The good news is that yesterday I found out how I will remotely present at beaverCon 2020 and I will be able to use video and audio, which means I could start pull together tools for both, I’m happy to say that the very old laptop still functions and I myself functionenough to put everything on the new laptop – so things are looking hopeful.
While I was searching through what to share I came across this national treasure of our beavers in 2017 from Moses Silva and thought you’d want to see. Turn your sound WAY up to hear my favorite part.
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Aren’t beavers the most lovely and wonderful thing you can ever hope to see? This video just about puts my entire life in prospective. And we’re not the only one who knows this. Apparently the director of Wildlife guardians, John Horning, is a big fan too.
Beckoning the 
Beavers — Wild Earth Guardians
I love beavers. Ever since I was a kid and watched them slap their tails defiantly, and loudly, to warn their clan of the threatening presence of large animals, I’ve thought beavers were worthy of my admiration. Then I realized they build dams too! As an aspiring dam builder myself, I figured beavers had more than a few things to teach me.
In fact, when the question of what is my favorite spirit animal arises, my response is almost always: beavers. They bring joy and gusto to their daily work and are quite content in mud and water. What’s not to admire?
Preaching to the choir here, sir.
So, when the opportunity came up in late September to be a beaver for a day with WildEarth Guardians’ restoration crew, I jumped at it—especially since I could bring along my energetic, six-year-old twin boys.
The job of building these beaver dam analogues, or BDAs as they are known, was made easier by the placement of two dozen wooden posts that had been driven into the ground in a cross-crossed pattern across the stream. These posts, placed days earlier by Reid and his crew, provided the necessary foundation for each dam to rise
And so a beaver clan, a crew of five or six people, was deployed to each of the six dam sites. For my boys—as it seemed for everyone—the excitement of the reality of dam-building overrode the hesitation that often comes with trying something new. In partnership with the other adults, the boys wove the willow back and forth between the poles and watched as others did the same.
Without it really being emphasized we had already embodied one of the critical qualities of beavers: collaboration amongst a family unit to accomplish a grand task.
Oh my goodness. I love his enthusiasm. And I love the idea of children weaving branches in a BDA. Hmm beaver festival idea? It gets even better.
Absent cows, there would be willows along the stream. And almost everywhere there are willows, beavers thrive. And where beavers thrive there is ecological dynamism, and the land sings, with the literal songs of flycatchers and frogs and with the slithering of snakes and the pattering of shrews and mice. And in the stream itself, native trout grow fatter and more abundant in the cooler, deeper waters that beaver dams create.
Here in New Mexico, there is a long list of endangered species that have been imperiled in the absence of beavers and that would benefit from their return. The New Mexico meadow jumping mouse, the Rio Grande cutthroat trout, the Southwest willow flycatcher are just a few.
Ahhh that does a heart good to read. You know WildEarth Guardians has the right idea.
The next morning after packing up, we were about to get in the car when my boys proclaimed that we could not leave without one more inspection of “our” beaver dam. Much to their satisfaction, not only was the dam still intact, but the water level had risen noticeably since the previous afternoon. As their energy lingered, the boys hummed, gently sang, and chattered to themselves and to each other in contemplative satisfaction with their work. One walked back and forth across the dam while the other waded in and out of the now waist-deep water. Without further words, we headed back up stream and up the hill to our car. But before moving on, one of my boys said, “Dad, we need to come back and build more beaver dams!”
“Yes, we do,” I said. “Yes, we do.”
Yes. And you need to MAKE WAY FOR BEAVERS so they can build and maintain their own dams without your help. Step aside and let the experts take over. This work is more tricky than it looks. Just check out this video Robin of Napa shared on facebook. Experts are really picky about getting just the right materials.
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