So yesterday was another long meeting for the urban beaver paper that is squeezing past its deadline. We are mostly assembled with some tweaks and shuffles, and I am happy many Heidi remarks will remain, at least for consideration by the big wigs at NOAA. I was told that my section with painstaking references to news articles (and assembling those references was such a pain I cannot describe) may not survive as they are considered “Grey Literature” and unworthy in a scientific paper.
Grey Literature is written for the general public (Like this website) and not subject to peer review (Like this website). News articles are Grey Literature, even though if the thing you’re talking about is the fact that the issue was reported in the NEWS I don’t see how much more valid a reference could be.
Anyway, one exciting part of the conversation was about this reference from the Portugal et al 2015 article from the beaver management plan they prepared for Walmart. I loved SO MUCH of that article I never really got around to thinking about this part, which they had recommended cities try using in the strategy section.
Alright, I know not everybody took the time to read that so basically it advises that if you notch the dam to lower the water level and want to keep beavers from rebuilding it you can thwart them by hanging a sheet from fence posts so it flaps in the wind and scares the beavers sooo much they don’t rebuild the dam. Apparently it was recommended by a trapper who, oddly enough, happens to have family in Martinez, which is a strange coincidence but not part of the story.
I read it and felt a host of responses. First customary shame that I wasn’t informed about this wonderfully proven new technique, then wait-a-minute scrutiny as I narrowed my eyes and read it more closely, then doubt when I thought of our beavers getting used to trains and garbage trucks, then frank disbelief, as I picked up the phone and asked Mike Callahan what he thought.
Consider this an illustration of his response.
Suffice it to say our opinions were well matched and I marched into the conference call and said for goodness sake, if my newspaper references were going to be thrown out as “grey literature” then the un-researched bed sheet notion should be hung out to dry too. Beavers habituate to noise, light, people and even linen. They would figure out how to get around it, or rip it down and use it in their dam. Eventually I succeeded in making it sound so ridiculous they were chagrined and agreed with me too.
So, just remember, out of all the many things I failed out and failed to do, change the world, change Martinez, implement a national beaver holiday, I at least bravely succeeded at shooting down the sheet.
And that’s something to be proud of.
