A SPLASH FOR THE UNFORTUNATE BEAVER

heidi08 Beavers May 13, 2020

Can’t a beaver die in peace anymore?

I guess not. Yesterday morning my inbox was cluttered with alerts that folks had seen a dead beaver in the creek. One of the emails came from old friend at the contra costa times who had bought himself out of its demise and wound up at Bay City News. He and his wife had been saddened to see the beaver on their walk that morning so he wanted to write a story which appeared later in the day on SFGate.

Beaver Found Dead In Downtown Creek

A beaver found dead Monday in Alhambra Creek in downtown Martinez is prompting efforts by a local preservation and tracking group to see whether that beaver was part of a resident family, or an individual in the area short-term, a local preservationist said Tuesday.

A beaver had been photographed swimming several days earlier, said Heidi Perryman, president and founder of Worth a Dam, a Martinez-based advocacy group.

“So the question is, is it the beaver that was photographed? Or his partner? Or a stranger?” Perryman said. “We will look for a live beaver and try to see if we have an answer.”

Of course Jon went and checked the beaver which was a yearling on the bank of Escobar street area which we always called the ‘annex’. No obvious signs of injury that he could see. I called animal control to retrieve it but they weren’t enthusiastic about the job and didn’t come for a long time.

By then I had already had several more emails, a long question and answer with Patch and an interview for Channel 7. I guess it was a slow news day and every one was eager to think about something without a virus in its name. The patch article was really well done and I like the new reporter a lot.

Beaver Found Dead In Martinez Just Days After Sighting

MARTINEZ, CA — In any other city , the sighting and subsequent death of a beaver would not make the news. In Martinez, home of the annual Martinez Beaver Festival, it is a different story.

“The beaver is a very high-profile animal in Martinez; it is part of our history,” said Heidi Perryman, who founded the volunteer group “Worth A Dam” in 2007 when a family of beavers moved into Alhambra Creek and built a lodge that some feared would cause flooding. The effort to protect the beavers grew into a yearly festival.

It’s always nice to remind reporters about the history. They like the story too and people enjoy remembering the bright time in their lives. Well, maybe not the mayor. But other people.

The beaver family was living happily ever after — and the festivals were growing larger and larger — until 2016 when the flow device was removed. The beavers scrambled upstream and soon, they were out of sight.

The festivals continued, and in the years since, Perryman said there have been many “drive-bys” of beavers from the Carquinez Strait, which she described as a freeway for beavers.

But none have stuck around.

That is why she was so thrilled when she saw the photo of a beaver posted to Martinez Patch. The photo was taken April 27 by Douglas Pierce, an employee of the Conta Costa County Public Works Department. The beaver was munching on a branch in Alhambra Creek near Main Street.

So by the afternoon I was told that Dunivan called about the ‘sick or dead beaver’ which was a kind of relief because it made it even more unlikely that one of his people had been asked to kill it. Of course, the thought of foul always crosses ones mind in a case like this, but I remind myself that if the city of Martinez had the skill set needed to quietly kill beavers ours would have been dead years ago.

She believes the live beaver in the photo and the one found dead were likely one and the same. The beaver appeared to be a 40-pound male yearling — or teenager — who may have been looking for food, a place to live and maybe even a female beaver to start a family with, she said.

There were no outer signs of trauma to the beaver, she said, so she does not think it was hurt or attacked. Animal Control was notified, Perryman said, in the hopes they will come and retrieve the deceased beaver.

That doesn’t mean Perryman is slowing down. She is slated to give an online lecture at 7 p.m. Tuesday for Napa County Resource Conservation District’s “Wild Napa: A Free Lecture Series,” during which she will talk about “Beavers in our Ecosystems.” To view the lecture on Zoom, sign up here. Napa RCD is also streaming the lecture on Facebook Live.

Well, sure. I figured if folks were sad about the beaver they might want to tune into the story tonight and hear about the family. That’s what I’ll be doing. And it always helps to remember the story of a thriving family.

So the last interview of the day was on camera for ABC7 and supposed to be that night on the news. We did it outside and he used a mask and a stand mic from 6 feet away. Kind of strange to be televised during a pandemic but when he went down to see the beaver he called and said it had been picked up. So I’m not sure if it ever made the news.

Maybe hearing the story will help you, too. Register for the zoom talk or watch live on facebook. And let’s have a beaver memorial. Come wish me luck.

Oh and if you need more hope than that, watch this amazing video from Moses early footage of the family in happier days.

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THE BIPOLAR LIFE OF A BEAVER ADVOCATE

heidi08 Beavers May 12, 2020

It was the best of times and it was the worst of times.

I’m used to experiencing riotous ups and downs with beavers. The excitement of fellow citizens loving the beavers and the fury of a city that won’t listen. The glory of seeing a new kit and the heartbreak of seeing it die. There’s always been a certain bipolar quality to caring about beavers.

But this has got to be the most rapid up and down cycle ever.

I received notice from Luigi yesterday that he spotted a dead beaver in the creek, and another email this morning from another witness. Just above escobar, where so much of the beaver story has played out. Is it the beaver that was just spotted the other day? Is it that beavers partner? It looks too big for kit.

We will check it today, but animal control won’t pick up a dead animal that’s IN the creek, and we have way too many beavers buried in our back yard already.

Surely that was the shortest mood swing EVER.

Sigh.

NO BEAVERS TO REPORT, SIR

heidi08 Beavers May 11, 2020

Home from the sierras today, where we were greeted by two jack rabbits, several robins and chickadees, dueling hummingbirds, two gray squirrels, a bunch of turkeys, two peacocks and one tick. Now just rehearsing for Wednesday and driving home .

HOW LUCKY CAN YOU GET?

heidi08 Beavers May 10, 2020

I’ve often said,, when asked whether I have good or bad luck, that I have Greek luck. And by that I mean either very very unbelievable great luck that makes everyone gasp with envy or horrible rotten very very bad luck that everyone pities. My Gods are clearly the old Gods, and I’m never surprised when they throw down a thunderbolt or some ambrosia.

Guess which one this is?

Buster Beaver Sighting: Martinez Photo Of The Week

MARTINEZ, CA — Douglas Pierce, who works in Facilities Maintenance for Contra Costa County Public Works, sent this photo of a beaver he saw April 27 in Alhambra Creek near Main Street.

“I saw the beaver in the creek around 6 p.m. that night pulling this branch out to munch on it for a while,” Doug said in an email to Patch.

Hurray for Doug! And this awesome sighting! Martinez has beavers again! Well, one to be sure but ohhh my this is exciting!

I even was helped by the article because I’ve been trying to decide whether we need to do a press release about NOT having the festival this year,.

Your sighting prompted us to do some checking around, only to find out that Buster Beaver won’t be appearing on stage this year for all to see. According to Martinezbeavers.org, the 13th annual Martinez Beaver Festival has been canceled. The event usually takes place the last Saturday in June but the coronavirus public health emergency prevents large gatherings.

That could be why Buster decided to make a public appearance earlier than usual. Or maybe he was just hungry.

Thanks for the UNmention! That’s really helpful. And exactly what I would have said about the sighting hour too. 6 pm in May is early. Either that beaver is fully enjoying the quiet streets of quarantine or he’s peckish.’s ne

Or feeding someone else that got peckish. AHEM.

Yesterday I also got an email from a woman in New York who loved Ben’s book so much she was planning in rewarding herself with a trip to the FESTIVAL and was heartbroken that it was cancelled. Yes you read that right. From New York to Martinez all to see our little old festival.

In lieu of a trip she made a nice donation and we’re sending her a care package.

I was startled to see my name in Napa supervisor Brad Wagenknecht’s newsletter. We met over our beaver story and he’s been to the festival a coup[e times, so I hope he gets the chance to tune in. Click on the image to register for the zoom conference or tune in on FB.

WHOM SHALL WE BLAME? YOU KNOW WHOM

heidi08 Beavers and salmon, Beavers and saltwater May 9, 2020

When a huge crisis of our own making escalates to the point that we can ignore it no longer, there is only one thing to do that will allow us to avoid responsibility and resist changing our own destructive behavior. You know what it is. You must.

Blame the beaver.

There’s a massive beaver boom in Northwest Alaska, and scientists and locals have dam concerns

This is the craziest part. Not only do beavers hasten global warming but they natives are worrying they’ll block all the salmon. Because you know how beavers do that.

Henry Horner is the president of the Tribal Council for the village of Kobuk. He’s lived in the village since the 50s, and says that he remembers beavers popping up in the region periodically, but there are considerably more now. And they can be a nuisance.

“Where we subsist for fish and stuff like that, they’ll be blocking the creeks and stuff like that,” Horner said.

“Farther up [the Kobuk] river, I see where they’ve built dams, and the salmon have to start spawning elsewhere,” Horner said.

Horner says some locals think that eliminating the beavers is a viable solution to their concerns, though he doesn’t see it as very practical.

“Some of our elders would say, ‘kill the beaver,’ and they might get the beaver,” Horner said. “But while they think they’ve got it, another one arrives.”

Really? Your elders would say that? Gee do you think its possible that tribal knowledge might have LEAP-FROGGED a generation or two? I mean I’m willing to assume your tribe has learned something about salmon the past few centuries, but maybe, if new streams are welcoming new spaces that don’t freeze its a fairly new acquaintance. Because otherwise you’d know that baby salmon need DEEP POOLS that don’t freeze so they grow up fat and happy to swim to sea and become BIG salmon. And that means beaver ponds where there’s lots of real estate and plenty to eat.

And the more babies you have the more adults you’ll be able to catch later.

But sure. The elders probably know best. Beavers are probably causing climate change. Better kill ’em all

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Well let’s leave that annoying story behind us and talk about this amazing footage which was sent yesterday to Ben Goldfarb from some friends in Lithuania. He had this to say about it.

That beavers use saltwater to disperse between river mouths, and even build dams in tidal estuaries, is something that biologists have long recognized. Veterinarians in western Washigton have treated multiple beavers for salt toxicity due to prolonged exposure to Puget Sound. I even wrote a story about this quirk of beaver behavior:

https://www.hakaimagazine.com/…/the-gnawing-question-of-sa…/

Still, it’s one thing to know that beavers turn to the ocean, and quite another to *see it.* Here’s an amazing video I received from Žavinta from Lithuania, who recently captured this delightful footage of a beaver slipping into the Baltic Sea. (Yes, I get a lot of beaver videos from strangers.) Bon voyage, my good mariner!

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