Remembering an Important birthday on Earth day

heidi08 Earth Day, Educational, Environmental, Friends of Martinez Beavers April 22, 2014

1970367_4028951219430_482136484_n — John Muir at his desk as imagined by Ian Timothy

John Muir was born in Dunbar Scotland 176 years ago yesterday. He was the third of eight children born to strict Presbyterian parents who felt that time spent outdoors in nature was a distraction from time learning the bible. In fact, by the time Muir was a young man he could recite most of the old and and all of the new testaments by heart. When he was 11 the family immigrated to Wisconsin, and Scotland’s native son became America’s treasure. After adventures from Canada to Florida, Muir at 40 fell in love with Louisa Strenzel in Martinez in 1880 and settled into a partnership with her physician father managing their 2600 acre fruit ranch, some of which is still producing today. It was in this house that Muir had his office (“scribble den”) and wrote his seminal works. It was in this house that Muir received countless dignitaries and inspired guests, including the author of the most important beaver book ever written, Enos Mills.

Some 169 years later.Ian Timothy, of the most famous beaver animation series “Beaver Creek” ever crafted also made a pilgrimage to Martinez with his parents. He squeezed Muir’s hometown in right between his homage to Pixar and his appearance at the Wild and Scenic Film Festival in Nevada City.

A life long admirer of Muir’s message and work, so it’s hardly surprising that his Freshman year film project at Cal Arts’ is a piece about Muir.

Looking at the stills, I for one can’t wait to see it.

Oh, and if you want to celebrate Muir’s birthday and legacy in person, you should join the party on Saturday.

Full Circle

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers elsewhere, History September 26, 2011

Dear Editor:

One of Estes Park’s tourist and local resident’s most outstanding attractions is the 6:30-8:00 P.M. nightly “show” put on by the Beaver at their dam sites on Fish Creek Road near Cheley Camp Road.

Now comes word that the Town Trustees, County Commissioners, EVRPD and Department of Wildlife (DOW) have given the okay to seek funds and build a bike/hike Trail along Fish Creek Road, which will intersect the Beaver dams. Why? As a frequent visitor to the area to watch the “show”, I see many people parking or stopping to watch, but never have I seen a biker or hiker in that area! So why now?

Estes Park has been labeled “Nature’s Wonderland”, thus it is unimaginable to me that the Officials entrusted with the sanctity of wildlife in the community appear to be supporting this action. These “community Beaver” need to be protected. They are an asset to Estes Park and the Proposed Trail will simply drive them away or worse. How would Enos Mills react to this Proposal?

The citizens of Estes Park need to contact their community leaders and the DOW and help put a stop to this Plan now, before it’s too late, if that’s not already the case.

Bill Melton, Estes Park Colorado

Ahh Bill, that might be my favorite letter to the editor, EVER. Estes Park is where Enos Mills lived and wrote his famous “In Beaver World”! Of course I wrote back that Bill was from the home town of MY hero and as it happened I was from the home town of HIS hero, so we obviously had alot in common. For the record. Here’s what Enos Mills had to say about beaver dams.

The dam is the largest and in many respects the most influential beaver work. Across a stream it is an inviting thorough fare for the folk of the wild. As soon as a dam is completed, it becomes a wilderness highway. It is used day and night. Across it go bears and lions. rabbits and wolves, mice and porcupines; chipmonks use it for a bridge, birds alight upon it, trout attempt to leap it and in the evening the deer cast their reflections with the willows in its quiet pond. Across it dash the pursuer and the pursued. Upon it take place battles and courtships. Often it is torn by hoof and claw. many a drama, romantic and picturesque, fierce and wild is staged upon the beaver dam.

The Beaver dam gives new character to the landscape. It frequently alters the course of a stream and changes the topography. It introduces water into the scene. It nourishes new plant life. It brings new birds. It provides harbor and a home for fish throughout the changing seasons. It seizes sediment and soil from the rushing waters and it sends waters through subterranean ways to form and feed springs which give bloom to terraces below.

p.74 Enos Mills In beaver World

And here’s a reminder of Mills trip to Martinez as Muir’s guest 1908, five years before the publication of his book.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is called destiny (and history, even though its not on a mural or anything….) YET.

Martinez Destiny

heidi08 Beavers, Friends of Martinez Beavers, History, kits May 28, 2011

So a couple months ago I was avidly reading “In Beaver World” by Enos Mills who was called the “John Muir of the Rockies”.

Beaver works are of economical and educational value besides adding a charm to the wilds. The beaver is a persistent practicer of conservation and should not perish from the hills and mountains of our land. Altogether, the beaver has so many interesting ways, is so useful, skillful, practical, and picturesque that his life and his deeds deserve a larger place in literature and in our hearts.

Enos Mills

I was was told by Robert Hanna, (Muir descendant and fellow board member) that the pair met in San Francisco at the beach and became friends with common interests. Robert directed me to some correspondence archived at University of the Pacific where I learned that Mills asked for an invite to Martinez in 1907 and Muir responded with a ‘please come’ in October of that year. My fancy was struck with the idea of the author of arguably the most important beaver book yet in circulation coming to Martinez, which would one day become the location of some pretty famous beavers.

There was no record at the Muir house of his visit. No one from UOP or the Sierra Club could tell me if it happened. The helpful rangers and interpretive guides couldn’t say whether the visit occurred or not. I eventually figured the trip would have been a bigger deal to Mills than Muir, so went looking at his site for clues. I had very enthusiastic guides from the Colorado Rockies national park and the Mills cabin looking through original documents and biographies. I learned that the copies of Muir’s letters were among the items found in Mills top desk drawer when he died, so they were clearly precious. Maybe it was too much to make the visit come true? Apparently Mills was a little hard on himself, and might not have been able to accept an offer that was so exactly what he wanted. I could understand that.

Then yesterdays fluke email turned me on to the California Digital Newspaper Collection and I spent yesterday ravaging history and not even getting dusty. I found articles from the 1800’s about beavers in the Stanislaus, Merced, and Tuolumne rivers. I found articles encouraging the adoption of kits as pets, or using dam building as a weather indicator. I found articles about beavers at Bodega Bay and Santa Barbara.

And then I found this:

It’s from the San Francisco Call newspaper in March 1908 when Enos Mills was a guest speaker at the California Club, and it clearly says Mills will be a guest of John Muir on his visit. Which means Enos Mills came to Martinez when my house was ten years old. I imagine he took the train and went from the old station to the Muir house by carriage, riding over the creek which is home to our beavers and my home on his way. Golly.

Another Dam Update

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Earth Day, Educational, Environmental, Uncategorized April 12, 2011

Beaver building update:

Jon saw evidence of building at the primary dam when he went down yesterday morning at 5, and Jean called excited by more work. Tonight things are clearly indicating work on the street side of the primary. Jon says more work this morning. All my fingers are all crossed, and yours should be too.

66 years more to go

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beavers elsewhere, Earth Day, Educational, Environmental, Uncategorized April 11, 2011

As I was cruising around the internet yesterday I came across this paper by Don J. Neff, and titled, astoundingly, A 70 year history of a Colorado beaver colony. I can’t tell you how excited I was when I settled down to read it. Would we learn how a colony responded to the loss of a mate? To serious flooding? Or what happens after beavers disperse? 70 years is a good long time. I couldn’t wait to read the secrets observers unfurled during that time.

Alas, the paper was entirely about the work of the colony over 70 years, and not about the beavers themselves. It told the story of new canals and lost dams in much the same way that an observer describing a new off ramp on highway 24 would learn about the lives of the people who drive it every day. I was very disappointed.

Above Moraine Pond Warren found a series of ponds, the first two being of good size and each containing a lodge. About 75 feet upstream was found a pond which was formed when a lodgepole pine on the south bank of the channel fell with the crown pointing downstream. The beavers used the mass of earth in the roots of the tree as part of a dam which created a pond some 15feet wide and 4 feet deep. The boundary of Rocky Mountain National Park crosses the stream immediately above the fallen pine and marks the approximate upper end of the Moraine Colony.

However, no beaver effort is wasted. The most interesting part of the paper is the summary of the 27 years it was observed by Enos Mills. The author of the paper uses his colorful and detailed observations, but describes them as dismissively unscientific and fragmented. I of course bought his book immediately, but found a google version this morning and am thrilled to recognize exactly what I was looking for.

The entire text is searchable here, and don’t bother me after earthday because I’ll be reading my copy over and over again. No radio collars, no telemetry, no regression analysis, no dendrite chronology – just a man with eyes and ears and the rare capacity to really watch beavers. Oh and if that’s not exciting enough for you, guess who the young man Enos was inspired by, met by chance on a SF beach in 1889, and ultimately befriended? I’ll give you a hint. He lived in Martinez.

Muir wrote to Mills in 1913: “I shall always feel good when I look your way: for you are making good on a noble career. I glory in your success as a writer and lecturer and in saving God’s parks for the welfare of humanity. Good luck and long life to you.”

So Enos is famously called the ‘John Muir’ of the rockies, and once said “I owe everything to Muir. If it hadn’t been for him I would have been a mere gypsy.” [Literary Digest, July 14, 1917] . John Muir who lived in Martinez. Where our beavers live. Who died a year after Enos “In Beaver World” was published. Do you ever feel overwhelmed by destiny?

Say it with me now. It’s a small beaver world.