Do you remember being a kid and running home so excited to tell a story that you could barely find the breath to carry your announcement? Maybe you wanted to get home before your brother so that you could tell it FIRST! This is how I feel this morning, but I will exercise a modicum of self control and tell you the most exciting news LAST because that’s the kind of girl I am.

Yesterday I received my April-June copy of Bay Nature and guess what I found on page 11? Very nice colors and eye-catching location. The undeniably first of its kind advertisement for a beaver festival they have ever had. Indeed, probably the first ad for a wildlife festival of any kind. Nice.

I know what you’re thinking. How can you possibly top that? Well, how about a positive beaver article from Texas? Yes, Texas.

Walls: Beavers have value in conservation

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, beavers were hunted extensively for the value of their pelts. By 1910, their populations became dramatically low in many parts of the United States. So low that strict regulation of their harvest was implemented. Their value as soil and water conservationists is well known by many educated land owners and sportsmen.

Mind you, its no High Country News or Canadian National Geographic, but its definitely note worthy from a state that is generally known for beaver badness. All good things have to start somewhere, and I hope we see more and more beaver ecology coming from the Lone Star State.

Which leads me to our third good news of the day, and the most exciting piece yet. First some context. Back in 2010 I was invited to speak about our beavers at the Santa Clara Creeks Coalition Conference, which was a delightful day that introduced me to some fantastic advocates. One of the folks who attended my talk and got excited about beavers was the executive director  of the Guadalupe River Conservancy in San Jose. She introduced me to some folks who introduced me to some folks who got me invited to the California State Parks conference that year. She donated handsomely to us in 2011 and also really, really wanted to build a network of support for beavers in the Guadalupe, just in case she could get permission to introduce some down the road.

Um.

Guess what was just spotted  beside the river near a certain aquatic-predator named team’s silicon valley stadium?

Oh and it looks like the world might be changing today.

Some days I feel like I am scrambling to chip out beaver news from an already depleted quarry, grateful for a handful of pebbles I can string together incoherently. And some days I definitely get the feeling that everything is handed to me on a silver platter and all I have to do is savor and share.

Like this picture, sent yesterday by Mary O’brien of the Grand Canyon Trust. Don’t laugh at these boys with beaver on a leash because if it wasn’t for their hard work fixing the damage of the fur trade we wouldn’t have any beavers at all. I love their ruddy faces and the beavers complete impatience for the photo shoot. We won’t complain about a hard strap around their middle because its at least wayyy better than dropping them out of airplanes in a box.

Good excuse to repost this:

But wednesdays are full of riches around here, and yesterday when I was reading rather indignantly the dissertation that said flow devices don’t work I was checking out her references for this fact and came upon a researcher from Alberta I hadn’t encountered before who listed among his many publications, this recent one.

Potential Conservation Benefits of Wildlife Festivals

by Glen T. Hvenegaard

Wildlife festivals promote a variety of social, educational, economic, recreational, and community development goals. As ecotourism activities, wildlife festivals should also promote conservation goals. This article examines five potential conservation benefits of wildlife festivals which can be generated by providing: 1) incentives to establish protected areas; 2) revenue for wildlife and habitat management; 3) economic impact to nearby areas, encouraging residents to conserve wildlife; 4) alternatives to other uses that cause more environmental damage; and 5) support for conservation by educating local and nonlocal participants. The discussion includes wildlife festival examples, along with research and management needs.

The amazing thing about reading this paper is that all these schemes, efforts, and strategems we made up out of our own exhausted brains are actually commonly employed methods for using eco-tourism to promote conservation. Who knew?

Wildlife festivals are short-term celebrations of local natural wildlife features. They attract mostly local and regional visitors, and offer a variety of social, recreational, and educational activities.

From an organizational perspective, wildlife festivals are open to the public (Lawton & Weaver, 2010) and usually offer activities such as guided walks, presentations, birding competitions, wildlife carving  competitions, children’s crafts, and trade shows (Hartley, 2005). Most wildlife festivals attract a few hundred visitors, although attendance can range from a few dozen to several thousand.

I cannot tell you what it feels like to read a recipe that so clearly spells out how to make a dish you thought you invented. I don’t say that in a proprietary way, but rather in the way  someone who stayed awake all night reading War and Peace for a test might react when their friend tells them the next day that there’s a movie. We’ve been reinventing the wheel without even understanding the term ‘wheel’!

I got a kick out of reading how much money other festivals require and generate, and also how many were than one day so that folks stayed over in an area and spent more money. But I was especially impressed with this list:

Check out how many of those festivals are for fur-bearing mammals.  (That would be none.) Note how many of them are for animals of the feathered variety. The Martinez Beaver Festival is apparently a frickin’  unicorn.

This is my very favorite part of the article in directions for future research.

How is burnout of organizers and volunteers managed?

Now, for those of you following on at home, this was published in 2011 and is from the science department at the Augustana campus at the University of Alberta. Where Dr. Glynnis Hood is also a professor. In February of that year she attended a conference where yours truly presented on the Beaver Festival for the first time. Coincidence?

Yes, as it happens. Because we’re going to advertise the festival this year in the April-June issue of Bay Nature, which means we need the artwork in by February. Team beaver must have bought enough martini glasses to coax her into helping us again – (though more wouldn’t hurt!). We’ll also do a web ad on their site for July and hope it brings all the right sort of people!

Our ‘boots on the ground’ spies liasions attended Tom Purdy’s lecture on Urban Beavers in London Canada last night. It had more than 370 attendees and folks were turned away! Feedback from one lucky attendee follows:

I thoroughly enjoyed last nights talk at the library. Tom seems to know his stuff and I felt his view of beavers and urban beaver issues were spot on. He even mentioned the Stanton beaver story, but he was careful not to get into the politics of it. Good stuff. 80% of his presentation was about the life of a beaver, things we all know. At the end he mentioned solutions, again, all the ones we agree on and promote. He would be a great guy on our side if we ever needed that extra help to convince the naysayers!

Margaret Gelinas Dog Rescue Volunteer

Great Canadian Ecofest? Ecofest with a beaver on the logo? Be still my heart! Can we possibly chat about how beavers will be ‘featured’ in this fest? Wowowow! New friends for beavers! Here’s some more good news. Jon saw our newest family member (last summers kit) going into the old lodge this morning in the wee hours. He’s not a yearling yet, but he definitely isn’t a baby anymore….beaver-tween? And if you miss seeing beavers yourself, you will enjoy photographer Ann Cameron Siegal’s amazing beaver slideshow here.

(And doesn’t this photo look like ‘Dad’?)

Cick for a fantastic beaver slideshow - Ann Cameron Siegal

Small news today after our big beaver weekend. I have been working on my presentation for Oregon and wanted to share a graphic I made to show the beaver champions who have trekked the country to see our beavers. See who you can identify.

left to right - Ian Timothy; Sherry Guzzy & Mary Long( Sierra Wildlife Coalition); Skip Lisle, Leonard & Lois Houston, Sharon & Owen Brown (BWW), Mary O'Brien (Grand Canyon Trust), Amanda Parish & Joe Cannon (Lands Council) Michael Pollock (NOAA Fisheries), Brock Dolman & Kate Lundquist (OAEC).

Just so you know, that’s California, Kentucky, Vermont, Oregon, New York, Utah, and Washington. (43 states left to go, and we’re expecting Massachusetts in February). Whew, they should probably name an airport after us. All roads DO lead to Rome!

Also there is a new delight from our own Amelia Hunter, the talented artist who designed our last two festival brochures. If you’re not from around here you might not know that one of the many claims to fame of this city is the supposed invention of the “Martini” in “Martinez”. Get it?

Another dam martini - Amelia Hunter

You know you want one. Go here order yourself, your parents or your co-worker a pair. Be sure to tell her you saw it on this website, love her work and sure hope she agrees to do this year’s brochure!

I know I told you about Owen and Sharon Brown (of Beavers: Wetlands and Wildlife) visiting Martinez in October this year. Well the event appears in this issue of their newsletter and I wanted to share. Mind you the COVER story is the grand adventure of Sherry Guzzi and Mary Long and their Tahoe Beaver struggle. It even includes a quote from our wikipedia friend Rick! Here’s our story (click to make it larger) but you really should go sign up for your own copy and be part of Dorothy Richards legacy.Just a reminder that the beautiful artwork on that beaver was painted by the talented children at the Martinez Beaver Festival and the talented, gentle artist FRO Butler. Visit her fantastic studio here:

The audience at Megan's talk

One thing I was particularly grateful for this year I thought I’d share with you today. It has to do with our good friends at the River Otter Ecology Project. The brilliant and compelling Megan Isadore was able to give a very successful address recently at the Randall Museum for the San Francisco Naturalist Society. It’s the natural history museum in the city and very education focused and beloved.

Because they were interested in doing the same thing for the Rossmoor Nature Association we were able to swap contacts in a way that got Worth A Dam an invitation to present there next summer! Right before the festival our beavers will be featured in all their glory! I thought I’d better start studying up and put together this new species list.

(For those of you following along at home, that’s 15 new species (at least) since the beavers arrival in 2006.)Which reminds me of this prescient child’s contribution:

Beaver under Bay Bridge: Flyway Festival 2009