Category: In the News

Real legends and real life

heidi08 Beavers, Educational, Environmental, Friends of Martinez Beavers, History, In the News July 27, 2013

The Oneida tribe started out in upstate New York and you can guess how well that worked out for them. They ended up getting routed into Wisconsin where they were promised some land until we wanted that back also. They are credited with complicated art and culture and amongst their many legends is the tale of turtle challenging beaver to a race.

See, the turtle was enjoying her little mucky pond and the beaver moved in one winter and when she woke up it was a HUGE pond with felled trees and a big dam. She was outraged and demanded the beaver leave at once. When he refused she challenged him to a contest, winner-take-pond.

“Who are you?” asked Turtle angrily. “What did you do to my pond?”

The stranger said, “I am Beaver. And this is my pond, not yours! I worked hard to block the stream and make the waters wide and deep! Now leave!”

Turtle was not about to leave. “Let’s have a contest,” he said. “We will fight to see who will stay and who will go!”

“Great!” said Beaver. “I’ve got just the teeth for fighting.”

Turtle did not like this answer. “I changed my mind. Let’s see who can hold their breath the longest.”

“Great!” said Beaver. “I can stay underwater one whole day!”

Turtle did not like this answer, either. “I changed my mind. Let’s see who can swim fastest from this side of the pond to the other side.”

“Great!” said Beaver. “I am the fastest swimmer of all. Let’s begin our race!”

In the legend the turtle wins, so the beaver is forced to leave the pond. Now the well-known tale is retold by a new animated movie that is currently making the film festival circuit. In the movie they compromise and share the land.

Oneida Indian Nation Modernizes Story About Living in Harmony

It’s a story about friendship, respecting Mother Earth, and learning to live in harmony. My Home was produced by Four Directions, a production company owned by Oneida Indian Nation, which owns Oneida Nation Enterprises, parent company of Indian Country Today Media Network. My Home has won numerous awards from film festivals across the country and got a warm reception at the Karl May Festival in Germany.

During the race Beaver cheats to beat her, and not wanting to lose, Turtle ends up cheating too. Turtle does arrive at the agreed upon end point first but doesn’t touch it until Beaver does, ending the race in a tie.

She suggests that the two of them should find a way to live together. And they do. Beaver lets the water back into the lake.

Beaver champion that I am I was deeply affronted by the idea that beaver moved into a pond and RUINED it for turtles. Since when does a keystone species and ecosystem engineer ruin conditions for turtles? Would she prefer no pond? Is she a tortoise in disguise? Look at our creek! Which was so full of pond turtles the other day when I checked in at lunch time I counted 11!

Aren’t Native Americans supposed to know something about NATURE?

And then I remembered this.

Did you get that? Beaver brought the fur-seeking Dutch, and the white man who used their furs as currency, who in turn drove out the Oneida from New York and ‘ruined their pond’. The beaver ‘progress’ in this story is symbolically representing the changes we made and insisted were for the better while we were cashing in on the fur trade and pretty much eliminating everything in our path. The slow pace of the turtle, who has everything she needs on her back, represents the Oneida who were content on their land until we came. The point of the story isn’t that beavers ruin ponds. It’s that we do.

Well, okay then.

Anyway the movie is getting great reviews and will be available on DVD. Which reminds me that our own beaver-friendly animator sent copies of his Beaver Creek series yesterday for the silent auction along with a little present for me.

In case you don’t recognize it it’s the instant cocoon that collapses the beaver lodge in the very first episode of Beaver Creek. An artifact for some future animators museum! Some where Nick Park is smiling. Thanks Ian.

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!

With ecology and beavers for all!

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beaver News, Beavers, History, In the News, kits October 16, 2012

Last night’s evening at Madrone Audubon in Santa Rosa was a dynamic reminder that people who take their birds seriously are ready to talk about beavers. We were warmly welcomed and Brock started with a perfect overview of the beaverdom in California situation. My very favorite part was where he was talking about a friend’s plan on the Klamath to install a dam in one stretch of land to make some wetlands and fish habitat, but the friend’s intention was daunted by permitting and funding.

Never mind. Some unfunded unpermitted hard working beavers moved in, made the dam in that exact spot (plus 19 others) made a luscious slow wetland out of the area that turned into pools and pools of coho salmon – the only salmonids on the river!

Then it was time for Heidi’s beaver story and footage. Goodness they were just the right crowd for a beaver tale! I started with Art’s fantastic footage of the woodpecker in the beaver chew because I thought it anchored the whole presentation for Audubon and then launched into the always compelling story of the Martinez beavers and the effect they have had on our creek here in town.

Afterwards there was a lot of energy and enthusiasm, a couple of folk asked for directions so they could come see the beavers themselves, and a man who asked me if I’d be willing to present to his city council so that they’d be ready when beavers came to their town. Of course I said yes! Why just look how popular Worth A Dam is with our city council?

This just came from Brock

That was so much fun! So many people commented that the combo of both our presentations was great!

I loved all of your stories and the video of the beavers is so deeply heartwarming and connecting. Love watching mom on her hind legs carrying material! Susan said he thought it was the best evening set of presentations for Audubon ever!

Saturday I just did a TEDx talk in the mission in SF. I think that you should be invited to do a TEDx talk with your show – although it is a tight 18 minutes – it would be so great to have you telling that story on the TED format! Just a thought…

Go Beavers Go Brock

Not quite sure TED is ready for beavers, but when they are they know how to find me! Now some broader beaver news to get you started on your Tuesday. First this fine report of manmade wetlands installed to cover up some monster pollution in Toronto.

Hamilton builds man-made wetland

“It’s not every day that someone builds Great Lake coastal wetland,” engineer and project manager John Helka told the amassed crowd. “It should be a beautiful area in the next five to ten years.”

He says this with some optimism, as the area hasn’t been beautiful in decades. It had been abused by chemicals, sewage overflows, landfill leaks and eroded sediment for years. The harbour became so busy in the ’50s that the basin was converted into a sediment trap to protect it. It was all downhill from there. “It has taken decades to screw up the harbour as bad as it is,” said Bay Area Restoration Council Executive Director Chris McLaughlin. “Steel Mills didn’t happen overnight.” He’s not kidding. Hamilton Harbour is also home to the turgid Randle Reef, the worst coal tar contaminated site in Canada.

So folks have polluted the watershed for years and now they’re spending a ton of money to cover it up. Pile dirt on poison and pour water over it and that’s a lake right? “As one would expect, this isn’t a cheap project. Costs run in the $20 million range, with $13.8 million of that coming from the federal and provincial government. The city is kicking in the rest.” The mind reels. The jaw drops. They’re keeping those pesky migratory birds away so that its easier to work, but this is the part that made me chuckle:

Then there are the beaver fences. Seems that once beavers end up in the wetland, they’ll try to dam up the water spouts for the pumps — so fences had to be constructed to keep the little buggers out.

Yes, you better keep those hardworking buggers out, because otherwise they’ll sneak in and build all those wetlands for free! Then you’d be stuck with that 20 million dollars burning holes in your pocket! You wouldn’t want that to happen would you?

Not when its turning out so nice!

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Need to rinse that bad taste out of your mouth? How about taking a sip of this lovely article on fly-fishing beaver ponds from author and journalist Steve Raymond.

Those wary, demanding trout are one reason I still enjoy fishing beaver ponds. But there are plenty of other reasons. In my backyard, on the wet side of the Pacific Northwest, beaver ponds have their own peculiar haunting beauty. Under dark, rain-swollen skies, they glisten like obsidian; during rare moments of sunlight, their acid-stained waters light up with the color of strong, bitter ale. They exude a scent of mustiness and decay that’s perfectly in character with their gloomy aspect.

Nice writing Steve! What a lovely description of the beaver pond that is practically a portal to another world where nature thrives and changes, and fish have choices so they might not be as desperate as one is used to!

Of course the Pacific Northwest has no monopoly on beaver ponds. They can be found wherever there is cold, running water, lots of trees, and a population of eager beaver. I imagine they all offer similar fishing. But beaver ponds have not fared well in the face of metastasizing suburbs; many have been drained, bulldozed, filled in, or artificially landscaped to provide centerpieces for tasteless “developments.” Others, yet beyond the reach of subdivisions, have been spoiled by logging. So there aren’t as many beaver ponds as there used to be.

But there still are some good ones left—dark little jewels of water hidden back in the woods, filled with dark little jewels of trout. If you make the effort to find them and fish them, I promise you won’t be disappointed. Well, not all the time, anyway.

You know what would be a really effective way to get more beaver ponds? Go ahead, I’ll give you a minute.

The calm before the storm…

heidi08 In the News August 3, 2012

Footage captures first three baby beavers of season emerging from lodge

Incredible footage has captured the first moments three baby beavers emerged from their lodge. The three youngsters, known as kits were spotted in Argyll’s Knapdale Forest. It is thought the kits were born around May or June time and are part of the same family living on Dubh Loch.

The three youngsters are the largest number to be born in any year since the Scottish Beaver Trial started back in 2009.

Ahhh new beavers in knapdale Scotland! (The ‘officially sanctioned beavers’). There is adorable footage which I can’t embed but click on the photo for some upclose wonder. Castor fiber always looks a little punched in the nose to me compared to our castor canadensis, but there is no denying those fellas are familiar!

The Scottish Beaver Trial is a five year project to see the impact of beavers in the wild in Scotland. It is a partnership between the Scottish Wildlife Trust, the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) and host partners, Forestry Commission Scotland.

Three kits and the third year they reproduced. Are you noticing what this means? It means that when our beaver mom had 4 kits in 2007 it was probably at least her fourth brood. So she was already 6 or seven by the time she moved to Martinez. So she was at least 10 when she died – which is probably pretty normal for a wild beaver. This comforts me.

AFANCOD!

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, In the News July 19, 2012

Listen: Cymru.ogg

All week Peter Smith (of Wildwood in Kent) has been bursting with news he couldn’t talk about on the Save the Free Beavers of the River Tay forum. Now he can finally come clean.

Wonderful news -a proper release probably in a river system, excellent backing from key stakeholders and being led by all the Welsh Wildlife Trusts. Well done to Adrian and all those involved. Lots of stuff on the website including reports etc. We will be helping with importation and the initial release which I am enormously excited about.

See Wales had a ‘JR beaver release’ of sorts last year, with two females added to private fenced land and the usual freaking out from farmers and fishermen reported on the BBC. They would ruin the land! Eat all trees! Destroy the countryside! Rape the women and children! (Well, maybe not that last one.) But they were slow, and steady and patient like only someone who’s waited 500 years for something can be. Since then they’ve been working and collaborating and educating and soothing feathers, and now they get to release an actual mating pair in an actual stream!

Hooray for CYMRU!!!

(And if you knew how hard I worked to find this particular scene on Youtube, you would play it!)

Last night our OWN beavers did NOT disappoint. It seemed to be a ‘coming out party’ for JR who actually crossed the secondary dam and stuck around long enough to photograph for once. Make sure to check out last night’s post, and here’s an additional wonder: