South Sound • Entered by Mary Taylor Goforth on October 17, 2022
Beaver issue and presentation planning meeting
October 13, 2022
Participants and Hours
| Pre Planning hours | 3 |
| Post Admin hours | 1 |
| Activity Hours | 1.5 |
| Participants | 2 |
| Total Hours | 7 |
Key Issue: Wildlife Protection
Activity Type: Other Administration (reporting, emails, calls, planning)
Key Partners: Members of the :”Beavallis” group in Corvallis/Benton County, OR
Short Description of Activity
Janet Strong, a Sound Broad and also chair of Grays Harbor Audubon, and I planned and met with Randy and Pam Comeleo of Corvallis and Shea Steingass of Benton County OR to discuss ways of beginning a grassroots- and/or agency-led effort to educate – and eventually activate– the public about the benefits of beaver on the landscape. The Zoom video wasn’t working that well for Jan so we couldn’t see her and had to stop and re-meet when our first 40 minute time limit was up, resulting in some loss of Jan’s presence. She and I met to debrief however and feel “on the same page” at this time.
Reflection/Evaluation
We discovered that the group in Corvallis (including a full time employee of Benton Co public works dedicated to water systems and restoration) started with a trapper in their neighborhoods who, through their work, became notorious and reason to begin a 2-year, 1000s of hours of work, application and grant program for non-lethal beaver deterrents on private land. While this process certainly sounds onerous, hearing of it made me aware of the need to identify the PROBLEM before heading into an educational or restoration-focused public campaign.