More Turtle News

Beaver Magic

heidi08 Beaver Behavior, New Species, Video October 17, 2010

Last night at the beaver dam was a fairly joyous occasion. All three kits and GQ in view, as well as some pretty spectacular fish-jumping. (I’ve already had a couple votes for ‘bass’) It’s been a week of highs and lows, with long nights of very little to see. But last night reassured us that all was right in beaverland.

Jack Laws came back with his mom, sketched some more and marveled at the aquatic display. I encouraged him to think about maybe doing a beaver field-sketching workshop at the festival next year. He thought the idea might be irresistible. He said he had lectured recently in a class room on the Eastern Sierras and noticed that the room was full of all things beaver. He stopped and showed the teacher the hat which we had given him when he came last and saw her face launch into such delight he generously had handed it over. Somewhere on the Eastern Sierras is a unknown teacher with a Worth A Dam hat. How cool is that?

Weirdly good things seem to be happening, and its been hard to catch up. I was thinking yesterday how truly synergistic it will be to present Mike’s award at the JMA night, surrounded by NPS Rangers including one from Yosemite. It would be awesome to help nudge these skills into the National Park Service. I can’t think of a single thing that could make a bigger difference to the well being of beavers from Yellowstone to the Smokey Mountains.

Speaking of education and life-changing events, will there be a “State of the Beaver Conference: 2011”? You bet there will. And I have some pretty exciting news about it. I’ll tell you tomorrow.

Remarkable things

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Beavers or Social Ambasadors, Creative Solutions February 7, 2010

Day 1 of the flyway festival was amazing in almost every way, with fantastic connections between beavers, birds, salmon, and natural history. If you can’t remember what birds and beavers have in common look here. Details of the day will follow, but I thought I’d get you in the mood with some adorable footage of mom and dad trying to keep the young’ins in the lodge.

I started the day off with a note from Leonard Houston of the State of the Beaver Conference. He said the event was an incredible success, and thought that it seemed a good idea to announce our next beaver festival to everyone in the room! Which he did.

“Why Beavers Are Worth A Dam” Sunday at 1:30. Wish me luck!

Sample children’s creations for banner/quilt project

Conference Eve

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions February 2, 2010

Tomorrow begins the “State of the Beaver Conference” in Oregon. I am beyond jealous of the great minds who will gather to talk about the valued relationship between beaver and salmon. Tomorrow at noon will be the Umpqua tribal welcome and conference overview. Then the entire event launched with John Hadidian of HSUS talking about Urban Wildlife. John is the author of “wild neighbors“, a friend of the Martinez Beavers, both our familiar flow-device installers, and generously sent me an autographed copy of his book when I initially wrote him in a panic two years ago. I am eager to have long conversations with him about my idea for a beaver management internship through AmeriCorp that would train half time with both Mike and Skip, taking care of beavers for generations to come. Next is a discussion of the beaver in Europe by Duncan Halley, who it says has a PhD in zoology and a BA in psychology. Coincidence? I think not!

But the star of tomorrow’s opening day will be Michael Pollock of NOAA Northwestern Fisheries talking about the relationship between beavers and salmon. Michael was the reason I was most willing to drive 8 hours to get to the seven feathers casino, and I was delighted when our wikipedia friend nudged him into contacting me. He said that he had family in the area and would be willing to come down at any juncture to give a talk or education program for us. He also said (and this sealed his popularity in my heart forever) that he was once a member of his city council and knew first hand how remarkably pompous and foolish their discussions and decisions could be. Be still my heart! He speaks at 2:45 and I’m guessing will be the recipient of many avid listeners.

Sigh, its no use. I better confess it now. I’m a beaver groupie.

It’s just as well I’m not there. I’d be in the audience with my cigarette lighter raised the whole time. Don’t even get me started talking about Mary O’Brien’s presentation Friday morning. I can’t possibly swoon this early in the morning…

Beavers on the Oregon Trail

heidi08 Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental October 11, 2009

Just got word this morning from Leonard Houston from SURCP who is organizing the 2010 State of the Beaver Conference, that we are invited to come talk about the impact of beavers in neglected urban creek. I can’t wait to show off our photos and stories, and I’m hoping I can contaminate lots more cities to take our particular brand of action. Thanks Leonard for the chance to make friends and tell tales, while we’re learning so much from everyone else. Remember our heroic Skip Lisle, HSUS John Hadidian, and Michael Pollack of NOAA will be there as well so it will be a meeting of very like minds.

Speaking of Oregon, you just have to read this story. Seems there was a conference in Salem about the value of beavers to the watershed, and the suggestion of using reintroduction to increase salmon. A poster was there as a visual aid with two photos. One of an actual beaver from the Illinois Department of National Resources. And I bet you can JUST GUESS what the other one was.

Our old friend the imposter-nutria. Someone with eyes and a brain raised their hand and pointed this out, the presenter defended himself bravely.

“I’m not a wildlife biologist, so I’m not really qualified to make that distinction,” Gilbert said Friday. “I’m not an expert, by any means.” Gilbert said he snagged the photo off the Illinois Web site while searching the Internet for a beaver photo.

There you have it. He’s not a biologist so we can’t expect him to tell the difference between say, a dog and a cat, a bird and a bat, or a beaver and a nutria. The article emphasizes the whiskers of the nutria, which are indeed very different from the beaver, but to me the obvious clue is the nostrils which are nothing like our beaver’s noses. I cannot tell you how often this lazy mistake is made, even by news media which should at least be more cautious if they don’t know better, I realize the internet allows us to snag photos for free, but try and snag them from the right places, will you?

On a final note, think about joining JMA for the conservation awards this year held November 7th at the Willows Theater. Lee Stetson (the voice of Muir for the Ken Burns documentary) will be the host, and everyone whose anyone in conservation will be there. For a measly 20 dollars you can have appetizers, wine and some amazing conversations with folk who are making a difference all around the state. This event always sells out, so why not get your tickets now?

Worth A Dam at Native Here Nursery today in Tilden Park! Stop by and say Hi!

Beaver Conference!

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers elsewhere September 7, 2009

Have you ever opened your email and something wonderful popped out? Well this weekend I found out about the State of the Beaver 2010 conference in Oregon put together by the Beaver Advocacy Committee of SURCP.

We need water! We want our native salmon runs back! And we want them for less cost, no additional taxes and less paper work! Welcome to the State of the Beaver 2010 Conference where we will learn to work with beavers to gain their benefits and minimize the problems they can cause.

The three day venue February 3, 4 and 5 will feature our good friends Skip Lisle, Sherrie Tippie and John Hadidian, as we as the exciting new addition of Dr. Michael Pollack of the NOAA. He’s the chief researcher of the beavers and salmon study group paper we wrote about earlier. Go read the agenda because there’s three days worth of goodies no self-respecting beaver fan would want to miss, including a great discussion on the importance of beavers to the native americans and the new research on reintroduction in Europe.

BAC Co-chairs, Leonard and Lois Houston, wrote me in 2008 after hearing about our struggle to save the Martinez Beavers. They tell me they are currently hard at work with a five year radio tracking research project to locate the movements of nuisance beavers. Oregon has been a pioneer in beaver reintroduction as a tool for increasing salmon. A mere 6 and a half hours from Martinez, the conference is chock full of remarkable things and you can bet Worth A Dam will be there.