“And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!’
He chortled in his joy.

If there are any regular readers of this site besides my mother, you might remember that way back in 2016 there was a case where a girls school in New Mexico was restoring their creek to make it nice for some beavers and a crabby old rancher complained they were mucking up his water. He even stomped over and shot one and ripped out the dams with grappling hooks. Ringing any bells?

Well, let’s just say sometimes justice gets served.

New Mexico court ruling seen as win for beavers

Lawrence Gallegos, the New Mexico landowner representative for the nonprofit Western Landowners Alliance, who has a background in ranching, was a witness in the ongoing civil case, filed in 2016 by landowner Ed Sceery against the Santa Fe Girls’ School. The lawsuit sought a court order for the school to remove beaver dams on its property or to “otherwise abate the flooding” on his land.

The Girls’ School had intentionally made its land “more attractive and amenable” to beavers, Sceery argued, which he claimed were causing flooding that prevented him from accessing parts of his 46-acre property and made it impossible to graze cattle, forcing him to sell some of his livestock.

Then-state District Judge David Thomson, who is now a New Mexico Supreme Court justice, decided in the school’s favor on key issues in the lawsuit, saying the school was not responsible for the impacts beavers have had on Sceery’s land in La Cieneguilla, a tiny community fed by flows from the Santa Fe River.

An upright judge, a learnèd judge! A Daniel! A second Daniel!

Hoo Hoo HOOO! What a nice thing for a judge to say! I think all of New Mexico is going to get lucky with this kind of thinking! What a great way for this case to fall and a fabulous teaching moment for every one of those girls.

Environmentalists, a Santa Fe attorney and Gallegos — whose two daughters attended the Girls’ School — recently praised the ruling, saying it recognized beavers as an important species for the state’s ecosystem and affirmed precedent protecting landowners from being sued over the behavior of wild animals.

Michael Dax, New Mexico representative for the environmental advocacy group Defenders of Wildlife, said he hopes the decision will set a precedent for the protection of beavers going forward.

“As we here in New Mexico and across the Southwest are looking at a future where drought is going to become more common, we need policies that are going to promote recovery of beavers and the water conservation benefits that they create,” he said.

And we here in California are looking with awe and respect. Well done. Excellent well done, we say. We should ALL be marching to court to protect beavers!

Lee Lewin, founder and program director of the Girls’ School, declined to elaborate on the lawsuit, referring questions to Egolf. But she did say the school is “very satisfied with the judge’s order, and we feel as if the species, the ecology, the habitat [of the area] is going to continue to thrive.”

“This decision reinforces what I think most New Mexicans believe, which is that native species — especially those that are mitigating the effects of drought and climate change — belong on our landscape,” he said, “and they need to be protected on our landscapes.”

Cue the processional music! This is a major victory for beavers everywhere! Well done and well argued and a path forward for everyone to follow. You know what they say. The arc of just is long, but it bends towards beavers!

And what do we have to celebrate? Well that would be two LOVELY new beaver kits in Napa Creek photographed by Rusty Cohn last night.

Ohh what a beautiful sight! The only thing better than an adorable beaver kit at the end of July is TWO adorable beavers kits in July! Or heck, I’d love to see 12 but lets not be greedy. Here’s a closer peek of one.

Ring beaver myths still loud and deep
The war’s not won, nor shall we sleep
For fear and doubt
Persist in drought
Our water-savers spurned by men

Apologies to Mr. Longfellow

It’s christmas day, and just in case our puddings and cakes make us feel too lazy and indulged to believe the world needs us to pay attention to beavers, here are two prime examples that should remind us what we’re fighting for. The first is from the heart of the drylands where anything that saves even a drop of water should be regarded as a national treasure. Seems like these school girls know what they’re about, but their neighbor, the beaver grinch, has other ideas. Merry Christmas.

Beavers create barriers between Girls’ School, neighbor

For nearly a decade, the Santa Fe Girls’ School has taught students about the environment through restoration projects and science experiments on a nearly 9-acre swath of land south of the city that includes a portion of the Santa Fe River. Principal Lee Lewin says the parcel in La Cieneguilla is a crucial part of the curriculum for the school’s 40-plus middle school students.

But an ongoing dispute between the private school and a neighboring landowner has heated up in recent months, and the girls’ work at the site has been halted.

The neighbor — hunter, businessman and self-proclaimed conservationist Ed Sceery — contends the girls’ efforts have attracted beavers that are damaging land and trees, and he warns that they are working in contaminated water. School officials say Sceery has endangered the girls by placing a metal contraption in a pond on the property where they often roam. The device’s function is unclear, but school staff said they think it’s intended to break up beaver dams.

Sceery, who earned a doctorate in animal sciences at New Mexico State University, lives downstream from the Girls’ School property. He owns and operates Sceery Outdoors, a company that makes and sells game calls for elk, deer, turkey and other animals. His wares are sold in specialty hunting markets, such as Cabela’s, and general stores, including Wal-Mart.

Okay, first of all that device doesn’t break up beaver dams, it breaks up BEAVERS. Mind you his trees have already been protected by a deal with Wild Earth Guardians. But if Dr. Sceery says that the water’s contaminated, I myself believe him. He should know, because I bet he poured the lighter fluid in himself. I’m relieved to hear he’s also a “conservationist” because that means he has deep abiding respect for the animal that Enos Mills called “the original conservationists“. Right?

Honestly, this whole story should be written by Charles Dickens. The trap-setting hunter who sells decoys to walmart doesn’t want the beavers near his property happens to be named Dr. Sceery? Am I on candid camera? Is he just pretending that’s his name because Dr. Eevil was taken? Was he assigned that name by the department of ruthless irony? Did he really believe it was a good idea to set a trap on school property without permission where lovely eco-minded young girls walk every day?

And just in case you think I’m making this up, here’s another headline worthy of a Christmas tree.

Otters, beavers feasting around fish ladder at Rocky Reach Dam

WENATCHEE — Otters and beavers may have discovered it’s easier to capture a nice fish dinner by congregating at the fish ladder at Rocky Reach Dam and entering the current to pursue their prey. Either that, or they’re just chasing fish and having fun.

Video recordings at the dam show one or more of the aquatic critters swimming past the fish-counting window between May and October.

One otter was chasing a small fish. Another is latched onto a carp not much smaller than itself. In another shot, a beaver appears to be engaged in some good-natured exploring.

That’s right. It’s YAKIMA in Washington, which I have foolishly considered the state with the highest beaver IQ in the country. And the biologists watching the salmon counter think that the beavers are there for supper. Here is an actual headline about BEAVERS EATING FISH.

“We’re not sure how many salmon they’ve actually taken,” Von Pope, the PUD’s Wildlife Program manager, said Wednesday. “Maybe some smaller ones.”

When salmon are migrating past the dam, the video camera operates around the clock. Human fish counters come in and review the video to tally the numbers of each species of fish.

Thad Mosey, the PUD’s senior fish biologist, says no fish counter has ever seen an otter or beaver in the fish-counting window in real time. But they occasionally appear in the video recordings.

I have nothing to say but this.

You deserve a dose of cheer after all that beaver-stupid. Here’s a little something I hope you sing along with your family by the fire. Merry Christmas from Worth A Dam!