Male lifestyle not so unlike beaver’s life

DAVE DONLEY

I first detected the beaver’s presence early one morning before dawn. I was walking the dog around the pond and heard boulders falling out of the sky, pounding the water with a great splash. Looking up, however, I saw no boulders or meteor shower or frozen effluent streaking off an airliner. We all were delighted our small pond would seem fit for a beaver. In fact, the pond attracts an abundance of waterfowl, including a recent sighting of snow geese. Having a beaver-in-residence raised the stature of the pond from fowl worthy to mammal friendly.

Ahh the old story. Boy Meets Beaver. Boy enjoys watching beaver. Boy can’t believe there’s a beaver. Boy says “we never have beavers HERE”. Boy muses “where did they come from?” If I’ve heard that story once I’ve heard it a thousand times since we first told it to ourselves in Martinez in 2006. The truth is beavers have always strolled up our creek and checked to see if we were fit quarters to raise a family. It’s just that they did so when we weren’t looking and the explorers were routinely and quietly dispatched.

After just a couple of weeks, the consensus decreed the beaver had to go. The options for removal appeared to be few. The default position for invading beavers seems to be its removal by a licensed trapper.

Like that… and like they would have done in Martinez if it weren’t for some very special circumstances.

Then there’s the notion, promoted by any number of beaver hugging websites, that man and beaver can peacefully co-exist. This research taught me that in special cases this may be true and worth a shot.

Beaver hugging websites? Do you think he means us? (Blush) I’m so proud! Tell me about those special circumstances? Is there something particularly rare about the watershed or the stream shape? Or the stream flow? Or the weather? Is it something unique about the beavers themselves?

No. It’s not the beavers that were special. It’s was the humans.

In Martinez we had very rare and special humans who could use the google, crack open a book, open their eyes and actually see that beavers improve streams. . We knew how to watch Nature specials on National Geographic or Animal Planet and saw that Flow Devices could work. And we talked, to our neighbors, to the news cameras, and to our officials.We had very special humans with ears and brains who realized that sometimes city officials exaggerate dangers and don’t tell the truth

That’s REALLY rare!

In some mystical way, I connected with this beaver and was not willing to give up finding a compromise. As an engineer, I can personally relate to the incredible focus possessed by the beaver, almost to its detriment.

The beaver has a plan forged by evolution and is determined to fulfill that destiny. The beaver builds its lodge, makes and takes care of the family, and tends to the maintenance of the dam. My life in a nutshell.

I had thoughts of grabbing the beaver, reforming it of its ways, then getting him cast in a Disney film. He would live out his days blissfully on the pond. My research abruptly ended after my Internet search for “domesticating your beaver” turned up empty.

Too bad.

Very Rare Indeed.