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Beaver Version!

A hundred girls between the ages of 6 and 16 yesterday learned about beavers to earn charms for their keystone bracelet. Look at those faces concentrate. Look at the other girls watching and learning. Every single one of them now knows more about beavers than, say, the average city council member.

What do beavers eat? What would you say if someone told you they eat fish? Why do they build dams? Where do they live?
What’s a Keystone species? How are beavers a keystone species? Are there alot of keystone species in California or just a few?
How do beaver dams affect insect life? Why is this important? What kinds of insects are signs of a healthy Creek?
How do beaver dams affect birds? What are some reasons more birds come to the dam site? If beavers cut down trees, doesn’t that mean that birds don’t have any place to nest? What happens to the trees after beavers chew them?
How do beaver dams affect fish like salmon? Where are salmon born and where do they grow up? Where do they come back to lay their eggs? Don’t beaver dams get in the way of salmon trying to get upstream? How do dams help salmon? Does California have enough salmon? Does it have enough beavers?
How are predators like otter and mink affected by beaver dams? Do otters do the same thing every day at the same time like beavers? How do beavers and otters get along?

So the otters come to the dam to eat the _____ and the ____ are there to eat the _____ and the ____ are there because of the beaver dams and the dams are built by the beavers and THAT”S why the beaver is a keystone species! Congratulations! You earned your keystone charm bracelet!

Okay imagine that 100 times over only much much cuter. I expect grand things from each of these remarkable girls.

Update: From the event organizer:

Thanks SO much for your absolutely wonderful booth yesterday. It was the hit of the event! I was standing at the exit gate when a lot of girls passed by and we asked them what their favorites were. Your booth was always the first thing they said – and they still knew the answers to the questions they had been asked to receive their charms! Looking forward to working with you again – and I sure hope Martinex Beavers got some new supporters/volunteers as well.

UPDATE:

How tired are we? Beavers and their attendant keystone-charm bracelets were a box office hit this afternoon! Thank you SO much for all the blessed volunteers who dropped in to help link, organize and ask questions. Thanks to Worth A Dam stalwarts who made it possible, and thanks to the enormously wonderful girls who learned more about beavers today than they probably thought possible! You all did fantastic!

Worth A Dam is off today for the Girl Scouts “Amazing Day” Event in Walnut Creek. We will be helping girls earn charms for a bracelet by learning fun beaver facts. There are six beaver facts abd six charms to add to the bracelet. Thank you to our special project donor (you know who you are!) who bought the materials and let us do such a generous instructional craft. Wish us good eyesight, steady hands and cheerful patience! Here’s the finished bracelet we’ll be helping them make. I’m thinking someday everyone will want one — they’ll be way more popular than those “live strong” bracelets… Lets see if after a good spell of reading this website you can list how beavers relate to each of these charms: