Beaver friend WK sends this ecological detective story from tuesday’s Christian Science Monitor. Seems like there were some environmental do-gooder types that were upset by a stolen forest and ready to blame the loggers. Lots of woodchips all around and trees marked for future removal too. Hmm, sounds familiar.
Guys, no permit is required
There is indignation, and then there’s what happens when environmental activists see something that offends their sensibilities. A proposed new oil refinery, for instance. Or commercial whaling operations. Or, in a case that came to light the other day, an apparent illegal logging operation in northern Poland. It seems that some activists were out hiking when they spotted – to their horror – 20 neatly toppled tree trunks on the banks of a stream flowing through a nature reserve near the city of Subkowny. What’s more, there were rings of wood chips on the ground around other trees that were still standing – an obvious indication that they’d been marked for harvesting, too. Of course, the matter was reported immediately to local police, who dutifully investigated. But now we learn that there will be no arrests, no one will be fined or do jail time, and the felled trees won’t be confiscated. That’s because although the evidence was still there when the police arrived, plus a fresh trail left by a tree that had been dragged away, the culprits turned out to be beavers that needed the wood for a dam they were building in the stream for winter. Disdaining tact, a police department spokesman told reporters that the environmentalists “are feeling pretty stupid” right about now. “There’s nothing more natural,” he opined, “than a beaver.”
I don’t usually appreciate these “crazy tree hugger” stories (for obvious reasons), but I like how this ends. “There’s nothing more natural than a beaver” spoken by a member of the force no less. Pay attention Martinez finest! Beavers are as natural to the landscape as the people who gather to watch them.
And if think the beaver bloom is off the Martinez rose, go read Stephen’s comments in the recent sightings section about his visit last night to the dam. He met a certain videographer with a night light and got a great viewing with narration. We actually had lots of discussions amongst Worth A Dam members over whether or not to open the comment section on the blog. Some of us have heard and read so many crazy mean things about beavers we were afraid to try it. I made the executive decision to risk it last week, and the first fish we catch in our net is a beauty! Thanks for the encouragement, Stephen. We appreciate it.
