Out For A Swim

The one that nearly got away

heidi08 New Species, pictures May 22, 2009

My my my, what a morning of remarkable things at the beaver dam. Dedicated nature fans will already know that we have night herons that roost in the pine tree at Granger’s wharf, but we’ve never seen them up even as far as the train trestle. Jon says that right now they aren’t roosting because they’ve all paired off to nest. This morning I was startled to find this fellow fly onto the primary dam and settle in for a nice long fishing spell. Night herons are monogamous like beavers, and the best bet is that he’s filling his crop to take back to his brood.

I couldn’t believe my eyes when Linda and I saw what transpired. Night herons don’t spear their fish, they wait with their bills open until something good comes along. Apparently while he was holding the barn door open one of the horses tried to make a run for it! Let that be a reminder that sometimes when you’re waiting for something better to come along, you run the risk of losing what you have. As Stephen Sondheim quipped, “you may know what you want but to get what you need, better to keep what you have…”I know I post alot of video but you HAVE TO WATCH this one. It is very unusual footage and has already been picked up by the Cornell Urban bird site!

[youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=FujhMABOLH4]

Check out updates here.

Three kits and dad visible this morning, and for all you hard core beaver fans, here’s something I snapped while two kits wrestled at the bridge. Sigh, I guess we’re going to have to officially call them yearlings now. Should there be a ceremony?

Are we there yet?

heidi08 City Reports, Educational, featured May 9, 2010

How many miles to babylon?

Three score miles and ten

Can I get there by lantern light?

Aye, and back again.

I was thinking of this nursery rhyme today in terms of where we in the process of getting the city to accept/embrace the beavers. It’s been a year and a half. This is almost my 500th column. We’ve had the top watershed minds in the county working on this problem, and the top beaver experts in the world finding solutions. We have vast public interest, an active volunteer group, constant outpourings of good will. All these things should have fitted together and convinced even the most waivering of minds that these beavers belong in this city.

We should be in Babylon, and back again, already.

Instead we are still arguing with public works about the right to plant trees, explaining how our drought has nothing to do with the fact that the beavers haven’t made it flood yet, and getting snapped at by council members who would rather not have to deal with us.

Every time I think we have earned the last necessary support or found a “game changer” so compelling that the city will not be able to ignore the valueable role that these beavers have in this community, things snap back into tension state with elastic zeal. It seemed like the beaver festival changed everything, but it is clear that isn’t true when the city manager tells me over breakfast that the habitat shouldn’t be replaced so that the beavers will just move on. It seemed like my being on the board of directors for the JMA would cement the beavers respectibility for the city, but of course that isn’t what happened at all.

At first night this year, when we were officially “on” the city schedule, Linda asked me happily “did you ever think this day would come?” And I answered without hesitation. Honestly? I thought it would come ages ago.

Babylon isn’t any closer it seems. It has greatly saddened me to think that we might never get there, but this morning I thought, maybe that’s the point. Maybe its the journey, and not the destination, that matters. For the city, and for myself personally.

Maybe we’re not talking about Babylon, but Ithaka.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you are destined for.
But do not hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you are old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you would not have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.
And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you will have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.

C.P. Cavafy

The 4-way Test

heidi08 Beavers or Social Ambasadors April 22, 2009

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Is it the TRUTH?

Is it FAIR to all concerned?

Does it promote GOOD WILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIP?

Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

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I hadn’t known about this 4-truth philosophy of the Rotary Club until they repeated them at the meeting I spoke at this morning. There had been a scheduling mix-up and I got a last minute phone call to ask if I would pinch-hit by talking about beavers. Remembering the not uncontroversial reception beavers got at the Kiwanis club I approached with cautious optimism and figured it was probably best for attendance if beavers weren’t on the “official schedule.”

Like the Kiwanis club, the meeting was a “who’s who” of Martinez, with a member of the school board, our past and present superintendents, city manager and council member Janet Kennedy all in attendance. I was aware I’d be preaching the beaver gospel to mostly non-believers, and the response was generally positive, although there were flooding, mosquito and burrowing questions all in attendance.

I thought I was pretty much home free when I was surprised during the question period by councilwoman Kennedy expressing her disappointment that my “Happy Anniversary” letter in the Gazette this weekend hadn’t thanked the council and city staff for their hard work on this issue. Either my sarcasm was too veiled, or hers was, and she wished I had been more appreciative of all the city’s hard work. I was a little startled by the public reprimand, but more by the almost determined misunderstanding with which it was offered.

I suggested she write her own letter in response so she could give credit where she thought it was due. What I should have answered, in retrospect, was obviously that Janet was right. We hadn’t thanked the city enough, and Janet in particular.

This is a woman who has said publicly on more than one occasion that if she had been at the November 7th city council meeting she would have voted to get rid of the beavers and end the issue once and for all. So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you, Janet, for going to China.

Appropriate thanks will no doubt take time to carefully offer for each member’s role in this, so I will work on that gratitude over time, but for now lets learn from the Rotary club and apply the 4-way test to the city’s concerns about the beavers so far.

Is it the truth?

No. The original hydrology report by Phillip Williams and Associates discussed a 7 foot dam as if it were a concrete weir, meaning a fixed permanent threat. The dam was never seven feet and was always made of mud and sticks. Any time we have a rainfall of more than a half inch in 24 hours there is a washout. An accurate report would have reflected the effect of high flow on the dam itself.

Is it fair to all concerned?

No. It was not fair to invest nearly half a million in sheetpile installation for the benefit of one property owner when there are so many properties upstream that have eroding creekbanks that need help too. Moreover, any hydrologist could have named a half dozen places on Alhambra Creek where that money could have been better spent to benefit the broader good.

Does it Promote good will and better friendship?

Sort of. The city’s attempt to exterminate and/or relocate the beavers did not make friends, but keeping the beavers has. You might thank the beaver supporters for that. Still, if the council woman were my guest I don’t think I would ever hijack her speech to publicly ask why she hasn’t thanked us for the “second hand” overflow of our good will. It’s true I don’t know very much about service clubs in general, so maybe that’s typical of how they work.

Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

That’s a hard one, and I’m honestly not sure it ever gets met without some telescoping perspective and “big picture” or “in the long run” reasoning. It is mostly better for Martinez if the beavers stay and do their mascot-ambassador-environmental engineer work. It is better for the heron and the fish and the mink and the otter, but it probably isn’t better for the councilwoman’s blood pressure or my popularity with the council in general. There are a few trees that would not describe it as beneficial, and the other beavers waiting to move in are probably not happy about it either.

A very interesting ethical test, thank you Rotary for hosting me. All in all, a day full of lessons and morning well spent.

Hard Work Raising Beavers

heidi08 Beavers or Social Ambasadors, City Reports, Educational, Environmental April 22, 2009

I’m still trying to recover from Saturday’s earthday extravaganza. I haven’t really had time to sift through the experiences and see what polishes up bright enough to post. I know my conversation with the enchanting girl who told me with quickened breath how they had actually seen an otter once while camping stands out big. Child encounters with wildlife are powerful and create a huge relationship to the natural world. Remember this photo?

The close encounter with wildlife opens something inside you, like a door to a world where we all used to be free to wander. It’s a door that all of us have, but I think it gets cluttered with hardships and conveniences without regular use. Getting it working right in childhood is the surest way to keep it working up through adulthood, and I see it as a primary benefit of the Beavers in Martinez. Worth a Dam was asked this week to do a presentation for the two sessions of John Muir Mountain Day Camp over the summer. How could we refuse?

On a related note, I got a panicked call last night to do a presentation wednesday morning at the Rotary club for an emergency replacement of their regular schedule. It’s “take your office administrator to the club day” and our own city manager is a member. I’m not as hopeful about opening those low rusty doors, but of course I said yes. Wouldn’t you?

Ohhh what a day!

heidi08 Beaver News, Beavers or Social Ambasadors, Creative Solutions, Creek Seekers Poetry Contest, Earth Day, Educational, Environmental April 19, 2009

Our build a beaver activity was enormously popular, and more than 100 children sat down with Fro to add something to our beaver habitat. Here’s some initial photos.

We sold 163 raffle tickets to the Creek Seeker’s Express, talked to many new and returning friends, and had made some nice contacts along the way. My guided beaver tours were snatched up at auction, and every wanted to know when we’ll have tshirts for sale. Gary Bogue stopped by to say hi and meet the folk, and State Senator DeSaulnier stayed for a much needed conversation about his missing barn owls. Thank you to all of worth a dam who stayed through the heat and crowds and helped sell tickets, spread the beaver gospel and keep everyone enthusiastic.