Have you ever heard of the Idaho Lorax? He’s an advocate for all things natural in Idaho, and has been preaching the beaver gospel since way before I joined the club. He’s an different sort of spokesman than the science of Glynnis, the pragmatism of Skip or the endearments of Sherri. He’s more like the actual Lorax who Seuss described as “shortish and oldish and brownish and mossy. And spoke in a voice that was sharpish and bossy.”
All this is combined with an element of Bob and Doug McKenzie from the Great White North of the 80’s. I get the feeling he’s a kind of Mike Alford type in Idaho – often right and willing to speak truth to power but in generally unappreciated ways. There must be some money behind him though, because this TV program, complete with good audio and two cameras, was very well done. Listening to this discussion with Paul Schmidtlein, president of the Watershed Guardians, was kind of surreal. They said most everything that any beaver advocate would say, but in a very different way.
And 22.17 just blew me away. Go see for yourself.
“And we got places like say in Martinez Ca – They got one family- One Family! And they have beaver festivals and all kinds of events. And they have tourists there in Martinez where they can go visit the beaver!”
Every now and then I’m reminded that what we did something amazing in Martinez and that we have no idea how many impacts and echoes we sent and are still sending into the world. Of course, the surprising part isn’t what happened to One Beaver Family – it’s what happened to hundreds of human ones.
More surprises this morning from beloved beaver friend Ian Timothy who just completed his first-year film at Cal Arts. The subject should have special appeal in Martinez.
Muir from Ian Timothy on Vimeo.
