So yesterday I was insecurely musing that Martinez might not be very much fun for Sarah Koenisberg and her filmmaking friends after visiting with Sherri Tippie. And today there is proof that my fears were well-founded. Just examine the evidence.The woman in the red shirt is Sarah, was wrote me last night that getting in the skanky water was one of her least favorite things ever. I dare say this was a LOT better! The woman on the right should need no introduction on this website, and the bundle in Sarah’s arms is one of two tiny kits they picked up yesterday bringing the total to 4.
I’m worried about this poor girl. Look at the grueling strain she’s under. And that pained expression on her face. Maybe Worth A Dam should be her Cyrenian, come relieve her of all that unnecessary burden and carry her cross instead? Don’t worry, Jon’s packing the car as we speak. We’ll be there in 16 hours.
I have seen a few irresistibly adorable baby animals in my life – and this is all of them. Maybe I’m biased, but baby beavers make that new royal brat look like head cheese. Just sayin’.
News from beaver central yesterday morning where Cheryl watched a beaver and otter with pups square off yesterday in Cordelia. She caught this lovely photo. Enjoy.
Do you remember this magical night? His artwork ran in Bay Nature and was featured in our 2010 silent auction. This is Jack Laws sketching our famous Martinez beavers from the bank in 2010. He is a much sought after speaker and teacher and the creator of several wildlife identification books. Well, he’s coming back this week and he’s bringing friends!
The beavers of central Martinez are raising a family! Come see those cute little kits and sketch the whole dam family. Bring your plate and spoon and something to share for a dinner potluck. If you just got off work and did not have time to prepare something, come anyway. The best beaver watching starts at 6:30. Before prime beaver time starts, I will do a little beaver sketching demonstration.
Meet at the little community park at the corner of Alhambra Avenue and Marina Vista Avenue. If you are using a GPS, try 460 Alhambra Avenue. I am bringing the whole family so we will need to leave around 7:30 to put the girls to bed but the beavers will be doing their thing until it is too dark to sketch.
Looking forward to lots and lots of these.
You can bet Worth A Dam will be there, making sure everyone knows what they’re seeing from their front seat at beaver central! Thanks Jack!
And just because we need to remember that even when there are really, really good things both North and South of us, there is still PLENTY of Beaver Stupid out there.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. —An unknown creature attacked a man’s dogs in his backyard, leaving him worried the animal could return to cause more harm. The showdown between the creature and the man’s two Rottweilers was a few weeks ago, but the creature that injured the man’s dogs remains a mystery.
“It would spit at you white spit and I tried to make it where it could get out of my yard, but it was territorial. Once it was in my yard, it wasn’t leaving my yard,” said homeowner David Juvrud. Juvrud said he was forced to shoot it after the 28-pound creature got the best of his two Rottweilers, leaving one of them with injuries.
Juvrud originally thought it was a beaver because some fish from his pond have been missing since the confrontation.
Juvrud thinks beavers eat fish and the news crew doesn’t know any better. More impressively than this feat of evolution, the dangerous fish-eating beaver savagely attacked his two helpless rottweilers.
Hmm, I’m reminded of a recent high profile legal trial.
Cheryl was treated to some beautiful beaver watching last night on the secondary and got some amazing photos. I thought this morning I’d better just hush up and let her speak.
Beaver making dam – Cheryl Reynolds
Never assume that our ‘city beavers’ forgot how to be busy! And never, ever drop your starbucks cup in the creek, ok?
Dad with kit – Photo Cheryl Reynolds
“Now this is the dam, son. You’ll be working here when you get older”.
Instruction: Cheryl Reynolds
“Like this Dad?”
Two kits – Photo Cheryl Reynolds
Oh dam, or damn. This is the cutest picture I have ever seen. My presentation for Randall was all finished but this HAS to go in it. Back to the drawing board. Beautiful work as always Cheryl!
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!
WARREN — When Sherry Rapisarda called 911 on May 25 to say water was rising around her family’s trailer home on Route 67, she was told to evacuate. “I looked out the door and I told (the dispatcher), ‘I can’t evacuate, I can’t even get to my car,’ ” she said, remembering how the Fire Department arrived with a boat and ferried her, her husband, their two grown children and two cats to dry land.
The two floods, which officials have said were caused by the breaching of a beaver dam on state property just west of Colonel’s Mountain, have left behind damage on Route 67 and around the Spring Street area, where cars were sitting in about 3 feet of water.
People whose homes and businesses are flooded should expect their town to protect them and do whatever is possible to prevent it from happening again. They certainly deserve to have the causes analyzed and carefully understood so that they don’t suffer the same fate 3 weeks later. Scapgoats, lazy finger pointing and pretend facts do them no favors.
Before the dam broke the first time, it was holding back a big pond. Mr. Boudreau estimated conservatively that about 3 million gallons of water came down the hill like a tsunami.
But with two floods in three weeks, people will likely remember this for a while, and they won’t let local officials forget, either. They’ve sent a letter to selectmen and want something done about the beavers.
Still, fixing the problem requires a process. First the Board of Health must issue an emergency trapping permit so the beavers can be removed. Health Board Chairman Kenneth Lacey said Mr. Boudreau is working on the permit now.
Since state trapping laws prohibit the relocation of beavers, they must be killed, officials said. So the town needs a licensed trapper to do the job and funding to pay that person. Trapping season, when the beaver pelts would have had some value, ended in April and won’t start again until November, so the trapper doesn’t benefit much unless he is paid.
The beavers have been at the site for at least 50 years. Officials know that because the dam and pond show up on topographical maps from 1956. Mr. Boudreau said there are four huts, which he guesses are home to about 20 beavers.
It’s good to know that the problem is in such capable, thoughtful hands. I’m sure the beaver dam didn’t fail because of some other man-made problem upsteam or some trapping you allowed earlier. I’m sure that the 2012 study you reported almost exactly a year ago, entitled “Warren County study finds roads could be endangered by beaver dam failures“ couldn’t possibly have provided any information at the time that could have prevented this. I’m sure you know it was entirely caused by those verified 20 beavers and if they just kill them it will never ever happen again. I’m sure the trapper hire will give them a money back guarantee that the area will never flood in the future.
I can’t help thinking of this.
Looks like our two kits have moved back to their summer home by the secondary dam. This morning we filmed both of them coming back and downstream into the bank hole to settle for the night. I suppose the entire beaver section of Alhambra creek is like a giant ranch home where they spread out according to their own tastes. Here’s one swimming down under the Marina Vista bridge before ducking home.
And here’s the second high tailing the same distance, filmed from the footbridge.
And if you want to make sure they’re getting all the beaver training they need, check out this perfectly mudded dam.
The woman in the red shirt is Sarah, was wrote me last night that getting in the skanky water was one of her least favorite things ever. I dare say this was a LOT better! The woman on the right should need no introduction on this website, and the bundle in Sarah’s arms is one of two tiny kits they picked up yesterday bringing the total to 4.
I’m worried about this poor girl. Look at the grueling strain she’s under. And that pained expression on her face. Maybe Worth A Dam should be her Cyrenian, come relieve her of all that unnecessary burden and carry her cross instead? Don’t worry, Jon’s packing the car as we speak. We’ll be there in 16 hours.
