Looks like our beavers have been busy. There were felled or nearly felled trees in the creek by the parkinglot behind Bulldog BBQ. The large tree there had never been wrapped, but “leaned the wrong way” so the beavers chose to leave it alone. Last night they threw caution to the wind and let it fall. Jon and Moses pulled and cut the tree off the fence and let the pieces fall on the creek. Sadly one of our newly planted trees was in its path, but the beavers will have a happy feast tonight.

Considering the “unideal” specs of this tree, it was possibly felled by a yearling. At anyrate, the whole fam-damily should be out tonight to enjoy their labors so you might want to stop by with a flashlight.

Hopefully they’ll eat fast before city staff comes on monday and says the fallen trees are a flood hazard and takes them away. They have two nights, I think our beavers can manage.

This is our 396th post, and we’re approaching Worth A Dam’s first Birthday! Other great reasons to celebrate?

Our loyal readers will remember that we suffered a website blow last month and have been struggling to right ourselves since then. The kind viewers using Microsoft Explorer have seen a navigation bar of gibberish, and the rest of us on Firefox and Safari had to put up with general untidiness. Beaver friend Kelly boldly offered help, but Wordpress was not forthcoming in disclosing her secrets and he despaired. In one of those extended panics that just keep getting worse I wrote our friend Lisa Owens Viani of the San Francisco Estuary Project and said, “by the way who does YOUR web page and um…how do they feel about beavers?”

Lisa suggested a beaver fan closer to home, Jean Matuska who was one of our tree planting volunteers. Like Kelly I had no idea of what she did for a living or I’m sure I would have bothered her sooner. (I’m thinking any woman with a shovel can plant a tree, but how many can decipher html?) So I got my Sunday come a’courting email out and approached with the most imploring and unassuming tone I could muster to ask if she might possibly consider helping.

SHE DID!!!

Today in a burst of brow-furrowing, puzzle-solving, encryption worthy of any sudoko match, she rebuilt our navigation bar, expanded, resized and recolored the links and made more space in between. Then she went back and did it all again for explorer users because explorer is no longer feeling the love from Wordpress and obeys only half of every other command it is given. Next she unearthed the beloved Worth A Dam at the top of the page which, like a chameleon or cuttlefish, was there but had so blended into its surroundings as to become invisible. Mind you in the middle of this she continued to respond kindly to all my panicked emails and resembling Washington in the Potomac, remained steady.

And the best part? When it was all finished she said she might continue to help out in the future!

So Beaver friends all need to repay her kindness by following the link to her site and admiring the other sites she has designed. Maybe you have a boss or a colleague that is thinking about a new look for their online presence, or maybe you’re just interested in what a real designer can do. We owe Jean great thanks, and I promise to need her help as little as possible in the future.

Remember the former resident of St. Catherine’s who volunteered to take the beavers if the city wanted to get rid of them? It was Audrey Tourney, who we wrote about back in June and who founded the Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary. A former high school teacher, she went from teaching students about wildlife to dedicating herself full time to their care. She has a special place in her heart for beavers, and has raised hundreds of them.

 Audrey’s life took an unexpected turn one afternoon in ths 60’s when someone gave her two orphaned skunks to care for.400 skunks later she has only been sprayed 8 times, which gives you a sense of her gentleness and patience. She says she likes skunks “almost as much as beavers”, which is pretty high praise in my book.

From: Through the eye of Alan Gillis:

Beavers are Audrey’s favorites. Any current resident would make himself at home in your lap, and do in hers when pint-sized, feeding and nuzzling. Since they’re to return to the wild, close human contact is kept to a minimum. They’re as wonderful as Grey Owl says they are, the one who used to be a trapper and lived around Parry Sound. His cabin was loaded with them, very sociable and unstoppable. Can’t sit still for a minute unless they’re sleeping in your bed. If you’re a cottager, they could wind up gnawing your furniture. See the Aspen Valley website on how to deal with furry and feathered visitors, in a kindly way. There’s a downloadable pdf, Living with Wildlife. Animals should be respected and protected. With a little understanding, they’ll mind their own business, even bears.

Check out the website and follow the links to read about this remarkable woman, who faced life’s furry challenges and made a difference.

The Rossmoor woodpecker firing squad is making it very easy to make photoshop fun of them today…I’m starting gently.  In the meantime, concerned residents are asking for calls to city council

Please telephone and ask to speak to as many of the Walnut Creek City Council representatives as you have time to talk to on Thursday, Jan. 29.  Before placing the call, have the list of City Council members so you can ask for each person by name.  Call 925 943 5812.  The person answering may likely require you to leave your name with them and to also provide your call back number to reach you.  Be sure to ask for the name of the person with whom you are leaving your request  so that person knows you are keeping track of the call. Also impress upon them that you are trying to speak to the City Council person about a time sensitive issue and are hoping to speak to the council person the same day.

 

When the Council person calls, tell them that the Rossmoor administration has publicly gone on record that they are going to shoot the woodpeckers at any time now and that because of this, there isn’t time to wait for the next City Council meeting to address this issue.  You would like the City Council official to instruct the City Attorney and Police Chief to tell Rossmoor’s homeowners association and the Golden Rain Board and Foundation that the City police will enforce the City of Walnut Creek gun ordinance and prosecute anyone who knowingly violates it.

The amazing thing is how familiar all this is in some ways. Massive media attention, huge offers of help, and hours of public effort challenged by the narrow minds of a few property owners who aren’t willing to believe there’s a better way. The sad thing is that even if one mutual agrees to suspend the shooting and work with audubon, the other won’t, so the shooting will still trigger the population increase that allows everyone to say “see we tried alternative ideas and it didn’t work!”

It’s so frustrating. Lets try something less subtle:

Audubon California Sign the Petition to Revoke the Permit

Rossmoor group rejects Audubon assistance on woodpeckers, opts to go ahead with shooting

After talks on non-lethal methods prove unsuccessful, Audubon California calls for revocation of homeowners’ permit to shoot Acorn Woodpeckers.

Emeryville, CA – Representatives of Audubon California today expressed deep disappointment that their latest round of talks with Rossmoor homeowner groups had failed to dissuade the resident boards from their plans to shoot up to 50 Acorn Woodpeckers in an attempt to prevent the birds from drilling holes in the homes for their granaries.

Word was received late yesterday that one of the two homeowner group boards had voted to go ahead with the shooting, despite offers from Audubon California, Mt. Diablo Audubon Society and other experts to lend their expertise to the problem. The second homeowner board agreed to test non-lethal options but evidently will not agree to a permanent moratorium on shooting.

“We’re incredibly disappointed that the boards of the Rossmoor homeowner groups have elected to proceed with this utterly pointless exercise,” said Graham Chisholm, director of conservation for Audubon California. “We’ve offered them substantial assistance if they promise to call off the shooting, but apparently they’ve elected to choose this strategy that is certain to fail.”

Immediately after learning in November that the Rossmoor groups had obtained a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to kill up to 50 Acorn Woodpeckers, Audubon California and the Mt. Diablo Audubon Society immediately offered to help find ways to avoid the killings. In a series of discussions that included woodpecker experts and representatives of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the conservation groups not only presented clear scientific reasons why the shooting would be ineffectual, but also offered substantial resources to help the homeowners solve the problem with non-lethal methods.

“At this point, we’re calling on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to revoke the permit they’ve issued to the Rossmoor groups,” said Chisholm. “It’s obvious to everyone now that the permit was issued using faulty assumptions and that it is biologically flawed as it relates to the Rossmoor situation. Moreover, the homeowners clearly have not tried every non-lethal remedy, as their permit requires.”

Acorn Woodpeckers are a fairly common and beloved bird in California. The highly social bird is known to store food in large communal granaries drilled in oaks or other woodland trees. As housing developments, such as the ones in Rossmoor, have encroached into these woodlands, the creative birds have been known to drill their holes in buildings.

“Experts have told us clearly that in rich habitat such as where these developments are located, there is always an abundance of mating pairs looking for openings to establish themselves,” said Mt. Diablo Audubon Society President Jimm Edgar. “What this means is that if you shoot 50 Acorn Woodpeckers, you’ll probably see 50 new ones take their place within an hour.”

Edgar said that he still holds out hope that the Rossmoor groups will set aside their plans to bring in a hunter to kill the woodpeckers and accept the support that his organization and others have offered.

“Acorn Woodpeckers are very popular among bird enthusiasts,” he said. “They are very social birds that fill an important role in the landscape. Nobody wants to see them killed for just doing what they do.”

About Audubon California

Audubon California is building a better future for California by bringing people together to appreciate, enjoy and protect our spectacular outdoor treasures. With more than 50,000 members in California and an affiliated 49 local Audubon chapters, Audubon California is a field program of the National Audubon Society.

More information is available at www.ca.audubon.org.

In case you missed the thoughoughly depressing report yesterday from Susan Solomon’s climate change update, the newly released findings of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado states that even if we were to stop all carbon emissions right now, some damage to the planet will not be reversed for a thousand years.

Read that again. Even if we totally stop NOW, conditions will keep on getting worse for thirty generations.

In her paper, Solomon, a leader of the International Panel on Climate Change and one of the world’s best known researchers on the subject, noted that temperatures around the globe have risen and changes in rainfall patterns have been observed in areas around the Mediterranean, southern Africa, and southwestern North America.

Warmer climate also is causing expansion of the ocean, and that is expected to increase with the melting of ice on Greenland and Antarctica, the researchers said.

There is almost nothing hopeful about this report, except we can “hope” it scares the crap outta people and gets them motivated for big, drastic changes.

It might also be worth thinking about this:

Beavers Offer Solution to Climate Change

by David Malakoff

Listen Now

All Things Considered, May 3, 2008 · 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. Beaver dams create great sponges that store lots of water.

I heard from the teachers at the highschool and middleschool that they are working for entries to the poetry contest. I also heard from the superintendent that this will be pursued at every school in the Martinez Unified School District. I like to think that the creek seekers contest will be heavily beaver-laden. Much more lively than these austere entries with only two stuffed beavers for inspiration. Here’s a little more encouragement to get you started, from an online poetry hub by a poster called “Barranca”.

 By: Barranca

The Beaver and the Flyfisherman

It’s a standoff

And the Beaver is Pissed off.

The Flyfisherman sees

a likely deep pool

behind the lodge but

The Beaver sees

an Intruder.

The war begins with a sudden

loud splash behind

the Flyfisherman

which makes him think

a Savage on shore must

be throwing big rocks.

But undeterred, he

fishes on while the Beaver

tries to make himself even clearer,

patrolling the full extent of his domain

up and down the river.

Downwind, he treads water and

histrionically sniffs the air

as if to say-”Who is this obtuse asshole in my pool?”

Back and forth, back and forth

not ten feet from the Fisherman.

And now come Four Gorgeous Ducks

who cruise in peacefully

but intent upon their business,

they won’t choose sides.

At last

the Flyfisherman,

unlucky in his original mission,

switches to plan two.

Remember the St. Catherine’s beaver trapping story? Turns out they generated more than a little public interest. Hmm, whenever cities let the word out about trying to kill beavers they run into problems. Well lets hand it to them for picking up the beaver gauntlet. The author of the original piece contacted me and I put her in touch with Mike Callahan of Beaver Solutions, who spoke with her at length. As I read through the citizen outrage I was fondly reminded of our own November 7th uprising…

the beaver pond at st catherines from kdrmnd

Last night’s visit to the dam showed four rascally kits, a yearling, and a very loud chorus of Pacific Tree Frogs. I remember when they showed up last year: (January 27th) after a rain, all at once, almost as loud as traffic. These are the males who come to gather and advertise for a mate. They use “ephemeral” wetlands that temporarily hold enough water for mating, but won’t run as great a risk of their offspring getting eaten by fish.

advertisement chorus

In the days after their population explosion we got our first scaup visitors, and oddly all the frog song got alot quieter. Turns out that scaup are carnivores, and they probably climbed this creek looking for the tastey makers of that song. I thought at the time that the song ceased because the adults been eaten, but actually the “mating advertisement” ceased because the campaign had been successful. Procreation had occurred and eggs were laid. I’m sure the Scaup enjoyed the tadpoles.

The 2008 state of the estuary report says that scaup are declining in number in practically every watershed in the Bay Area. Except Martinez, where there were flocks of 30-50 seen for the very first time.

Listen for the frogs and watch out for their predators. Apparently the females don’t make any noise and that’s how the males know who to breed with. I read that they sometimes accidentally choose a soft-spoken salamander by mistake. Keep that in mind while you enjoy them, and make a noise or two just to be on the safe side.

They seem to be farther down this year, more towards the fourth dam. I think Hess scraped away their favorite places. Hmm. Some of mine too.

Our friends at the San Francisco Estuary Project are sponsoring a “Creek-Seekers” poetry contest as part of the annual Library of Congress “River of Words” project. Artists and Poets between the ages of 5 and 18 are invited to submit their creations reflecting the watershed nearest them. Here in Martinez we have LOTS to inspire.  100 finalists will be selected and 10 local winners will receive tickets aboard the Creek Seekers Express, travelling from Jack London square to Martinez with a guided estuary tour.

Poster.pdf

Maybe this can help get you in the mood:

Furry Ecosystem Weavers

Civic Pride: Alhambra Beavers

Keystone Species damming focals

Change the landscape; Change the locals.

If only we could find Vanessa….

Entry information is on the “poster.pdf” above or at the River of words webpage. Why not send your entries to this website too, so you can make sure your efforts get noticed! You will need your parents permission to include last names in entries.