Once upon a time there was an enchanted forest by an Emerald Pool. People from all over the land traveled hundreds of miles to gaze at its glassy reflection, play in its sparkling waters and view its many grand peaks.They loved the way the sun set over the mountains, the way the hawk and eagle cried out over the tallest trees, and the dapple of deer-shadow that twitched its ears in the forest. They came to love the Emerald Pool so much they built homes right by its bank. They cut down the tall trees to make room for their families and built high fences to keep the twitching ears away from their roses. They drove SUV’s into the peaks and power boats into the middle of the Emerald Pool so they could see its beauty close up, and they complained when their waterways were interrupted.
One sturdy rodent struggled to make more ponds, plug leaks, trap silt and stimulate new tree growth near the Emerald Pool. It had been living there for thousands of years, but hunted to extinction for its thick soft fur nearly 200 years ago. When the rodent left a lot of the soil left too, eroding on the hillsides and rushing down the mountains. Without the caretaker to plug leaks and capture silt the watershed changed and steepened, so that the flowing water took much of the land’s richness away, and floods and droughts became a problem for the Emerald Pool. Without the rodent the land became vulnerable and untended, like the minds of the people, who forgot, in 200 years, what a massive difference a rodent could make.
They even forgot the caretaker used to call the Emerald Pool home.
Now at the northern end of the pool was a beach of Kings where at least once a year the residents worried that the rodents (who they had forgotten belonged there) would eat all the trees (whose numbers their pools actually increased) and block the sock-eye salmon (whose nursery’s they tended) and flood their homes (that didn’t belong there) and low-lying roads to make it harder to drive their SUV’s and launch their powerboats. The rodents were subsequently snared in silver wire and squeezed until there was no air left in their powerful lungs. And the people rejoiced.
In October of 2010 the residents again were worried about their houses and the silver snares were readied and drawn. A brave woman of the wilderness wondered if there might be a different way: a solution that protected the homes and the roads and the caretakers and the watershed. She contacted a wizard from New England who gave her magic instructions for controlling the water and letting the rodents stay. She talked to the men with snares and asked them to try another way. To celebrate, she called hundreds of children and men with cameras who gathered there beside the Emerald Pool to ask for merciful solutions that would protect the rodent and the land.
I was told last night that the children learned yesterday that four of the beavers had already been killed, even though public works had agreed to meet with the Cheryl of Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care. I cannot say how this story will end, but it is likely that there are more than four beavers in the colony and some will survive to take care of this year’s kits. In the meantime, the brave woman has Mike’s DVD and is meeting with Auburn Public Works to talk about real solutions. I have asked them to ‘guest blog’ when they can, and they assured me they would try.
If you would like to write them your thoughts why not try
Peter Kraatz of Placer County Public Works
The Board of Placer County Supervisors
David Bergnaud Reporter
A final note: Many, many, many thanks to our friend Scott Artis who worked on the website upgrade from 11-6 yesterday. While there is a pile of fingernails under my desk this morning, Scott was as steady and good-naturedly reassuring as you could possibly hope for. Thanks for our reader’s patience and THANK YOU SCOTT!!!!!!!!!!!!
