Certainly all of those apply to this unique resource. So when I approached Dr. Muller-Swarze about donating a signed copy for the silent auction at the festival, I was prepared to be ignored or brushed away (’Go away and come back tomorrow! The wizard will see no one today!) Imagine how pleased I was to get his gracious response, promising me a signed copy and polishing my tarnished advocate’s spirit with the words “Worth A Dam does great work, in both direct support for the beavers and associated flora and fauna; and educating the public. Your efforts deserve support.“

British : quite pleased : delighted

Bitter Tear Update:

Heard from Cheryl last night that IBRRC experts are still hard at work in the gulf. (600 dead birds so far and counting.) Add this to your “worst story ever” diary. The oiled pelicans you keep seeing are busy nesting. These skilled fishermen dive deep into the ruined ocean to catch their dinner and come up slick with oil. Devoted mothers all, they return to faithfully sit on their hopeful eggs (because even during an apocalypse children must be cared for). In doing so they coat the eggs with oil, which becomes a natural coddling process, sealing off the oxygen and suffocating their own children.

I want some of these!

It’s the right time of year. We are fairly certain mom’s nursing. The new lodge is looking tight and cozy and dad just took down a tasty new tree. Is it too much to ask for family number three?

The first 2007 kit was seen June 13th. It took a while to realize that there were four in that batch. Our 2008 kits were first seen June 4th and one was filmed atop the old lodge. Again there turned out to be four. In 2009 four kits were filmed in may but none of those survived. We are hopeful that this year mom is able to manage their care and nothing keeps us from welcoming new family members.

Cross your fingers and think positive thoughts as you cross the bridges. With any luck will all be aunts and uncles soon!

Poland has had massive flooding, rains, levee failure and deaths. The minister of the interior knows JUST who to blame.

Is the beaver “the greatest enemy of the flood defences”? According to Jerzy Miller, Polish minister of the interior, there is no doubt. “They live everywhere along the levees on the Wisła River and cause a lot of damage to them,” the Daily Telegraphcited. Since torrential rain caused rivers to swell beyond emergency levels in southern Poland almost two weeks ago, the surge has spread further to the regions of Wrocław and Warsaw.

Ahhh the beaver-levee conundrum! What could be more alarming than collapsed water walls because of beaver burrowing! We’re terrified of it in the Delta, so much so that in some parts of the state there is an official movement to replace the word “boo” with the word “beaver”.

By gnawing through dykes, digging tunnels in dams and thus sapping protective barriers from the inside, beavers caused further flooding. So far, the flood claimed 16 victims and around 4,000 people had to be evacuated. Overall, about 20,000 people were affected by the deluge.

Beavers gnawing through dykes? Seriously? Okay, middleschool sniggers aside, aren’t dykes made out of dirt? Are you really saying the beavers chew dirt? I’ll grant you beavers are excellent diggers, so maybe that’s what you mean. You should probably read the paper at the written by biologist Skip Lisle about the limited extent to which beavers tunnel. They aren’t coal miners. You know of course that most damage to dams is done by muskrats, right? Which far outnumber the beaver population in your country? And that muskrats are faster breeders and especially like to tunnel along levees?

Never mind. I’m sure you’ve thought this through.

During the course of the catastrophe, local governments increased the hunting quota on the apparently unconcerned beaver to mitigate the problem. Hitherto protected by the state, the Castor fiber (European beaver) seems to have lost its environmental immunity in Polish inshore waters.

Well there you have it. No reason to fix a problem by better planning or environmental management. Just kill some beavers that you’ve been protecting for a hundred years. Great solution! And nice blame shifting. I see a promotion in your future.

Yet, blaming and preying on the beaver appears, once again, to be a way of dealing with the unforeseen consequences of human actions. It is not the first time that Poland experienced such a devastating flood. In 1997, when the country was hit by the most severe deluge in recent history, 54 people died, more than 150,000 people were evacuated and the overall damages accounted for billions of euros. The question remains, what measures have been taken to prevent and deal with such emergencies?

Seven Maids Update:

Well it looks like the top kill isn’t working, although BP will tell us more when they’re good and ready thank you very much. In the mean time you should definitely read the article in today’s New York Times about what’s being found below the surface.

Yesterday morning Mom beaver was seen chewing willow with another, mostly adult beaver that was not dad. We were thinking our three yearlings, not seen since March, had moved on to seek their fortunes. Apparently at least one of them is still around.

Yearlings “disperse” around their second year and head off looking for territory of their own. They will go anywhere from 2-30 miles away looking for a place to call home. Sometimes you hear the very strong belief that “beavers always go down stream from their parents”, but obviously if that were true by now all the beavers in the world would be in the ocean. In fact, several dissertations have been done on this subject, and it turns out that slightly more yearlings go upstream than downstream, but that the ones that go upstream are more likely to come back.

“Coming back” is an interesting thing beaver families allow. Although they wouldn’t let another beaver move into the territory, they will let yearlings come back and hang out with the colony for a while. Every family member recognizes them by their scent. Beavers are the only animal besides porcupines where the females “disperse” for greater distance than the males. This again speaks to how importantly the beaver family is a matriarchal society. It’s important to note that as unlikely as it seems, dispersal also happens over land. Beavers walk their way to freedom, and often when we are at displays or events the most prominent story we hear from strangers is that “once they saw a beaver hit by a car.” In fact, more people have probably seen a dead beaver than a live one, I guess because they stay still longer.

At any rate, one of our yearlings is in the lodge still, and whether this means he didn’t ever leave, or he’s come back to try again, we have a family of at least three, possibly more. Interestingly mom was seen swimming upstream last night, past Starbucks, past ward street and towards where the creek is under cement. Not sure what that’s about, but very interesting to ponder.

“If seven maids with seven mops
Swept it for half a year.
Do you suppose,” the Walrus said,
“That they could get it clear?”
“I doubt it,” said the Carpenter,
And shed a bitter tear.

Lewis Carrol

“Unprecedented”. “Nobody could have predicted”. “Never before”. These words keep getting used to describe the oil volcano that is busily digesting its plug at the moment. Here’s some very smart reporting showing you that this isn’t as unexpected or new as you might think.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Beaver friend MBG from the UK points out this clip from the BBC about the effects of the Scottish Beaver Trial. It’s been startling how few beaver people are soundly familiar with this concept, even though they’ve done the same thing with a wimpy house plant or a scraggly sapling in their garden many times. Nice to see it explained on National television.

“If seven maids with seven mops
Swept it for half a year.
Do you suppose,” the Walrus said,
“That they could get it clear?”
“I doubt it,” said the Carpenter,
And shed a bitter tear.

Lewis Carrol

Since news of the top kill’s progress is precariously changing by the minute, I will leave you with something more reliably hopeful: the generosity and creativity of children. Olivia Bouler is an 11 year old artist in New York who was feeling hopeless and overwhelmed by what she saw in the gulf. She responded powerfully by writing Audubon and pledging to help by donating one of her lovely bird drawings for any donor to the cause.

Dear Audubon Society,
As you are all aware of, the oil spill in the Gulf is devastating. My mom has already donated a lot of money to help, but I have an idea that may also help. I am a decent drawer, and I was wondering if I could sell some bird paintings and the profits to your organization. My mom is in touch with an art gallery where I live. She is going to sell them here. I also am hoping to go to Cornell in the future. I want to become an ornithologist. I know a few species of birds. I also acknowledge that this is breeding time for plovers, terns etc. I will do all in my strength to earn money. All I need is your OK. Here is a picture of a northern cardinal as a sample.
Thank you for your time.
Olivia
11 years and willing to help.

Her facebook page now boasts some 1871 fans, and other children are sending their own heart-stopping artwork to her as well. The Huffington Post reports that

Each person that makes a donation to the National Audubon Society, The Sierra Club, The Weeks Bay Foundation, The Mobile Bay Estuary Program or the National Wildlife Federation can e-mail Olivia’s mother to receive one of Olivia’s drawings. E-mails should be sent to nadinebouler@hotmail.com.

Early morning visitors to the dam this week have been treated to a spectacular display of winged mammals over and under bridges, over and under trees and swooping back to bed under the clay tiles they call home. These are Mexican freetailed bats, such fast flyers that they are considered the “jets of the bat world”. They prefer to roost in caves but will settle for attics and abandon buildings. They like to be close to water because it draws the insects they eat and also allows them to drink.

The Evening Emergence: Photo © Lynn McBride

A single bat baby is born each summer and must roost on its own. It’s mother must find it to feed, identifying its call out of hundreds or thousands. Before you reach for that phone to call the exterminator you should know that a single colony can consume as much as 250 pounds of insect a night. Every individual can eat 600 mosquitoes a night. Now that’s what I call a bug zapper.

If you head down to the beaver dams after dinner, before they’re out, and you are blessed with sharp ears you can hear them chittering as they get ready to wake up for a night of feeding. These bats migrate every winter to mate, and are among the most widespread mammal we have. However populations are sharply declining, and this is thought to be do to all the insecticides sprayed on their nightly meals.

Our bats are not declining. While you’re looking down in the water for beavers don’t forget to look up for bats. They’re quite a sight.

“If seven maids with seven mops
Swept it for half a year.
Do you suppose,” the Walrus said,
“That they could get it clear?”
“I doubt it,” said the Carpenter,
And shed a bitter tear.

Lewis Carrol

I have decided to give up trying not to post about the oil in the gulf. It’s on my mind. I want it to be on everyone’s mind. Last night on PBS Newshour BP Managing Director Robert Dudley said that they had deliberately underreported the amount of oil originally so as not to alarm people. The mind reels. The jaw drops.  I’ll just post a daily piece of news about the effects or the arrogance or the heroism or the cowardice or the ramifications under my beaver-beat and I promise when they plug the leak I’ll stop.

I’ve been fiddling for a while with a list of things the beavers have taught me and trying to turn it into something helpful to present at my talk at Close to Home in June. Mind you, this isn’t Letterman’s top ten list, but I’m pretty happy with it. Let me know if you think I missed anything.

1. Pick a subject that you love. Because you’re going to be stuck with it for a while.

2. Bring a camera. It helps if you can show people what you care about.

3. Offer solutions, approach the problems realistically. Find out whose famous for solving that problem and email them for help. It’s surprising how many well-known people return an email and how few will return phone calls.

4. Media. Don’t expect them to know about natural concepts like predators or tides or habitat or gravity. Provide photos, they like cute animals. Provide pithy quotes, they like easy copy. Provide video that is worth stealing and don’t expect credit.

5. When you say something don’t expect to be able to take it back. You have to get it right the first time. There is no time for context or mitigating circumstances. Short understandable sentences that are easy to relate to are best. Be prepared for the media to give the ’powers that be’ lots and lots more chances than they give you. Understand that they will probably never call them on obvious lies.

6. Identify your ultimate goal and be willing to make temporary alliances with anyone that moves you towards it. I mean anyone.

7. Remember that ultimate goal in your heart and be willing to sever or interrupt ties with anyone that threatens it. I mean anyone.

8. It’s not about you. Officials won’t do the right thing because they like you and for the most part they won’t do the wrong thing because they hate you. Mostly they have their own goals, alliances and Faustian contracts. You don’t matter at all. Keep that in mind.

9. Bring children. Children’s Art. Children’s Education. Images of children with the animal you are trying to save. Mothers with Children! Repeat as necessary.

10. Realize that the powers that be are counting on the fact that by the time you truly learn and understand steps 1-9, you’ll be so exhausted and demoralized that you won’t have the energy or inclination to do this again for some other species. Save something for the ride home and prove them wrong.

LA-17, a female Loggerhead, has just arrived at Audubon Aquatic Center, a facility of Audubon Nature Institute.Pictured from left to right Amanda Adkins, Jamie Mullins and Melissa Tomingas. photo credit Meghan Calhoun

This video was produced using the Daily KOS diary by “Fishgrease” who has worked extensively in the field of oil production. This is a short, succinct, shocking, description of what oil booming entails and why BP’s efforts are worse than useless. It took my breath and I’m still waiting to get it back. It has the kind of language I hesitate to post on this website (def NSFW), but it makes the point powerfully and will change forever the way you look at boom. I know not everyone watches every video I post but I hope I’ve conveyed how direly I think all of America needs to watch (or read) this one.

How’s this for a delightful beaver read? You can thank the good folk at North Coast Land Trust in Oregon for this article. Check out this spring’s newsletter that features our hero. It’s quite a testimonial. They must have heard Michael Pollock’s talk at the Oregon beaver conference because they are clear and dramatic disciples! I’m thinking the reporter deserves a little thank you note as well. Enjoy!

Last night we stopped down after dinner for a little beaver watching. Mom was out by 7:30 and making the customary rounds. She looked a little scruffier and skinnier but not horrible and her eyes look small but less swollen and affected. She did some graceful display swimming to show off for the visitors from amtrak (who picked up the flier and came to see for themselves) and then some sneaky swimming, leaving a rapid trail of bubbles from the lodge to the dam before she shot up and over and swam downstream. No difficulties moving around, apparently.

The primary dam is tightly woven and lovingly surfaced with mud. It looks better than I’ve seen it in months. And the amtrak people said they watched Dad earlier working on one of the secondary dams down below. Very impressive water management. Maybe he heard about his cousins building the dam visible from space and had a little spurt of jealous motivation. It was warm and familiar to see them and their work and know that even if our yearlings are off on their own and grown up (?) we still have a very active beaver colony.

I know a beaver blog can’t simply act horrified every day at the oil that’s gushing into the gulf, but this week has been beyond terrifying and I can’t help myself. Obama’s decision to form a commission to study the spill should be comforting to no one unless his real plan is to use those weighty prominent members to PLUG THE PIPE. We don’t need to study the leak. We need to STOP IT. They’ll be plenty of time to not-blame BP later. We need to stop the leak, not save oil, not save face, not hide the damage, but STOP THE LEAK. Putting BP in charge of the process is like letting Nazi’s promise to resolve the holocaust by sponsoring a “Truth and Reconciliation” commission. The EPA firmly told them Friday to find a different dispersant, and BP answered very respectfully “you’re not my mom, you can’t make me”. Now scientists are saying that these fragile marshlands might be impossible to clean. Mind you, these are the pathway for 75% of our migrating birds. So remember the next time you take out your binoculars in Oregon, or Colorado or Wisconsin or Quebec and go try to add to your lifelist between now and 2060 you probably won’t get the numbers you’re used to. Don’t believe me? Watch this: