beaver festival Martinez

Photos: Life at Napa’s Beaver Lodge at Tulocay Creek

The Tulocay Creek beaver pond is located next to the Hawthorne Suites Hotel, 314 Soscol Ave., Napa. At the creek, you’ll find river otters, mink, muskrats and herons as well as beavers. Here are some photos of the critters taken by local photographer Rusty Cohn.

“Since Beavers are nocturnal, the heat doesn’t seem to bother them,” Cohn said. “They come out a little before sunset and are mainly in the water. During the day they are sleeping either in a bank den in the side of the creek bank under a fair amount of dirt, or inside a lodge which is made of mud and sticks mainly.”

This is my favorite of course, but go and look at the rest, they are all wonderful.

A week before the beaver festival, things are usually looking panicked. Often I’m scrambling to finish details, pick up tshirts, answer last minute questions or make changes to the program. Someone now needs two tables although they didn’t pay for even one, the bagpipe player has a cold and we need to find an alternative. The charms aren’t delivered and the John Muir site just found out they can’t loan the stage or someone irreplaceable has a family emergency and can’t make it that day.

But sometimes things just flow into this eddy of calm where everything is working out – in fact much, much better than we deserve. We have the attention we want, the attendees we want, the participants we want, and the volunteers we want. I get emails from San Francisco, Reno and Australia (true story) from folks wanting to come this year. Most of the preparations are finished, the brochures are back from the printer, three new donors suddenly agreed to be part of the silent auction and the weather looks perfect. All this satisfaction makes a nice Catholic girl like me very, very nervous.

Which should explain the graphic.

Never fear, we will cope with the grueling strain of success and march onward. And in the meantime you will enjoy this article about our beaver friends in Rhode Island, who I have been chatting with. Things are looking promising for a Martinez-style standoff and only the wind knows which direction it will blow.

Diamond Hill neighbors sign petition against filling park’s pond

Instead, according to spokesman Chris Ratcliffe of Fisher Road, the residents are asking for repairs to the pond that include a new pump to maintain the water level and a planned spray fountain to aerate the pond and help eliminate algae and mosquitoes.

About the beavers downstream from the pond, he suggests the animals offer a “unique educational opportunity for residents” while “adding to the overall natural character of the park.”

Cumberland’s Director of Parks & Recreation, Mike Crawley, took issues with some of the assumptions of the petition and told The Breeze this week that he wishes “people would ask more questions first.” About the beavers, Crawley says they have created a second hut downstream from the first and he’s expecting the growing family to begin intruding on residential land.

About the beavers, Crawley said, “We haven’t made a decision. We’re waiting to see how much damage they do downstream.”

Good luck R.I. on your beaver journey! And don’t hesitate to let us know if you need any advice. Now as for that piano…