Posted on 11/03/2007 9:11:08 AM PDT by SmithL
A family of beavers popular among Martinez children and nature lovers should be killed and its dam torn out of a downtown creek to prevent flooding, city administrators have concluded.
The fate of the beavers in Alhambra Creek goes to the City Council at its meeting 7 p.m. Wednesday at Martinez City Hall.
Supporters of the beavers are aghast, saying the two adult beavers and three or four offspring have become a symbol of nature living near people.
"I think it's a horrible idea," said Heidi Perryman, a child psychologist who lives downtown. "You have second-graders making field trips to see the beaver dam. The beavers are an accessible way for people to connect to nature and this creek."
City administrators, however, say they looked for months but found no way to keep the beavers and their dam in place without worsening flood risks in an already flood-prone downtown.
"Beavers certainly have a place in the ecological system, but not in the middle of urban development," city administrators wrote in a report, "and not in an area prone to flooding where so much has been done in recent years to mitigate such impacts."
Some $9.7 million has been spent in the past decade to reduce flooding risks on Alhambra Creek.
Some downtown property owners want the beavers and dam to go. In an Oct. 31 letter to the city, the property owners said through their lawyer that the city should act "promptly" to protect the downtown from flooding.
The beavers showed up about a year ago, becoming a source of curiosity to creek watchers and a source of anxiety to flood managers.
During a moderate rainstorm Oct. 12, Alhambra Creek came within two feet of flooding at the Escobar Street bridge -- not far from the beaver dam, city officials say.
"Removal of the dam is essential if the city of Martinez is to be prepared for winter rains," concluded the report by City Manager Don Blubaugh and other top city officials.
If the dam is removed but the beavers stay, the animals will rebuild the structure, officials said.
The state Department of Fish and Game is prepared to issue Martinez a depredation permit to have the beavers killed because of their significant threat to property, city officials said.
Relocating the beavers is not an option because it would just move a wildlife problem somewhere else, city officials said.
"At first we thought moving them would be the answer, but Fish and Game won't allow that," said Dave Scola, Martinez public works director.
State biologists also worry that moving beavers into new territory would set up clashes with beavers already there, or disrupt the ecosystem in other ways, Scola said.
Perryman said the downtown beaver dam creates a minimal flood risk because heavy storm flows would tear apart the dam and wash it away.
But Scola said flood experts believe some of the beaver dam would stay in place, elevating flood risks.
Also, he said city officials fear logs from a washed out dam would snag on banks downstream, creating a flood risk there.
Martinez Mayor Rob Schroder said he reluctantly supports the city staff recommendation.
"The last thing I want to do is chase the beavers out but it's my responsibility to protect the welfare of the citizens," Schroder said
City Councilman Mark Ross agrees the beaver dam must go, but he opposes killing the animals.
City officials recommend calling in a federal wildlife exterminator to euthanize the beavers.
"It would be a travesty not to find a better and more humane way to deal with the situation," Ross said. "We have hundreds of miles of waterways in the Delta. It can't be that difficult to find a place for these beavers."
Martinez resident Heidi Perryman looks over at the beaver dam inside Alhambra Creek in downtown Martinez Calif. Friday Nov. 2, 2007. The beavers who took up residence a few month ago in Alhambra Creek have built a dam so solid that it has rendered useless the city's millions of dollars in flood control improvements.
I wonder if the nature-lovers will still think they are cute little critters once they have muddy water in their living rooms.
There are hidden contradictions in the minds of people who “love Nature” while deploring the “artificialities” with which “Man has spoiled ‘Nature.’ “
The obvious contradiction lies in their choice of words, which imply that Man and his artifacts are not part of “Nature”, but beavers and their dams are.
But the contradictions go deeper than this prima-facie absurdity.
In declaring his love for a beaver dam (erected by beavers for beavers’ purposes) and his hatred for dams erected by men (for the purposes of men) the “Naturist” reveals his hatred for his own race, i.e. his own self-hatred.
In the case,of “Naturists” such self-hatred is understandable; they are such a sorry lot.
But hatred is too strong an emotion to feel toward them; pity and contempt are the most they rate.
As for me, willy-nilly I am a man, not a beaver, and H. sapiens is the only race I have or can have.
Fortunately for me, I like being part of a race made up of men and women, it strikes me as a fine arrangement and perfectly “natural.”
LAZARUS LONG
Joe Flaherty, Catherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy, John Candy, Dave Thomas, Harold Ramis.
I am hoping someone will ask the Sierra Club if they want to volunteer to pay for any damages caused by the beavers.
I remember being astonished the first time I saw the size of the wood chips created by a beaver. Their jaws must be amazingly strong.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.