In case you missed the Golden Globe Awards sunday night, here’s a bit of tremendous cheer. I heard from Jari yesterday that the Beaver Whisperers has been nominated for the Canadian Screen Awards in the best documentary category! What does this mean? It means more good press for beavers and our friends who take care of them. Remember the American version will air on PBS Nature this year, and I’m told the rough edits are finished.
Best Science or Nature Documentary Program or Series The Beaver Whisperers CBC (Dam Builder Productions) Jari Osborne
Remember that a nomination is already a kind of win. Congratulations Jari for your remarkable work and vision! And thanks to the hard working team-beaver that made this such a success. The film includes many beaver-faces you know (Glynnis Hood, Suzanne Fouty, Carol Evans, Kent Woodruff) and some you will be very happy to meet. We are eager to use Jari’s remarkable efforts to promote beavers everywhere and know this good news couldn’t happen to a nicer girl! Hurray beavers whisperers!
I have very exciting news for you today, but first a very thorny question that has plagued me half the night. What is wrong with me? Why are my powers of persuasion so completely lacking? I’m referring, of course, to the vote you didn’t cast yesterday for Beaver Whisperers. Where did I go wrong? Was it my sales pitch? Our website stats tell me that on any given day some 600 people are reading this site, and I see 40 of you went and voted. That means I completely failed to persuade 560 people who ostensibly care about beavers. What is the matter with me?
Go Vote
You can vote until Friday, its super easy and you don’t have to register, and technically you’re not voting not for the thing you haven’t seen yet but for the dam cam you CAN see any time you wish. Maybe I didn’t implore enough. Maybe I’m too bossy. Maybe you were busy with the carpool and the cable bill, but please go vote. If it wins the CBC is way more likely to do another beaver project down the road, and more people will learn how good beavers are. We all want that, right?
Alright, now speaking of the CBC there’s a bright and shiny new beaver website on the block. It’s cleverly called “Leave it to beavers : watershed stewardship”. It’s a joint venture by the Ann & Sandy Cross Conservation Area (ASCCA) and the Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation. Seems they bit the bullet and undertook a beaver relocation a while ago onto their vast conservation land and are using students and citizen science to keep track of the difference it is making. You can practically still see the price tag on the websites involved, shining with their resident Glynnis Hood, but their teacher section has nothing in it and can you believe they do not mention the valiant effort of Martinez or Worth A Dam at all? Well, I’ll do what I can to change that. In the mean time, welcome to the ‘hood!
(Pun intended.)
Now onto the exciting beaver news! Last night was action packed at the dam. The water was clear and you could see the lovely webbed feet of the kits, junior and mom. The third dam has been built up considerably, and its practically wider than the secondary now. Obviously the beavers have a vision for their habitat that they haven’t included me in.
Third Dam
That’s our kit from last year. Isn’t he turning out lovely? How much do you wanna bet that third dam is mostly his work? The kits were in fine form and eager to follow Jr around doing everything he did. We probably saw all three, but one at a time so its hard to be sure.
We have one kit that is still very much a baby, not wanting to do more grown up things like his siblings. In case you’re not sure what it looks like when a kit acts like a baby, watch him eat.
Mom came out and went straight to work on the secondary dam. That is definitely HER responsibility and she takes it very seriously. She swam around with one of the kits a bit to make sure they were interested.
Then Heidi put her camera away, satisfied with working beavers well on their way to a mature family. The couple beside us we had met at Wildbirds. She tabled for Audubon and we were busily chatting away when we saw one of the kits come up beside mom and plop some mud onto the dam where she was working. The kit dove and got some more. Then paddled away and came back with a stick to add in its place. Even when Mom swam away, satisfied that the leak was patched, that kit kept working.
5 months old and well on his way to being a real beaver!
It’s Sunday so we are officially less than two weeks away from the big day. Worth A Dam will gather this afternoon for our last meeting, and yesterday my dining room table looked like Pier One Imports with all the items gathered for the silent auction. The musicians are lined up, vendors confirmed, and everybody but one group has paid for their tables so that’s promising. Prompting the inevitable question: Are we ready?
Now look at this map for a minute and just let it all sink in how much bigger this is than last year or the year before that. 40 wildlife groups is the absolute limit of what we can shoe-horn into that park, but what an amazing group of people. There are a lot of new groups that I’m very excited about, and some familiar groups that I’m thrilled to have back.
As you can see we have a new beaver charm this year, and a water drop which should be a nice addition. Since Kiwanis couldn’t donate as much this year, I’m planning to let adults do the activity for 10 dollars, so if you’ve been dying for one of these you’re in luck.
Now if you’ve finished your necklace and are tired of walking around talking to all the amazing folk about what they do or the wildlife you saw in your backyard that night, this should keep you busy. Why not sit and listen to some amazing music? The San Francisco Scottish Fiddlers are joining us this year and that should be incredible!
This year’s auction will feature some remarkable items, including a ‘not available in the entire country’ DVD of the Beaver Whisperers CBC Documentary donated by the filmmaker herself which won’t be aired in the US until November or so. Honestly, this could cause an international incident but it is so, so worth it. I expect a bidding war of beaver devotees
You could also spend some time talking to these nice people. They are the Whitman College students behind the new documentary in progress “The Beaver Believers”. They just drove back from Utah where they filmed Mary O’brien. This is a great shot of Mary and the director of the Semester in the West program, Phil Brick.
Now they are heading to Colorado to film Sherri Tippie. After which they’ll be heading to Martinez to film you-know-what!
You can follow their progress by liking their Facebook Page, and we are very excited to have them! If you need a reminder about the Beaver Believer project, listen to this. All in all, it should be a fairly amazing day.
