Vermont author at peace with beavers
As its title suggests, Patti Smith’s new book, “The Beavers of Popple’s Pond: Sketches from the Life of an Honorary Rodent,” awards no special status to homo sapiens.
Nor does it critique our species’ role in rapid climate change, and the crowding-out (and extinction) of other organisms.Her adventures offer “a restorative respite from bad news,” the West Marlboro naturalist writes in her introduction.
The book also might be strong medicine against paralysis of the sort that occasionally grips the overwrought environmentalist.
Smith, 52, demonstrates that humans can, with help from other critters, wrest a corner of society away from a civilization branded by planetary mischief.
She’s playful. She credits the authors Beatrix Potter, Thornton Burgess, and E.B. White with populating her childhood “with talking trees and friendly fauna.”
Smith no longer traffics in magic. But her command of natural history, animal physiology and wildlife behavior brims with enchantment.
In 1991, Smith co-founded the Bonnyvale Environmental Education Center near her home. She moonlights as a licensed Vermont wildlife rehabilitator.
Patti Smith’s endearing articles about beavers over the years have been a highlight of this website’s beaver travels. Remember “Ducky all grown up“? Living in Vermont, of course she knows Skip Lisle and has the very good sense to appreciate beavers. In addition to co-founding the nature center and being a generally exceptional human, she’s also a very talented artist. We’ve been in contact before, so I was thrilled to read about the book. Her drawings are adorable and I wrote to congratulate her – (and of course, ahem. that other thing too).
Patti and her publisher both wrote back graciously that they would be happy to send me a signed copy for the silent auction and that we were doing great things in Martinez. Which of course we are, and I wouldn’t change it for the world, but to be honest I’m still a little jealous of Patti’s idyllic conditions. She falls asleep on a bunch of clover while sketching the beavers like something from the pages of Tolkien.
If I feel asleep with the beavers I’d wake up snuggling Robert.
There’s a fun interview with her and her mom in the article which you should check out. If you can’t BEAR to wait and buy your copy at the massive biding war at the silent auction in August you can pre order on Amazon or direct from the publisher here.
And any time Patti needs a field trip, maybe some wine tasting or a visit to Point Reyes, she should definitely come see our city beavers! Martinez will provide the train whistles, homeless. and garbage trucks and we’ll bring a picnic and introduce you to the BEAVERS OF PEOPLE’S POND.
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Oh, and I just happened to come across this from CSTMS at UCB last may. I contacted the great presenters, Cleo Woelfle-Erskine and Daniel Sarna-Wojcicki . I was told we had met at the state of the beaver conference and Cleo had just finished transcribing my interview. I have zero memory of being interviewed there, but sometimes before I present I am inattentive to anything else, so it could very well be true! Their presentation is a lot of fun, and Michael Pollock wrote back that it cracked him up, which is high praise indeed. I also mentioned that the last slide they presented was OUR photo and they wrote back appropriately chagrined and talked about wanting to come for a beaver visit in June!
I can’t believe it took me almost a year to find this video. Where has it been all my life? But at least it has twice as many views today as it did yesterday, hopefully more after this. It’s a great look at the changing climate around beavers. And even if it gives everybody in the world credit except Worth A Dam, we know very well how important we are.
