Well I wouldn’t describe yesterday’s accolades as “pouring in” they nonetheless dribbled in until I went to bed. I definitely heard nice things about the beaver oped all day, plenty from people who had NO IDEA beavers helped prevent fires or were being killed in California. Some even sent shared how they sent the article to the governor or posted a tweet about it. Gail from Palo Alto (the lyracist from the raging grannies who was responsible for bringing the grannies to the festival lo these many years ago) was so nice she even inspired me to do some lyrics of my own.

Late last night, when we were all in bed
Beavers were building us a dam and pond instead
You know that this stopped flames from coming to our town
They’ll be no hot time, keep beavers around!
FIRE FIRE FIRE!

Now tell me that wouldn’t be fun to sing with some girlscouts around the campfire!

Anyway, I was hopeful in the end that somebody, somewhere is going to make sure gavin’s staffer sees this on the train, so I felt better. I also noticed there was a mention of the issue in Bay Nature with Janet Kim’s new illustrated guide.This lovely image is SO CLOSE to being accurate, I had to write and tell her the secret about bever teeth.

Summer 2021 Almanac: An Illustrated Guide to Bay Area Nature

Smokey Bear is out and Smokey the Beaver is in. If the baritone-voiced, hat-wearing bear embodied an era of fire suppression, then the eco-engineering, industrious beaver heralds a future of restoration. Research by environmental scientist Emily Fairfax (who conceived of Smokey the Beaver) shows that where there are American beaver (Castor canadensis) dams, the surrounding plants survive during dry times. As water pools behind the dam, it spreads and saturates the adjacent soil. These verdant and waterlogged areas may provide a refuge for wildlife during fire. Sections of creek without beavers “were on average more than three times as affected by fire,” Fairfax writes.

Okay she kind of mangled the research but at least she mentioned the topic. Hopefully someone from bay Nature will see the OpEd and do a serious dive into the topic!

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