Please be well ms Beaver!

Thank you to Cody Macartney and the sharp eyed pedestrian who called for help.

“The beaver's coat, which is usually oily to help insulate her in the water, was also dry and might be a reason she became hypothermic in the chilly creek and wetlands, Kinney said.“

Unfortunately detergents in aquatic environments are ubiquitous especially in urban areas and shallow water, and didn’t even exist at all 160 years ago when these animals were prevalent. It’s likely they are a factor in vanishing intertidal species as the planet warms because of their major impacts on membranes in even very small amounts.

Thank you to the Good Samaritan and Wildlife Center and all who are helping the beaver. Hope she will be better and back in her habitat soon.

Thanks Silver Linings for the idea detergents in our storm drains could be a factor in this beaver's nearly lethal experience.

I've been monitoring a 600' section of Hale Creek to the south of Matadero Creek which had its concrete creek bed ripped out in 2022 as an experiment. A variety of stones were placed to encourage aquatic life and on higher creek bed soil native California pollinator and other wildlife food plants were cultivated. The new dirt and rock creek bottom got through last winter's big rains like a champ.

"Matadero" means slaughter in Spanish for a creek named by the Spanish and Mexican settlers such as Juana Briones who was killed on the shores of that creek, trampled to death during a cattle roundup. How ironic and kind of wonderful that beavers picked that creek to recolonize. Quite a Seven Fires/Seven Generations prophecy coming true of present day people having to ask those who lived in the past for help to restore life here today.

Got word today, Tuesday December 5, this beaver died. Hopefully, we'll soon know why.

Such sad news

I hoped for good news about the Beaver after it received good medical care. I hope more beavers and other wildlife flourish in our area.

I trust the Palo Alto Animal Control department has the funding and staffing to ensure local wildlife are as healthy as possible.

Oh, no. Such sad news. I give my thanks to the person who spotted the lethargic beaver and the wildlife specialists who tried to save her.

I am sad to hear that this beaver died, despite efforts to save her. I hope the necropsy will provide not only the cause of her untimely death but also other information as to how she lived.

If nothing else, perhaps we can get at least a partial report card on the Matadero basin ecosystem and how we can better support the wildlife trying to eke out an existence therein.

That beaver was such a sign of hope for many of us.

I'm grieving along with others and hoping she died of old age and left many offspring.
Pollyanna?

vmshadle - Bill Leikam here at the Urban Wildlife Research Project. You are absolutely right when you wrote, "If nothing else, perhaps we can get at least a partial report card on the Matadero basin ecosystem and how we can better support the wildlife trying to eke out an existence therein." If you'd like to keep in touch with what's happening in that ecosystem, you might want to receive my monthly Gray Fox Report.
One of the other things that we must do is to get all that concrete out of the creeks coming off the Santa Cruz Mountain Range. We must return those creeks to their natural settings so that beavers, opossums, gray foxes, and all other wildlife now trapped in the baylands can move out and thus keep the genetic pool healthy. Right now, that's not happening. The genetic pool is not at all healthy.

Hear, hear, Bill! I don't even know exactly when and where Matadero Creek bed was covered in concrete or its weir(s) at Palo Alto's Baylands were installed to make more "flood proof" land for housing subdivisions (1950s?) and more dry land for the sewer plant (1920's?). To fix "our" ecosystem mess we need to understand why it happened and exactly who politically today still supports it.

Whereas studying the poor beaver to see what caused its death, I agree it is just as wise to study the creek, the water in the creek and other wildlife. I myself have notice far fewer ducks, egrets and geese in the past couple of years.

Oh, sad news. I hope this doesn't mean the end of the beavers in the area.

eyeswideopen: Agree the beaver was a sign of hope, so it's especially sad to read of her death. A line from "Night of the Hunter" comes to mind: "It's a hard world for little things."

I'm sad to learn Mrs Beaver died.

I believe Matadero creek was channelized in the 1970s.

Yes! we need to renaturalize our creeks and there are several pieces of good news here. First, the water district supports creek renaturalization, important because they manage the creeks. During the North Ventura Coordinated Area Plan (NVCAP) process, I & others lobbied the city to renaturalizing a section of the creek. With broad community support the City Council commissioned a study of its feasibility in the stretch from a bit downstream of El Camino Real (where it emerges from 2 tunnels) down to Park Blvd.

Here's the study: Web Link which found it's feasible to BOTH protect against flooding AND renaturalize the creek, to include a soil bottom planted with shrubs & trees, and use a plantable retaining wall (making it easier for small animals to access it). It studied 3 concepts: Concept 1 to remain within the existing 60' wide water district right-of-way, which now includes both the creek and adjacent access for maintenance; Concept 2 to expand the renaturalized segment to 80' thus involving private and public property to either side; Concept 3 to expand to 100' which allows for the most natural meandering of the creek.

Deciding on NVCAP, Council directed Staff to pursue renaturalizing the creek to the greatest extent possible. When John Boulware Park was redesigned, a wide swath bordering the creek was kept natural to allow the creek to be widened into this area. And, as part of a development deal reached with the city, Sobrato Org donated 3 acres north of the creek to the city, most of which will be a park. So the space if available for full naturalization!

Since it's feasible in 60', I hope it will be feasible in the remaining stretch from Alma to 101, which is about the same width. We'll need people to urge the city to do so!