'Let It Beaver': Popular Wildlife Festival Returns

MARTINEZ, CA — What started as a controversy turned out to be a teaching moment on how an entire state can cooperate with beavers.

Now valued for their benefit to water storage, wildlife and­­­ fire prevention, beavers will celebrate their 15th festival in the city that was first to learn about them.

From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 29, over 50 nature groups will gather at the historic Susana Park in Martinez to celebrate urban wildlife and invite the public to join them.

Guests will enjoy live music, a giant mobile fish tank, wildlife displays and more.

Renowned chalk artist Amy Gallaher Hall from Napa will create a beaver mural in the plaza, and the Acorn MusEcology Project will come from Sonoma County to perform "original beaver music," according to Heidi Perryman, longtime organizer of the event.

The beloved event celebrates the unwelcome beavers who took up residence in Alhambra Creek in 2007 and caused a flood of concerns about the wildlife often seen as pests. The result: an outpouring of support for Buster Beaver, the original beaver father who co-habited with two consecutive mama beavers in Martinez for 10 years, resulting in 27 kits (beaver babies). Beavers believed to be his descendants have shown up in recent years in urban waterways in Walnut Creek, Fairfield, Sonoma and Napa, Perryman told Patch.

"The beaver population is rebounding all over the Bay Area, and we believe the 27 kits born in Martinez had a huge part to play in that," Perryman said. "Plus, the Martinez success story influenced new beaver policies from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife."

She encourages families to bring their children to the festival for an education about beavers and other area wildlife and their contributions to the local ecosystem.

"Take a photo with the Martinez Beaver mascot and let your child solve a wildlife puzzle while browsing the gift-laden silent auction," said festival founder Heidi Perryman. "It's a dam [sic] good time you won’t want to miss!"

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