This video shows a young European beaver being released back into the stream. It was posted by Bob Smith of Nature Nuts on the occasion of his retirement from the board of trustees on Scotlands Wild Beaver Group. The best laid plan of mice and men gang aft a’gley I guess.
Most likely you know of him from this program which was very delightful and well received. He lead hundreds of tours and field trips over the years. And was a staunch defender of the beavers. But wildlife advocates don’t always make the best team players. I assume there were personal reasons for the resignation. I’m aware there were factions on the Tayside beavers too, just as, over the many years, there were reasons for Worth A Dam to shuffle its membership.
The funny thing is, I always expect beaver relationships to last forever, you know like marriages, and am always surprised to learn that people get frustrated, grow apart or decide to do their own thing, (you know, like marriages).
I guess you never know who is a friend-for-life and who is just passing through. I wish we did. I wish people had clearly marked expiration labels on their foreheads so that you’d know “this person is going to provide a valuable service and then move on and you will never see them again.” Or “don’t get too annoyed about this person because they’ll be gone in a month”. I can’t tell you how many friends and strangers have helped with the beaver festival over the years, and I thought Oh good! Finally, we connected and now I can ask them for help again next year, only to realize they had passed on to other shores.
Clearly they weren’t married to beavers. Just dating.
Well, odds are, if you’re still reading this, you’re married to beavers too. So I can tell you the good news. Worth A Dam has been named the Environmental Education group of the year by the John Muir Association. Which is a nice acknowledgment of all our hard work and much appreciated. It means we get recognized at the upcoming Earth Day event and can carry the title proudly. Technically I don’t have the blessing to make this public yet, so I won’t broadcast on FB or press releases. But only friends read this website, so I can tell you, right?
I kept it secret for three whole days, though. That’s a lot for me`.
