Great news out of London Ontario where the residents are banding together to pressure the mayor not to relocate some beavers in a creek the city is calling a ‘storm drain’ (IMAGINE THAT) and deal with natural wetlands in humane and intelligent ways. Click on the movie to go to a short news clip that will make you want everyone of them for neighbors. Or go here and read the whole thing.
The city promises to move the beavers in a humane manner, but that doesn’t make sense to Anna Maria Valastro, who organized the hike to raise awareness of the issue.
Moving the beavers this late in the year will doom them over the winter, because they will not have time in their new home to lay in sufficient food to survive, she said.
Saving the beavers isn’t the only point, Valastro added. Beavers are a “keystone species” creating wetlands that provide for even more species.
“We should be embracing the fact that beavers are returning, and occupying their ecological niche,” she said. “It means the environment is recovering. It’s a sign of health.”
My my my. Very aptly put. I may just need to take a vacation to London to meet such smart men and women in person! I received a heads up on this from Donna Dubruelle yesterday, and am very proud of their effort and their media. Endless pressure endlessly applied indeed!
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A dashed word this morning from Mary O’brien of Utah who organized the first ever ‘leave it to beaver’ festival at Escalante petrified forest state park yesterday!
The festival for a first year was much fun. Kids LOVED the tail painting and earning a hat by answering the keystone beaver questions. Two times a hike was led to active beaver dams; music all day; etc. A dozen stories were recorded for our Beaver Story Corps….maybe we can get some of those to you, too. Sherri Tippee gave her presentation Friday night; The Biggest Dam Movie You Ever Saw was shown twice.. Someone from the 22 Whitman College students that helped me will be sending some photos to post, ok? One of the students, Aviva, lives in the Bay area and after the semester ends, wants to come visit you and see your beavers. She’s been so enthusiastic, and led the group that sewed eyes and teeth on the beaver hats.
And while we’re waiting for photos, here’s a reminder of our first one.
- Our First Beaver Festival
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Oh and last night beaver visitors from Oakland (one of them a vetrinarian) who just got back from Yellowstone and were bemoaning to friends that they had not seen beavers. The friends told them sagely to GO TO MARTINEZ! And they did. Mom and Dad were working on a new tree down by the corp yard where they have been laboring on a third dam. Jr came along for some on-the-job-training.
