Because the beaver isn't just an animal; it's an ecosystem!

Tag: The Beaver Believers


Oh my. It’s really happening. Thursday before the beaver festival.

The Beaver Believers is a story of passion and perseverance in the face of climate change. It follows an unlikely cadre of activists – a biologist, a hydrologist, a botanist, a psychologist, and a hairdresser – who share a common vision: restoring the North American Beaver, that most industrious, ingenious, furry little engineer, to the watersheds of the American West. The Beaver Believers encourage us to embrace a new paradigm for managing our western lands, one that seeks to partner with the natural world rather than overpower it. As a keystone species, beaver enrich their ecosystems, creating the biodiversity, complexity, and resiliency our watersheds need to adapt to climate change. Beavers can show us the way and even do much of the work for us, if only we can find the humility to trust in the restorative power of nature and our own ability to play a positive role within it.

The filmmaker posted this yesterday on facebook

Bay Area friends! We’re excited to announce the California premiere screening of The Beaver Believers in conjunction with the annual martinezbeavers.org/wordpress #MartinezBeaverFestival, at the Empress Theatre in Vallejo! *AND* we’ll be joined by two of the film’s leading characters, Heidi Perryman and Suzanne Fouty, as well as author Ben Goldfarb, who’s on tour promoting his new book #Eager, for a Q&A after the screening. Tickets on sale now!

You might remember in 2013 the film crew from Whitman College was at the beaver festival. Well now you know why. You don’t want to miss the west coast premiere do you? You can by your tickets online and meet the filmmaker in person at the Empress theatre in Vallejo. It’s a beautifully refurbished old theater in one of the most lovely historic streets in Valleho that will be an honor to see – doing beavers proud.

Come!

 


So the beaver festival is officially approved in Susana Park and our use fees have been waved, We were hailed as doing a wonderful educational thing, and we’re officially off to the beaver races. Hopefully city staff will unlock the bathrooms and hang the banners for us in the park and not turn the sprinklers on the day Amy starts chalking!. Our blue shirts arrived yesterday and they are lovely so we also have that going for us.

Next hurdle: Earth Day! I just found out that we are down by one volunteer so I’m seeing about recruiting another.  It’s usually a very busy all-hands-on-deck kind of day, so it would be great if I could give Jon and Leslie a little back up.

I just heard this from Sarah about last night’s premier:

Squeeeee!

The premiere was sold out!  With people packing the lobby wishing they could get in! And people loved it!  The reaction to your scene especially was SO GOOD! I’m ready to start coordinating the screening in Martinez.  I’ll keep you posted! Thanks!
Sarah

Wow wow wow! This is a pretty auspicious news and a great way to debut a beaver film. If it works out I think the screening will be at the Empress theater in Vallejo on the Thursday before the festival. Stay tuned, I’ll keep you posted as I know more. In the mean time congratulations Sarah!

To get us all in the mood for Saturday here’s a nice letter about the benefits to children of a green education.

Letter: Huge educational opportunities at new elementary school

Before people dismiss Doyon as a location for one new school, I wish to present some facts that everyone should carefully consider. First, it’s the open space. For a town that values open space, what is better than having over 17 acres for the children of Ipswich?

Nature is the best way to nurture pupils with special educational needs:

“The results showed that students with higher exposure to greenness show better academic performance in both English and Math. More research along these lines is needed in additional locations and with more extensive academic performance data among various grades to determine the effects of greenness under different education systems.”

 

Walking the halls of Doyon means seeing joyously happy rows of puddle boots outside of classrooms, and it means that the students get to come home throughout the year with the stories of venturing outside to study ferns and frogs, learning about the critical importance of vernal pools, and the native flora and fauna of our town.

Frog eggs are carefully collected from vernal pools, which are then sent to every student in every second grade class in the district, so that the children can see the eggs hatch into tadpoles, and transform into frogs, before releasing all of them into the same pond in which they were spawned.

They get to see beaver impounded wetland, and they gain an understanding of stewardship.

Doyton has dedicated teachers who go beyond the classroom, using their location to offer unique and priceless hands-on learning to their students.

Heck I’m sold. We have certainly seen first hand that beaver/nature education is a powerful way to open up a child’s mind and get them to learn from the world around them. Go read the whole letter, it’s really well written and could be the subject of the next five posts.  Thanks Erika Turner for reminding us why green education matters.

 


Excellent news from the great Beaver Beyond, where Sarah Koenisberg has been working hard putting the finishing touches on her Beaver Believer Film. I can barely remember years ago when she came to the the festival and filmed the long interview in my backyard. She’s been working nonstop ever since. And supposedly the film is ready to be released on the film festival circuit.

Beyond the Pelt

Washington-based filmmaker Sarah Koenigsberg was getting tired of all the apocalyptic doom-and-gloom climate change stories floating around the media circuit when she happened upon an unlikely glimmer of hope: beavers. After filming these ecosystem engineers for her own feature-length documentary, “The Beaver Believers,” she helped the Trust produce a short film showcasing three success stories of how the return of beavers has transformed public lands across the West. Here, we talk to Sarah about beavers, activism, and catching the slippery critters on camera.

Most people know beavers build dams, but how do they help address climate change?

Beaver dams create ponds and wetlands that collect precipitation, letting it sink slowly into the ground instead of rushing straight out to the ocean. In the arid Southwest, this water storage is incredibly valuable, as it recharges the aquifer and holds water underground until it can slowly trickle back into our streams. Local wildlife, spawning fish, and migrating birds also thrive in the pockets of diverse habitat that beavers help build. The list goes on!

What is next in the queue?

I’m in the final stages of post-production on my film “The Beaver Believers,” which is really exciting. I had something like 70 hours of footage shot over two years for this 50-minute film. You can learn more about that project and watch our trailer at www.thebeaverbelievers.com. We’ll begin entering it into film festivals this spring!

Martinefilmingz is part of those 70 hours and I’m hoping something of us made it past the cutting room floor!  I know that she included part of Mark Comstock’s beaver ballad because she wrote once that she had gotten it stuck in her head after editing footage with it again and again. Gosh, that seems like a long time ago. In 2013 we had three kits and one yearling from our new mom who had been around just over a year.

I remember that thursdmore filming - Copyay, they drove here after filming Suzanne Fouty  and Carole Evans in Nevada. I spoke at Kiwanis that day and came home to be interviewed Heidi Interviewfor another 7 hours before having them to dinner. Friday was the usual insane packing for the festival and I barely saw anyone at the event because we were all working so hard. They headed off in their movie-making horse trailer that evening. To hit the next target for inclusion.

And now the film is getting finishing touches and then shipping out. Go read the whole thing and learn how and why Sarah does what she does. I wonder if it is headed for the Wild and Scenic Film Festival in Nevada where Ian’s went. It would be fun to have them close to home and start a whole beaver genre to that event!

The Beaver Believers Kickstarter Trailer from Tensegrity Productions on Vimeo.

Yesterday, we heard the exciting news that Jeremy Fish’s amazing artwork was finished after being temporarily matted by founding member of the Martinez Arts Association  Cathy Riggs of “I’ve been Framed” downtown. She didn’t charge us a penny but clearly spent hours on it, using contrasting mats to pick up the colors.  I sent the photo to Mr. Fish who was very impressed. I know it will be a hot item at the auction, and you’ll probably want to come bid on it yourself. Thanks so much Cathy!

Jeremy


Our ad in Bay Nature’s August issue just came out. We’re nicely placed in the upper right hand corner of page 17. Thanks Bay Nature for promoting our beavers! And Amelia for the awesome artwork.

Bay Nature 2014And just in case the nature crowd misses the ad in BN, check out the article in this month’s newsletter for the Mt. Diablo Audubon. The editor kindly allotted me 300 word to convince bird lovers to come to a beaver festival. I am very proud of this particular work. In addition to being one of the most carefully crafted and pithy things I think I ever wrote, it is also exactly 300 words.

Except for the last sentence about MDAS having a booth. Ellis added that.QuailThere’s a new chapter of meet the characters for the Beaver Believers film, and it’s not me, but it should be someone you know. In case you don’t recognize her right away, this is the beaver magician Mary O’brien who attended our festival in 2010. She has, along the way inspired me, delighted me, encouraged me, exasperated me and terrified me. Not necessarily in that order.

Recognize her now? This should help…

mary
Checking out the tiles – Mary O’brien

“The trap is underwater,” described Irish, “It’s a smooth rod trap, no big teeth claws or something. It humanely, it pinches them.”

Pinched to death?

WBTV 3 News, Weather, Sports, and Traffic for Charlotte, NC

Beavers a problem for some Charlotte businesses

 

Now here’s a place where you have enough public interest to drive a real solution. But instead of solving the problem they have elected to hire Jim-Bob to come in and kill it. Because it would be silly for North Carolina, a state who has reported drought consistently over the  years, to learn to coexist with the “water-savers”. Bonus Irony Points: this year shows the exact area where beavers moved in to be “abnormally dry”.

 

 

Never mind about that. The news cameras obviously can’t tell a beaver from a muskrat. And the property managers can’t tell relocation apart from execution.  Maybe they can’t spot the difference between having enough fresh water and being thirsty either.

WBTV 3 News, Weather, Sports, and Traffic for Charlotte, NC

What’s up with the mealy-mouthed people who defend their intolerance by saying they don’t want the beaver killed – just relocated! It happened in Martinez and it happens everywhere and I hate it almost more than the trappers. It’s just saying “Obviously my needs are more important but if I get exactly what I want I don’t need the animals to suffer.” Honestly, is it just me or is it really that far away from “They’ll be happier in their own neighborhood/school with the other black people. They don’t belong in mine”.

One final complaint because this story really, really irritates me. And that’s the use of the word “euthanize” .  Webster’s dictionary defines Euthanasia asThe act or practice of killing someone who is very sick or injured in order to prevent any more suffering.

Workers said they found someone who will allow the beavers to be moved to their property. But the statute says that’s okay for certain animals, it appears beavers must be euthanized.

To be clear: these beavers aren’t sick. They are fully functioning, healthy beavers doing what beavers do. They’re just in the way.

  • News flash: Putting an animal to sleep to end ITS misery is euthanasia.
  • Getting rid of an animal to end YOUR misery is just murder.

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We all need something wonderful to get that taste out of our mouths. Here’s a profile on Sherri Tippie from the ‘meet the cast’ trailers of the beaver believers documentary.

Meet Sherri Tippie from Tensegrity Productions on Vimeo.

A lovely profile of a remarkable woman. Horrifying thought of the morning: Sarah tells me I’m next.

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