Worth A Dam – Page 5

Bridge Over Troubled Waters…

heidi08 Beaver News, City Reports, Creative Solutions October 6, 2009

Beaver Visibility Project: Part I

Tonight’s presentation to the Parks, Recreation, Marina, and Cultural Commission will include a presentation on the proposal for children’s tile art on the Escobar bridge. Alhambra Creek’s “troubled waters” has been the subject of much consternation and joy for the past two years. Let’s build a monument to mark the journey! The tiles were created with the help of artist Frogard Butler at our beaver festival. Others were added under supervision of Jill Harcke at the John Muir Mountain Day Camp. They are waterproof, weatherproof, and weary-proof. They are delightful to look at every time I see them.

The idea is to use the blank wall of concrete along the Escobar bridge as a base and to install three 6 foot long panels framed in cobalt blue. Each panel will have three blocks of nine tiles each, which will allow the images to be broken into visually pleasing palates, like patches on a quilt. The surface will be treated with a graffiti protection, so that any unwanted marks can be easily removed. We have already consulted with a general contractor who outlined the necessary steps and is willing to help with the project for cost.

It is interesting to consider that other than the beavers themselves and some little images on the kiosk, there is no visual reminder of the beavers in the entire city of Martinez. Information come from the media, the website, and the brochures we hand out at the library and train station, but don’t represent the city itself. Martinez, who has picked up the tab for the necessary flow device, (and that unnecessary other thing), has not taken credit in a proud visual way for an accomplishment that is recognized as far away as Tampa and Memphis. The bridge project would acknowledge the hard work done by our city and our residents, and the truly remarkable achievement we have accomplished.

Think about it: Martinez took a very conflictual issue and wove it into a trademark. Not only a trademark–but one that is still continuing to renew our urban creek and generate new interest in our city. How often when you tell people where you are from do they ask, “Oh you mean where the beavers are?”. I can’t remember the last time someone responded by asking me about the refinery blowing up.

The tile project would be a monument to the work we have done to beat our swords into plowshares…(our fears into flow devices?). It would be paid for entirely by Worth A Dam, and could be supervised by the city. And it would be really cute.

Part two of the Beaver Visibility Project would be interpretive signs, but we’ll talk about that later. Come see more at tonight’s presentation, or join us for moral support. The meeting is at 7 pm at city hall. The beavers have may have made “troubled waters” for Martinez, but only a fool would fail to see that they’ve been the bridge as well.

[youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=GYKJuDxYr3I]

Listen Live

heidi08 In the News September 21, 2009

If you are interested in green living and sustainability this show will give you practical ideas and ways to live and be green while helping the planet…

Speak to Dave: Call in between 8-9 am PT, 3rd Monday every month at 800-555-5453 or 310-371-5444 or Twitter or Email Dave at dave@daveegbert.com during his show.

The archived show will be available later as well.

____________________________________

Hope that was okay. I could barely hear the questions due to some audio weirdness. The best part was in the breaks when Dave asked me about the woodpeckers and said he had invited Rossmoor on. They said, are you kidding me? I think I said everything I meant to say, but forgive me for omissions. That was clearly the longest interview I’ve done on beavers…

Yesterday in Beaverland…

heidi08 Beaver News, Beavers or Social Ambasadors, City Reports September 10, 2009

We had some nice surprises. I started the morning with a visit to the dam and saw a few yearlings mudding about. At one point there looked to piece of dark hard debris on the secondary dam- right in the gap the beavers use to cross over. How surprised was I when the trash sprung legs, a head and a tail and proceeded to crawl over the dam, using the depression the beavers provided. It was a western pond turtle! He musta’ been moving fast or I would be able to share a picture of my walking waste.

Later a couple of very nice emails arrived, sent to the beavers (care of me), one from a supporter in Oakland and one from the Orange County couple we met at the dam last week. The woman from the EPA that included our beaver photos in the curriculum of every first grader in the state wrote to get updates and addresses. And we heard from Worth A Dam member Lory (on vacation in alaska) that she was in Denali park excitedly watching beavers swim around.

At the meeting there were more beaver supporters in one place than I have seen since the festival. Robert Rust (the kayaking creek cleaner) was there, along with a bunch of beaver supporters I had never met but who wanted to thank me. Ken Dothee came to tell me that his performing son (Nick Dothee) was wearing one of our 2008 beaver t-shirts on a youtube video and we should check it out. Of course I came straight home to investigate.

[youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=96lnu7q3yOI]

Oh, and what happened at the meeting last night? Here’s the short version:

Sometimes Goliath wins.

Access & Ambivalence

heidi08 City Reports, Creative Solutions September 4, 2009

UPDATE:

Go here to find out what happened at the meeting.

The question of access to the beaver dam will be considered by the newly formed Parks, Recreation, Marina, and Cultural Commission Tuesday evening at 7:00 pm in City Hall (525 Henrietta St). This kinder, gentler civic body counts several beaver friends as members, so we are more likely to get an outcome that is good for both the beavers and the city than when the ominous but ineffective chain was hung across the path with a warning from the Police Department.

To be truthful, Worth A Dam is rather ambivalent about the access issue. On the one hand we want to keep visitors from approaching the beavers, climbing on the dam, or visiting the lodge. We don’t want homeless sleeping or drinking down there, and we don’t want pets to come sniffing either. But on the other hand we can see the immediate softening of hearts that comes with standing on the bank and seeing beavers so close. Families and children and groups of all ages are mesmerized by the experience, and we all know we protect the things we care about. Our photographer could never have taken the pictures she has without access. I didn’t actually use the bank to watch beavers until the sheetpile-palooza left me worried about their safety and wanting to closely check each one. Before that all of my videos were filmed from bridges or street side. That is until I felt I was worried about mom’s eye and wanted to see it regularly.

Ambivalence is a developmental accomplishment. Having mixed feelings is something you are incapable of doing when you are three or five or a member of the Bush administration. To be able to hold both sides of an issue in your heart, to see gray area, and to really feel two ways at once is the sign of a more mature mind trying to figure out the complexities of the world. Our mixed feelings about access center on the fact that we want the beavers to be safe, and we want people to have an opportunity to be moved by their closeness.

Separate from either of these goals is the need the city has to not be sued if someone falls in or breaks an ankle. We think that issue can be easily solved by signs saying “Enter at your own risk” or some such language to indicate that the city doesn’t maintain liability for the area. We have suggested “Sensitive habitat” signs warning people not to approach the wildlife, bring pets, or climb on beaver structures and Worth A Dam has offered to pay for these. We generally feel that any fencing built should be gated and that Worth A Dam members and docents should be able to provide access, so that if a docent is on sight you can come down if you wish. Certainly we feel that any fencing that prevents access from the dam should prevent access to the lodge as well. And finally that nothing built to block access should interfere with the habitat or the trees in any way.

It’s a tall order, and maybe a few supporters in the audience would help guide the process. Come by tomorrow if you can and support compassionate decision-making that will keep our beavers safe and valued for years to come.

It must be the weather…

heidi08 Environmental September 7, 2009

I thought I’d start out with some images this morning of varietal feeding demonstrated by the Martinez Beavers: this is a yearling eating grass. And don’t worry, it’s not because he’s starving or can’t reach the high branches. Beavers eat a variety of plants, shifting their diet with the seasons. We’ve seen them enjoy tule, fennel, sow thistle, blackberry, and now grass.

[youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=yha7cgsnMRI]

Now for the real news…

The National Oceanic Atmospheric Association is the respected name in news that is too big to ignore. When there’s a hurricane approaching or a tornado warning or a sudden snowfall in the sierras, NOAA is the best predictor of what’s to come. It was report from NOAA that indicated to Louisana that Katrina was making her angry way to the coast. It’s NOAA that’s tracking newly formed “Bill” now and whatever Carley or Catherine that comes next.

I was surprised, then, when beaver friend Lisa Owens Viani sent me their new report on restoration measures for creeks. Its slick online tool “River rat” has everything you need for getting your tired, littered creek back to “Ship-shape” standards. It has advice on all the various tools you need to repair your watershed, and talks about the multiple hazards for our dwindling salmon population,

Guess what the NOAA recommends for increasing the numbers of salmon in an urban or rural creek? I’ll give you a hint, it starts with a “B”. It’s those crazy dams that everyone’s talking about! Apparently they make habitat for juvenile salmon in the winter, and the more salmon that survive early life to try their tails in the open ocean, the bigger crop your likely to have down the road.

Guess what they DON’T say is a problem for salmon? Beaver dams! NOAA is no fly-by-night, crazy beaver-luving organization. They are the arguably the single most trusted government agency in the world, so if they say beaver dams don’t hurt salmon I think we should probably isten. Apparently our very smart salmon can wait until high water periods and hop on over. Hmm, I think we might know this tune. Hum a few bars and let’s all join in! Afterwards maybe we can play a drinking game and do a shot for all time times we heard someone pretend to be worried that saving beavers will “hurt” the salmon population.

The loss of beavers, and subsequent degradation and failure of their dams and associated wetlands, has dramatically affected the hydrology and sediment regimes of many western streams. Impacts associated with beaver decline are particularly pronounced in semi-arid regions and likely contributed to impacts associated with grazing, resulting in accelerated channel incision and associated lowering of groundwater levels and loss of summer base flows (Pollock et al. 2007).A recent comprehensive literature review of the effects of beaver impoundments on fish (Pollock et al. 2003) illustrates that loss of beavers in all probability was directly related to significant population declines of virtually all native fish species cohabiting with beaver.

pg 70: Science based tools for evaluating Stream Engineering Management and Restoration Proposals. Prepared for NOAA Fisheries and US Fish and Wildlife Services. April 2009

Scratch that idea. No drinking game. We need to be sober to spread this good news. Who wants to break it to Scotland?