Last night we paid a visit to the dam and did a little New Year’s beaver watching. Three kits were milling about and feeding on some willow, and a fellow was there watching them with his son. He had the air of someone who had been watching them for a while and wanted to explain all about them. He liked to wait at the dam, he explained, to get his Blood Alcohol Level down so he could pass check point on the way out of town. Did I know that the lodge was under the dam? Did I know that the city had done a really great job handling this? Did I know a beaver expert had come out and installed that “culvert”? Did I know that the city had built the dam around the culvert? Did I know they had to install the sheet pile to keep the beavers from tunneling under the building? Did I know how great it was that the city had handled this so skillfully and taken such care to let the beavers stay?
Sigh.
Here’s the thing: for the benefit of the beavers it is wonderful that the city gets credit for doing humane and creative ecological work. Give Martinez accolades for trying something new and let them bask in the glow of responsible stewardship. Never mind that there are deep claw marks down the length of Castro Street where we had to drag them kicking and screaming and whining every beaver-dam inch of the way. Never mind that they lied and manipulated and distorted figures every opportunity they got. The truth is, we should be happy when the city gets to look good because its good for the beavers.
But (and this is my point) it sometimes bugs me.
Its not like I can’t acknowledge their accomplishments though. There are things the city has done exceptionally well. Their “Campaign to Convince” has been remarkably successful. They convinced Martinez and the media that they had to spend half a million dollars to stop rodents chewing through concrete. They convinced everyone that they spent 75,000 dollars already on the beavers, 6000 alone on elevated police presence for the November 7th meeting. Heck, they convinced Fox News that the body of water wasn’t a creek. They even managed to convince Martinez and the media that never voting on the issue was the same as letting them stay.
Now that’s one heck of a job!
I mention this last stroke of genius because it was the most common error on our First Night Quiz. Very compassionate, intelligent people who knew what beavers ate and how they lived misunderstood their fate and thought the city had decided to let them stay for good.
Sadly no. The pope may have decided to close down limbo, but our beavers still live there.
