or tell you how it was found. His primary resource was the beloved red massive tome of Kroeber’s Handbook of the California Indians, and it seemed fitting to me that this was the first place I looked for data on the historic prevalence of beavers and sits on my bookshelf now.

I grew up surrounded by arrowheads, ear pugs, charm stones and mortars. They are among my earliest memories and seem like the borders of my childhood. My father died in February of 2013, and it is a solemn and fullsome feeling to pack them up this morning. I know he would want it to happen and delighted that more people would see the treasures, but I think I’m glad he doesn’t have to be here when it does.

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Apparently Perrymans will make a difference in Martinez for years to come.

Catching a tiger by the tail

heidi08 Beavers, Educational, History August 14, 2014

Ranchers’ Friend and Farmers’ Foe: Reshaping Nature with Beaver Reintroduction in California

Steven M. Fountain

The twentieth-century project to restore animals to their former ranges often relied on the common support of sportsmen’s groups, wildlife managers, and biologists. Beavers were common but controversial subjects of early reintroduction programs throughout the North American West. In California,rapidly expanding industrial agriculture created a particularly intense conflict over the fate of remaining beaver habitat. Advocates turned to higher elevation ranch lands to relocate problem beavers, emphasizing the economic benefits of raising water tables and reclaiming the potential resource repositories of the foothills and mountains. These habitat extensions were a novel means of commoditizing an animal whose status shifted from harmful to beneficial depending on location and situation.

Reading the title and the abstract don’t you feel almost hopeful? Finally an intelligent article that discusses beaver relocation in California and their potential value! But reading through you see that he based his review on where beavers belong entirely on Grinell and Tappe’s 1930 report. Which as you know, says beaver weren’t in the Sierras because the mountains were too pointy.

Unsuitable riparian vegetation, rocky banks, and steep fast-flowing streams combined to keep beaver largely confined to the lowlands that have been their range for millennia.

Never mind about the beaver in the Rocky’s. And never mind about beavers loving Aspen. Oh, and never mind about that paper published in 2012 by Lanman et al, because he mentions in a footnote:

Richard B. Lanman, Heidi Perryman, Brock Dolman, and Charles D. James, “The Historic Range of Beaver in the Sierra Nevada: A Review of the Evidence,” California Fish and Game 98, no. 2 (2012): 65–80, also misreads several historical documents.

We misread? Who knew? Obviously we did it wrong, (as in we wore our THINKING caps rather than our FAITH caps). Sheesh. The author has slightly more interest in the carbon dated beaver dam, but he’s willing to ignore the fossil record too.

Far more convincing is Charles D. James and Richard B. Lanman, “Novel Physical Evidence That Beaver Historically Were Native to the Sierra Nevada,” California Fish and Game 98, no. 2 (2012): 129–32, which discusses pre–Gold Rush beaver dam remains on upper Feather River tributaries.

Never you mind about carbon half-lives. He has a point to make. In fact it’s so unimportant to his thesis he doesn’t even bother discussing it in his precious paper. Our work issn’t important enough to challenge or actually point out problems. He won’t bother to argue. Dismissing it only requires a footnote.

The outrage of having our years of work marginalized to a footnote got all our attention, but I am happiest that it got Dr. Lanman’s because he put on his most medical-researchy tone and went straight for the author. I can’t think of a single better person to politely challenge his ruthlessly irresponsible bullshit.

I’m easy to insult but it’s probably not every day that Rick gets accused of ‘misreading’. I’ll keep you posted on what happens. This is the picture that springs to mind.

I guess this means we are officially at the second part of Gandhi’s stages of opposition. I hope I packed enough trail mix.

First they ignore you.

Then they laugh at you.

Then they fight with you.

Then you win.

Good Riddance

heidi08 History July 28, 2014

The Wreck of the Beaver is passed by the Canadian Pacific steamship Empress of India off Prospect Point, 1892. Stamped July 13, 1930 on the back. Bailey Brothers/PNG files.

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY: 1888

The SS Beaver ran aground off Prospect Point, the most famous shipwreck in Vancouver history

On July 26, 1888, the old Hudson’s Bay steamboat The Beaver ran aground on the rocks off Observation Point in Stanley Park (today’s Prospect Point).

“The wind was blowing pretty fresh and with the strong tide running carried the famous old craft onto the rocks just at the entrance to the Narrows,” reported the Daily News-Advertiser on July 28.

It would become Vancouver’s most famous shipwreck, immortalized in photos, paintings and mementoes that early Vancouverites took off the wreck as souvenirs.

Liquor may have had something to do with the wreck. A Vancouver pioneer named Simson told Major Matthews that Capt. Marchant was “an old drunk” and that the crew “were all drunk the night the Beaver went on the rocks.”

A perfect end to an evil death vessel that brought Hudson Bay literally acres of beaver (and otter) skins in its miserable 50 year life. It was built to run up and down the pacific from Alaska to Vancouver stopping and restocking the Hudson Bay Company fur trading posts with every single beaver that could be ripped from the streams along the way.

A fitting week to celebrate its death with the VII annual beaver festival on the calendar.

The right stuff

heidi08 Creative Solutions, Friends of Martinez Beavers, History June 13, 2014

Great news from our friends at the Sierra Wildlife Coalition. Seems they were asked to help out a nursery in Truckee. (That’s Truckee California where they once happily killed many beavers because “they were not native.” ) She posted these pictures on the Beaver Management Forum yesterday.

We installed a Pond Leveler (2 smaller 8″ ones) for a Nursery in Truckee, CA, that has a beaver pond in its back yard. With a couple of minor adjustments, it’s working perfectly, the pond has lowered about 9″-10″ and re-exposed stone steps to an island in the pond…. the owners and beavers are happy.

Apparently the beavers had raised the pond so much that their beautiful path stones were submerged in the water. No matter. Ted and Sherry Guzzi knew just what to do!

A good days work and a few tweaking touches and things were all squared away. The beavers were fine with the adjustment and the nursery could get back to normal. Another problem solved.

Just in time for the duck to take a nap! Oh and in case this awesome tale (tail) of beaver success isn’t inspiring enough, here’s the Very Best Part.

Best part is that our group was recommended by both the Town of Truckee and CA Dept. of Fish & Wildlife!

Great work, Sherry and Ted! Can I get an Amen?

One more job today (that I will do several times in the days to come as penance) is to correct a mistake. I apparently posted the wrong graph for the recent historic prevalence article and Eli wishes I could fix it so it would stop coming up on google searches. I deleted the bad one from every place I could think of, but apparently it’s still in the ether and pops up from time to time. I’m thinking that if the right one gets clicked on a few hundred times over the next few days it will supplant the interloper. So I’m posting it here and asking you to please click here and help rescue me from my incompetence. Then again, maybe you know a secret way to get rid of the wrong one, in which case you should email me.