SHERRI TIPPIE GETS TOAST OF BEAVER BEER

Well this was a surprise to come across. I have been so buried in festival details I forgot international beaver day is fast approaching!

Belching Beaver Donates $10K To Wildlife 2000 Through Give A Dam Campaign

Did you know National Beer Day and International Beaver day are on the same day? April 7 hosts both of these holidays, and Belching Beaver is celebrating by teaming up with Wildlife 2000 to drive awareness, through it’s Give A Dam campaign, of how beavers help create biodiversity and other positive ecological benefits.

“The state of California has antiquated laws,” said Eric Robinson of Wildlife 2000. “They don’t allow anyone to move beaver anywhere in the state without a permit, and the permits are not given to anyone, they have lots of reasons not to move beaver.” “You can kill them, about 2,000 per year, mostly in Northern California.” “There are plenty of permits given to lethally remove them, but not for humanely putting them back in the land where they can do some good.”

Belching Beaver’s donation to Wildlife 2000 will fund efforts to try and get these laws updated and changed.

Wildlife 2000 is the advocacy group run by Sherri Tippie. So of course when I saw this I called her right away. She sounded very cheerful and excited about the whole thing. And she says hi to everyone, of course.

“To be honest, I’ve never seen a beaver, and I’ve lived in California my whole life, but now I know why, they are being killed,” said Haley Smith Marketing Manager at Belching Beaver Brewery. “I’ve always been a lover of animals, and I understand that some can see beavers as a nuisance, but I don’t think they should just be killed.” “This is their home, and they are just doing what they know to do, build dams, and raise their kits.”

The brewery is working with their distributor partners to create displays in retail locations to try and drive awareness about these animals. The displays will consist of marketing pieces that give facts about beavers and host a QR code that can be scanned to learn more about Wildlife 2000 and their partnership.

A special release beer was also created, Operation Beaver Drop Lemon Wheat Ale, to shine light on a successful beaver relocation project that took place in Idaho. Beavers were put into aerated boxes and parachuted down to a new environment, instead of the alternative of being trapped lethally.

Wow, Eric Robinson is the point person that made this happen, and he is a FORCE of nature for beavers. He has been hard on the beaver relocation rule change for years now. and doesn’t seem to be getting weary.

Operation Beaver Drop is a light and refreshing wheat ale brewed with lemon peel, lemongrass and grains of paradise. It will be available throughout the brewery’s distribution footprint in 4-pack 16 oz cans starting April 1.

Belching Beaver is also hosting a special Pint Night at their Oceanside location on April 7. Wildlife 2000 will be there to talk more about their mission and how, and why we should protect beavers. There will be a video as well as special giveaways.

Well well well, They use our name but they aren’t giving us any money. Hmm. I suppose raising awareness of the importance of beavers is good new, even if they don’t contribute to the beaver festival. And I’m always happy to have a reason to call Sherri and here her happy and taking on the world. So that’s a plus plus plus!

Oh I saw our ad in the new issue of Bay Nature yesterday. It’s on the second page right hand corner top, right where you open to.

DRINKING WITH SHERRI TIPPIE

heidi08 Beavers February 17, 2022

Some days this is the very best you can hope for.

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THE BEAVER CLUB CELEBRATES EARTH DAY

heidi08 Earth Day, Flow Device Installed, Who's saving beavers now? April 23, 2021

Here’s a beaver origin story for you. Stop me of you’ve heard this one before.

In the beginning Skip Lisle taught Mike Callahan to install flow devices. Skip later taught Jake Jacobsen of Washington public works, Glynnis Hood of University of Alberta, Amy Cunningham of Wyoming and Sherri Tippie of Colorado. In between all that Skip came to Martinez, saved our beavers and made this story possible.

Meanwhilewhile Glynnis taught her students and did research proving that flow devices work and save money, Sherri taught Jackie Cordry who was working in Colorado Park District at the time. and Amy taught her friends at the wilderness federation in Montana.

At the same time Mike taught Mike Settell of Idaho, Jakob Schokey of Oregon, Ben Dittbrenner then of Washington, and went on to found the beaver institute which teachers many students from many states and four countries every year.

This interview tells you something about how far their efforts have gone.

Earth Day Special: The Beaver Coalition

As we honor Earth Day 2021, the theme running through today’s KBOO programming is the impending climate crisis, and its affect on our home planet. And we’ll be introducing you to people and organizations who are working to protect our environment, and all its inhabitants.

On today’s show, we focus on one of those inhabitants, a species of great importance especially here in the Pacific Northwest. I’m referring to Oregon’s official state animal, the beaver.

DENVER BEAVER MAVEN

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Who's saving beavers now? December 8, 2020

I told you Sherri Tippie saved the Denver beavers. Didn’t I tell you? This was published a couple days ago and pretty much proves my point.

Don’t Fear The Beaver

Concerned about global warming? Out of control wildfires? Soil erosion? Water quality? Loss of species? One part of the solution may be that busy nocturnal rodent of legend—the North American beaver, castor canadensis. Once trapped to near extinction, the species today is thriving in Denver’s urban waterways.

According to Denver beaver advocate Sherri Tippie, by harvesting trees, building its dams and digging canals, these 50 to 80-pound animals with paddle-shaped tails can transform otherwise barren landscapes into flourishing wetlands. In doing so they create environments for dozens of species of fish, reptiles, birds and larger mammals.

Hi Sherri! Nice to see you’re still preaching the gospel and fighting the good fights!

National Geographic’s September 2020 issue contained an extensive article titled, “How beavers became North America’s best firefighter,” explaining that the animal “creates fireproof refuges for many species, suggesting wildlife managers should protect beaver habitat as the U.S. West burns.”

Tippie, an expert in humane beaver relocation and author of the pamphlet Working with Beaver for Better Habitat Naturally, says that most all of Denver’s area waterways have beavers, including the South Platte, Bear Creek, Cherry Creek, Sand Creek, and Tollgate Creek in Aurora.

Somethings just get better an better. What a great article to read before Christmas.

The City of Denver supports co-existence with beavers. Vicki Vargas-Madrid, wildlife program administrator for Denver Parks and Recreation, says the city’s beaver management objectives include minimizing potential conflicts related to beaver activity, and supporting the animals’ role in the urban environment.

Educating Denver city-dwellers about the importance of beavers to the ecosystem, she says, is most important. People sometimes get upset when they see a fallen tree, says Vargas-Madrid, “but we have lots of trees … and beavers take only what they need.” Vargas-Madrid described a conflict last winter when bicycle path users were upset a beaver dam had flooded part of the Cherry Creek trail, which then iced over. “We started to get complaints. Riders did not want to take another path,” she said.

Well now, thats a sentence you don’t read every day from the parks department. That’s impressive persuasion powers at work for you. Imagine reading that sentence in Martinez? Maybe in another two decades.

At some beaver-dammed waterways, Denver installs water flow control devices to prevent excess flooding. One successful trademarked flow device is called the “Beaver Deceiver,” the website of which advocates against trapping or killing nuisance beavers. “Because wetlands are so important,” notes the website, “beavers might create more value for other wildlife and society than any other animal on Earth.” Vargas-Madrid agreed that trapping and re-location of beavers is not a preferred option. Beavers are territorial, and removal of one beaver means another will just come along to replace it.

Sniff. You have done such excellent work, Sherri. We can only aspire to be like you some day.

Beavers can be surprisingly large, between 50 and 80 pounds fully grown. But, according to Tippie, they are not dangerous. A beaver will slap its paddle-like tail loudly in the water as a warning if startled, but will generally flee from people.

So, stay up late, or get up very early. and visit a local Denver creek. You might be rewarded with the sight of North America’s largest and most industrious rodent.

You know my very first state of the beaver conference Sherri was there. I was still in a state of panic about our beavers and felt burdened with the pressure of saving them. I listened to all these smart, hardworking impressive speakers and felt so dazzled by their brilliance. But when I listened to Sherri I just started crying. I felt totally at peace, Protected. Safe. And just sat there beaming with tears of joy streaming down my face.

I felt the way you feel as a child, when you know you can fall asleep safe in the backseat and your parents will find the way home.

A STAR IS BORN, AGAIN

heidi08 Beaver ecological impact, Beavers August 21, 2019

The rapidly rising Beaver Believers film got another showing last weekend, this time with a very special cameo.

The much beloved Sherri Tippie joined filmmaker Sarah Koenigsberg on stage for the packed crowd and of course Vail fell in ldve all over again. Later Sarah stopped by the house for a final visit, and I thought you’d want to see the new demonstration models Sherri shared.

We got to squeeze in a final visit with Tippie – and a peek at her models of beaver flow devices – before heading to the airport to fly home. Thus ends a fantastic trip to Colorado! (For more on these precise designs, check out www.beaverdeceivers.com*)

These are updates from Sherri’s previous displays. If you look closely you’ll see that the beavers figurines are clay figures that she makes herself. She was kind enough to donate a stash for one beaver festival, and if you knew what’s good for you you kept yours in a special place like I did.

I’m sure i don’t need to tell you what a national treasure Sherri is, or how many beaver affections she launched and hearts she has touched. I just thought you’d like to see a reminder of why.