Tag: PLAN

Badgered Wildlife

heidi08 Beavers, New Species July 29, 2011

Our badger friend Susan Kirks of Petaluma’s PLAN wrote last night alerting me to a truly depressing bit of animal husbandry. Seems there was some unidentified growling coming out from under a parked vehicle in Forestville so an animal control officer came out and shot it. Chris Smith for Press Democrat

BADGERED, BOTH: No one felt good about what happened after a houseguest in Forestville heard wild noises the other night and peeked beneath a parked ca

You can imagine the sensations that coursed through him as he spied a growling badger. His hostess, Arrow Olesky, figured the animal posed a threat to people, pets or both and dialed 911. A county animal-control officer drove out to Olesky’s place. And shot the badger. Olesky feels terrible but figures she did the only thing she could do.

The only thing she could do? Really? How about the garden hose? How about that tried and true method called “walking away and coming back in ten minutes?”. Well, this pie of blame has at least two pieces and the smallest one goes to the Olesky’s. I assume when they heard animal control was coming out they thought something intelligent would be done – some bit of fur-bearer management that would save their pets and keep the wildlife lovers happy. I don’t suppose they thought animal control would drive out all that way at night to stick a rifle under the car and shoot it.

If you want to express your outrage for some bad stewardship and worse decision making, you can write the Press Democrat and the director of Animal Control Amy Cooper. I did.

It’s not as if Badgers don’t have a hard enough life anyway. Check out these unexpected photos from a kayaker in the Klamath via a friend of Brock Dolman.

Like She Said…

heidi08 Festival, Friends of Martinez Beavers, New Species August 9, 2010

Susan Kirks is the woman behind PLAN and the badger advocate at the festival. I read about her online years ago and tracked down her contact information because I thought we might possibly have something in common. She has been working much longer at her much bigger cause to create an open space wildlife corridor in Petaluma, but we still had lots to talk about. She blogs for Petaluma 360 and wrote a fantastic account of Saturday’s event. Today she gets to be a ‘guest blogger’ but since I didn’t exactly ask permission you have to click on the link above and visit her site as well. Okay?

A Great Day for Beavers

by Open.Spaces

Saturday, August 8th, was a great day for Beavers – and for people, too. The 3rd Annual Beaver Festival was celebrated in downtown Martinez, next to Alhambra Creek. A walk over the nearby pedestrian bridge that crosses the creek provided a superb view of the beaver dam. At one point, a green heron came to rest on the dam. Beavers are nocturnal, so there wasn’t an expectation of a sighting. What was stunning was the creek, the dam crossing it, the plant life on the creek’s banks, and the amazing quiet and feeling of peace when, just several feet away a lively celebration was in full swing. It was like stepping from one world into another and then stepping back. The support for beaver conservation was community wide and very alive.

The Paula Lane Action Network booth was open for Badger talk. Many people of all ages stopped by to ask, are there badgers here? – and to learn the story of the Paula Lane Badgers in Petaluma and South Sonoma County. Others shared their own badger experiences. A naturalist with the Walnut Creek Open Space Foundation knew of a badger sighting on Mount Diablo several years ago. More recently, there’s been evidence of some burrowing near Brentwood. I remembered this kind man from last year. We’d discussed the benefit of building branch and brush piles among open grassland areas for wildlife cover and habitat. A woman who used to live in Indiana stopped by and shared she and her dog had come upon a baby badger, covered by leaves, when out on a walk in Indiana many years ago. “We got out of there very quickly,” she said, knowing the mother badger was probably nearby, possibly out hunting, and would not want to find a woman and her dog near the baby badger! A young boy stopped by and shared he’s writing a paper about badgers for his 5th grade science class. I told him I knew a web site that would love to post his paper if he wanted to send it to PLAN.

Next door to the PLAN booth was the Painting Extravaganza. Frogard Butler, a talented artist, created a backgound mural of the Alhambra Creek area and Beaver Habitat, with nearby local streets. Children were invited to imagine and creat with colored paints whatever they wanted to add to the mural. At the end of the day, I went to see the mural. “It’s very interesting,” the teacher/artist leading the painting process mused. “They didn’t paint any people.” Indeed, the mural was filled with all kinds of animals and wildlife, from a mother bird feeding her young in a nest to a nest full of eggs to all kinds of raccoons, skunks and beavers. A lone scarecrow in a grassy area was the sole human-like expression.

At Noon, children led a procession of a beautifully handpainted Beaver Banner through the festival paths. Throughout the afternoon, musicians entertained festival goers, culturally diverse and musically joyful.

Also close to the PLAN booth were the Mount Diablo Audubon Society, where adults and families with children shared shifts and talked about the amazing bird life in Contra Costa County; the National Park Service, with a friendly and kind Ranger who knew everything about the John Muir National Historic Monument; and the Burrowing Owl Conservation Network, a grassroots group that organized to protect Burrowing Owl habitat in Antioch, becoming a resource and advocacy group for the species.

Another activity I found charming was – the charm bracelet. Young people visited festival sites and learned about the beaver and its influence in our environment. They visited the Friends of Alhambra Creek booth for a dragonfly charm, the Salmon Protection and Watershed Network booth for a salmon charm, the Native Bird Connections booth for the bird charm, the Lindsay Wildlife Museum display for an otter charm, and Worth a Dam’s headquarters booth for the beaver charm – and questions and answers about what they learned – and then the bracelet to link all the charms together – demonstrating the links in the ecosystem.

Heidi Perryman, Cheryl Reynolds, and everyone with Worth a Dam (www.martinezbeavers.org/wordpress) once again organized and provided, really, an incredible venue for wildlife appreciation and environmental education – with lots of fun – in support of the Martinez Beavers. The Channel 5 evening TV news on Saturday night broadcast the day’s events and, again, elevated appreciation and awareness for Nature and the human place in it.

Isn’t that great and generous writing? Have you clicked on the link yet? Go ahead, I’ll wait. And when you come back I’ll tell you a secret. I am certain Susan became undeservedly fond of me when I told her the story of my childhood neighbor (the first female sheriff in Contra Costa County) throwing a dead stuffed badger over the fence for me to see: 3 year-old Heidi very weirdly decided that this dead fierce creature would become the treasured stuffed animal that I carried around and slept with for years. It was about 4 feet long, had very coarse fur and razor sharp claws. Ahhh. My parents knew better than to let their daughter sleep with a dead animal, but I was inconsolable without it, and my odd attachment prevailed. I am certain that it had an effect on my developing personality because I am told I can be fairly stubborn. (I say tenacious!) Who ever performed the taxidermy did it very poorly because this particular badger was quite thin and long….I didn’t find out badgers were bunchy and short until I was 22.

Thanks Susan for the great article and the enormous advocacy you have done/are doing. I’m was so happy to see your smiling familiar face at the festival and can’t wait to see the remarkable finished project you will achieve.

Badgering the Media

heidi08 Friends of Martinez Beavers August 29, 2009

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

Tripple Play

heidi08 Beaver News, Friends of Martinez Beavers August 12, 2009

I’m bursting with good beaver news this morning, so thought I’d tell you everything all at once. First, Happy Birthday to Worth A Dam’s treasurer and “Man-Friday” Jon Ridler! Another year whirred by under the weight of beaver madness. Jon was the hard working soul who helped our boyscout plant trees, has been watering the trees, kayak cleans the creek, borrowed the tables for the beaver festival from the powerplant where he works, set up the festival, gave tours at the festival and took down the festival– well you get the idea. In his spare time he’s married to me, so Happy Birthday Jon! Never a dull moment!

Secondly, thanks to our new friend Scott at the smart website JournOwl. Our photographer connected with him around his interest in burrowing owls and lured him to the festival, where they met, swapped stories, and she introduced him to our other newish friend Susan Kirks of P.L.A.N. and Badger fame. He wrote a lovely piece about the ecological interconnections, so thanks Scott and thanks, Cheryl!

And to my surprise the Worth A Dam event was indeed a happening place as we wandered from booth to booth, talking with the likes of the National Parks Service and the Mt. Diablo Audubon Society chapter. But, the Twitter connection that put JournOwl.com on Worth A Dam’s radar was suddenly converted to a face to face meeting with Cheryl. From our conversation I quickly gathered that Cheryl was more than a conservationist and the VP of a non-profit, but a wildlife advocate completely willing to further a cause beyond that of her local Martinez beaver population. The dialogue was a sharing of ideas and thoughts from someone who has been there to someone, myself, who is just beginning the journey; it was a coming together of mutual values for a common goal.

Speaking of friends old and new, do you remember Ian Timothy of Kentucky? He’s the remarkable 13 year old (now a whopping 14) who started the claymation series “Beaver Creek” episode I of which he has already sold to a text book company in Canada! His introductory science lesson on beavers won the AT&T Science Challenge at the Louiseville Science Center. In his spare time Ian is starting High School this year, and yesterday wrote to let me know that Part 3 of beaver creek is available for your viewing pleasure. It features exciting beaver-otter conflict resolution.

[youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=JF0fcGLfGPM]

Festival Displays

heidi08 Environmental, Festival, Friends of Martinez Beavers, Uncategorized July 30, 2009

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….

Native Bird Connections:

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:

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.

Lindsay Wildlife Museum:

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.

Walnut Creek Open Space Foundation:

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.

Paula Lane Action Network:

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.

Join us for a dam good time!