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A Fountain of Good News

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers and Birds, Beavers and Forests, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Beavers or Social Ambasadors, Creative Solutions, Educational, History, Who's saving beavers now? January 6, 2016

Do you remember when I first referred to Napatopia? I shared a little fairytale about this celebrated land where beavers were honored guests. It was one of my more fanciful and favored posts, and everyone (including me) thought I was exaggerating I’m sure.

Not anymore. Look what Robin found on the fountain when she strolled in the other direction for a change.

*Beaver on fountain mural – photo by Robin Ellison*

It appears on a glorious huge fountain fashioned out of a 20th century grain silo for the Napa River Inn. Designed by artist and Napa resident Alan Shepp, famous for his large scale public art and multimedia sculpture, this was his first mosaic. The shapes are glass rather than tile – making for stunning lighting at night.The whole thing tells the glorious and sometimes dark history of Napa and was finalized in December 2005, two years before beavers came to Martinez. In addition to donating 2 years of his life to this project, Mr. Shepp is also an avid flyfisher who made sure to add the wildlife he wanted to see back in the river.

Something tells me he’s going to be particularly happy about the Tulocay Beavers.

City’s past — both good and bad — explored in downtown mural

Finally, downtown Napa has a significant piece of public art.

It’s not a statue or another clock tower, but a riotous mosaic mural that captures the history of the Napa Valley in brilliantly colored vignettes, with an equal tribute to the Napa River’s flora and fauna.

The mural is part of a tall fountain built around an early 20th century grain silo. At night, the cascading water amplifies thousands of points of reflected light, creating a dazzling panorama worth braving the winter cold to see.

Two years in the making, the large mosaic mural was unveiled three weeks ago at Napa Mill on Main Street, serving as the centerpiece to Riverbend Plaza behind the Napa River Inn.

Within a few years, the plaza will be a key stop on the Napa River trail from Trancas Street south to Kennedy Park. With the new art installation, hikers and cyclists will have more to look at than the tulles.

My my my. I’m enormously impressed with this artistic vision and execution. And the free reign the artist was given to dive into the darkness even if others would rather see it forgotten. Another stark contrast to Martinez I guess, where one particular artist was even forbidden from adding a beaver.

Now who will be the first to share a selfie in a Worth A Dam shirt posing in front of that fountain?

This just in – beavers save water!

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Educational, Environmental October 20, 2015

Alastair Bland’s fact-filled article on Water Deeply obviously struck a chord. It was picked up by Gizmodo and Take Part, along with other sites. It’s now appearing in the Daily Mail in the UK, which would be a pretty good run, but it gets even better and you’ll hear about that soon.
Despite recent rainfall and even flash floods, California’s four-year-long drought is predicted to continue. But ecologists believe beavers could play a part in ending one the most severe droughts on record. The industrious rodents could help slow the flow of water heading to the sea by building dams, to create extra reserves of water and benefit other struggling species, they claim.

They have hatched a controversial plan to repopulate central coastal parts of California with large beavers – Castor Canadensis – that once lived in large numbers.

Ooh! A plot! and my favorite kind, A beaver plot! I guess the article liked the spicy idea of beaver underground that took matters into their own -er- paws (as it were). I would chalk it up to fanciful English whimsy that produced the likes of Paddington Bear and Peter Rabbit if it weren’t for this article appearing this morning on WSAV channel 3 news in (brace yourselves) GEORGIA! (Our librarian friend BK and his wife must be doing a fantastic job preaching the beaver gospel out there!)

Experts say the industrious rodents could help slow the flow of water heading out to sea by building dams. This will create water reserves and help other species too.

Sounds easy right? Well, the plan is actually a controversial one.

Ecologists want to repopulate the central coastal parts of California with large beavers – Castor Canadensis – that once lived in large numbers. This is a group that caused problems with logging and fishing industries. So back in the 19th century, this large beaver was almost completely removed.

But some say it’s a chance the state needs to take.

Well it’s cheap and easy and people like that idea. And it doesn’t cost industry money or drain tax dollars, so I guess that makes it a little popular. Hey, maybe we should hit the almond growers up for a donation to the campaign. (Have you heard their desperate sponsor statements on KQED? “Almond growers use no more water than other trees and don’t blame us for the drought WAA!”) Something tells me they’d be VERY motivated to contribute to a bring back beaver movement.

To top it all off, I heard from the president of Trout Unlimited today in Coloma that the Conservation Chair of the El Dorado chapter put it up on their face book page and reached about 500 people. They both are shaking their heads and saying there’s obviously a real interest in this topic.

I’m not holding my breath. Here in Marmeanest we were busily ripping out more creek on the weekend, in the little soil patch by Starbucks where our original mom did her swan song. Supposedly they had a fish and game warden to pull out turtles, but I’ll believe that when I see the photos. Lory took this yesterday.

How nice to sit beside the creek with your morning latte and watch it be destroyed. At least that big pile of silt they’re removing can’t be blamed on the beavers, since it is no where near where they dammed or denned.

To further remind me that Marmeenest definitely is no Napatopia, I receiver an email out of the blue yesterday from someone I’d never met or heard of asking me how to save the Napa beavers, because they were building a dam right next to a hotel.

I tried to be very enthusiastic about her support and introduce her to the local players earnestly. But honestly what I wanted to say was,

“Trust me. They’re the safest beavers on the planet.”

Sonoma Bound

heidi08 Beaver News, Beavers, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Who's saving beavers now? September 20, 2015

Yesterday we met with Suzi Eszterhas and 5 children that were beaver regulars and did a beaver art project in Susanna Street park for possible inclusion in the Ranger Rick story. The pictures will give you some idea of how cute it looked from the outside, but you’d actually need to be there to hear how delightful it was in person. These children had been to many, many festivals and literally knew everything there was to know about beavers.

One child had brought her recent copy of Ranger Rick for Suzi to sign, since it was the issue with her incredible cheetah photos. Many of then named their beavers (B0, Violet and Jojo are some I remember.) And one girl fed hers acorns, fennel and a branch. The bags were very popular and Suzi especially liked the fork paws. If you want to make your own the patterns are here.

There’s a nice article on Napatopia this morning. I especially like the way it talks to public officials who never mention flooding or money. Life is so different on the Napa side of the creek…

Napa waterways attracting wild critters

Since moving to Napa four years go, Rusty Cohn has gotten into the habit of taking a daily walk along Soscol Avenue. About two years ago, he noticed that a pond had been created in Tulucay Creek next to the Hawthorn Wyndham Suites hotel.Observing the area more closely, he was amazed to see what looked like a beaver dam.

There was a moment of disbelief. Beavers in residence along Napa’s Auto Row?

The Resource Conservation District estimates that there are 10 to 15 beaver dams and at least 100 individuals in Napa County waterways, including the new arrivals in downtown and along Soscol. Beaver dams create mini ecosystems, according to Knapczyk. They, in turn, draw other wildlife like fish, birds, and the popular river otters, although the otter population in Napa is very small.

See those last three lines in bold text? Can you make the whole article like this next time? Go read the whole thing, and see how perilously little credit beavers get for this sudden biodiversity. We’ll work on it. In the meantime I wish we had many, many more articles pondering the benefits of wildlife in urban settings.

If you have thoughts or questions, you should come ask them yourself here. Because Martinez and Napa beavers will be shoulder to shoulder teaching how and why to coexist. See you there?

Beavers: The future and the past

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, Beaver Chewing, Beaver-themed merchandise, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Who's saving beavers now? June 10, 2015

Let’s start out with some momentous news. Last night in Napa they almost certainly saw three kits. HURRAY THREE KITS!!! One appears to charge off with the adults to feed, so missed his photo opportunity in his rush to maturity, but they are pretty sure it’s a brave little kit they’re seeing. Congratulations Napatopia, we’re excited for you!

Now its on to some inspiration from our great friend Camilla Fox who lent full ‘Project Coyote‘ voice recently to the Bobcat hearing in Santa Rosa. Great work team bobcat!

Finally an update and a short poll. I know you all recognize the fellow on the left, but the gentleman on the right might be less familiar to our new readers. This is Alex Hiller a beaver supporter from Germany who once came to america to visit a beaver family with Hope Ryden of the famed Lily Pond book. Alex was an early and dedicated supporter and attended the beaver symposium in Lithuania, shocking the heck out of Skip and Glynnis by wearing his Worth A Dam t-shirt shown here.

I hadn’t heard from Alex in a while and I thought I’d send him the Geo article in case he hadn’t seen it and wanted to help with a translate. This morning he wrote back sighting an old German saying, “Some people you assume to have perished only got married.” He announced that he met and married a wonderful woman from Sri Lanka who was passionate about elephants so they were focusing their energies there for the time being. How cool is that? Congratulations Alex! We wishing you every happiness but we will miss our reliable foreign correspondent!

Lastly. if we were offering recycled bags for sale at the festival would you prefer a green bag with a logo or a khaki bag with this in brown? I like them both so you’re vote is needed. Let me know here. Thanks!