Remember our old friends Bob Armstrong and Mary Willson from Juneau? The were the ones that documented the activity of the beavers at the Mendenhall glacier park and published this lovely book. They also organized volunteers to rip out the dams so that the beavers wouldn’t need to be killed until the rangers could pay for Mike Callahan to come out and do a beaver management plan. It seems like a million years ago now, but its nice to see this morning that Bob and Mary are still going strong!
As we climbed back up the hill to the main West Glacier Trail, we noted old beaver works high on the slope. Several trees had, long ago, been chewed or cut down. At first thought, it seemed odd for beavers to clamber so far up a hill, when trees seemed to be available closer to shore. Then we recalled that a couple of years ago, a beaver lived for a time above the Eaglecrest lodge, building small dams and a house. So beavers do what they need to do, in order to survive.
Go read the whole thing for a gentle friday stroll with two remarkable naturalists. Bob has a nice photo of a water strider, but sadly no beaver dams in this article. Here at home there was snow on Mt. Diablo this morning and in the world of ironic just desserts my internet is down this morning so I’m posting this on the cities dime. I bet they’re happy they installed free WIFI downtown. I can just barely reach it if I face north in the coldest bay window of the house!
Also happy anniversary to a certain Englishman who has traveled with me on life’s journey for 26 years today. You know who you are.
