Barbara D. & her husband are friends of Megan Isadore of the River Otter Ecology Project, and came for the beaver festival. Afterwards she sent me a nice note appreciating the event and describing a gift she would send.
Yesterday, in my ongoing/vain attempts to reduce clutter, I chanced upon an article in Wild Earth for spring 2001 with the title “Abandonment –on Beaver Ecology and Recovery” (excerpted from a 1997 book by Tom Wessels: Reading the Forested Landscape: A Natural Historyof New England). Although about beavers where winter means ( or used to ) a frozen time, I was taken by the tone and specificity, and thought I should ask if you’d like me to copy it for you:
I am sure everyone who becomes aware of your work, tries to find some way to express the gratitude and respect it engenders.
Thank you so much Barbara, and your feedback and kind words make me think three very distinct things, almost simultaneously.
- You and your husband are very gracious people.
- Megan has classy friends.
- I can think of a few property owners in Martinez who, when they became aware of my work, expressed and continue to express a different sentiment entirely.
With that out of the way, lets open the present! This is a chapter from Tom Wessels book “Reading the Forest: A Natural History of New England”. Tom is one of the founding voices of Antioch University in New England, where he remains a professor emeritus.”As a terrestrial ecologist I consider myself a generalist with interests in forest, desert, and alpine ecosystems, geomorphology, evolutionary ecology, and the interface between landscape and culture. Although my graduate training was as a research ecologist, my avocation is to teach which I do through my courses at Antioch, my books, and the numerous public workshops I conduct each year.”
Now that you know the source, enjoy.
I have uploaded the chapter here Abandonment: On Beaver Ecology and Recovery and if it whets your appetite, help mollify my transgression of copyright law and go buy the book here. With a few sales and a good word, I might get off with time served.
(And if you think I’ve been watching too much OITNB you’d be right, and I can honestly say you should be too.)
Last night was crowded with visitors at the beaver dam, including the teacher who first spied our new kit last year and some wildlife workers from Hayward we met years ago. Our beavers very kindly did not disappoint, and we happily saw all three kits and Jr from last year milling about the dam. It was nice to show folks how tidal everything was, because when we arrived the dam was starkly outlined, towering above the water, and by the time we left it looked like a submarine.
At one point all three kits were out at the same time but sadly outside of the camera frame width. After they left we looked at each other anxiously and thought, “Did one seem bigger than the other two?” and “What does that mean if it didn’t?”
As far as I can figure there are three possibilities….
- One was bigger but we just couldn’t see it.
- The other two have caught up in size and the difference is no longer as marked
- OR we actually have FOUR kits and the bigger one was missing!
If you are never sure about size differences, this might help. The beaver on the dam is Jr who was born last year, and the beaver swimming up is one of our new kits.
They were out by 6:45 and still there when we left. All in all, it was a good beaver night, including the adorable family of raccoons that shuffled through the scrape. Although when I got home I saw Cheryl had shared this on facebook and I realized all my video efforts were for naught. This is from Farasyn Farm Wildlife Rescue and facebook wouldn’t let me embed it here so I downloaded and sneaked it on our youtube account so you could see. Two crimes in one day, but oh so worth it!
