Eek! Showtime is here! Yesterday was a dizzying combination of details, confirmations, a last minute cancellation, and several favors I never expected. I was braced for tragedy so when the sound guy called at 11 I practically answered the phone with “Is it bad news?”. Nope, he assured me, just wanted to be sure of everything and would see me in the morning. The John Muir Histori site was very helpful in loaning us some tents and Jon had a fairly easy time loading up the U-haul, although I did wake him up at 1 and wonder where the tattoos were.
Pity the author Ben Goldfarb, who called me last night from the Quality Inn in Martinez to say he’d be there tomorrow morning to help set up. He cleverly noted they were having “quality time at the quality inn“, but I wasn’t fooled, that place is so much of a dive even my parents couldn’t stand it and moved out in the middle of the night. Good luck, Ben and Elise!
We had a nice mention in Joan Morris’ column yesterday as a final blessing. I’m sure that the last act of Gary Bogue before he retired was to tell her “be nice to those beaver people.” And she always is. Thanks Joan!
Beaver celebration
A decade ago, a family of beavers in Martinez were about to be evicted from their home on Alhambra Creek because their dam had caused flooding in the downtown area. Then a group of people stood up for the beavers and found a solution that prevented the flooding and allowed the beavers to live in peace.
Although the beavers eventually died or left the area, their presence encouraged other aquatic creatures to return the creek. The Martinez beavers will be celebrated 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Marina Vista and Alhambra Avenue in Martinez.
But there is one piece of good news that should make anyone’s day even if they are planning a Festival on the most weirdly humid day in Martinez history. And it’s this letter to the editor from Arizona of all places. I might have expected it from Oregon or Utah, but seeing it in the grand canyon state surprised me. Mark my words, someday every state will write this letter.
The Brian Head Fire has been stopped and restoration has started.
To me, nothing could be better to help with restoration than the beaver. He works for free to help stop soil erosion, stop the flooding and save the fish. Their dams hold the water on the mountain to make it green, to water the aspen trees. They will not burn like the pines do. Our long-term goals in fire management should include the beaver.
If we have rules against this, they should be changed! No one can help save our land better than they can. I believe people should talk about this, and people like Jackie Grant and Brendan Waterman (The Spectrum & Daily News, 7-17-17) should be leading the way.
We the people should not let our tax dollars be used to kill them. We should spend our tax money to help them come back, to relocate them, put overflows on their dams and help them any way we can.
Eric! What a fantastic letter! You are absolutely right that having more water savers would alter the fire risk. And pointing out that people should be talking about this and changing the rules to make it happen. Thank you for your excellent letter. I think I better add a new classification of “Beavers and fire prevention” because we had another great article on this a while ago from Idaho after their huge fires. Too bad Fredonia is so far away because otherwise I’d invite you to the beaver festival!
Eek! BEAVER FESTIVAL! Come for the music! Come for the children! Come for the auction! Come for the wildlife! But just come!
