Sacred Surprise

May 25 was one heck of a day. I got out early because it was going to be hot. I wanted to see what was going on down Dean's Fork. As I trotted along, I heard the twanging "glunk!" of green frogs. I hadn't heard that down there for several years, not since someone who shall remain nameless took out the beaver dam with a backhoe and killed the beavers who'd made a watery paradise there. Illegally, I'd add. Trespassing, and acting against the express wishes of the landowner, who wants the beavers left alone. Murdered the beavers, destroyed their home and the homes of countless other aquatic creatures, just because he could get away with it. They weren't hurting a thing in the world there. 

Cautiously, I moved forward, calling Curtis to me. And I saw...water. Lots of water. THE BEAVERS ARE BACK!!!

This is the fullest I've ever seen it, with the most magnificent sweeping curve of a dam. These photos can't really capture the scale of it. It's BIG. big big big.

I was so glad to see a pond where there had been an overgrown mudflat, I wept. And my next, immediate thought was, "I have to stop him from killing them again."

It was a drumbeat in my head. How to stop him? 

Suffice it to say that I've been working on it, through carefully placed conversations with key witnesses, through the best channels I have. Tracking down the involved parties, hearing their stories. I've been busy, working with dogged determination and a cruel and insensate devil breathing down my neck.

With the great joy that this beaver pond brings me comes a great responsibility to try my best to keep the furry architects safe. I cannot bear the thought that they'd be shot again and their beautiful creation ruined. This incredible pond! It's alive with fish and frogs (four species were calling as I made these photos) and turtles and green and great blue herons and belted kingfishers and red-shouldered hawks and wood ducks and who knows what all else.  Later on, dragonflies! And they all lose their beautiful watery home when the dam is ruined and the pond is drained. 

Say a prayer, an incantation, whatever you've got, to help me on this crusade. This is the best habitat I know, and I get around a lot of great habitat. It is sacred to me. Curtis and I decided to return in the evening with Phoebe and Liam, to surprise them with the new pond. 

Though Curtis and I already had about 5 miles under our belts, I really wanted Phoebe and Liam to see this. So that evening we set out. I didn't tell them what the surprise was. I just said there was something I wanted them to hear. (It was the clunking of green frogs, in a pond that once again existed).

They were delighted to see water in the pond again, and when we came back up after dusk had fallen, we saw the beaver gliding along in his new self-made home. Ohhh it was so beautiful, with the frogs (gray tree, green, mountain chorus and spring peeper) trilling and clunking all around us in the dark.

Pray with me that I can save this precious habitat. I honestly don't know if I can, but I'm trying. 

Hear a catbird and a wood thrush sing hosanna as this beaver floats past, checking me and Curtis out.

And Curtis, the best boy on earth, never made a sound, never pulled the leash, stayed respectful and silent as the beaver floated up to us. I'm so grateful for this dog, who intuits what I need from him. And grateful for these animals and this place, which saves me, even as I lie awake at night trying to figure out how to save it.