That would be Ghostbearphotography in Toronto. Just look at what’s featured on their site today?

That dam beaver chase…

Simon has told you all about his ‘curse of the beaver’, the chase for this surprisingly elusive creature. Well, maybe just elusive to Simon and me.

From his first post introducing the trials and tribulations we went through to find a beaver; to the story of the urban beaver that we discovered in Toronto one harsh winter day; to learning that you don’t want to get on a beaver’s bad side after we unknowingly got in the way of one: each post sparked some laughter from our readers.

It also sparked a wonderful new connection from a beaver advocate located in California.

Heyyyyyyyyy! I know that site! And you do too! Thanks Jill and Simon for recognizing how worthwhile beavers are! And plugging the work of Worth A Dam. They reprinted my letter explaining what we do and asking for a donation for the festival, which apparently got them interested enough to help out and spread the word. I’m waiting for the print to arrive as we speak. I especially like that they had their own “beaver-muskrat” mystery and thought our video was helpful.

FYI: Simon would really REALLY have benefitted from watching this clip from their website:

Ahhh, I always was fond of that film, my third effort ever. I had just learned to use iMovie and the world felt like my videography oyster! It remains one of my favorites of all times. All the footage is from 2007, and that tail slap at the end isn’t from mom or dad – and there were no kits yet. I filmed it before the time our first kits were seen. It was so long ago that when I walked to the lodge and saw a huge otter sitting on top of it I wondered if it was a beaver! Then that beaver swam out and did 19 tail slaps until the otter hi-tailed it away. I missed filming 18 others and finally got the last one, which accounts for my exclamation.

The reason this is interesting is because I think it means that Mom and Dad had a yearling already when they moved in to Martinez. The first woman who told me about the beavers in Martinez said she had seen three, but I never knew how much to believe her. The idea of their being a yearling comforts me because it means Mom was a little older when she died than we understood. I hate to think of her life being cut short. But if she had a yearling when she came that means she was at least 6 or 7 when she started her life in Martinez, which puts her closer to 10 when she died, and that’s about average I think for a beaver in the wild.

Anyway thank you, Jill and Simon for your support of beavers and Worth A Dam! And Planetsave is featuring that beaver lodge building from Canada film today, with excellent quote from Beavers: Wetlands & Wildlife on why beavers matter:

Busy Beavers—You Bet! (Video)

“Beavers reliably and economically maintain wetlands that sponge up floodwaters, alleviate droughts and floods (because their dams keep water on the land longer), lessen erosion, raise the water table, and act as the “earth’s kidneys” to purify water…. Several feet of silt collect upstream of older beaver dams, and toxics, such as pesticides, are broken down by microbes in the wetlands that beavers create. Thus, water downstream of dams is cleaner and requires less treatment for human use.

Nicely said, and very true. Thanks BWW and PlanetSave for reminding us!