Long before I first saw the beavers, I heard stories about them from people who claimed to see them about from time to time. One woman told me there were three beavers, two adults and a kit, and it was her persuasion that sent me back morning after morning. She insisted that the dam had originally been closer to the Marina st. bridge, and had been removed by city workers during construction of the county building. At the farmer’s market the other day I met a gentleman who said he had taken photos of them from his kayak in June of 2006. I begged him to find the photo and send it our way, and wanted to share it with you. The remarkable thing is that it is obvious this is the mother beaver because its such a fortunate shot of her tail. Check out how svelte she was back then: a few willow trees ago. Robert Rust is the photographer and our new grandfather of beaver sightings. He says he has video of three as well. Enjoy.

Photo By: Robert Rust, June 2006

Do you remember the smartest animal from Hundred Acre Wood? Wol was deemed the most intelligent because until Christopher Robin went to school, he was the only animal who could spell his own name. (W-O-L) Martinez had a family of fairly prominent barn owls living in Assmblyman DeSaulneir’s palm tree, and many was the morning I’d stop off after the beavers to watch their progress. In the evenings when we sat outside for dinner we would hear the flap overhead and the chitter of their echolocation, then see them hunting for food. It was through these observations I saw that there were not one but three adults living in this owl colony, and in July photographed a fledging, which I had to add to this film to finish the story.

Humans can make bad decisions about beavers and owls. In September the tree was completely shaved and the owls displaced. I called Assemblyman DeSaulnier’s office in horror and was anxiously assured that it was a decision made by the landlord and they knew nothing about it. Perhaps. Ever since that time I’ve watched closely to see where the family would settle next, and have been disappointed that they remain incognito.

Last week that changed.

On Thursday night we sat on the patio enjoying the shifting weather and heard a familiar sound. THREE owls were flying overhead, hunting for food. I can’t tell you how happy this makes me. This means that they are living somewhere nearby. I’ve been checking all the tall trees in the area for bird droppings and owl pellets without success, but it’s only a matter of time. The owls aren’t far away from their original home, and if we all keep looking up someone will see them soon.

Happy hunting!

Pass an evening at the dam site and let yourself eavesdrop on some of the conversations going on around you. You will hear a host of beaver myths and myth-understandings, some that are alarming but intuitive and others that stretch the boundaries of common sense and make you smile. Most any time we spend at the site there will be moments of beaver watching and moments of beaver waiting, and I think this waiting period is what generates the imaginative explanations of their behavior. It has gotten better; last summer you might stand at the bridge and hear a dozen people talking about beavers eating fish. Martinez is much more beaver educated than it once was, but there is still room for growth. I thought I’d share some of the recent rumors that I have heard around town. I’ll start with the basics and then give you the more sophisticated fare.

• Beavers eat fish. False. This is a logical assumption in some ways since beaver dams appear to be designed to trap and increase fish population. Very often when I dispel this myth I am met with the followup question “Then why do they build dams?”. Beavers build dams to increase access to higher branches and because water to them feels like safety. They don’t always build dams though. There are plenty of beavers on wide rivers or in the delta that do just fine without a dam.

• There is another family living at Starbuck’s. False. Beavers are highly territorial and discourage other beavers from moving in by the use of scent mounds. Their territory is about two miles on either side of the dam. When our yearlings disperse they will have to go at least that far up or down stream.
• The baby beaver that died was poisoned. False. The baby that died in January died of roundworm parasite which had infected his brain and other organs. We are still waiting for results from the necropsy of the kit that died in April.
• Beavers have poison in their tail. False. I heard this from Luigi’s daughter who says it is the accepted explanation on the school yard of why beavers slap their tail to warn others away. She mentioned it when we were discussing beaver rescuer K.O.’s holding the beaver by the tail. I saw her blink and look a little horrified. “Aren’t they poisonous?” Don’t worry Luiza. Beavers have no poison and they slap their tail only because it makes a loud noise, just like a person clapping their hands.
• Muskrat tails grow up to be beaver tails. False. Bear with me here, this is complicated. I had a lovely chat at the farmer’s market with a very nice grandmother who told me about taking her granddaughter down to the dam. The granddaughter spied what most of us have at some time or another, and told her “I see a rat!” Grandma apparently laughed patiently and explained “No. It takes a while for their tails to get flat, honey. That’s a beaver.” Ahhh now that’s kind of precious, but no less untrue. Baby beaver tails start out flat and they grow up flat. Rat tails start out round and they grow up round. Different animal.
• The beavers will be better off on the reservation. False. I had to add this myth because it is the most potentially dangerous to our beavers’ well-being. Beaver trapping and relocation is a risky operation, and they would need to be quarantined for an unknown period and live in captivity. Even if the reservation had the right trees and ideal habitat (which no body knows because nobody has gone to verify this) it is a 5 hour drive to Plumas county, in a cage. Ask your cat how he feels about the drive to the vet and she can explain to you how this might be problematic.

Regular readers of this blog who are eager to show off their beaver expertise will soon have a “beaver quiz” to take here online. It’s in its final stages of launch, but it will definately give you a chance to demonstrate your hard won skills. In the meantime, keep your ears open for beaver myth-understandings, and do your part to gently dispel the rumors. Our beavers do all they can to make their behavior accessible, so it’s up to us to keep it real.

Dr. Seuss must have known the many adventures that would befall this beaver advocate. The weekend has been a veritable whirlwind of beaver activity. Yesterday Jon and Cheryl took the creek botany class at Heather Farms and learned many fantastic details about our habitat. We also made some important friends in creek-restoration community and were praised for the enormous visibility our beavers have lent to watershed issues. Last night and this morning we had author and publisher Penny Weigand of Bellissima Publishing down at the dam for a photo shoot. Then it was off to the Farmer’s Market where Worth A Dam collected $70.00 in donations, enjoined some new volunteers for the tree planting project, and learned several very interesting stories about which I can’t wait to share.

Our first visitor to the display was city engineer Tim Tucker who talked about finalizing the plans for tree planting and discussed tree location. We set a time of 9:00 am for the Saturday event. Then came a visit from a horticulturist and the curriculum coordinator at Heather Farms, who Jon had met the day before. She was very interested in our work and introduced her friend who explained she had been part of the Beaver Study Group coordinated between the Mt. View Sanitary District and the Lindsay Museum. The goal was to use volunteers to assess the beavers, educate the employees and deal with any problematic issues. They apparently did a great deal of work, visiting and filming, although no final report was ever issued. Apparently the woman who coordinated it for the museum is no longer there. The group worked for months on solving beaver problems. This came as a huge surprise to us, since it means that the technology of flow devices and beaver deceptions were known and available to this city ten years ago and still not ever mentioned in the initial response. The failure to learn from that effort is frustrating, and demonstrates the need for continued education. Hopefully, our completed report can stay around online for a long while to help other cities manage their beaver populations.

The next scoop of the day (and I’m saving the best for last) came from a long-time resident and Kiwanis Club member who said that a few weeks ago an effort was made to circulate an anti-beaver petition at the luncheon meeting. This was probably before I presented there, and the action was halted by those present who said that it was inappropriate to use that forum and its legitimacy in this effort. I had heard of a similar petition being circulated at Victoria’s Cafe, but can’t imagine it has gained much traction. I suppose Luigi’s many-thousand-signature petition packs some weight with the city after all. They feel they need a response. It is hard to coodindate energy for that kind of campaign— kind of like organizing a “pro-war demonstration” or a “we love our employers picket line”. Still, if their effort picks up steam the “They’re-Not-Worth-A-Dam” team can always find room for a table at the Farmer’s Market next to us.

Now for my day’s best news. In the midst of talking and explaining about the beavers we met a nice mom with a magical little daughter who explained that she was an aide for Congressman Miller. Not only was she a huge beaver fan, so were her co-workers, and they had watched the videos in the office. I can’t tell you how delighted that makes this particular beaver advocate. I respect the congressman enormously, am consistently impressed with his position on the issues, and up until November 7, 2007 his town hall meeting at Martinez City Hall was the most uplifting political event I’d ever attended. Now he’s got stiff competition. Always in the back of my mind, I wondered whether he might be interested in the beavers who’d settled into the creek in his home town.

It turns out our beavers have friends in some very high places.

Anyone who’s ridden the London underground or British rail will recognize this reminder to use caution in stepping onto the train. The famous female voice of Emma Clarke warns travelers all across the countryside to pay attention as they step from the platform into the railcar. Although she was ultimately fired for maintaining a blog of the same name, the phrase persists.

It takes on a whole new meaning when applied to our beaver dam…

“The Gap” at the primary dam is the narrow depression to the east of the pipe over which animals pass to get from one side to the other. Beavers, muskrat, otter, geese and even ducklings use the space to haul themselves up and over the dam. It is very heavily trafficked and in fact you see everyone approach with the same caution we might use to cross a busy street or approach a blind intersection. Because of the height differential of the waters there is no way to tell what might be coming from the other side until you’ve moved into position. Even Mama beaver stops, listens and probably scents the air before she makes her lumbering climb up and over.

It’s not exactly a toll road, but if we could track for just one day the number of webbed or furry feet that cross that gap, I think we would be would be very surprised. Residents and passers-by use the same route, and its a great place to train your eyes to see the most possible wildlife. If you’re at the dam this Memorial weekend, check it out and remember to “Mind the Gap”.

Isn’t that a beautiful word? It means coming at dusk and dawn, and there has actually been some debate as to whether beavers were “crepuscular” or “nocturnal”. Skip Lisle told me about a standing argument he had had with a professor over just that. He was very excited to learn that some of us had spent wee hours at the dam site and could say with certainty that they were nocturnal. At least OUR beavers are nocturnal.

First Night in Martinez saw several of us act as beaver docents from the bridge, explaining behavior and keeping things safe. We saw the beavers at 6:00 and at midnight and all the hours in between. It was kind of magical, bundled in the freezing air and able to watch them when they are usually alone. Imagining they’re crepuscular seems the height of egocentric to me. Like when you’re a child and you think the moon is following you. Man can only see the beavers at dusk and dawn so he assumes that’s when the beavers are out?

I have read that beavers are on a different internal clock than we are, some where closer to a 26 hour day. They often live in conditions where the daylight is inaccessible anyway. Think about what it would be like to be a beaver in a lodge under the snow for three months. You would probably decide when to feed based on your hunger, not much else. One woman I met at the dam had only seen beavers in Alaska. She saw them in daylight because the latitude and time of year made it “the land of the midnight sun” and that was when they could feed. (”There are strange things done, ‘neath the midnight sun, by the men who moil for gold…”) One might imagine that if you watched 20 different beaver colonies you would see 20 different beaver clocks in operation, depending on the available food and how far they needed to travel for their supper.

Our beavers, though, are nocturnal. I saw them last night at the “crepusculum”, and filmed them last summer at the “diluculum” but they are up all the hours in between. Mystery solved. Next question?

Oh and for your daily dose of cute, follow the link to this footage from the Pittsburg zoo’s new baby beavers.

Calling all Volunteers! Worth A Dam will be purchasing native willow trees from the Jeff Anhorn Nursery, (and Jeff has promised to generously donate trees well). Tim Tucker has coordinated city staff to pick up the trees and have them stationed for planting Saturday, June 7th. We need able bodies to lovingly get the trees in the ground, replacing some of those our beavers have enjoyed and hopefully securing continued habitat. We’re asking interested volunteers to register and presign the city waiver for creek volunteer work. Contact us and we’ll give you the details. If you want to become more knowledgeable about our creek in general, Judy Adler is teaching a “Quick and Easy Creek Botany” class at Heather Farms this weekend. Unfortunately if there aren’t more enrollments it might be cancelled and that would be a shame for our beavers who need good watershed stewards.

Drop us an email if you’ll be around or interested. By the way, if you don’t recognize the title of this post, maybe you better go here this fall.

The Beavers had a great day at the Farmer’s Market, and lots of support from the downtown shoppers. There were $67.00 dollars in donations, and generous words of encouragement. Our first shopping trip will be to pick up some willow trees which we better get in the ground before it gets any hotter. Luigi as always was full of help and offering refreshments. Apparently he’s done that quite a bit lately. Last week his daughter’s third grade class made a field trip to the dam. He gave them a tour and free, much-needed, bottled waters. The class expressed their thanks with this coloring, which he is proudly displaying. You may recognize the picture as from the beaver coloring book which our own Donna Mahoney got her colleages at Financial Title to donate for distribution. Luiza tells me she’s now working with her classmates on a clay model of a lodge and beavers, which I can’t wait to see!

There has been a steady stream of water related news stories over the past month and just last week East Bay MUD was the first to impose water rationing in sixteen years. Once again I am reminded of what it is that beavers bring to the discussion; water.

Water rationing, I can somewhat remember the seventies with the bumper stickers that read, ‘save water - shower with a friend’; I remember being introduced to low flow shower heads and toilets in the nineties. Here we are in the 21^st century and in Martinez it seems some have forgotten the lessons of the past while ignoring today’s concerns and would eagerly let fresh water run through the town’s grasp, straight out to the straights (Carquinez that is) without a care or concern.

In addition to all of the other noteworthy changes beavers bring, they also help combat climate change; one dam at a time. One beaver supporter forwarded this link beavers offer solutions about a town in Utah that is reintroducing beavers in order to slow down and conserve snow melt so streams don’t see a boom/bust water cycle between spring and summer.

“In the Southwest U.S., biologists are talking about returning beavers to rivers they once inhabited in order to fight droughts - which are expected to get worse as the globe warms.”

The report cites concerns from local residents that closely echo concerns here. But the concerns for Martinez have been addressed in bold, workable, systematic solutions. It’s time for the city fathers to step up and look at this situation as a worthy opportunity to not only reinvent our town but fully embrace its commitment to doing our part in staving off the effects of climate change.

After this recent heat wave, I’d prefer the beaver to the dog days of summer.

Linda Meza

For further reading on beavers and climate change see Beavers are drought insurance printed in Conservation Magazine and the letter to the City of Martinez from Sharon Brown posted in our Featured Articles section.

For last night’s beaver viewing I brought a friend and colleague who had never seen the beavers but who has bemusedly observed their grip on my life and free time over the past six months. Of course it was mama beaver who obligingly gave the best display near the dam: reaching up for the choicest willow and snapping it down with authority.

“They so BIG” my friend gasped.

The size of adult beavers comes as a real surprise to most people. I don’t know what we expect, but something more like a water-daschund with a flat tail is probably close. It’s remarkable to see these solid bodies hall themselves onto the dam, with their great heads and strong jaws. Beavers have an elegant design which allows them to be almost entirely submerged in the water and still hear, see and smell. This means that often what we see is the top of a little flat head swimming at the apex of a rippling “V”. Every once in a while you get a glimpse of the adult beaver body, and the response is pretty universal.

“They’re so BIG!”

Yes, they are big. Beavers do big things, so size is important. They cut down trees many times their weight, and haul those trees in streams and sometimes over soil to get them into place. They move into the middle of strong currents and push logs into opposition of the stream until they form a dam. They excavate mud and move piles of it onto their lodges and dam. They dig canals and trenches which they use for hauling and feeding. In addition to being a keystone species, beavers are considered a wetlands engineer, shaping the landscape as dramatically as any contractor. Recently I read an article calling the beaver a “surrogate species” as well, since they can repair some of the ecological damage caused by man. That’s a post for another day, but beavers bodies are big because their work is big. It’s directly in proportion.

There is national and international interest in how the little town of Martinez handles its castor-challenge. People are watching to see whether we can take the opportunity for habitat restoration, education and stewardship these beavers create. They want to know if we can possibly protect and value a misunderstood species, and show that compassionate and intelligent humans who are smarter than beavers need not fear them. Maybe if we show we can do it, they might think they can do it. You see, our beavers are big in another way:

They’re a big deal.