Lookee what I got yesterday when I helped Sherri start up a facebook page! (Go friend her so she gets practice.) She wants a beautiful website like ours and is looking for some hardy souls to help her. I told her I would put out the APB, but in the meantime she could make things work with FB. This article was just published about her involvement with Estes Valley and apparently another big one is on the way.
Stan Gengler, executive director of the Estes Valley Recreation and Parks District (EVRPD), told the gathered citizens at the town board room on Friday that he wanted to hear everyone’s thoughts and concerns and that the meeting provided a great opportunity to talk about the assets of the trails and the beaver ponds. He assured worried citizens that the EVRPD doesn’t want to get rid of the beaver dam and doesn’t want the beavers to move. They are an environmental asset, he said, to applause.
“I hope we (can) come together and find the best alternative for constructing a trail, as well as for preserving the beaver habitat,” he said. “We’re not bulldozing the beaver ponds.”
Now this sounds like a community that appreciates beavers! Everyone’s suggestions were heard at the meeting, including the one to make the trail into a catwalk and the one to make the whole path cantalever! Sherri of course offered real alternatives, and I’m sure they’ll get it all figured out soon.
Tippie said that the problem with removing the dam is that engineers would have to go deep — it’s not just a matter of “taking out the sticks at the top.” That would lead to draining the pond, which is not as easy for the beavers to build back. Beavers, themselves, act as flood-control engineers, she added. They shouldn’t be relocated and have had enough harassment already, she said.
“If people don’t like beavers, they don’t know anything about them,” she said. “They are a keystone species, providing habitat for wildlife and stimulating growth of trees. This is an incredible opportunity. It can be a win/win, with a plan to make as minimal impact on the dam as possible….People are coming here to enjoy the wildlife. We have to plan around them….You have to have a soft touch, anytime you do anything with the earth. Bulldozers scare the snot out of me.”
Just a final note, when I was chatting with the filmaker yesterday about who she had talked to and who should be next, I asked about Sherri. She laughed, “Are you kidding? She was amazing, girlfriend!”.(Sherri often expresses her affection for friends by calling them “girlfriend”). I guess this impersonation was proof that they had chatted!
(I wonder how she’ll imitate me?)
You can read the whole delightful article article here.
Update from Skip: Now we’re heard from all out beaver friends post-Irene
We’re fine. Thanks. On high ground. The state got devastated though.
All of our b-dams held, absorbing enormous amounts of water, and taking the edge off below. All flow devices are fine, and many acted as debris catches, protecting culverts from clogging, and hence the roads.
Cheers, Skip
