Well, it looks like all of California has now gone the way of the Bay Area. From Sacramento to Santa Barbara people are being asked to shelter-in-place. Hello! Good time to read about beavers, I say.

We are all adapting. Yesterday I heard from Michael Pollock who is still doing well even at ground zero. And I heard from our artist Amy Hall who has now created a virtual Yoga Studio where people can log in to follow their favorite teachers. Mike Callahan sent some photos of the speaker dinner at BeaverCon 2020 and I thought you’d like to see them. I recognize about 30% of their familiar faces. Maybe you can spot some too. Click on a photo for a closer look.

Meanwhile, a park in Vancouver thinks they are installing a Beaver Deceiver and I for one am dying to learn what it actually looks like.

New ‘beaver deceiver’ designed to protect Beaver Lake from beavers

Park planners are hoping a “beaver deceiver” will counter the busyness of beavers in the lake named after them in Stanley Park. Chad Townsend, senior planner for Environment and Sustainability, said four to six resident beavers regularly work to block the grated culvert that leads to Beaver Creek and Burrard Inlet. Every two days or so, they gather enough logs and plant material to block the culvert, which park board staff have to remove to keep water flowing.

They hate this sound,” he said, referring to how beavers regard the sound of flowing water.“They dam it, we pull it out, they dam it, we pull it out.”

He called the new culvert a “beaver deceiver” because of the way it will be designed to allow water to flow but stop beavers from being able to dam it.

Now call me crazy, but I’ve read more than one article where people say proudly they are going to install a beaver deceiver with no consultation and no expert and it actually turns out to be a PEOPLE DECEIVER because it convinces folks officials are “trying” to coexist when in fact it’s almost surely going to fail and justify trapping very soon. That’s the point.

Maybe I’m wrong. Stanley park has been doing some pretty smart beaver management over the years. They are famous for their urban beavers, and not that far from Ben Dittbrenner if they need consultation. Hmm. I’ll cross my fingers for now.

Maybe you should too.