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A pair of beavers spotted along Guadalupe River in San Jose. Wildlife educators are hoping they stay, saying the beavers are a benefit to the environment and great ambassadors to children coming to the area to learn about the ecosystem.

Well, well, well. I was diligently holding the story until I had ‘permission to set it public’ but it looks like someone let the cat outta the bag. This appeared on KGO friday morning. Believe me when I say that I’ve been straining to influence how this unfolded and whether they had problem solvers already in place before the hounds were released. Well, now let’s get this party started!

I see the video doubled in the number of hits last night so that’s not really a secret any more either. Good. You should all be very very proud that the story credits beavers for helping rivers and teaching children. If Worth A Dam flogged NOTHING else, we’ve promoted that message over and over, in the many corners of the earth, far and wee.

Now, San Jose invite Worth A Dam and maybe Mark Ross down for a meeting, figure out how to wrap trees or protect culverts or install a flow device, and let’s get on with already. You know it works. You know you can do it. Think of us as the test case.

Best part about the KGO story was the comments that mentioned Martinez over and over! And the announcement by the reporter that there were only two colonies of beavers in the Bay Area. Martinez and the Lexington Reservoir.

Shhh…they’re so cute when they’re sleeping. Let’s not wake them.

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Oh and they’re just in time for this!

The Guadelupe River takes its short jaunt from the headwaters in Santa Cruz to its outlet in the San Francisco Bay, winding its way through the heart of San Jose. It is surrounded by many parks, and trails, including Almaden winery. It was once important to the gold mining trade and like all such rivers is now burdened with more than its fair share of mercury from those days. The entire 3 mile downtown stretch, from Interstate 280 to Interstate 880, is part of the Guadalupe River Park and Gardens, one of the largest urban parks currently in development in the United States. Also, the Guadalupe River Trail runs along 11 miles (18 km) of the river bank.

What does this have to do with beavers you ask? Nothing yet.

Leslee Hamilton is the executive director of the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy. She attended Saturday’s creek conference and was very excited by the talks about beavers. She immediately wondered whether beavers could play a role in the Guadalupe system, augmenting water flows, restoring wildlife and serving as a teaching focus for children’s watershed education and stewardship.

Yesterday we scheduled a ‘chat’ about beavers, which turned into a conference call with Rangers and interested biologists. There are no beavers currently in the Guadalupe, they assured me. And relocation is illegal in California. Could they go about getting a scientific permit to do a specific project locally? What kind of habitat would support them best? What tools are useful for beaver management? How do beaver populations grow? How have we involved children’s education with our beavers? What have we noticed in our watershed since the beavers came?

Quite the conversation. Silicon Valley Beavers? It’s possibleReader JR points out that the Dell graphic must be a mistake since beavers are so fond of ‘apples’.