Today’s Beaver Benefits Report comes from Alabama (no, seriously). I could have predicted it’s cons list, but I was surprised by the pros. I don’t know why, Alabama is the state where fish and wildlife heavily fined the city for destroying a beaver dam and ruining the home of the rare watercress darter!

Outdoors notebook: Beaver — friend or foe?

Beaver ponds range in size from less than 1 acre to more than 100 acres, depending on topography and the availability of food sources. Beavers will use and expand a pond area until the food supplies are exhausted. Once constructed, the benefits provided by the pond are numerous and include the following:

 • Furnishing snags for cavity-nesting wildlife species.

 • Supplying fallen logs, which provide cover for reptiles and amphibians.

 • Providing essential edges and forest openings.

 • Supplying diverse moist-soil habitats within bottomland forests.

 • Benefiting productive bottomland forests.

 • Improving downstream water quality.

 • Providing watering holes for agricultural and wildlife needs.

 • Supplying important breeding areas for amphibians and fish.

 • Providing diverse wetland habitats.

 • Furnishing feeding, brood-rearing and resting areas for waterfowl.

How awesome is that? Of course it goes on to describe why you might still need to kill them but  remember it’s ALABAMA and we’re grading on a curve!

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Beaver Evenings at Martin Mere

Also Friday was the first of summer Beaver Evenings in Martin Mere, which is a wetland trust with beavers in Lancashire England.

Later this month (20 June) is the first of the special beaver evenings at Martin Mere where you will get the chance to spot the beavers and find out more about Twiggy and Woody.

 The event is £15 per person, including refreshments and starts at 7.30pm. As you have to remain quiet and still in the hide it is not suitable for young children.

 If that doesn’t sound classy enough, check out the ‘blind’ from where you observe the wetlands without letting your presence be known:

Is it just me? Or are you imagining a huge beaver structure replacing the footbridge for us to watch everything undetected?

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Last night there was a planning meeting for the festival. I can’t tell you how surprising it was to see so many new faces volunteer for so many varied jobs and create a community. Jeanette made the trek from Auburn because she wanted to help at the festival after seeing the beaver documentary! Our new manager of financial at ISI came down from Santa Rosa, and the folks watching the beavers in Napa came down as well to lend their considerable enthusiasm to the task. Bob Rust and his wife was there with creative good ideas of a giant ‘tail slapper’ that could splash in a pool and cool the children while educating about beavers. Deidre came from San Francisco and talked about putting together the guided train journey from Oakland. And Lory, Jon and Cheryl were there doing the valiant dependable work we could not survive without.

Afterwards there was dinner and jubilant conversation and a trip down to see the beavers in person. Where they were treated to 3 yearlings and mom but no baby sighting. It was an unexpectedly cohesive night, that felt like the perfect launch to our 7th ever beaver festival. I couldn’t help but think of a scene like this, except with people jumping up from the crowd saying “I’ll make the costumes” and “I’ll make the popcorn” and “I’ll ask my father if we can use his old barn!”

(Note: With this clip you have to substitute the word ‘folks’ for the word ‘beavers’, and the word ‘welfare’ for ‘fish and game’ and your almost there!)