People keep talking about the ocean apocalypse in the gulf of mexico as if it was an “oil spill’. I don’t know if you ever had the hot water valve burst in your upstairs bathroom, but take it from me when I say that the event is clearly not a ’spill’. Even when the calamity happened in my 100+ year old house we were eventually able to turn the water valve off at the street and stop the flow before it dripped entirely through my walls and ceilings.

There is, unfortunately, no ‘off valve’ for the BP wellhead.

Well, there was one, but it was mangled when the rig blew up and sank. In fact, I read today that in doing so it managed to kink the line a bit and that is the only thing that explains why the oil isn’t gushing much, much, much faster. No one knows for sure of course, because no one can see it. Compare it to the Exxon Valdez? A recent article admitted that if the wellhead futher erodes (which it certainly will from the force of the sand blasting it 24/7) the spill could escalate to the tune of 4 spills of Exxon Valdez proportions every week.

“The pipe could disintegrate. You’ve got sand getting into the pipe, its eroding the pipe all the time, like a sandblaster,” said Ron Gouget, a former oil spill response coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Even if the proposed techno-solutions of side drilling to bleed off the well (worked for kuwait!) or topping it with a giant domed funnel are successfully implemented they are a minimum of three months away (50 Exxon Valdez spills later) This is so much worse than an oiled coastline and a few black birds cleaned with dawn by worried volunteers. The spread is already visible from space, bigger than the state of Delaware and going to make the 600 miles prediction sound like a ‘patch’ in a week’s time. And what are they doing to stop it? burning what they can reach, and sending toxic fumes everywhere along the coast. Dabbing at it with sponges as if it were as simple as a spill.

Which it is not.

I can’t think of anything more alarming or anything more serious that has ever happened that wasn’t volcanic in nature. Or maybe this will move past volcanic proportions, as the oil seeps into the Pacific and the Atlantic and clogs the algae that creates oxygen for every living thing on the planet. Every resource we have should be directed at this problem. Every person should call their congressman and remind them this is why we can’t drill offshore. The streets should be filled with people, wearing black arm bands in mourning and walking to work in protest.

I thought absurdly of this charming scene from Sex, Lies and Videotape but there is just nothing as horrifying as the reality, which no one can film or, I’ll wager, even imagine.

IT GETS WORSE: Update

The Wall Street Journal reports that the well lacked a remote-control shut-off switch that is required by Brazil and Norway, two other major oil-producing nations. The switch, a back-up measure to shut off oil flow, would allow a crew to remotely shut off the well even if a rig was damaged or sunken. BP said it couldn’t explain why its primary shut-off measures did not work.

U.S. regulators considered requiring the mechanism several years ago. They decided against the measure when drilling companies protested, saying the cost was too high, the device was only questionably effective, and that primary shut-off measures were enough to control an oil spill. A 2001 industry report argued against the shut-off device:

“Significant doubts remain in regard to the ability of this type of system to provide a reliable emergency back-up control system during an actual well flowing incident.”

However, a spokeswoman for Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority said the switches have “been seen as the most successful and effective option” in North Sea usage. Several oil producers, including Royal Dutch Shell, sometimes use the switch even when it is not required by country regulations.

Experts have said that the remote-control switch may have been able to shut off the Deepwater Horizon well, and critics of have said the lack of the remote control is a sign U.S. authorities have been too lax with the industry. A spokesman for Democratic Florida Senator Bill Nelson argued:

“What we see, going back two decades, is an oil industry that has had way too much sway with federal regulations. We are seeing our worst nightmare coming true.”

Finally, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that BP argued against stricter safety regulations for the oil industry in letters to the Minerals Management Service last year. BP joined with several other oil producers to say that current voluntary safety rules are sufficient. BP’s Vice President for Gulf of Mexico Production wrote:

“We believe the industry’s current safety and environmental statistics demonstrate that the voluntary programs..have been and continue to be very successful.”

Photos here:

In the past seven days we’ve received a flurry of donations or promised donations for the silent auction at the beaver festival. Last year we raised nearly 2000 dollars and our most popular items were a certificate for two to Safari West, dinner at chez panisse and a years supply of Peets coffee! This year we are hoping for bigger and better offerings to tempt open the hearts and wallets of the beaver devoted and the beaver-curious.

· T-shirt (you pick the size)  “I support the Unexpected” with beaver – back/ our logo and name on crest – front;

· Mug – our logo, cream mug/green logo;

· Cards – b/w linoleum block carvings by fifth graders with poems by Beaver Defenders (12 cards / 2 of each in the pack of 24 – fit legal envelops);

· 8×10 beaver puzzle (our dining beaver photo on balsam wood scrapped from the local yacht manufacturer – laser cut);

· Books:  Beaversprite: my years building a Beaver sanctuary by Dorothy Richards (Hope Sawyer Buyukmihci wrote it for her from her notes)

· Year’s subscription to The Beaver Defenders newsletter.

Did I mention Sarah is a very enthusiastic friend? She also suggested that we poke other wildlife groups to offer items and it got me thinking about all those attractive shirtless b&w photos the Gazette snapped of Skip while he was installing the flow device. Maybe they’d be willing to offer one or two and Skip would be willing to autograph? Maybe Beavers: Wetlands & Wildlife could be persuaded to part with a year of their newsletter? Maybe the Lands Council could part with one of those snappy vests or Sherri Tippie could donate one of those little clay beaver figures she is famous for making? Certainly a copy of the new Beaver Solutions DVD just HAS to be included!

Any other ideas? It’s not even May 1st. We have lots of time to beg!

Friends of the Martinez Library invite you to participate in this Saturday’s ’spaghetti feed’ at the Shell clubhouse. For 15 dollars you get a delicious meal among friends and a chance to support your local library. The feed is May 1st and the money raised goes to the Martinez Library. Tickets are for sale at the library, Char’s flowers, or Rumain’s jewelers next to nob hill. Or call 497-0110.  I should also say that FOML has been among the staunchest friends our beavers, from day one when they first arrived on the scene. So helping them do their great work is a sound investment as well. Tickets will surely be available at the door also. Come help our library do what it does best! I, for one, have a few beaver volumes in particular that I might suggest they pick up!

This website was created in its current metamorphises by volunteer Michael Cronin. Before he disappeared ‘gently into that good night’ he struggled to teach me everything I would need to manage in his absence. He taught me how to post articles, add photos, embed video and create links. I eventually figured out how to fiddle with the widgets in the margin and became tentatively able to do most of what needed to be done.

He didn’t teach me how to do an upgrade though.

When you do an upgrade you first back up the site, then disable all the fancy bits, then do the upgrade, then put the bits in one at a time to see what’s broken and what needs to be fixed. Wordpress 2.9.2 is available now and it could do sweet, beautiful, fast things for us, but i am still squeaking by with Wordpress 2.5. The challenge is that every time the server updates, we run the risk of losing content because it no longer translates to these wordpress dark ages.

The world is a big place, and at least 700 people in the world read this website every day. I’m  hoping that  a few of you will know wordpress well enough to be undaunted by this job, or have a son or a girlfriend who knows someone that might help. Write me if you think you can help us help beavers. Media makes a difference and you could help us catch up to 2010 gracefully. Then we can help even more cities live effectively with beavers.

Girl meets beaver. Girl tries to save beaver. Girl approaches mayor about beaver. Girl implores warden about beaver. Warden promise not to kill beaver. Girl leaves, comforted. Warden hires trapper.

8 beavers and a destroyed dam later, girl is pissed.

The girl in this case is Taryn Greendeer, formerly of Clinton Wisconsin. The warden is Dave Matheys DNR (Department of Natural Resources) or (Do Not Resuscitate, i forget). The  trapper was Jeff Holey of Westby. And the sympathetic town chairman who patted her hand and then quietly urged DNR to take care of the problem was Jim Neubauer. This being Wisconsin there are exactly zero news stories on the short-sighted deception as of yet. There was some outcry locally and a warden, (Shawna Stringberg) (uh oh, people are pissed, better send in the girl) was sent in to do a townhall meeting with the folk who wanted answers.

At the meeting there was an apologetic air but an insistance that the action was necessary because the beavers had ‘dug an 8 foot tunnel under the road’. Ahhh Martinez. You trained us so well. Just 8 feet?  If you’re going to lie why not 20 feet? why not 50? I believe when we installed sheetpiling it was because the beavers had tunneled as far as main street. Or something.

I suppose its theoretically possible that the beavers dug under the road. But remember they aren’t coal miners. They aren’t going for miles. And being as you clearly have the entire resources of the DNR at your disposal you could probably think of a different solution than killing an entire family and several unborn kits after promising to protect them.  You know, riprap, fencing, crocodiles. I’m curious, how does Wisconsin feel about beaver abortions?

Alright, so Taryn is hoping that a few family members were saved and we wish her luck. I told her to get some school children onsite stat, singing or coloring or planting trees for a beaver memorial. And on the way to pick up the phone and call the local papers. It’s hard work to learn new things, especially if you’ve receive a government paycheck. I wrote Mr. Matheys and Ms. Stringberg about the valuable role beavers play in the habitat and suggested they look into real solutions.

I’m sure it would be helpful if you could write too. And drop a note to Taryn on her facebook page. It’s lonely work saving beavers!

Taryn Power Greendeer: Bent Tree Pond

Beaver Failure is an Orphan: Update

Dave Matheys writes back to say it wasn’t he that hired the trapper, he wouldn’t have the authority to do that, and that he was working on making installation of a flow device possible. Hmmm. I wonder who did? Could you check the name on your paycheck Mr. Holey? The beavers of Wisconsin are dying of curiosity.

I received word this morning that the final edits from Pinehurst Pictures & Sound on the beaver solutions DVD have been completed and Mike Callahan is on his way to pick up the very first copy for review. This means that we are weeks away from having the finished product be printed and available for people everywhere who are looking for a way to manage beaver behavior without killing. I can’t think of a better way to help Taryn in Wisconsin, Randall in Chicago, or Darren in Georgia. This is going to make a difference for beavers everywhere, which will make a difference in turn for the animals that depend on them for habitat; salmon, songbirds, turtles, woodduck, otters…you name it.

As I am fond of saying: it’s the trickle-down economy that actually works.

We are excited about the possibilities and wish Mike the best. We can’t wait to get our own copy and maybe one to offer at the silent auction for the Beaver festival. I bet the department of public works can use it to help the filter on the flow device which saw some cruel mistreatment this winter. Hmm maybe a copy for Fairfied just in case that perforated pipe stops working. And Sonoma if they get another vine-thief in their vineyards this spring…Antioch if it turns out the picture from Marsh Creek was accurate….Heather Farms if the rumors are true…Danville if the creek behind that man’s house is still dammed…One for Brock so he can add it to the OAEC watershed tool box…and don’t forget Los Gatos in case Rick gets really lucky….

Looks like we need a few of copies! Congratulations Mike! We wish you a big dam success!

So our historian friend Rick sent word today of research on the heating rocks used by the Indians in Calaveras county. Guess what kind of meat it appears the natives regularly ate? Umm that would be beaver. You know, the aquatic mammal not present above 1000 feet? The lipids were taken from a Miwok cave at 3300 feet outside Arnold. Apparently they’d throw a hot cooking rock into a basket or hide vessel to make their dinner. The rocks were later analyzed by Tammy Buonasera to see what the natives were eating and to make sure the lipid analysis was accurate. She questioned whether this was the case, as there were some natural rocks (not used by human) that also tested positive for beaver. In a later paper she focused on ground stone which did not include such traces. Still, it’s a whiff of a clue and I can be excited about it if I want too. The beaver lipids date to around 250 years ago.

Could this mean beavers were on the western slopes of the sierras? Clearly Tappe and Grinnell, with 60+ years of false reporting to defend, would say no. Obviously it was a hard life to be an native. First you had to catch your dinner 2000 feet down the mountain, tracking a species with which you were totally unfamiliar and then haul it back up the mountain to cook it on a rock. Tough gig.

I still say wide open is the direction in which this particular beaver myth is going to be blown.

One North American rodent has had more influence on politics, economics, international relations and nation-building than any other of its kind.

Its work ethic is second to none. Its hydro-engineering skills match those of the Army Corps of Engineers. As a swimmer, it is in the league of Olympians. It can outsmart any landowner who tries to evict him.

Who is this super-creature? It’s the American beaver.

Doesn’t this start out with a bang? This article by Valerie Blaine ran recently in the Illinois Daily Herald. I read it with wide eyes and wrote her enthusiastically thinking we might have found our media ally to help save the Lincoln Park Beavers. She was appreciative of my praise, but noncommittal around the Lincoln Park Issue. I read statements like, ‘I have to maintain my neutrality, can’t get involved, beavers in urban areas cause problems, blah blah blah’.

sigh.

Ahh Valerie. You were this close. You were a beaver advocate ‘manque’. In case some readers were absent that day, manque is a french word from the root of manquer which means ‘to miss’. It is used to refer to someone that missed out in life, missed their calling, missed their potential, missed a golden opportunity. I offer it for a reason. Valerie you could have turned your very interesting read into something powerful that made a difference for beavers all over your state, improving the lives of all the wildlife who depend on their wetlands. Instead you sang some of their praises, repeated their well-worn problems, and stopped your doxology with a sock.

You coulda been a contender…

Punch line of this sad, familiar story? Her last email to me mentioned that in addition to writing and naturalist work she also traps beaver for a living.

I got two interesting emails yesterday, that reminded me what a truly unique resource Worth A Dam offers for beaver understanding. The first was from Taryn Greendeer of Wisconsin who is worried about saving the beavers on her farm lands. I passed her email along to knowledgeable others and encouraged her to write about her concerns so we could identify solutions. Then I went to her face book page and saw that ‘discovering Worth A Dam’ and contacting us was ONE of those solutions.

Gosh. Blush. I guess there’s not much competition for beaver advocacy out there.

The second surprise came as an email from the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. They would like to use one of Cheryl’s photos in their upcoming exhibit on beaver adaptations. I put the curator in touch with Cheryl who will no doubt give permission, and some Martinez Beavers will eventually grace the halls of the museum.

As it should be, really. We did a lot of work that other cities can benefit from. It’s exciting to be part of saving beavers on a national scale.

Readers might remember that on the way to my parents home I pass through the Gold Rush town of Sutter Creek where a large beaver dam stops water on both sides of the bridge. Each summer the dam is knocked out, and in the past we have been alarmed that maybe the beavers were killed. Last week I got the real story.

In the course of researching beaver prevalence in California we found a delightful book written by a Sutter Creek native. He described his father, who was born at the turn of the century, checking his traps on the way to school and getting beaver, martin, fox. This was of course interesting to me as we’re talking 1600 feet elevation, and that if indeed beavers were trapped by his father it was about 10 years before the were “introduced”.

I promptly called the author to verify and ask about photos. He assured me that his father wouldn’t have mistakenly referred to trapping beaver because the pelts were so valuable. Sadly no photos, but in passing he mentioned the beaver dam that was there now, remarking that it had to be removed each year to allow for the rubber duck races that were held for charity.

I knew immediately which dam he was talking about, and was happy to hear the reason for its annual destruction. Still, I suggested, his town would be MUCH more recognized if they left the dam in place and had rubber beaver races instead.

I wonder if he’ll think about it.