Four years ago we received a last minute phone call to do a beaver display at the John Muir Historic Site’s Earth Day. We were still hot on the heels of the final beaver subcommittee meeting at county chambers where the city council ‘declined to vote’ on our plan and brought in a secret expert to stagger up and down the isle with cardboard saying that our beavers were leaving and flow devices don’t work. Remember?
We didn’t’ have an awning or a table cloth, but we did have a partial scrapbook, a chewed beaver stump and some photos. I stopped on the way and picked up some felt pens and paper at walgreens because I thought children might enjoy drawing our beavers. It turned out to be a hugely successful activity which even the council member’s children couldn’t resist. I still treasure those drawings as a turning point in our new focus and campaign. You might call chapter 1 of our story “Facts” but chapter 2 was definitely “Hearts & Minds”.
Well it’s Earth day again, and I’m a member of the John Muir Association board now and this year in charge of entertainment again. I invited Zara McDonald of Felidae to be our speaker because Mt. Lions are on everyone’s mind and Tom Rusert (who invited us to speak in Sonoma) said she was the best presenter he had ever heard. Come get the straight scoop on the lion that was recently shot in Redwood city and what to do if you encounter one of your very own. Worth A Dam will be there painting watercolor beavers with children, teaching about the gift beavers give to our tired earth every day, explaining humane solutions, and answering questions about the dam washouts and the family.
Two important authors will signing their books that day, Scot Miller, who just photographed an anniversary edition of My First Summer in the Sierras and, Garrett Burke, the designer of the California Quarter. I’ll be having dinner with them the night before to welcome them to Martinez and make sure they care about beavers. I might just have to drop a canadian nickel casually on the table, just to seed future designs…
Im told there will be mascots in Puma costumes. No one dressed as a beaver. Probably. You never know.
