Tag: Frogard Butler

BEAVER PONDS: BOTH SIDES NOW

heidi08 Beaver Art February 27, 2018

Yesterday was grant writing number 2 day, where I asked the Martinez Community foundation for funds for an art project at the festival. Artist FROgard Butler plans to return to us and has fellow artists from her gallery lined up to help out. The idea is that we are going to let the children paint the ‘over under’ beaver pond image on cotton curtains which we can use later as a stage backdrop.

Beaver Ponds: Both Sides Now

These funds will purchase supplies for an educational art project held at the 11th annual beaver festival on June 30. Typically 100+ children participate. The theme of the festival is ‘Over/Under’ and will show the impact beaver dams have on the ecosystem – both below the water and above it, – teaching how they improve conditions for invertebrates, fish, amphibians, birds and wildlife. This project will allow children to paint the wildlife at a beaver pond using acrylic paint on large cotton curtains. The decorated curtains later will be used in educational beaver displays to help show what was learned. The pond landscape will be painted ahead of time by supervising artist Frogard Butler. On the day of the festival it will be up to the children “fill in” the wild inhabitants

I’m just happy FRO is back and eager to begin painting with kids again. We missed her so much last year. Besides the activity, the fun part is that we can later use those curtains for a stage backdrop or in our display. And just like the banners kids can recognize their work. I also did my best to plug the festival and say why it matters.

A surprising number of children and their families in Martinez have grown up with the beaver festival and look forward to it every year. Many of our teen volunteers first attended as children and are eager to share their enthusiasm and knowledge about the beavers with newcomers. Martinez gains local, regional and national visibility from the festival, which this year will be featured in the national magazine Ranger Rick and an upcoming book by Chelsea Green Publishing.

Here’s hoping it inspires MCF to direct funds are way! Imagine this with colorful children’s paintings which will be even better!

Last night, on the footbridge, I loved you best of all!

heidi08 City Reports, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental, Festival, Friends of Martinez Beavers, kits, Who's saving beavers now? November 16, 2014

I love her, in the springtime

And I love her in the fall,

But last night, on the back porch

I loved her best of all!

These shocking lyrics reflecting the moral depravity of our youth were published in 1923, some 89 years ago, before video games and ‘R’ movies. Maybe the fact that our house had already been around for a quarter of a century before the song was recorded had something to do with why, when I went to see the beavers last night, this was the soundtrack I heard in my head.

You see, our kit, (the 2014) model, has been living at Ward Street since August. And I’ve been getting more and more worried about his truant little runaway self. I talked with our experts, who had not seen it before but told me not to worry, advice impossible to follow. Beavers are very social animals, and they need face time with their parents learning beaver things for upwards of 24 months before they’re ready to hitch off on their own.

So guess what I saw from the footbridge last night, with Lory and Jon?

Our twentieth kit, climbing on mom’s tail, crunching on snacks, with 2 or three other beavers! (Maybe even dad?) Swimming, chewing, whining and acting like his little kitself again! I can’t tell you how much lighter our three moods were as we walked eventually back to our cars. The beaver family is together and everything’s right with the world.

Now that we’re all in good moods, I will show you this treat that I stumbled upon yesterday. Look who has a new website! Now there are three great beaver resources to share with folks who want new ways to solve problems!

We are a company dedicated to protecting our land and infrastructure, as well as allowing for creative remedies that improve habitats and end wasteful killing and spending. Our technology and practices are state-of-the-art, and have been employed domestically as well as internationally to mitigate the growing problems presented by the beaver population.

Finally! Skip Lisle’s website has hit the internet(s) running! Complete with great information and awesome photos showing off his skill. Go explore the sight, its lots of fun. I couldn’t be happier, although it was a little surprising to find this:

Skip Lisle offers that rare combination of “can-do” competence, creativity, and courtesy. He ably tamed our beavers with promptness and professionalism. Our California town, Martinez, still fondly remembers the man from Vermont, and his solution to save our Downtown!

Mark Ross

Vice Mayor

Martinez, California, USA

A testimonial from Mark Ross and nothing whatsoever from Worth A Dam? I suppose a vice mayor is slightly better advertising than a child psychologist, but it’s silly to overlook the beavers’ de facto press secretary. Well, the cat’s outta the bag now, I made sure everyone saw this yesterday, its on our beaver links, and in the future I will make sure that everyone knows your skills have a great website to promote them!

Too much good news?Guess what arrived in the mail yesterday. Approval from the Martinez Community Foundation for our grant application for the festival VIII art project! They paid 100% of the amount requested. No fooling, money from Martinez, for the beaver festival. I’m still pinching myself.

Thank you Martinez Community Foundation for helping us teach children about ecosystems at the beaver festival! And thank you artist FRO Butler who will be doing the lion’s share of the work, prepping and painting the canvas, purchasing the materials, and supervising the eager artists. I can’t wait till the whole thing comes together and we can use it at our displays in the future!

Art for beaver’s sake

heidi08 Festival, Who's saving beavers now? August 26, 2014

The beaver world is oddly quiet today. I would have nothing to write about but as it happens I spent yesterday working on a grant for next year’s art project and wrote a nice profile of the amazing artist you always see working frantically at the festival. If you’ve never actually seen HER you’ve seen sign of her in the beautiful banners, the giant painted beaver, the ceramic tiles, the mural or any of our other myriad art-ifacts that are her handiwork. This is a fine place to share the column so, enjoy!

FROgard Butler is the owner and manager of aRt Cottage in Concord, CA, which displays collections from artists all over the state. She teaches classes and workshops to adults and children in various mediums. She is the winner of the 2011 Arts Recognition Award for Contra Costa County and the 2010 outreach coordinator of the CA watercolor association. She has supported Worth A Dam since its inception and helped hundreds of Martinez children understand nature through clay, watercolors, and acrylic paint.

In addition to her training as an artist, FRO has an extensive background in early childhood education, and especially enjoys helping children represent their own way of seeing the world through art. FRO has generously pledged to support the Keystone Species Archway Canvas project at the 8th beaver festival, and will treat the cloth, pre-paint the archway, and coordinate the young artists on the day. Her services will be offered as an in kind donation, and easily represent 20 hours of work.

Former FRO-directed festival efforts have been on display in public offices (tryptch Mural 2010), adorn the Escobar bridge (ceramic tiles 2008) and blanket virtually every Worth A Dam display (Banner 2009). The colorful and inviting profile of children’s artwork has made Martinez stand out in public displays and sets this city apart as a community who cares.

A word to all the nonprofits in the world who are trying to generate enough community support to get attention for their important cause: find an amazingly creative artist who loves working with children. Add water and pigment, stand back, and watch what happens.

It’s that time again…

heidi08 Beavers December 14, 2013

Our good friends Tom Rusert and Darren Peterie of Sonoma Birding are the inspired brains behind the CBC4 Kids. This is a 90 minute course where children and their parents get out in nature and observe and count wildlife. It is a small scale version of the big Audubon event that has been performed by adults for 100 years, but it has the added bonus of getting kids interested in wildlife, getting kids outside, and teaching families to appreciate nature together. I am always awed and impressed with what Tom is able to do with his dream, and he has been invited to Washington D.C. and Canada to teach about this. Here’s his lovely PBS clip about the program. Tom was recently given the Ludlow Griscom award for his amazing hard work teaching the citizen science of bird watching to youth. You might recognize their faces as regulars at the beaver festival, where they are enthusiastic supporters.

Christmas Bird Count for Kids – With Tom Rusert

This story is timely in every way because Tom was recently instrumental in finding a new fiscal sponsor for Worth A Dam. Way back in 2008 I connected with Bill and Helen Feil of Land for Urban Wildlife in Pleasant Hill. That allowed us to receive charitable donations, apply for funds and accept contributions. I never in a million years thought Worth A Dam, our beavers, or our mission would be around all this time, but with Helen’s untimely death last year it was time for us to move on. Land for Urban Wildlife was a wonderful, supportive umbrella that allowed us to get on our feet. And since we apparently aren’t going anywhere, it was time for us to transition to a more formal sponsor relationship. Tom gallantly introduced us to his sponsor, Loren Cole of Inquiring Systems Inc, and recommended we become a new project. ISI is an organization like Earth Island takes on related sustainable NGOs throughout the world and provides non-profit status. I checked with a few friends who are with EI and found they weren’t thrilled with the process. Not to mention that EI takes 9% of proceeds and 15% of federal grants. ISI will require only 5% to pay for their services, and will take nothing at all on money we’ve already accrued.

ISI has provided project management, business management, fiscal sponsorship services, training and technical assistance services to 3,650+ primarily nonprofit and NGO organizations, along with some value-driven, socially responsible for-profit entities.

Which means to us is that Worth A Dam get help setting up its new bank account, new paypal relationship, filing its paper work, managing request for audits and the like. Leaving us to focus on the subject that we cared about in the first place: Beavers. What this means to you is that as of January 1st, 2014, any donation you make will be made out to Worth A Dam, ISI instead of LUW. As someone who’s been wading through the paperwork on my own for the last 5 years, I am enormously grateful for the help, and appreciative that Tom got me in the door.

Oh and just in case you haven’t opened your Contra Costa watershed calendar yet, go straight to June where you’ll be greeted by this smiling face! (No mention of Worth A Dam and a beaver photo by someone OTHER than Cheryl – but still a nod to our beavers and very good friend FRO!).

October features another hero Cassy Campbell who happily volunteered for a million jobs at the beaver festival. John Finger is the great artist behind the calendar and emailed for advice this year saying, (“I want someone associated with the beavers, but not political, any suggestions?”) Umm…a few. The other 10 months have nice people featured in the calendar we haven’t figured out how to get to help us yet.

Stay tuned.

Rewards & Awards

heidi08 Beaver Art, Beavers, Earth Day, Educational, Friends of Martinez Beavers April 20, 2012

Tomorrow is Earth day, and we’re getting ready for a very busy day at the John Muir Historic Site. We’ll be joined by several supporters and by the stalwart artist FROgard Butler who will be helping children illustrate beaver tails! FRO recently opened her own art studio in Concord and has been busy making it a welcoming space for creative and appreciative minds. She also just found out she won the volunteer award we nominated her for from the Arts and Culture Commission of Contra Costa County. Here is my nominating letter:

FROgard Butler has played a unique and significant role for the arts in Contra Costa County. An instructor, colleague and friend to new artists, for the past 5 years she has played an irreplaceable role by coordinating and implementing the art program for the beaver advocacy group Worth A Dam. At least four times a year FRO uses her creative, engaging talents to encourage children to look more closely at their watershed and represent what they see with clay, watercolors, acrylic paint and more. In small classrooms and vast open-spaces, intimate groups and fast-moving crowds, I have watched her work closely with her young artists and I never fail to marvel at her patience, encouragement and non-judgmental respect for the creative process that allows children to represent the world as they see it, not as adults might prefer it to be shown. FRO’s artwork and teaching is on permanent display on the tiles of Escobar bridge and the creek mural at the Martinez Early Childhood Center. The colorful banner she helped children draw is one of the most creative and attractive mobile works of art that I have ever seen, and never fails to melt hearts wherever we share it.

With her uniquely engaging style, FROgard has helped thousands of children experience their creativity though art – and in doing so has fostered future artists throughout Contra Costa County. Very often I have seen FRO coax amazing creations out of the most art-averse subject and I have endless respect for her capacity to teach children to value the creative process over the finished product. FROgard has been an irreplaceable asset to the Martinez Beavers Advocacy group, allowing us to impact the community and teach watershed science in a real and tangible way to children of all ages. As a child psychologist who regularly employs art in my practice, I have learned a great deal from watching her work. Although her significant contributions and events around the bay area are numerous and well known, my personal understanding of FRO’s art is the magic by which she encourages the child to create their own. I can’t think of anything more impactful for the future of art in Contra Costa County than this gift.

Please feel free to contact me regarding any questions or clarifications. In our work we have seen literally hundreds of outreach efforts and without exception every nonprofit we encounter is envious of FRO’s help and wishes she worked for them. I’m just glad we found her first!

Congratulations FRO! We couldn’t be prouder or happier for you! One of her recent accomplishments was designing a flag which she helped children illustrate at our Roots and Shoots Event at the Oakland Zoo last year, and which we finished at the Flyway Festival. We liked it so much we’re doing a second one at the Girl Scout Event at the Fairgrounds. Jon spent some time yesterday figuring how to hang a flagpole from our awning, and if you stop by the booth tomorrow I think you will be very impressed!

More accolades go to our long-time beaver friend from Massachusetts who has been steadily impressing folk with his expertise and willingness to help. Yesterday a disciple had this to say about Mike Callahan on his blog “My Sherwood Glen“

Mike Callahan Leaves it to Beavers

Those of you who are aware of our efforts to co-exist with our beaver neighbors, know that we have had the help of Mike Callahan of BeaverSolutions.com. I can’t say enough about Mike’s willingness to help and his dedication to beaver conservation.

I was considered a technology expert back in the 1980’s when the definition of an expert was anyone who was online two weeks longer than you. As I moved around the country, I found that there were two kinds of experts. First there were those who had the magic skills, but kept the skills to themselves for personal gain. Then there were those who were excited about the potential of technology, wanted to spread the word and would share freely and promote the cause for the betterment of all. I was extremely fortunate to have hooked up with a group of national technology experts who shared freely and mentored me.

Mike is cut from that same cloth. He makes his living by designing, building and installing beaver fences and flow control devices, but he shares his knowledge freely with anyone who wants to help beavers co-exist with human neighbors. He gives more than he gets.

Go read the whole delightful thing, and if you haven’t joined the beaver management forum on facebook yet you really should. Mike’s certainly given us free help on more than one occasion, (although if you sit through the credits on his DVD you will see we have definitely returned the favor!) It’s always nice to see good friends get the recognition they deserve and to see the beaver gospel spread around the globe!

You will note if you read further down that Art brought Mike a 6 pack of beaver beer. (Which I alerted them too) And both men agreed it was delicious!

This would be an appropriate time to note I am still waiting for my Beaver Beer festival sponsorship letter?

UPDATE: Remember the Roseville article describing the need to remove beaver dams to protect Vernal Polls? They published my response.

UPDATE II Our young beaver champion from Kentucky just found out that Beaver Cree 7 won a Telly Award! The The Telly Awards is the premier award honoring the finest film and video productions. Beaver Creek won a bronze Telly(the 2nd highest honor) in the children’s programming category.