GOOD NEWS ON A SUNDAY

heidi08 Earth Day April 15, 2018

After yesterday’s downer It’s a relief to remember our rule of “Only good news on Sundays”. And plenty of good news! Starting with Tuedsday’s meeting at the PRMCC where we will officially ask permission for the beaver festival in Susan Park. (Don’t even make me laugh thinking they could say no.) The very first time I presented to them they were a tough crowd, now they love us, so I’m not worried. (Much)

Then Saturday is the huge John Muir Birth Day Earth Day event. And that is always a fantastic day for beavers and their supporters. This year we are letting kids illustrate three of our banner lamp post flags for the festival. We cordoned sections off for them to color in, and collected wildlife buttons leftover from our Mark Poulin activity a few years back in a container for them draw at random as payment and inspiration.

There are always plenty of volunteer artists at our booth, and poor Leslie and our stalwart volunteers usually work their eager beaver tails off.

You should plan on being there, especially because there will be over 50 environmental booths and it’s a fantastic way to support the planet and celebrate the green spots in our community, This year’s conservation award winners are sure to impress an our good friends at Safari West are among them. So make plans to be there and stop by and say hi!.

We’ll be right by the creek as usual.

Tory MP Nigel Evans furious after Royal Mail shuns Brexit to release stamps with endangered animals instead

A final burst of good news comes from our good friends in the UK where instead of issuing a nasty Brexit stamp like the post office was pressured to they issued a series of new endangered species stamps. And guess who is number one?

Aren’t those lovely? I can’t wait to inherit some from Jon’s willing friends or family.

And finally we have another donation to the silent auction. Which was very timely because it coincides with the 2nd quarter issue of Bay Nature describing it’s creation. It is the current edition of “Nature in the city map” by author Mary Ellen Hannibal and others featuring amazing illustrations by Jane Kim showing the wild wonders of San Francisco.

Together, the five maps are meant to encourage city dwellers to see nature as something that can be found right in their neighborhoods,

I don’t know about you but after I’ve learned what to look for I’m tempted to frame my copy and hang it on the wall. It’s that beautiful.

What destiny looks like:

heidi08 Beavers and Birds, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Who's saving beavers now? April 8, 2015

‘Bring back beavers’ – call from John Muir Trust

A national wildlife organisation is calling on the Scottish Government to back the reintroduction of beavers to the countryside as a step towards creating a wilder Scotland.

The John Muir Trust wants the Eurasian beaver to return as a native species following a five-year trial at Knapdale Forest, Argyll, which ended in May 2014.

Later this year the government’s environment minister will decide whether to reintroduce beavers after considering the results of the trial.

A series of independent scientific research projects were carried out into the effects of the beavers on the area during the trial, which was led by the Scottish Wildlife Trust and the Royal Zoological Society.

Beavers were once native to Scotland but died out because of hunting and habitat loss.

The trust has also launched a new policy statement declaring its support for the principle of “rewilding” large areas of land across the UK.

Stuart Brooks, trust chief executive, said: “The trust has taken a rewilding approach to the management of its properties for 30 years, long before the term was coined. Rewilding is about intervening to repair damage and restart natural processes – for example, by managing deer to allow native woodlands to regenerate; or by re-introducing missing species, such as beavers, that perform key functions in our ecosystems. That in turn will ultimately allow nature to take its own course and be more resilient in the face of climate change.

“It is not about excluding people, imposing unwanted policies on rural communities or damaging peoples’ livelihoods. We recognise that rewilding is not suitable everywhere, for example, in areas of high agricultural value.

The John Muir Trust is in Scotland, not Martinez. And guess who used to be a board member? That’s right, Paul Ramsey of the free Tay beaver campaign. Muir grew up in Dunbar Scotland before he came to America with his family and settled in Wisconsin. He came to Martinez much later where he married, wrote, raised children and lived the last 25 years of his life. Martinez of the famous beavers. If that isn’t enough of a coincidence, consider the fact that I was invited to be on the John Muir board for the historic site by Igor Skareoff who I met while working on the beaver subcommittee. And was able to show research in the last couple of years proving that the author of the most famous beaver book ever written came to Martinez to visit Muir in 1908.

Muir didn’t write about beaver. That shouldn’t surprise you. He probably never saw one. They were trapped out of Scotland 400 years before he was born. And by the time his family got to Wisconsin they were gone as well. When he came to Martinez and did his famous treks to Yosemite, beaver were already nearly extinct in California. But I’m convinced that if he had occasion to spend time watching beaver and their works, he would have been staunch defender.

John Muir’s birthday is coming up, and we’ll be celebrating it and Earth day at the annual event at his home. You should really plan to stop by and see the amazing exhibits from all over Northern California, and the conservation awards being given to our friends. The keynote speaker is Beth Pratt of the National Wildlife Federation whom you will also know from the festival. And we’ll be doing a beaver booth and art project helping children make totem poles.

It should be a dam good time.

John Muir and Beavers

heidi08 Beavers, Educational, Environmental, Newsletter, Why We Care October 8, 2012

Look what came in the fall newsletter for the John Muir Association! Nice! We are actually getting ready to plan this year’s Birthday Earthday celebration on April 20th. If you would like to be part of this heroic effort, drop me an email because we are looking for event helpers! Maybe you are handy with the spread sheet, have an eye for details, or are good with your hands and can help put a stage together? Call me one-minded but if more helpers come from the beaver circle it can only be a good thing!

GBH — Immature Great Blue Heron at the footbridge: Photo - Mary Long

Beavers and Heroes

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Educational, History, In the News April 11, 2012

UPDATE:

Ian Timothy makes beaver waves in Kentucky. Out of state voices rattle the council and leave a lasting impression. Go read the whole article, you will love every syllable!

The Great Beaver Massacre occurred in the city of St. Matthews sometime in early March. That’s really the only fact everybody agrees upon. (OK, so even that isn’t an agreed-upon fact by all parties involved.) Like so many government-sponsored atrocities before it, the alleged savagery is shrouded in secrecy and official denials of knowledge. In fact, Robert Tonini, a member of the St. Matthews City Council, claims he didn’t know anything about it until mid-March when emails started pouring in. St. Matthews officials have received missives from as far away as California, Maine and New Zealand. All of them with the same claim: Someone had embarked on the demolition of beaver dams in Arthur K. Draut Park.

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Then check out the other good beaver tidings! My article as published in the spring newsletter of the John Muir Association. Click on the image for a fun read linking the city’s famous conservationist to a famous beaver advocate!

And stay tuned for some very good news for beavers in California!

At the annual conference we have an award ceremony to recognize and honor leaders in the watershed restoration community. The Golden Pipe award is an annual award presented by the Salmonid Restoration Federation for innovators in the fisheries restoration field. Usually this award is bestowed upon a pioneer in the habitat restoration field who has been a leader or unique thinker in fish passage design or innovative restoration techniques.

On March 7th, 2012 in Davis, CA the Salmonid Restoration Federation presented this award to Brock Dolman, the Director of the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center’s WATER Institute for his leading role as a proponent of “working with beavers” to restore native habitat. Brock helped co-found the ad hoc California Beaver Working Group, networked with groups utilizing beavers from all over the country, and made strategic contacts with state and federal agencies that oversee wildlife and fisheries conservation and recovery efforts.

Brock has been a Paul Revere for the Beaver, shouting its virtues and mobilizing communities to consider working hand and paw with these creatures who naturally know how to restore habitat and protect instream flows.

This pushes beavers a long way into the forefront on the salmon campaign and moves us all closer to the inevitable day when any city ripping out a beaver dam will need to pay a fish – fine – and I couldn’t be happier! Congratulations Brock and keep up the good work!

Earth Day Again

heidi08 Earth Day, Environmental April 14, 2011

Four years ago we received a last minute phone call to do a beaver display at the John Muir Historic Site’s Earth Day. We were still hot on the heels of the final beaver subcommittee meeting at county chambers where the city council ‘declined to vote’ on our plan and brought in a secret expert to stagger up and down the isle with cardboard saying that our beavers were leaving and flow devices don’t work. Remember?

We didn’t’ have an awning or a table cloth, but we did have a partial scrapbook, a chewed beaver stump and some photos. I stopped on the way and picked up some felt pens and paper at walgreens because I thought children might enjoy drawing our beavers. It turned out to be a hugely successful activity which even the council member’s children couldn’t resist. I still treasure those drawings as a turning point in our new focus and campaign. You might call chapter 1 of our story “Facts” but chapter 2 was definitely “Hearts & Minds”.

Well it’s Earth day again, and I’m a member of the John Muir Association board now and this year in charge of entertainment again. I invited Zara McDonald of Felidae to be our speaker because Mt. Lions are on everyone’s mind and Tom Rusert (who invited us to speak in Sonoma) said she was the best presenter he had ever heard. Come get the straight scoop on the lion that was recently shot in Redwood city and what to do if you encounter one of your very own. Worth A Dam will be there painting watercolor beavers with children, teaching about the gift beavers give to our tired earth every day, explaining humane solutions, and answering questions about the dam washouts and the family.

Two important authors will signing their books that day, Scot Miller, who just photographed an anniversary edition of My First Summer in the Sierras and, Garrett Burke, the designer of the California Quarter. I’ll be having dinner with them the night before to welcome them to Martinez and make sure they care about beavers. I might just have to drop a canadian nickel casually on the table, just to seed future designs…

Im told there will be mascots in Puma costumes. No one dressed as a beaver. Probably. You never know.