This year we were contacted by a physician in the South Bay with an interest in beavers and beaver history. RL offered to help update our Wikipedia pages and gave us some information on his local beavers. If you haven’t checked out his lovely entries, prominently featuring our own Cheryl Reynolds photographs, I would do so. Highlights include:
The Martinez Beavers entry
Yearling Beaver in Alhambra Creek, downtown Martinez Photo by Cheryl Reynolds, Courtesy of Worth a Dam 2008
The Martinez beavers are a family of beavers living in Alhambra Creek in downtown Martinez, California. Prior to the arrival of the beavers, Martinez was best known as the longtime home of naturalist John Muir. Two adult beavers arrived in late 2006[1], proceeding to produce 4 kits over the course of the summer. After a controversial decision by the City of Martinez to exterminate the beavers, local conservationists organized to overturn the decision, forming an organization called Worth a Dam.[2]. Subsequently, wildlife populations have increased in diversity along the Alhambra Creek watershed.
The Alhambra Creek Entry
Beaver in Alhambra Creek: Past and PresentIn November, 2009 the Martinez City Council approved the placement of an 81 tile wildlife mural on the Escobar Street bridge. The mural was created by schoolchildren and donated by Worth a Dam to memorialize the beavers and other fauna in Alhambra Creek.[9] |
Beaver controversy
Mink Returns to Alhambra Creek Beaver Pond Photo By Cheryl Reynolds Courtesy of Worth A Dam 2009
In early 2007, a group of beavers settled in a section of Alhambra Creek that flows through the city.[11] The beavers and their dam became a local attraction. Because the six foot high, 30 foot wide dam created a potential flood hazard, local officials proposed to remove the beavers. Increased run-off from developed areas along the creek has increased flooding in Martinez, a low lying city built on a flood plain, in recent decades. Although Martinez had completed the construction of a $9.7 million dollar flood control project in 1999, the downtown was flooded in 2005, ironically two years before the beavers arrived. A City Council subcommittee was formed to consider whether the beavers could be protected and flood risk managed, and was given 90 days to issue a report to the full council for a vote.[12] During this period, expert Skip Lisle was hired to install a flow device that could reduce the level of impounded water behind the beaver dam and mitigate flooding risk above the beaver dam.[13] The beavers have received national attention, amateur video coverage, a webpage devoted to them, and a new nonprofit organization (“Worth A Dam”) formed.[14] The beaver have transformed Alhambra Creek from a trickle into multiple dams and beaver ponds, which in turn, lead to the return of steelhead trout and river otter in 2008, and mink in 2009.[15][16]
Back in the dramatic days of eminent beaver death, I struggled with these pages. They were changed every day (sometimes several times a day!) until they got marked as “controversial” and everything was challenged as unsubstantiated. For example, the November 7th meeting was described as being attended by “people from out of town” which any one looking at the video can easily contest. It was so frustrating making references that were deleted that I eventually gave up and decided to focus on the web page which I could control and no one else could change. Thank goodness RL came along, because these lovely, professional entries add alot of visibility to our beavers. I couldn’t be more grateful.
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