This morning’s Gazette had a fantastic article on Worth A Dam’s commitment to handling beaver-related costs, but the real delight of the day came from Beaver supporter Guy who sent this article about a russian beaver stealing some vodka and suggests that this might be the real reason downtown businesses don’t want beavers in the city: they don’t wanna share. Check out the footage here.
Fro Butler sent the May newsletter for the East Bay Artist Guild. She is the DVC instructor and animal portraitist who painted one of our Martinez Beavers. Her demonstration at John Muir’s Birthday/Earthday celebration was an inspiration to many young artists. Not content with her own efforts, it appears she wants her artistic interest in beavers to be contagious.
FRO Butler participated in the Earth Day/John Muir Birthday Celebration on April 19th, where she painted a picture of a famous Martinez Beaver. She’d like to organize an EBAG group field trip/plein air painting session down at the creek to support the Save the Beavers campaign and create a little PR for EBAG as well. FRO says, “Anyone up for a plein air field trip – please contact me and I will organize it and get the press involved to give us and the beavers some good news coverage. The event would occur sometime after June 5th. Contact me at my studio (925 934-5957) or email frogard2000@yahoo.com. We need some Beaver paintings hanging in our storefront gallery windows. This is perfect for Walter Crew!”
Thanks for the tip, Fro. We will watch for beret-wearing-easel-types and encourage the beavers to be good models. By the way, our beavers are also featured in this month’s issue of the Sierra Club Yodeler; we’ll post the link as soon as its out there.
Cheryl and Jon have pulled a young beaver out of the creek near the lodge this morning, dead. It was taken to the Lindsay museum where they confirmed it was a female, 35 lbs. The body will be sent to UC Davis for examination There are no obvious signs of injury, the area was assessed today by foot and kayak with no other findings. The identification is positive, which means we have two yearlings remaining. The death of the last kit happened four months ago and there is no indication that these losses are related. Remember that a kit mortality rate of 40% is not uncommon. Let’s hope this was natural causes and we find ourselves doing better with our next brood. Beaver expert Sharon Brown of Beavers Wetlands and Wildlife wrote her condolences and a reminder that this is why beaver populations so rarely explode.
This time last year, attentive castor fans became increasingly confused about smaller sightings in the creek. With all eyes strained for the first appearance of the new kits, there are more questions about the muskrats who make their daily appearance up and down the watershed. Might that be a baby beaver over there? While our intrepid photographer Cheryl works on catching the perfect contrast shot of muskrat and beaver in the same frame, this film should help you sort the flat-tails from the rat-tails. Think Chihuahua vs. Labrador.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEsaXZoXnCw]
In a television interview during the last news cycle surrounding the un-vote of April 16th, one subcommittee member likened the beavers to a child’s gift of fuzzy chicks, ducklings and bunnies during the Easter season. Initially cherished and loved but quickly discarded and ignored.
After spending many evenings meeting new people down by the lodge or dam I’ve discovered there are a variety of reasons why folks decide to while away an hour or two hoping to catch a glimpse of a beaver. For some maybe it starts off as a novelty, like a fuzzy yellow chick but then as they witness a cautious beaver approaching the dam sniffing the air for danger and crossing over to find food for the evening I’ve watched as novelty turns to kinship.
Last night I met a young couple and their three children hoping to catch a glimpse and after what looked like ‘big daddy’ (as he’s affectionately referred to) crossed over the dam the human dad said “well I guess we’re officially Martinez residents.” I met another family (actually three in all with small children) who came over from Oakland. The dad was a camera guy (video camera should have been my first clue) for a local news station just enjoying an evening out with his wife and son.
There are a myriad of reasons why folks come out – and maybe for some once their curiosity is satisfied they’ll never be back. All I can do is draw from my own experience as a single mom raising three children and express what going on our ‘nature walks’ has come to mean for us.
During the bitter cold of a winter spent in boot camp next to Lake Michigan, my son called to tell me that he’d caught a flash of red perched in a leafless tree and when his shipmates asked him what he was all agog over he exclaimed “look a cardinal!” Unfortunately his enthusiasm wasn’t shared, undaunted he explained “yeah well we don’t have them in California.”
And on her most recent deployment to the west coast of Africa my daughter shared that while on safari she managed to get up close and personal (to the chagrin of her guide) to a pregnant giraffe and stroked her.
As adults would they have had this same sense of wonder and appreciation were it not for those walks that sometimes elicited an “are we done yet?” maybe, but then again maybe not. Will the kids I saw out at the dam last night grow up to share that same wonderment and appreciation – I sure hope so. Is this relationship we feel towards our little band of beavers a fleeting fancy as previously expressed? Based on the people I’ve met and spoken with –no– it is perennial and deserving of protection.
Linda Meza
