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id you know you can drive north in California for a very long time and end up in Oregon? It’s amazing! You just get on 5 and keep heading towards this – You can’t miss it!
And then when you get there you find lots of people gathered and talking about beavers! – how good they are for fish and water and creeks. I can’t tell you how affirming that feels. There are people doing the work you always dreamed about and people doing things you never even imagined. And THEY find YOU inspirational!
I even learned a new beaver word, which sadly doesn’t happen that often any more.
Fascine: Fascines, bundles of live but dormant willow shoots, are planted in the streambank in early spring. Layers of fascines are installed up the bank, each layer covered with soil.
It all works out because it turns out willow are GREAT for streams (stop erosion and incision), willows are GREAT for beavers (because they eat them!) and beavers are GREAT for Willow because they prune, coppice and make more water area! How serendipitous is that? Sometimes the earth really seems engineered. (Which Cleo had lots to say about, and pointed us to a book I missed that we must read soon: Red Earth White Lies). He also had very insightful things to say about the fur trade being an extension of Manifest Destiny: everything is for US and we
can use it UP. Really smart thinking. And his smart editor/author mom happened to be in the audience and had some very interesting things to say after my talk that I’ll share later. There was great inspiration from Dr. Lixing-Sun enjoying a moment here with popular presenters Brock Dolman and Kate Lundquist of the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center.
I spoke midway into the second day and was very enthusiastically received. Jon popped in to hear the talk and said it was the best ever. One fan from Oregon was so inspired she talked about wanting to organize a bus trip to the festival! The audio and video worked without a hitch which was a relief because I had a dream the night before that the file was mysteriously deleted. (!) People oohed and ahhed at all the usual things, but were especially excited by the Napa photos (thanks Rusty!) and our findings on the depredation permits! (Thanks Robin!)
But the highlight for me was getting to meet Dr. Suzanne Fouty who greeted me excitedly and wanted to come for dinner on Friday. We offered her the spare room, and wined and dined her long into the night talking about her work, her plans for the future, and how she got involved with beavers. We shared favorite moments from the conference, gossiped about beaver drama and even argued over using live animals or pelts in children’s education. (Imagine! Arguing with Suzanne Fouty over wolf pelts!) I learned a lot, and had so much fun I woke up at dawn to see her off on her 9 hour drive back north. It turns out she’s going to be working with Brock and Kate this summer so we might finally get her to the beaver festival after all!
It was a busy and dazzling three days. Exciting for me because there was a changed tone evident in which it was clear that more and more attendees weren’t just interested in beavers as a means to an end, but protective of the animals themselves. For the first time ever I had several speakers say that the BEST kind of beaver relocation was letting them relocate themselves and not killing them when they did! There was more heated discussion of trapping than ever before, and a frank address of what trappers take from the public when they’re allowed to trap on public lands.
Jon was a noble soldier driving the whole way and getting me there on time. We were even able to relax a little in the February sun after it was over. A perfect ending to an awesome conference. You should really plan to attend in 2017.
