Goodness gracious. Where is my brain these days? What kind of husband am I to forget our anniversary entirely after only 12 short years! Yesterday afternoon it hit me that it was November 7th as in the fateful day when back in 2007 the Martinez High School Performing Arts theater filled to the rafters with 200 people who had very strong opinions about whether our downtown beavers should be trapped. Everyone was there. All the teachers and the shopkeepers. Lots of neighbors I didn’t know and some that I did. Some who have since died and some who have moved away, The Humane Society. The Sierra Club. I even saw the parent of a patient from another city there and she came just because she heard about it on the news.
It was the meeting that changed history. Certainly our history. And the lives of the then 6 beavers we had living in Alhambra Creek. What would I be doing now if that meeting had never happened? It’s hard to even imagine.
And if you have three hours and nothing to do and want your mind totally blown you might try clicking on the photo to watch it for yourself. You will need a player to do so, the city recommends silverlight which is a free download. I know all the lines already. But there are some good ones!
The reason I remembered I forgot our anniversary is that I heard again from the grad student who IS doing his thesis on the Martinez beaver story and all its implications for wildlife and social psychology. Whoa. I thought he had moved on to easier topics. But apparently he’s coming this summer to interview folks, review microfiche and do focus groups and he wondered if I had a better copy of the meeting, which I don’t unfortunately. Then I looked at the date and looked at the calendar and said OMG!!!!! – slipped out the back door to buy some roses at the gas station and pretended I knew it all along like any good husband.
Happy Anniversary, Honey!
Enough of that for now. This morning there’s an excellent report on the Logan River in Utah and how much it changed when its very important beavers were trapped out in the fu-rush.
A Short History Of Utah’s Logan River on ‘Wild About Utah’
During this time the flow and movement of the Logan River was much different, in part because of the beaver families who built their homes and dams up and down the waterway. The dams created ponds whose waters seeped into the valley bottoms raising the water table and saturating the sponge.
Joseph Wheaton, associate professor of the Department of Watershed Sciences in the Quinney College of Natural Resources explained, “the saturated ground increased resilience to drought, flood and fire.”
In the early 1800s trappers arrived in the valley.
Michel Bourdon was one of the earliest trappers to see Cache Valley around 1818. The river was, for a short time, named after him. A few years later, Ephraim Logan arrived in Cache Valley. He and many other trappers attended the Rocky Mountain Rendezvous along the Bourdon River in 1826. Shortly thereafter, Logan died during one of his outings and the area’s trappers decided to rename the river Logan, in his honor.
Trapping for the fur industry severely impacted the beaver population and the Logan River. The dam building beavers were almost trapped to extinction because of the European fashion demand. Luckily, fashion trends changed before beaver were extinct. However, the virtual elimination of beavers fundamentally changed the character of the Logan River to this day.
Yes. The Logan river and EVERYWHERE else. And hi there Dr. Wheaton! I knew this was gonna be good when I read your name. Did you know Joe Wheaton’s mother lives in Napa? And he went to local high school? His sister surprised me very much by showing up to a festival an announcing cryptically “Joey says Hi!” And I scrunched my face in confusion and said “Joey?
“You know, Joey of Utah!” She explained impatiently and it started to dawn on me.
“Do you mean Dr. Wheaton of Utah State?” And she nodded happily, explaining that he always talked about the festival and so she had to bring her kids and see what it was like. They had a wonderful time and she came back again last year.
You know, because all roads lead to Rome. And all beaver roads lead to Martinez.
