Badgers in Petaluma?

Ends & Pieces

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, Beavers or Social Ambasadors, Creek Seekers Poetry Contest, Environmental September 16, 2011

Beaver loyalist Lory Bruno has been in Tahoe this week, where our good friends from the Sierra Wildlife Coalition have spotted both a new beaver dam AND a new beaver kit! They toured the area on a sunny afternoon and I thought I’d share this. (Shhh, don’t tell our beavers they’d be SO JEALOUS!!!!!!!!)

Sierra Wildlife Coalition Visit new Tahoe Beaver Dam

In the mean time, while her sisters go to the ball, Cinderella has been slaving away sewing the new beaver flag that children will be asked to illustrate at Sunday’s Peace Day event at the Oakland Zoo. That’s right, our own FRogard Butler has volunteered to be the Besty Ross of Beavers and has created this eye catching emblem. Imagine it covered with creatures after the children get to populate it!

flag1 — New Worth A Dam starter-flag by FRo

She made sure to add this mascot to give the piece heart. I can’t wait to see what it becomes.

And after I sent Sherri’s epic article around yesterday Stan Pietrowski (the method behind the state of the beaver Madness-meaning a technical and announcing wonder) offered to help her put up a website and they’re talking domain names as we speak. Soon we may get to visit Sherri’s beaver relocating website, which will be cool. She wasn’t entirely comfortable with EVERYTHING printed in the Westwood article and I can understand why. I’m trying to decide whether its indiscretions were the fault of dazzled adoration or grimly unconscious sexism but it is still MOSTLY good for Sherri and good for beavers so I won’t complain.

Just show me the article that talks about Skip Lisle’s sex life and we’ll call it even.

Old Friends & New Friends

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Friends of Martinez Beavers, History May 30, 2011

Every now and then an unexpected treasure appears in my mail box. This one may just reset the bar. It’s from an insurance agent and amateur historian who just happened to be born in Martinez and send me an article he found in the Placerville Herald. It describes the behavior of beavers building unusually early in the season, suggesting that this particular winter might be a doozy. Why is this important? Because the article is written in 1853, about 75 years before beaver were “introduced” in the Sierras and Placerville is about 2200 feel elevation.

Talk about a kid in a candy shop. Check out this site if you have some time to kill. I know what I’ll be doing this weekend…

Our own FROgard Butler will have a one woman show tomorrow at the Walnut Creek Library. Stop by and see what she does with her time when she’s not busy making tails and singing the beaver song. There are a 100 nonprofits in the Bay Area that wish they could have FRO’s friendship and creative force, I see their eyes glisten wistfully when they stroll by our booth at Earth day or the Flyway Festival. They all want her. But they can’t have her. Beavers got their first.

Back to school

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Beavers or Social Ambasadors, Educational September 8, 2010

Did you see our nice article in the Gazette? Apparently beaver art is officially launched! Monday’s school board meeting will start with a short presentation on the mural by EBAG artists FRO and Randy. Hopefully we’ll generate more interest in the beavers – their impact on the habitat and the community. It’s a busy night. I can’t be there (day job!), Jon can’t be there because he has to do a “beaver tour” which someone bought at the silent auction. FRO and Randy will carry the night and Kathi will be there in her ‘school board capacity’. Worth A Dam is apparently in high demand at the moment.

Speaking of which I got a nice response from the columnist in the Missouri Bambi-myth article saying he was actually pro-beaver and ‘never lose your passion’ (!) and then a cordial letter from the trapper in question whom I had never written. He explained that they do use flow devices in public lands but offer only trapping on private property. He assured me that they offered information about wrapping trees and told people that trapping was a short term solution. I’m not sure why writing an unknown woman who had never contacted him was a good use of his time, but there it is.

To tell the truth, the website has been getting a weird amount of traffic lately. I got an offer to host adds for pay and a threat for an international lawsuit for writing about a certain iconic-bra-appearing product. I did what I could to talk my way out of both for the time being. The really exciting news is that beaver-friend and Worth A Dam benefactor Scott Artis is going to begin an upgrade to the site Sunday. Site designer Michael Cronin taught me as much as he could before he moved away, but he never taught me how to do an upgrade. Now technology has moved forward without us and this website is like a tricycle on the freeway. Hopefully we’ll get new wheels soon. There may be moments of the look of the page changing but don’t worry, we’ll be excitingly upgraded and restored eventually!

Children + Beavers = Civic Art

heidi08 Beaver News, Beavers or Social Ambasadors, City Reports, Educational, Environmental, featured September 3, 2010

Children’s Mural Available for Display

Worth A Dam is proud to present the children’s Mural for Alhambra Creek. This colorful and engaging diptych piece was created by a hundred young artists at Beaver Festival III in downtown Martinez and is now available for loaned display. FROgard, of the East Bay Artists Guild, painted the background with help from Randy Stansberry, based on graphic artist Libby Corliss creek map for the area. FRO provided guidance, instruction and a little judicious editing to help the mural come to life.

Each segment is 36″ x 48″and the pair should be hung in tandem. Imaginations were allowed to flourish letting each child share his or her own vision for the beaver habitat: a close look at the artwork shows that in addition to the green heron, baby ducks and beaver family, there is even a pirate beaver with a “hook” claw! One pragmatic child painted a golf bag with a ‘hole in one’ just in case dad would like to play a few rounds at the Beaver Park.

The hidden treasure of Martinez, CA is revealed not just its famous beavers but also in the delightful and caring children that respect Alhambra Creek and its wildlife. Funds and materials for this mural were donated by generous supporters and it is the hope of the children, the artists, and Worth A Dam that it will be seen around the downtown area in Martinez, inspiring each of us to see the wild beauty of the world around them.

If you would like to display the mural in your office, foyey, stairwell or gallery, contact Heidi Perryman at (925) 283-4499 to make arrangements.

This notice went out as of 3:00 pm Wednesday.As of 9 pm last night we already had expressed interest from the superintendent of schools, the Contra Costa Bar Association, and Superior Court. Worth A Dam is feeling like Scarlet at the ball! Thanks FRO and Randy for your outstanding work on this project. Thanks Mitch Wagner (long time hero of another very famous beaver case) for the generous donation. Worth A Dam promises never to let generous donations go to waste!

A Banner Day

heidi08 Festival, Friends of Martinez Beavers August 12, 2010

The Beautiful Banner displayed at the beaver festival was the product of over 100 children’s fabric artwork from the Flyway Fiesta and Earth Day. It was the brainchild of FROgard Butler, an artist with East Bay Artists Guild and an instructor at Diablo Valley College. The children amazed us again with their delightful drawings but it was FRO who painstakingly sewed on the ribbon borders and got the whole project ready for display.

I met FRO at First Night in 2007. I was standing beaver-watch at the Escobar Bridge and she came by to learn about the animals. She was very impressed with what she saw and took some brochures to distribute at the vets where she dropped off her pet portrait cards. FRO did pet paintings and asked if I would loan her a photograph to paint a beaver. That was the start of a beautiful friendship. FRO brought that watercolor to work on that first earth day event and presented it at the final beaver meeting in April. It now hangs in my living room and not a day goes by that I’m not grateful for that happy First Night accident.