Another fun day for wildlife spent in the beautiful wine country at Cornerstone. Tom and Darren were constantly on their toes running back and forth to keep things smooth.There were birds and badgers and bats and of course BEAVERS. Cheryl, Lory and Ron were unbelievably helpful getting things together there. We made new friends, plugged beaver benefits and positive solutions, and generally talked about what Martinez had done to solve challenges. I love this picture from the morning, not because we’re still bright eyed and bushy tailed, but because it shows off the AMAZING new restoration poster at the back which we never got to show off correctly at the festival because it was improperly hung and ripped down in a nanosecond. Isn’t it beautiful?
A few folk there had seen the Napa beavers, and many wanted to come visit to see ours. Tom and I had several like-minded conversations throughout the day emphasizing how important it is to connect wildlife groups together so they can learn from what everyone else is doing.The photographer Suzy Esterhaus was there, still excited about her upcoming photo shoot of the Martinez Beavers for Ranger Rick, and Susan Kirks of PLAN stopped by to give us our badger spirit award. They are signed by their state representatives, with a big gold official looking seal.
Thank you Susan for making us feel like what we do matters! I personally love that two politicians had to sit down and personally sign something that said WORTH A DAM in the title.
This was a comment from JoEllen after Saturday, looks like we get Sulpher Creek at the beaver festival!
Just want to thank you again for the outstanding presentation, and for coming “all the way” to Hayward! (You not only educated us about beavers, but about where Martinez is! How provincial we are!!) I will be working on getting Sulphur Creek to the next Beaver Festival. Thanks, JoEllen
Susan Kirks, an acupuncturist by day, became mesmerized by the plight of the American badger. Photo by Elizabeth Proctor.
Recognize this smiling face? Susan Kirks of PLAN and badger fame was the featured article recently on the Bay Nature Website. It is such a grand read I am sure your heart will feel better at the end of it than it does right now. I may have to start a whole new podcast series! Badgers of Change!
By Elizabeth Proctor — published February 20, 2012
In west Petaluma, a hilly, treeless plot of land will be declared the Paula Lane Nature Preserve next month because of the tenacious work of local residents who were inspired by an equally tenacious creature — the American badger.
At the forefront of the effort is Susan Kirks, who co-founded the Paula Lane Action Network (PLAN) in 2001 in order to keep the 11-acre property out of the hands of housing developers. The 10 year land battle is coming to a close, but to Kirks there’s still work to be done. At 58, Kirks, an acupuncturist by day, has made a life’s mission out of studying, protecting, and providing PR for this much maligned member of the weasel family.
Inspired yet? You all understand by now what it means when someone gets summoned by an impulse to make a difference and devotes their life to it even when it has nothing to do ostensibly with their own self-interests or training or day job? I recognized Susan as a familiar (s)hero many years ago when she wrote some lovely articles about the Martinez Beavers.. She’s been an indispensable display at the festival for three years now and her cheerful articles first from Petaluma 360 and now from Petaluma Patch have been a reliable beaver defense from the North.
Always willing to provide a pithy quote to the media, beaver friend Brock Dolman (who is basically Susan’s neighbor but the pair had never connected until I introduced them) had this to say to the reporter.
“I think there is a symbolic connection to make around the tenacity that she has shown, that badgerly spirit of digging in and not being deterred,” said Brock Dolman of the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center. “She could see the value of Paula Lane, and the badger became the totem species that represented a lot of that value.”
Badgerly spirit indeed! Susan’s spirit is the uber-badger! Her persistance never fails to take my breath! Long time readers of this blog will already know the surreal story that as a toddler I was given a stuffed real badger by a quirky neighbor. I’m not sure I knew it was dead, but I thought it was the most furry, beautiful and ferocious thing I had ever seen. I of course demanded to be allowed to carry it everywhere – even to bed. Calvin and Hobbes had nothing on Heidi and her badger. As weird as it is, I have often thought that that early badger alliance imbued somehow a tenacious spirit. Of course its one of the first things I ever told Susan which immediately made us fast friends.
No word yet on whether she ever had a stuffed beaver…
Just how Kirks fell in love with badgers, of all creatures, dates back to her arrival in the neighborhood 12 years ago. Having moved to west Petaluma with her two rescued horses, it wasn’t long before Kirks began to notice holes in the ground. A friend told her they were badger dens, which piqued her curiosity. She began to spend much of her time observing the land.
Kirks said her connection to the badgers at Paula Lane is healing and has reignited her childhood passion for the outdoors.
“The funny thing is, I never intended to become a naturalist that has a body of knowledge about the American badger,” Kirks said, laughing. “But the more I came to understand the species, the more I realized what a significant role it plays in ecosystems.”
Go read the entire, lovely article and tell your friends to do the same. It’s a beautiful description of what graceful tenacity looks like up close. I’m so glad Bay Nature has started to give her the credit she deserves, and so very happy Susan is in the world taking care of badgers!
Now just in case you can’t face Monday without your daily dose of beaver-trivia, I have a great story from Florida. This weekend I happened upon the tale of an unexpected visitor in Tallahasee, where apparently Luke Barnhill came home to find a beaver cooling in his swimming pool. He promptly called the St. Francis Wildlife Association which came and removed the animal and will find it someplace better to reside I hope. (Can’t you hear the beaver now? You want me to go where? There’s alligators out there!) I gave them a donation this weekend and told them where to look for more information, but this fun story is as good an excuse as any to post my Very Favorite Beaver Photos Ever.
Years ago they were posted on the internet by a couple from Dallas who may have started out bemused about the visit but were told by a wildlife company that beavers carry disease and eventually chased this little fellow out of their yard with a pool scrape. Never mind their mean-spirited response. These lovely photos make the entire episode worthwhile. Whenever I fear beavers may have taken over my life I always look at them fondly. I especially like the one of the beaver at the bottom of the pool. Remember when you were two and you’d close your eyes and think no one could see you? He’s hiding from the photographer! Sneaky huh?
Susan just wrote to let me know that the necropsy confirmed the young badger had canine distemper, a commonly occurring disease for these animals.
The preliminary pathology report returned today and Wildlife Rescue passed on the information to us. The female badger, estimated age 1-3, who was very underweight, had canine distemper. Wildlife Rescue says that is fairly common in raccoons and foxes, etc.
Is this the saddest badger picture ever taken? Look at that droopy head and those listless eyes. This badger was picked up weak and sick at the edge of Paula Lane, and it’s a testimony to the hard work of the local wildlife workers that it made it as long as it did. The article describes it as a male but our badger friend Susan Kirks of the Paula Lane Action Network, who was there and should know, insists it was a youngish female. It was found the day the local article ran in response to the chronicle and some wonder whether there might be human causes.
The latest badger was spotted not far from a known badger colony on Paula Lane. Neighbors are trying to preserve the 100-year-old den in a grassy field and have secured a $1 million grant from the Sonoma County open space agency to help buy the land.
Wildlife biologist Kim Fitts said the 11-acre piece is a core breeding area. The badger found Wednesday likely was born there earlier this year and wandered off in search of food, she said.
“A lot of people look at it and say it’s just an open field,” Fitts said. “But to a badger, it’s a lot more than that. It’s extremely important for the survival of the population.”
Susan writes that there has been a flutter of attention to the issue since the article, but that this a sad turn of events.
“A female badger was taken in by Wildlife Rescue about 10 days ago (the second badger in 6 weeks after 16 years of our Wildlife Rescue Center never having any…) and it was at the south end of the Paula Lane corridor. She was very undernourished, had a small wound on hindquarters, looked like puncture, and weighed about half of the normal adult weight. Estimated at 1-3 years of age. Over the weekend she went into seizures and the vet euthanized her. Wildlife Rescue sent her body to UC Davis for necropsy and the pathology report is awaited. I and our biologist and the local news photographer had the opportunity to see her out at Wildlife Rescue. She was of course a beautiful wild creature, but very unnatural behavior, no growling, lethargic, etc.”
Waiting for the pathology report from Davis is sadly familiar for beaver lovers. I’m sorry the badger wasn’t able to make it in her big world, but I hope everyone sees this picture and decides these beautiful creatures are worth saving.
Keep up the good work, Susan. Remember the quote from Brock Evans, “Endless Pressure, Endlessly Applied“. Oh and in case that’s not inspirational enough for you, can you guess what the word Brock means in england?
I’m sure that you all remember our badger friend, Susan Kirks, who has been working to save their habitat by protecting open space in Petaluma. She was at the beaver festival and made a slew of connections. The city of Petaluma is partnering with her organization Paula Lane Action Network (P.L.A.N.) and is negotiating a deal to purchase the land for a community wildlife corridor and educational center. There is just a little more fund raising to do to make it possible.
Carolyn Jones, the reporter from the Chronicle who has almost always been kind to us, met up with Susan and ran a nice story this week on the Petaluma Badgers. To my mind it has too many quotes along the lines of “beavers flood creeks” etc, and not enough about the good that they do, but still it got people’s attention and it was good press for her cause. Because of this I was able to send it along to our friends at Bay Nature, the Daily Planet, and the SF Bay Wildlife Info who can’t wait to follow up. It’s exactly the kind of story that gets written about because who thinks of badgers in Petaluma?
Susan writes excitedly about her week since the article came out:
So far — I came home Tuesday and there was an envelope in my little black mailbox from a woman who lives in Paradise, CA – with a handwritten letter and a check for $25 – thanking us for all we are doing to help to save the badgers. I do not know her and called yesterday to say thanks. Then, the Open Space District a call (and referred her to us) from a woman who’s the Chair of the “North Bay Badgers,” the alumni group for Univ. of Wisconsin (“Bucky Badger” is their mascot) and she thinks the Bay Area Badgers might want to do something to help, very enthusiastically said maybe they could do a fundraiser to help us with the land acquisition costs – or something! And this morning there’s a message from our local paper, the Press Democrat, saying they heard about the story and [finally] want to do a story.
THANK YOU for being you and being where you are. I had no idea a simple request for doing an article on badgers, to connect with beavers and other wildlife, might lead to this. I’m hoping for all positives! The City of Petaluma is abuzz. People are being very nice to us! S
I wanted to take some time this morning to introduce you to some of the beaver-friends that will be displaying at the festival. Carolyn Jones of the chronicle asked me yesterday, “what happens if you get bored of beavers”. I explained that I seemed to be fairly immune from that particular ailment, but that for others with less hardy constitutions there will be plenty to keep your attention. Such as….
We are a group of professional interpreters and educators who work with live wild birds while sharing educational messages with groups of all ages. Native Bird Connections maintains a daily commitment to three goals: Respect: For animals and people, accepting them for who they are, not who we wish them to be. Responsibility: We are obligated to walk our talk and accept personal responsibility as well as responsibility for the lives of our wild partners. Reverence: We are thankful for the people and animals that influence our ability to continue providing unparalleled nature experiences.
Noah’s Wish came into existence in 2002, not to duplicate existing efforts to help animals during disasters, but to expand on what was already in place. Too often, efforts to help animals during life threatening situations have been gravely inadequate. We recognize that animals need and deserve an organized, consistent and professionally managed national disaster relief program. They will, otherwise, continue to pay for human indifference with their lives. How animals are managed during disasters is to implement well thought out, field tested policies and procedures that are practiced in all disasters. Relief efforts for people are managed this way and we feel they should be for animals too.
Connect with wildlife and learn about the animals found in our backyards and open spaces. At Lindsay Wildlife Museum you can have close encounters with many live, non-releasable wild animals such as an eagle, hawk, fox, snake or coyote. An on-site wildlife hospital treats more than 6,000 native California animals every year. The museum also features changing art and natural history exhibits, classes for children and adults, and a discovery room with hands-on activities for children.
The Walnut Creek Open Space Foundation works to preserve and enhance Walnut Creek’s nearly 3000 acres of open space and to educate area residents so that they can enjoy this wonderful resource. In cooperation with the California Bluebird Recovery Program (www.cbrp.org), Foundation members including Brian Murphy and Bob Brittain have been constructing, installing and monitoring nest boxes for bluebirds in our open space.
Badgers in Petaluma? Plan on it! P.L.A.N. is a nonprofit organization, dedicated to preservation of rural land and open space, wildlife habitat and historic resources. Preserving areas where there are inter-relationships – history, open space, critical habitat and movement corridors, grasslands, trees, and seasonal wetlands – creates a setting where multifaceted health-producing life experiences can occur. Such interactive experiences of life with Nature and Community character, we believe, contribute to our sense of well being and ability to give to others.
Intrigued yet? Add the Native Plant Society, the Friends of Alhambra Creek, and the good NPS folks at the John Muir Site. Learn about the new fishing pier designs or the effects of pesticides, or how to prepare for a charity marathon. Check out the amazing designs from Wild Bryde Jewelry and get your copy of the Come Back Kids, “The Martinez Beavers” signed by the author, Penny Weigand of Bellissima Publishing.
Another fun day for wildlife spent in the beautiful wine country at Cornerstone. Tom and Darren were constantly on their toes running back and forth to keep things smooth.There were birds and badgers and bats and of course BEAVERS. Cheryl, Lory and Ron were unbelievably helpful getting things together there. We made new friends, plugged beaver benefits and positive solutions, and generally talked about what Martinez had done to solve challenges. I love this picture from the morning, not because we’re still bright eyed and bushy tailed, but because it shows off the AMAZING new restoration poster at the back which we never got to show off correctly at the festival because it was improperly hung and ripped down in a nanosecond. Isn’t it beautiful?
Thank you Susan for making us feel like what we do matters! I personally love that two politicians had to sit down and personally sign something that said WORTH A DAM in the title.
