Cheryl Reynolds – Page 3

Doubtful deliberate decisions

heidi08 Beavers June 26, 2013

Busy beavers called a threat to Yukon salmon

A first nation in Yukon is looking to help one species by undoing the work of another. The Ta’an Kwach’an Council hopes it can help boost numbers of Chinook salmon.

The Whitehorse area First Nation has received environmental approval for a month-long project to remove abandoned beaver dams on Fox Creek.

Thank goodness, because everyone knows those salmon need wide open expanses of un-dammed creek to grow up where they are exposed to exciting challenges of predation and drought. Keeps them agile! Certainly there are mountains of hard scientific studies proving that beaver dams help salmonids, but none of them look specifically at ABANDONED beaver dams. They’re obviously special.

Gosh, I wonder why those dams were abandoned? Did something maybe happen to those beavers?

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that somewhere a low-level city biologist is feeding this tribe misinformation to trick them into thinking that if they just kill enough beavers their salmon population will recover. (Never mind the pollution and the concrete channels.) They are using the tribe as the ‘cow pusher’ on the front of the train to get the protesters off the tracks, because no one will express outrage by what a native tribe does! And after they talk the tribe into doing it first, and the policy gets noticed, the city can do it, and say “What? We learned this from the Whitehorse!”

This article has been up for a couple days now. The CBC article on the same topic had a dozen comments that were pro-beaver (including mine) which are all gone now. Hmm.

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Flooding has devastated much of southern Alberta, killing three people and prompting authorities to evacuate the western Canadian city of Calgary’s entire downtown — an estimated 75,000 people. But at least one resident of Calgary has stayed behind. Cameras caught a beaver swimming through strong flood waters up the Bow River.

Sorry for Alberta and the flooding but it’s nice to remember what strong swimmers beavers are. I know it has reassured me on more than one occasion!

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Great photos from Cheryl last night, you won’t want to miss. Great kingfisher too, who has been clatteringly noisily around the dams and making herself known!

long mud — Mudding the dam Cheryl Reynolds

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Yesterday I sent Ian’s raptor blues film to Tom Knudson of the Sacramento Bee and today he has tweeted it. I let Ian know and he sent me this amazing article. If you’ve been at all following this incredible young man you really should go read it for yourself.

ACHIEVER | St. X grad wins awards in animation competition

Since he was 11, Ian Timothy has enjoyed making stop-motion animation films. Now 18 and a recent St. Xavier High School graduate, he’s won two major awards for his approximately two-minute film “Day Shift.”

“Day Shift” won a Gold Medal in the student film category of the New York Festivals International TV and Film Awards Competition, one of only two student films to win the Gold Medal, the highest award.

For that film he also received a Silver Telly Award in Animation, the highest award given in that professional — not student — competition.

Ian will attend CalArts — the California Institute of The Arts in Valencia, Calif. — in the Experimental Animation program. The competitive program accepts 15 students per year and has trained “greats” such as Tim Burton and John Lasseter, Ian said.

Ian believes he was accepted because, “They want to see somebody has a voice as an artist. Not only that they are good, technically, but they know where they want to be and what they want to be.”

Okay THIS article is definitely going in the copy of the DVD he will be donating for the festival. You better save it because it will be a collector’s item one day. We disagree about one thing. Ian says his newest film is about the liberating effect of creativity. I say its about the creative influence of nature.

Maybe for Ian they are actually the same thing.

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Oh and as you can definitely discern: I have a new keyboard and a functioning “d”! Delicious Delight and Darwinism! All I can say is thank goodness it wasn’t the “B”.

Shoplifting for beavers…

heidi08 Beavers July 6, 2012

Well there’s been a nice flurry of attention on the new kit. When I got to work yesterday there was a message from KGO and a call from KPIX who has sent a reporter out to the dams and wanted someone to meet him. I could just barely shuffle patients about for the phone interview, but couldn’t possibly make the dams, so I called Lory to see if she’d be willing. She was making potato salad and not at all happy about the assignment, but she gamely took up the gauntlet, wore a wire for the interview, and met with the reporter. On the phone I told him where to find footage of the new kit so he could run it with the story — martinezbeavers,org — he repeated back “Spontaneousbeavers.org?” which made me laugh very hard indeed.

I needn’t have told him where to look for footage because obviously they reviewed the entire website like it was a grocery store after Katrina and just looted their way among the shelves, picking whatever they wanted. (Lory assures me when it aired there was a tag on the screen saying it was from us). I counted 10 swipes of my very best beaver footage spanning 5 years. That’s some hefty pick-pocketing! Well, its all for a good cause right? If you haven’t seen the whole thing, scroll down for the report. Here’s the thing. John Ramos asks at the end why the beaver stay here, and Lory seems to wonder too. I can tell you the answer easily.

WE DON”T KILL THEM.

Pretty much every other city creek or drainage pond in the East Bay or heck, the entire state, beavers that settle get very quickly dispatched. But here in Martinez they are safe. And that is obviously worth putting up with cameras and garbage trucks and wrapped trees and homeless drunks for.

That being said here is some more precious dimly lit footage to swipe…

Jr & Sr — Dad & Kit - Photo Cheryl Reynolds

Look at dad’s lumpy head and you can clearly see our father is a father again. Amazing! Now if only the country would stop celebrating its birth and stay quiet we might get some of these photos in decent lighting!

Kit & parent-001 — Kit & Parent - Cheryl Reynolds

First things first

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Educational, Festival, Friends of Martinez Beavers May 15, 2012

“First, the fish must be caught.“

That is easy: a baby, I think, could have caught it.

“Next, the fish must be bought.”

That is easy: a penny, I think, would have bought it.

Lewis Carroll: The White Queen’s Riddle

I woke up this morning to two breathless emails today proclaiming the successful formation and recognition of the New 4-season Wildlife League at last night’s home owners meeting in El Dorado Hills. I’m not exactly sure why being in a club requires board approval (obviously if Worth A Dam needed permission from the city to exist we’d all have a lot more free time.) But it did, and they worked hard to get it and after some whining about mosquitoes and mean media attention, permission for the club passed by 3-2. If I get their permission I’ll post the emails which are an exciting read.

Now that there an official club, they’re off to the races to try and get rid of those nasty trappers. As we said all along ‘cubby’ was never a bachelor, and they have seen as many as three beavers at a time since his death. One beaver friend wrote that she’s heard noises, so I’m sure that kits are on the horizon. Hopefully they’ll join us for the festival and you all can meet them and extend your congratulations on their new league recognition!

And while we’re on the subject of bureaucracy and all its splendor, it’s that time again where the nice people at the Parks, Recreation, Marina and Cultural Commission consider permission for the Beaver Festival this summer. The first year it was a rocky night. Then it was a begrudging pagaent with an inevitable conclusion. Last year it was a friendly breeze of recognition and respect. Who knows what will find this year? The good news is that our application was approved. If you want to come lend your support we’re at the front of the agenda at city hall 7pm tonight.

On a related note the Journal of Fish and Game had a very positive response to our initial paper about the historic prevalence of beaver in California, asked us to divide into two and submit by today for possible publication in the next issue. Rick made sure they were mailed with final tweaks last night, so now there’s just waiting to see what happens.

A final word about the website, which has been sluggish and protesty lately. I got rid of some favorite old plugins this am that seemed to be slowing things down. Fingers crossed everything will run better now. I hated to let go of our 2008 and Earthday slideshow, as it really seemed like the beginning of everything, but I’ll mark its memorial with one of my favorites.

Cheryl sent this lovely photo of the beavers in Benicia last night, and I knew you’d want to see it. Here’s hoping that’s GQ or one of his relatives all grown up and on his own!

beaver moving mud benicia — Beaver moving Mud: Photo-Cheryl Reynolds

Beavers and Otters and Birthdays, Oh my!

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Friends of Martinez Beavers December 13, 2011

I stumbled upon this intriguing video on youtube and it took me a while to realize who it was from. This was shot by beaver friend Paul Ramsy at his estate in Bamff Scotland. Paul is the congenial force behind the “Save the free beavers of the River Tay” movement. His demeanor is polite tweed but his spirit is entirely leather! Be patient with his film skills and focus instead on the chirping sound in the background. My guess is he knew at the time why that was important. Looking at this video you have an idea of why he would become passionate enough about the cause to fly all the way to Oregon for the State of the beaver conference last February. Watch all the way to the end for a special treat.

Speaking of special, today is the birthday of our own Cheryl Reynolds who will of course be celebrating by visiting the beavers she loves best. Thanks for all you do and have an excellent birthday!

Birthday Girl

heidi08 Friends of Martinez Beavers December 13, 2010

Wishing a happy birthday our own stellar photographer, Cheryl Reynolds, who has sat for countless hours at the dam angling for just the right photograph, and saturated at least two computers with her countless pixels. Her beautiful images have allowed thousands of people to see beavers in a new way and made it easier to argue why they should be protected. Thanks Cheryl for all your hard work, and the beavers thank you too.