Don’t leave beavers on the cutting room floor!

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions, Who's saving beavers now? June 14, 2014

As of today the Beaver Believers has 77 backers and have nearly met their initial goal of 9000. Last week, Fur-bearer Defenders signed on as their first corporate sponsor! There’s an interview with Sarah about the film here on FBD radio. (The other interview is with Simon Jones who has headed the VERY successful Scottish beaver trial, so it’s all worth your time.)

With new confidence that the film will reach its kick starting goal, Sarah released a stretch goal today. This will fund a more ambitious project with better grapics, more indepth information, and Oh incidentally MORE OF MARTINEZ.

What a whirlwind these last few days have been! Thank you all so much! Five days, 72 backers, and more than $7,500 already pledged – this is a dream come true.

An extra special thank you is in order for our first corporate sponsor, The Association for the Protection of Fur-Bearing Animals! They are a non-profit organization based out of Canada that works to minimize human-wildlife conflicts and end the commercial fur trade. Check them out at http://furbearerdefenders.com/

We’ve made incredible progress but please keep spreading the word through your networks. We’re feeling confident we’ll reach our initial goal of $9,000, so we’ll be announcing our first “stretch goal” tomorrow. Our starting budget reflected the absolute bare minimum needed to get this film cut, but a bigger budget would allow for a longer, more thorough, and well-polished film; the addition of maps, graphics, and illustrations to help explain the scientific parts of the story; the creation of an original score recorded with actual musicians; and so much more.

THANK YOU!!!

-Sarah and The Beaver Believers Team I don’t see your name written up here. Mine is at the topish left. And Cheryl’s and Mike’s and Malcolm’s. Where’s yours? Did you know that we’ll get more about our urban beavers if you do your part? You could join at the 5 dollar level and show the world you’re a beaver believer! Or you could donate that nest egg you’ve been saving and really have something to show for it.

Donate today! Sarah has generously offered to send some footage for the beaver festival promo, so can you spare some support to thank her?

Showtime!

heidi08 Beaver-themed merchandise, Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Educational, Environmental, featured, Festival June 4, 2014

THE BEAVER BELIEVERS | a documentary

The urgency of climate change provides an unexpected opportunity for new partnerships and creative solutions in watershed restoration.

This inspiring yet whimsical film captures the vision, energy, and dedication of a handful of activists who share a passion for restoring the North American Beaver (Castor Canadensis) to much of its former habitat and range. Although this goal might seem esoteric or eccentric, The Beaver Believers shows us how this humble creature can not only help us restore streams and watersheds damaged by decades of neglect, beaver can also show us how to live more harmoniously with nature in an era of destabilizing climate change.

When beaver come into a watershed, they transform the stream system to meet their own needs for food and security. In so doing, their dams and ponds also create the conditions necessary for many other species to thrive. It’s a kind of generosity that is born of self-interest yet results in flourishing for all. What better metaphor to take to heart as we face the challenges that climate change brings?

In the end, our film is about much more than beaver and the people who believe in them, it’s about a new way of understanding our watersheds and our role in nature. By “thinking like a beaver,” we can create more bountiful ecosystems and more plentiful water resources, while also providing for our own needs and enriching our human communities at the same time. Beavers can show us the way and do much of the work for us if we can just find the humility to trust in the restorative powers of nature and our own ability to play a positive role in it.

Say hello to the launch of the new documentary ‘the beaver believers”. If it all looks vaguely familiar it should since they were filming last year at the beaver festival. They’ve been hard at work interviewing the other players and now are ready for film. Won’t you send them a little support to get post-production moving along? It couldn’t be easier and they have some adorable thank you gifts. I got the DVD of bloopers and out-takes because THAT’S what I really want to see! (Suzanne Fouty stepping in a cow-pie, or Sherri Tippie swearing like a sailor! hahaha) Go choose your own and show the world you’re a ‘beaver believer’.

Did you notice Cassy and our own Beaverettes in the promo? You better go watch it again. Go check out their slick website to see how it all fits together. I can’t put my finger on it, but this girl looks kinda familiar.

The Big Day

heidi08 Festival July 21, 2013

It’s Sunday so we are officially less than two weeks away from the big day. Worth A Dam will gather this afternoon for our last meeting, and yesterday my dining room table looked like Pier One Imports with all the items gathered for the silent auction. The musicians are lined up, vendors confirmed, and everybody but one group has paid for their tables so that’s promising. Prompting the inevitable question: Are we ready?

Now look at this map for a minute and just let it all sink in how much bigger this is than last year or the year before that. 40 wildlife groups is the absolute limit of what we can shoe-horn into that park, but what an amazing group of people. There are a lot of new groups that I’m very excited about, and some familiar groups that I’m thrilled to have back.

As you can see we have a new beaver charm this year, and a water drop which should be a nice addition. Since Kiwanis couldn’t donate as much this year, I’m planning to let adults do the activity for 10 dollars, so if you’ve been dying for one of these you’re in luck.

Now if you’ve finished your necklace and are tired of walking around talking to all the amazing folk about what they do or the wildlife you saw in your backyard that night, this should keep you busy. Why not sit and listen to some amazing music? The San Francisco Scottish Fiddlers are joining us this year and that should be incredible!

This year’s auction will feature some remarkable items, including a ‘not available in the entire country’ DVD of the Beaver Whisperers CBC Documentary donated by the filmmaker herself which won’t be aired in the US until November or so. Honestly, this could cause an international incident but it is so, so worth it. I expect a bidding war of beaver devotees

You could also spend some time talking to these nice people. They are the Whitman College students behind the new documentary in progress “The Beaver Believers”. They just drove back from Utah where they filmed Mary O’brien. This is a great shot of Mary and the director of the Semester in the West program, Phil Brick.

Now they are heading to Colorado to film Sherri Tippie. After which they’ll be heading to Martinez to film you-know-what!

You can follow their progress by liking their Facebook Page, and we are very excited to have them! If you need a reminder about the Beaver Believer project, listen to this. All in all, it should be a fairly amazing day.