The city of Fairfield has the dubious distinction of being the birthplace of 3 generations of Perrymans. My maternal great grandmother was born there to a father that migrated from the Azores to be a sheepherder in Suisun. He had 11 children and died of the Spanish flu in 1918. His third son, my grandfather went to school and is buried there. When he married their eldest daughter was born there. Fairfield is big in our family history.
So you can imagine how happy I was to meet Virginia and hear her story,
It seems about the time that Covid made everyone stay home, she started to notice some interesting wood obstacles in her local creek. And when she walked in the mornings on the path along side the creek she noticed the dark rodents who tended them. Movie filmed by Virginia Hosworth.
She kept looking and watching and noticed there were a number of dams running up the creek from the elementary school up to the canal. She came to enjoy watching the family antics in the morning and walked there frequently to see them. She talked to her friends and took movies of them with her phone. We met in the hallways on facebook and she asked me poignantly, “How do I keep them safe?”
Ohh if I only knew the magic formula! Solano is the county that kills the most beavers around these parts and fairield in particular and shown up in our depredation searches three times before. Usually right around when she was seeing them. But just because it hasn’t worked before doesn’t mean it can never work, right? Filmed by Virginia Holsworth.
So Cheryl went to walk the area with her on Tuesday and learn what she could and I sent our new buddy Patrick Page out last night with the promise of beavers that wanted their picture taken. he sent this from one of the little dams in the middle.
The way I’m thinking is that first you get some photos, then you build some community, then you get some media attention, then you have a chat with the city. Fingers crossed we are inching along our way. The good news is that nobody will pay much attention to the creek until October so we have a little time. Expect more on this story soon.
