2014 Badger Spirit awards are presented to:

Occidental Arts and Ecology Center and WATER Institute in Occidental, CA, for their work in conserving natural resources, sustainable agriculture, respect for the environment, and the WATER Institute’s national outreach to “Bring Back the Beaver” and restoring Coho Salmon to watersheds programs. More info: www.oaec.org, and oaec.org/water-institute.

Worth a Dam, Martinezbeavers.org, based in Martinez, CA, for conservation, outreach and educational programs on behalf of Beavers in the United States and stewardship and protection of the Martinez Beavers in Martinez, CA. More info: Martinezbeavers.org

sfbaywildlife.info, an innovative and contemporary internet resource, for San Francisco Bay Area information about wildlife, places, activities and resources. More info: sfbaywildlife.info

Many thanks to Susan and the Paula Lane Action Network for recognizing beavers with this years awards. We even got mention in the local Press Democrat.

Award for Bring Back the Beaver program

The group Worth a Dam which also works to educate the public about the value of beavers in restoration and conservation of natural resources was also recognized. The group holds an annual Beaver Festival in Martinez where beavers have become a tourist attraction as well as providing a habitat for other wildlife..

The much maligned animal has proved its worth in preserving valuable salmon runs, and in water conservation. Bring Back the Beaver and Worth a Dam are working to educate the public and change state policies about the beaver which date back to 1942 and are founded on inaccurate data.

A beaver-maniac like me is thrilled to accept the honor. I first wrote Susan close to 8 years ago when she was a writer for Sonoma Press Blog and had written about our beavers. When I learned about her badger affinity I told her that through a weird series of coincidences my earliest fiercely loved toy had been an actual stuffed badger the neighbor had thrown over the fence. I had loved its soft fur and sharp claws, and imagined that its badger spirit had shaped my adult life, making me unwilling to give up on much of anything including the Martinez beavers.

Thank you PLAN for recognizing the badger spirit in us! And we look forward to badgering people about beavers for years to come!

And you thought them crazy Beaver people would be satisfied by saving beavers in Martinez!!! Ha! That was an appetizer! A practice run! We have a larger agenda that will make the last two years look like child’s play! Our big plans are moving solidly forward; I thought I’d give you glimpse into my day yesterday.

I got an email this week from Skip Lisle, the installer of our flow device, saying he was thinking about coming out to the bay area for a family event and did we know anyone who needed beaver work done while he was here? I took the opportunity to write a neighboring city with a beaver colony we have been watching, letting them know that there were options, and that eyes were upon them. I got a phone call yesterday from the manager of public works asking to have a conversation about “these flow devices” that can allow them to “keep the water low and preserve the habitat”.

This week we finally set up the conference call for the authors launching the paper proving beavers were historically in california over 1000 feet. This will be a collaboration between the archeologist from BIA who found the dam and had it carbon tested, the hydrologist from USFS/USDA we met at the Flyway Festival, and some others. This paper WILL really be written. Tappe WILL really be challenged. And Kings Beach WILL have to come up with a different excuse to kill the next round of beavers.

I got an email yesterday from a buddy of Brock Dolman’s who works for Northern California Fish & Game. He has been working with Brock on a literature review of the benefit of beavers, beginning with their effect on salmon. He is very impressed by the enthusiastic research we’ve been doing so far and wants our wiki friend and myself to be co authors in his upcoming paper designed to completely reconsider the way Fish & Game responds to beavers in California. Read that sentence again. Completely reconsider the way Fish & Game responds to beavers all over California!!!!!!!

It’s a beaver REVOLUTION!!!