Yesterday we bundled ourselves together at dawn and drove out to the Oakland Zoo for Jane Goodall’s ‘Roots and Shoots‘ International Day of Peace. We set up on the meadow with about ten other displays and children came by to learn something about beavers, draw on our unique flag and earn a stamp on their passport to peace. We were right near the primate habitat so there was a constant hoot of foolery, aggression and forgiveness right behind us. Always looking for new ways to teach beaver basics, I had a deck of cards made with wildlife photos from our pond. The children drew five cards and had to tell us which ones beavers and their dams helped.
I am pleased to say that three teens got the correct answer and said matter-of-factly, “They help all of them!” These teens all happened to be wild guides for the Zoo, which just goes to show that the program is working. Twice I had parents answer “They help them all except the salmon, right?” which, if you think about it, is a microcosm of what’s wrong with stream lore generally. This is the first time they’ve had this event there and it was smaller than they probably wished, but it was a great group of kids and parents and our flag is looking pretty remarkable. FRo again exceeded herself at pulling joyful artwork out of even the most art-averse child.
Cheryl stopped off in the morning before we went to snap this photo of one of our yearlings coming home across the secondary dam. Nicely done. She found out this a.m. that another photo will be in the 2012 Watershed Calendar for Contra Costa County. She was hard at work snapping photos yesterday too, and her friendly contacts got us and our gear a ride up the hill at the end of the day. Thanks Cheryl!
