So yesterday’s meeting of the California Natural Resources agency was highly anticipated and very well received. It kicked off with a rousing historical introduction by Ben Goldfarb who came with his A game summary of what the state used to be like and what we lost when our beavers were taken from us. Then Kate summed up OAEC’s participation in the issue. Then Kenneth McDermit of the Tule Tribe talked about wanting beavers, then beaver friend Karen Pope gave a rousing speech from the forestry perspective, Valerie talked about the beaver restoration team and Chuck Bonham himself even showed up in person.
His notes were the most interesting to me.
My ears perked up when he started by alluding to the many changes the department had been through already and brought up the work of one swiss psychiatrist who wrote about our cycle of adjustments to change.
Just to be clear he was alluding to Kubler Ross and the five stages of grief, Which seeing his rueful expression I could literally belief he had been through about beavers:
DENIAL: Beavers are not native to California, Beavers don’t belong in the Sierras,or Martinez, or San Diego,
ANGER: A century of unlimited unreported depredation permits to every county in the state. No assessment of the population or depredation impact on population.
DEPRESSION: Not bothering to follow science on the value of beavers to salmon or water storage, Not attending conferences where you might learn more, Not fighting USDA lawsuits and not changing policy.
BARGAINING: Allowing limited beaver relocation. Beavers may be of some value on the landscape but not here.
ACCEPTANCE: Beavers belong on the landscape and perform vital ecosystem services for us. We can coexist with them by wrapping trees and installing flow devices. We can do this, We should do this. We are doing this.
It all seemed to fit fairly well and I must admit that I was touched he would explain it in psychological terms just because I happened to be listening.
