UPDATE:
Go here to find out what happened at the meeting.
The question of access to the beaver dam will be considered by the newly formed Parks, Recreation, Marina, and Cultural Commission Tuesday evening at 7:00 pm in City Hall (525 Henrietta St). This kinder, gentler civic body counts several beaver friends as members, so we are more likely to get an outcome that is good for both the beavers and the city than when the ominous but ineffective chain was hung across the path with a warning from the Police Department.
To be truthful, Worth A Dam is rather ambivalent about the access issue. On the one hand we want to keep visitors from approaching the beavers, climbing on the dam, or visiting the lodge. We don’t want homeless sleeping or drinking down there, and we don’t want pets to come sniffing either. But on the other hand we can see the immediate softening of hearts that comes with standing on the bank and seeing beavers so close. Families and children and groups of all ages are mesmerized by the experience, and we all know we protect the things we care about. Our photographer could never have taken the pictures she has without access. I didn’t actually use the bank to watch beavers until the sheetpile-palooza left me worried about their safety and wanting to closely check each one. Before that all of my videos were filmed from bridges or street side. That is until I felt I was worried about mom’s eye and wanted to see it regularly.
Ambivalence is a developmental accomplishment. Having mixed feelings is something you are incapable of doing when you are three or five or a member of the Bush administration. To be able to hold both sides of an issue in your heart, to see gray area, and to really feel two ways at once is the sign of a more mature mind trying to figure out the complexities of the world. Our mixed feelings about access center on the fact that we want the beavers to be safe, and we want people to have an opportunity to be moved by their closeness.
Separate from either of these goals is the need the city has to not be sued if someone falls in or breaks an ankle. We think that issue can be easily solved by signs saying “Enter at your own risk” or some such language to indicate that the city doesn’t maintain liability for the area. We have suggested “Sensitive habitat” signs warning people not to approach the wildlife, bring pets, or climb on beaver structures and Worth A Dam has offered to pay for these. We generally feel that any fencing built should be gated and that Worth A Dam members and docents should be able to provide access, so that if a docent is on sight you can come down if you wish. Certainly we feel that any fencing that prevents access from the dam should prevent access to the lodge as well. And finally that nothing built to block access should interfere with the habitat or the trees in any way.
It’s a tall order, and maybe a few supporters in the audience would help guide the process. Come by tomorrow if you can and support compassionate decision-making that will keep our beavers safe and valued for years to come.
