Egrets…I’ve had a few…

heidi08 Beaver-themed merchandise May 20, 2016

Mario added a lovely Egret yesterday. Can’t wait to see where he’ll take our bridge today! Oh, and the pretend paper in Martinez wrote a pretend story about the beavers and the mural and got the location wrong, the videographer wrong, and maybe the date wrong. But hey, they say there’s no bad publicity right?

Yesterday there was an sudden flurry of wonderful developments reminding us all that the ninth beaver festival isn’t really far away. First Mike Warner of Wildbryde sent this on our upcoming charm bracelet to teach the ecosystem engineer concept. Isn’t it lovely?

Really, All Aboard is going to be such an awesome teaching activity that I should have interested exhibits APPLY for the opportunity to participate! Those bracelets are going to be very popular and by August 7th everyone will know why beaver is considered an ‘Ecosystem engineer”.

I was even more excited about these, however, which owes credit to Erika for the slogan, Beaver Believer’s for the idea of doing a kids shirt, and our long lost volunteer Libby Corliss for her awesome silhouettes from Cheryl’s photos. Oh and Heidi for figuring out how to make them hollow with outlines!

Is that cute or is that CUTE? We got 40 in assorted Youth sizes from XL to XS. (It is all I can do to keep from putting them on the dog.) Historically we have offered adult shirts for a 20 donation, so that suggests 15 would carry a child shirt? But shirts are more expensive than they were 10 years ago and they cost us 8 to make. I know these would sell, but it breaks my heart to think of Worth A Dam only getting a couple bucks for each adorable shirt when I consider that the festival is free and the bracelets are and both cost us lots of $$. Maybe I can find a donor to cover the shirt cost, and then happily offer them for 15? Wish me happy hunting.

I’m just about ready for Portland, with my hour long talk for the ballroom and a short recap for the worker bees at Clean Water Services the next morning. We have reservations along the way and hopefully can do some sightseeing in between preaching beaver gospel and networking with beaver friends. We’ll finish off with a few days by the foggy coast to rest before heading home to see our exciting mural progress and the buckle down to festival planning in earnest in June!

June! Can it be approaching already? Mais où sont les neiges d’antan ?

Charming in every way

heidi08 Beavers, featured, Festival July 28, 2013

The charms for the Keystone Species Activity arrived yesterday, and they’re another amazing job from Mike Warner at Wildbryde. Beautiful and generous as there are extras of everything. Children can earn charms for free with the help of Safari West Junior Keepers, and our stalwart volunteer Erika will help put everything together and make it into a necklace at the linking station. Check out our new beaver and water drop design! This year we are taking pity on forlorn adults and letting them participate for a pittance of 10 dollars. I can’t wait to see visitors getting quizzed on why beaver matter. If you want to study ahead you can look here.

And as if that isn’t exciting enough, there are new splendors from our friends from Whitman college, this time with Sherri Tippie. They are heading for Martinez next and their podcast might be describing the festival and you!

Beaver Friends at the Washington Post

heidi08 Beavers May 23, 2012

Late Update: Mother duck seen with 8 babies, only one blonde, and without helpful male in attendance. (sigh)

Beaver or muskrat? Here’s how to tell

By Ann Cameron Siegal

“It’s a beaver!” “No, it’s a muskrat!”

Such exclamations are often heard at Huntley Meadows Park in Alexandria, where both of these semi-aquatic rodents live. Even adults confuse the two, because beavers and muskrats are easiest to identify by their tails, but those aren’t always visible when these cute brown furry cousins are swimming. Beaver tails are wide, flat and paddle-shaped, while muskrats have long, skinny tails with flat sides. You can usually see a muskrat’s whole body when it is swimming. With beavers, you often see only their large wedge-shaped heads.

Finally something I want to read in the Washington Post! Ann Siegal’s lovely article about how to tell the difference between beavers and muskrat! It teaches all the tools you’d expect, while encouraging children to be outdoors, use critical thinking, and pay attention to the natural world. Ann is obviously a friend in spirit! So of course I wrote her last night and sent her the film we use to teach the difference!

Ann wrote back that she’s a huge fan of beavers and in fact missed an anniversary dinner reservation with her husband because they stopped to watch them. (Of course, since beavers mate for life, I can’t imagine anything better to do to celebrate an anniversary!) She said that she’d found the video online and wondered where it was filmed and also said she wished that she was close enough to come to the beaver festival!

Well, since there’s a festival in Colorado and Utah this year and we recently heard a plan to start one from a beaver friend in Maine maybe if you can’t come to a beaver festival Ann, one can come to you! Ann has clearly thought about this issue a lot. She sent me beautiful beaver photos this morning that I had to ask permission to share. While I’m waiting for an answer go read the whole article, its delightful.

Ahhh, but now it gets confusing. You spot a cute furry brown critter coming out of a definite beaver lodge. It must be a beaver, right? Not necessarily. Muskrats often move into beaver lodges, even while the beavers are there. Kevin Munroe, park manager at Huntley Meadows, said, “Muskrats may provide another set of eyes looking out for predators.” (Locally, minks, otters, foxes or hawks pose danger to muskrats and baby beavers. Adult beavers here don’t have to deal with their usual predators — bears or wolves.)

Oh and guess what her last email said about lovely inexpensive beaver earrings made in California by ‘a company called WildBryde“. I told her that we were good friends with Mike Warner, and that he made our beaver charms for the past two years! Smallllllllllll world.

Tell Mike I’ve been a HUGE Wild Bryde fan and customer for years…have at least a dozen pair of earrings here now, but the beavers are my favorite. Wore them while doing the story and got LOTS of compliments.

Here is a Beaver Photo Feast by Ann Siegal of the Washington Post. (All images copyright to Ann) Enjoy!

Once Upon A Time…

heidi08 Festival, Friends of Martinez Beavers July 22, 2011

A very talented man with a love of the natural world decided to turn the beautiful things he photographed into jewelry. He named his business Wild Bryde, and like any new bride, he made sure she was treated lavishly. .His lovely designs were regularly sold at wildlife and nature stores around the bay area, which is how we eventually connected. In 2009 he joined us for the beaver festival.

Mike was a big hit at the festival, but he doesn’t usually do many events. Too bad for wildlife lovers everywhere, I’m fairly certain that he sold every single pair he had of these:

Last year Worth A Dam launched the Keystone Species Charm bracelet activity with help from a private donor. Lucky for us because it turned out the president of Kiwanis was in a booth directly opposite ours at the Flyway Fiesta Girl Scout Event where we first tried the activity. This allowed the president to see first-hand how enormously popular the event was and helped us get funding to repeat it at last year’s festival. The idea is that children “earn” charms for the bracelet by learning how beavers affect different aspects of the environment. This allows kids to understand pretty complex concepts of habitat and ecosystem, and gives them a beautiful reminder to remember or explain to their friends or parents.

The first year we bought charms from a bead store in Seattle. They looked like this. I spent a lot of effort begging the bead store to donate a little to our effort, which I assumed was in their interest to do since at least three other organizations liked the idea so much they decided to try the activity as well. Alas, even though I was clearly the best customer for animal charms they were ever likely to have, they declined my invitation to sponser us. I hate to be refused. That got me thinking.

When I talked with Mike about joining us for this year’s festival I complained a little about the stingy shop in Seattle and Mike said, hmm, take a look at these. I make custom designs and I bet we could figure out what you need. We might even get the suppliers to donate a little. That way you can pick exactly what you want and make your project unique.

I spent hours and hours pouring through Mike’s amazing creations. I was a little scared to think about what might be possible in case it didn’t work out. I gave him some draft images and he worked out some remarkable choices and I crossed my fingers to see if it could happen. Guess what came in the mail yesterday?

120 each of nine charms, designed and cut by Mike Warner and paid for by Martinez Kiwanis. The activity will be free for children while supplies last. If you have a daughter or grandchild I would definitely bring them along to make one of these. For adults who simply can’t resist there will be a materials fee of 10 dollars. I wouldn’t wait.

Thank you SO much Mike! I love them all, but can you guess what one is my very most favorite? Does this shape remind you of anyone?In case you want to study ahead, this is what we’ll be asking children to explain to the various booths that will have each charm. Who wants to invite Fish & Game?