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Free Will Astrology

Astrology

Nov 24, 2021

Week of November 24

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Aries author Chris Brogan says, “Don’t settle. Don’t finish crappy books. If you don’t like the menu, leave the restaurant. If you’re not on the right path, get off it.” That’s the best possible counsel for you to hear, in my astrological opinion. As an Aries, you’re already inclined to live by that philosophy. But now and then, like now, you need a forceful nudge in that direction. So please, Aries, go in pursuit of what you want, not what you partially want. Associate with the very best, most invigorating influences, not the mediocre kind.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Author Kurt Vonnegut wrote wistfully, “I still catch myself feeling sad about things that don’t matter anymore.” If similar things are running wild in your head, dear Taurus, the coming weeks will be a favorable time to banish them. You will have extra power to purge outdated emotions and reclaim at least some of the wild innocence that is your birthright. PS: There’s nothing wrong with feeling sad. In fact, feeling sad can be healthy. But it’s important to feel sad for the right reasons. Getting clear about that is your second assignment.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “I’ll walk forever with stories inside me that the people I love the most can never hear.” So says the main character in Gemini author Michelle Hodkin’s novel The Evolution of Mara Dyer. If that heart-rending statement has resonance with your own personal experience, I have good news: The coming weeks will be a favorable time to transform the situation. I believe you can figure out how to share key stories and feelings that have been hard to reveal before now. Be alert for unexpected opportunities and not-at-all-obvious breakthroughs.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): A study of people in 24 countries concluded that during the pandemic, over 80% of the population have taken action to improve their health. Are you in that group? Whether or not you are, the coming weeks will be a favorable time to go further in establishing robust self-care. The astrological omens suggest you’ll find it easier than usual to commit to good new habits. Rather than trying to do too much, I suggest you take no more than three steps. Even starting with just one might be wise. Top three: eating excellent food, having fun while exercising right and getting all the deep sleep you need.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Leo-born scholar Edith Hamilton loved to study ancient Greek civilization. She wrote, “To rejoice in life, to find the world beautiful and delightful to live in, was a mark of the Greek spirit which distinguished it from all that had gone before.” One sign of Greece’s devotion to joie de vivre was its love of play. “The Greeks were the first people in the world to play,” Hamilton exulted, “and they played on a great scale. All over Greece, there were games”—for athletes, dancers, musicians and other performers. Spirited competition was an essential element of their celebration of play, as was the pursuit of fun for its own sake. In resonance with your astrological omens, Leo, I propose you regard ancient Greece as your spiritual home for the next five weeks.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Virgo singer-songwriter Florence Welch, of the band Florence and the Machine, told an interviewer why she wrote “Hunger.” She said, “I looked for love in things that were not love.” What were those things? According to her song, they included taking drugs and performing on stage. Earlier in Florence’s life, as a teenager, “love was a kind of emptiness” she experienced through her eating disorder. What about you, Virgo? Have you looked for love in things that weren’t love? Are you doing that right now? The coming weeks will be a good time to get straight with yourself about this issue. I suggest you ask for help from your higher self. Formulate a strong intention that in the future, you will look for love in things that can genuinely offer you love.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): There’s a Grateful Dead song, with lyrics written by John Perry Barlow, that says, “You ain’t gonna learn what you don’t want to know.” I propose you make that your featured advice for the next two weeks. I hope you will be inspired by it to figure out what truths you might be trying hard not to know. In so doing, you will make yourself available to learn those truths. As a result, you’ll be led on a healing journey you didn’t know you needed to take. The process might sound uncomfortable, but I suspect it will ultimately be pleasurable.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Scorpio author and philosopher Albert Camus was a good thinker. At age 44, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature—the second-youngest recipient ever. And yet he made this curious statement: “Thoughts are never honest. Emotions are.” He regarded thoughts as “refined and muddy”—the result of people continually tinkering with their inner dialog so as to come up with partially true statements designed to serve their self-image rather than reflect authentic ideas. Emotions, on the other hand, emerge spontaneously and are hard to hide, according to Camus. They come straight from the depths. In accordance with astrological potentials, Scorpio, I urge you to keep these meditations at the forefront of your awareness in the coming weeks. See if you can be more skeptical about your thoughts and more trusting in your emotions.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Poet Renée Ashley describes what she’s attracted to: “I’m drawn to what flutters nebulously at the edges, at the corner of my eye—just outside my certain sight. I want to share in what I am routinely denied or only suspect exists. I long for a glimpse of what is beginning to occur.” Although I don’t think that’s a suitable perspective for you to cultivate all the time, Sagittarius, I suspect it might be appealing and useful for you in the coming weeks. Fresh possibilities will be coalescing. New storylines will be incubating. Be alert for the oncoming delights of the unknown.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): What could you do to diminish your suffering? Your next assignment is to take two specific steps to begin that process. You’re in a phase of your astrological cycle when you’re more likely than usual to see what’s necessary to salve your wounds and fix what’s broken. Take maximum advantage of this opportunity! I proclaim this next chapter of your life to be titled “In Quest of the Maximum Cure.” Have fun with this project, dear Capricorn. Treat it as a mandate to be imaginative and explore interesting possibilities.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “It is a fault to wish to be understood before we have made ourselves clear to ourselves,” wrote my favorite Aquarian philosopher, Simone Weil. I agree. It’s advice I regularly use myself. If you want to be seen and appreciated for who you really are, you should make it your priority to see and appreciate yourself for who you really are. The coming weeks will be a favorable time to make progress in this noble project. Start this way: Write a list of the five qualities about yourself that you love best.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Nigerian author Ben Okri, born under the sign of Pisces, praises our heroic instinct to rise above the forces of chaos. He writes, “The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love, and to be greater than our suffering.” You’ve been doing a lot of that excellent work throughout 2021, dear Pisces. And I expect that you’ll be climaxing this chapter of your life story sometime soon. Thanks for being such a resourceful and resilient champion. You have bravely faced—but also risen above—the sometimes-messy challenges of plain old everyday life. You have inspired many of us to stay devoted to our heart’s desires.

[Editor: Here’s this week’s homework:]

Homework. Gratitude is the featured emotion. See how amazing you can make yourself feel by stretching it to its limits. Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology.com

SMART Projected to Lose at Least $400,000 per Year Hauling Freight

Local News

Will Carruthers

Nov 23, 2021

SMART Projected to Lose at Least $400,000 per Year Hauling Freight

Among its critics, SMART, the North Bay’s passenger rail service, has gained a reputation as an opaque money-pit of an agency. Unfortunately, the agency’s takeover of freight service is proving no different.

Last May, the board of directors voted nearly unanimously to take on freight service in the North Bay. At the time, SMART had not formally studied the money-making prospects of the new business venture, but State Senator Mike McGuire and state officials vouched for the plan—and allocated millions of dollars to cover the agency’s start-up costs.

At a May 20, 2020 meeting, SMART board members largely embraced the idea, with some speculating which North Bay companies would be interested in switching to freight rail service. The idea of having direct control over all of the trains operating on the agency’s lines also appealed to board members.

Still, there were plenty of reasons to be skeptical. The privately-owned Northwestern Pacific Railroad Company has run freight in the North Bay since 2011, but the company’s CEO, Press Democrat-investor Doug Bosco, has long been secretive about the company’s specific revenues and operating costs. At the May 2020 SMART board meeting, Bosco said that the company had revenues of around $2 million per year but declined to offer specifics, claiming that that information is “proprietary.”

(As we reported recently, Bosco’s NWP Co received $7.47 million from the state as part of the process of passing the freight management from another state agency to SMART. NWP Co is currently running and storing freight cars on SMART’s lines for free throughout the takeover process. For more details, read “Freight Railroaded,” Nov. 3, and “Train Lines,” Nov. 10.)

However, a year and a half after SMART’s May 2020 meeting the agency is projected to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on freight for the foreseeable future.

At their Nov. 17 meeting, SMART’s board of directors discussed handling freight in-house or through a private contractor. The presentation promised to offer rail enthusiasts a glimpse at the agency’s developing freight plans.

Instead, staff largely offered potential freight revenues based on “conversations with NWP Co” and neglected to highlight an in-depth study which the agency hired a Marin County–based business consultant to prepare.

In February, SMART signed a contract with Project Finance Advisory Ltd. “to conduct a thorough and unbiased analysis of existing and potential freight rail customers within the North Bay Area.”

Over the summer, SMART staff told the board they would receive an executive summary of the full freight market report by Sept. 1. SMART staff have said they sent the summary to board members, however the agency never published the document for public consumption. Matt Stevens, an agency spokesman, did provide the Bohemian with a copy in early September upon request.

As we’ve previously reported, the executive summary estimates that NWP Co brought in between $1.2 and $1.3 million in revenue last year. However, Project Finance Advisory Ltd. could not estimate what it will cost SMART to operate freight trains, because NWP Co declined to share “detailed, itemized financial records.”

Curiously, the one-page Nov. 17 staff report for the freight discussion did not include any mention of Project Finance Advisory’s study, which, according to the February contract, will cost SMART up to $67,726. The Nov. 17 agenda packet did not even include a copy of the executive summary, which was completed months ago.

Instead, the agenda packet only includes staff reports from past board discussions about the freight takeover. Even more strange, a Powerpoint presentation for the agenda item cites revenue data based on “conversations with NWP Co,” Bosco’s private company. In short, instead of presenting the “thorough and unbiased” analysis of the freight market the agency paid a contractor to prepare, SMART staff opted to cite vague revenue estimates from NWP Co itself.

During the meeting, SMART Director of Finance Heather McKillop said that “we don’t feel super comfortable with the [revenue] numbers and what those costs are at this time.” McKillop suggested that SMART should gain experience and information by handling freight in-house to start, with the option to contract with an outside company later on. SMART General Manager Farhad Mansourian said that Project Finance Advisory Ltd.’s final report would be completed and published “within two weeks” of the Nov. 17 meeting.

Mansourian, Stevens, SMART board chair David Rabbitt and vice chair Barbara Pahre did not respond to questions about staff’s decision not to cite or include Project Finance Advisory Ltd.’s executive summary with the meeting documents.

Still, comparing the available financial projections offers a rough picture of SMART’s freight prospects. Financially, they range from bad to worse.

The executive summary completed by Project Finance Advisory Limited Ltd. estimates that NWP Co brought in between $1.2 and $1.3 million in revenue in 2020, with about 49% of revenues coming from storing rail equipment and cars filled with Liquid Petroleum Gas—commonly known as LPG—for processing at refineries. The executive summary also states that “The study did not reveal any new traffic opportunities that are likely to increase freight volume dramatically on SMART’s trackage.”

The executive summary offers three possible outcomes. The most optimistic projection, which assumes that SMART will increase “track capacity for car storage” and make other pro-freight choices, projects revenue growth from $1.4 million in 2021 to $2.5 million in 2030.

In contrast, SMART’s Powerpoint, “based on conversations with NWPCo,” estimates the company’s current total annual revenues at $1.7 million, with $1.2 million coming from freight hauling cargo and $466,000 from the storage of rail equipment and LPG. All told, 27% of current revenues come from LPG storage, according to SMART’s presentation.

Freight also comes with political considerations. The possible impacts of freight on communities neighboring train lines was a major issue of debate in the lead-up to the passage of Measure Q, the 2008 sales tax which currently provides a significant portion of SMART’s revenue. There are still political considerations today because SMART needs to pass another tax measure by 2029 when Measure Q expires.

Since 2016, NWP Co has stored LPG cars near Schellville, near the City of Sonoma. Well-organized residents have raised concerns about the safety of storing the potentially-explosive cars.

So, SMART’s freight takeover left the agency’s board of directors with a politically-sensitive choice: Continue storing LPG, which accounts for a considerable chunk of the projected revenue from SMART’s newly-acquired freight operation; or risk the rage of Sonoma Valley voters next time a SMART sales tax is on the ballot.

Susan Gorin, a SMART board member who represents Schellville and surrounding areas on the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, laid out the situation bluntly at a Nov. 17 SMART meeting: “Sonoma Valley has probably 20,000 voters … . And we’re looking at reauthorization of the sales tax. This could be a political issue for the Valley if in fact there is no movement on the tanker cars … . This very visible, graffiti-laden reminder is not a good representation of the possibilities of SMART.”

Ultimately, the board conceptually supported the idea of ditching the LPG storage business as soon as possible and handling the freight business in-house rather than contracting with a private company.

According to SMART staff cost projections included in the Nov. 17 Powerpoint presentation, it will cost the agency approximately $1.7 million to run freight in-house.

That means, if the SMART board decides to continue storing LPG—and NWP Co’s revenue estimates cited in the Powerpoint prove to be accurate—SMART will just break even on its freight operations.

However, since the board favors ditching LPG, it appears the agency will lose over $400,000 on freight every year until it finds new revenue streams, according to SMART’s Nov. 17 Powerpoint. If Project Finance Advisory Ltd’s projections—baseline revenues of approximately $1.3 million, including LPG storage—are accurate, then SMART’s freight business will be even deeper in the red.

At the Nov. 17 board meeting, McKillop, the chief financial officer, said that, given the boards’ support for ditching LPG, SMART staff will prepare short- and long-term proposals to fill the financial hole. It’s not yet clear where the money will come from. However, since Measure Q funds are earmarked for passenger rail costs, SMART can’t use that pot of money to pay for the freight losses.

North Bay Organizations Honor Transgender Day of Remembrance

Cash Grace Martinez

Nov 23, 2021

North Bay Organizations Honor Transgender Day of Remembrance

On a clear, chilly Saturday night in Santa Rosa, approximately 100 community members, college students and local activists gather on the patio outside Brew Coffee and Beer along Healdsburg Avenue.

Clutching plastic cups filled with electric tea lights, a distinct, tangible sense of grief grips the crowd. A poster board, set up near the front of the cafe, lists the names of transgender men, women and nonbinary people who were killed in 2021. In conversation, organizers point out to me that the list has grown significantly since last year’s event.

At one point, a man leans out the window of a passing car, yelling “white lives matter!”, loud enough to be heard over one of the evening’s speakers.

This is what Transgender Day of Remembrance looks like in the North Bay.

Remembering Our Dead

An annual event founded in 1999 by advocate and writer Gwendolyn Ann Smith, Transgender Day of Remembrance, celebrated on Nov. 20, memorializes those who have been killed in acts of hate violence and transphobia. Smith’s prior activism included “Remembering Our Dead,” a 1998 project which timelined anti-transgender murders in the United States and ultimately laid the groundwork for what TDOR is today.

In 2020, TDOR gained national recognition when Vice President Kamala Harris t weeted “Today and every day we must recommit to ending this epidemic.”

But despite the increased mainstream visibility for transgender issues over the past few years, the community still continues to face violence, crime and murder at an alarming rate, TransLife Sonoma committee member Orlando O’Shea says. TransLife Sonoma is a volunteer-run organization which holds educational and social events for the larger LGBTQIA community in the North Bay.

“It’s amazing how things have changed for trans people in the last decade,” he says. “But we’re still in the weeds, we’re still in the thick of things. Things change so slowly, and times feel so uncertain right now.”

In 2021, at least 47 transgender and nonbinary people were killed in the United States, making it the most devastating year on record for transgender people in the U.S. A majority of the victims were Black and Latina transgender women; one of the youngest victims, a Black trans boy named Jeffrey “JJ” Bright, was only 16 years old when he was shot and killed this past February.

For O’Shea, Saturday’s vigil was a bittersweet experience, like it is every year. A 50-year-old transgender man, O’Shea attended his first TDOR event in Guerneville close to seven years ago. Since then, the number of transgender people killed in the U.S. has only increased, along with the ever-present feeling of loss, sadness and despair within the community.

“It’s a double-edged sword,” he says. “You want to have hope, but when you’re seeing more people die than the year before, it’s a heavy thing. It’s a difficult thing to wrap your head around, that you’re doing this every year and things are getting worse.”

Still, O’Shea and other organizers recognize the work they do as imperative to the transgender community, no matter how painful the reality of the situation may be.

“This is an opportunity for us to come together and have a moment of reflection and sadness and sorrow and mourning,” Jessica Carroll, director of programs for Positive I mages, a Santa Rosa-based LGBTQIA nonprofit, said to me shortly after the vigil. “But it’s also an opportunity to recommit ourselves to fighting for justice and against the transphobia that is so deadly in the world.”

“You can look around and see that there are so many trans people in Sonoma County, but also so many allies and accomplices,” she added.

C.L. Muir, a committee member for TransLife Sonoma and one of the event’s speakers, told me that they felt grateful to be invited to speak and attend.

“When I was first asked to do this, I was scared. It’s such a heavy topic, and I didn’t know what I could personally do,” Muir, a trans man, said. “Seeing so many people come out to show support and show love and remember those within our community who [have been murdered], I was humbled.”

In Marin County, organizers from the Spahr Center held a similar vigil in San Rafael, highlighting the importance of Black transgender voices in the ongoing fight against hate violence.

The Spahr Center, founded in 2015, is Marin County’s only nonprofit serving the LGBTQIA community. They offer services ranging from youth programs to harm reduction to education around HIV/AIDS awareness.

Suzanne Ford, who serves as the president of Spahr’s board of directors, says that having that marginalized voice in a primarily white area like Marin County was one of the organization’s main goals for the event.

“I thought it was really important for a Marin audience to hear a Black trans person talk about the death and violence [transgender people] face in other areas,” she says. “He called on [white, cisgender people] not to just be allies, but accomplices.”

Making a Better World

What does a safe world look like for transgender and nonbinary people, as long as we continue to exist on the margins of society? As O’Shea notes, the answer is not as simple as it seems. Much of the work that needs to be done in order to better protect the transgender community has to come from cisgender allies—or, as Carroll says, accomplices—not necessarily from transgender people themselves.

“More needs to be done systematically,” he says. “Not everything can be done by the transgender community in a day. A safe world is where trans people can exist without worrying about their safety, without worrying about the high level of violence that is perpetrated against them.”

A 2014 report from the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Projects found that among victims of anti-LGBTQIA hate crimes in the U.S., 80% were Black, Indigenous and people of color; 55% were transgender women; and 50% were transgender women of color.

Due to the intersections of transphobia, racism and misogyny that exist within their identity, transgender women of color are more marginalized than their white or cisgender queer counterparts. This marginalization can lead to employment discrimination, experiences with sexual violence, and poverty and housing insecurity.

As Carroll notes, these issues are typically systemic.

“There is a lot of violence [that people are likely to face when] unhoused, there is a lot of violence in having to do things like survival sex work, there is a lot of [risk of] violence being a person who is lower income or who is poor,” she says. “I don’t think we can underestimate the safety that comes with housing and healthcare.”

In addition, suicide rates remain high among transgender, nonbinary and gender non-conforming people, especially adolescents. More than half of the transgender boys who participated in a 2018 survey published by the American Academy of Pediatrics reported one or more suicide attempts in their lifetime, while 29.9% of transgender girls surveyed said that they had attempted suicide at least once.

“It’s a response to the fact that we live in such an unsafe world that people feel like that is their only option,” Carroll added. “[Violence] is preventable if we just cared about each other.”

O’Shea says that while he sometimes feels as if a truly safe world for trans people is a pipe dream, the importance of continuing the work—fighting for those who are still around and remembering those who are not—can never be overstated.

“Is [a safe world] a dream?” he asks. “Yes. But I like to hold out hope.”

Culture Crush: Makers Markets, Art Openings, AJ Lee & Blue Summit and More

Charlie Swanson

Nov 17, 2021

Culture Crush: Makers Markets, Art Openings, AJ Lee & Blue Summit and More

San Rafael

Take It Home

Earlier this month, Marin County music lovers were saddened to learn that San Rafael’s iconic Terrapin Crossroads was closing after nearly 10 years of live music and community. This weekend, the public can take a piece of Terrapin home when the venue hosts a garage sale at the adjoining Beach Park. Items for sale range from furniture to kitchenware to merch, and all proceeds go to the Canal Alliance and Ritter House. In addition, the bar will be open, the food truck will be on site and live music will be on hand to help say goodbye to Terrapin Crossroads on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 20–21, 100 Yacht Club Dr., San Rafael. 11am. Ages 12 and up; proof of vaccination required. facebook.com/TerrapinCrossroads

Santa Rosa

Handmade Market

Discover a curated selection of handmade goods by more than 100 local makers, crafters and artists when the traveling Patchwork Modern Makers Festival returns to Sonoma County for a two-day outdoor shopping experience to help you prepare for the holidays. Attendees can find artisanal clothing, home goods, accessories, art, ceramics and even apothecary items. In addition, the festival features a vintage-record pop-up shop, DIY activities, Tarot and Reiki Healing, and even an ice-skating rink. Visit local makers on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 20–21, at Old Courthouse Square, Fourth Street and Mendocino Avenue, Santa Rosa. 10am to 4pm each day. Free admission. dearhandmadelife.com

Napa

Eye-Opening

Oakland-based painter, printmaker and sculptor Oliver Lee Jackson creates complex artworks that take visual inspiration from the Renaissance, modern African cultures and American jazz. This weekend, the di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art collects an assortment of Jackson’s work in a new exhibition, “Oliver Lee Jackson: Any Eyes.” The show opens with several events on Saturday, Nov. 20, including a hands-on art session inspired by the exhibit at 1pm. Following that free activity, di Rosa hosts a Patrons Reception & Curator Tour with the artist at 4:30pm, and a Members’ Reception at 5:30pm. 5200 Sonoma Hwy., Napa. dirosaart.org

Novato

Coming Back

Since appearing on the Santa Cruz scene in 2015, bluegrass ensemble AJ Lee & Blue Summit performed around the world, though they still love to play the Bay Area, and they hit several spots in the region this month in support of their sophomore album, I’ll Come Back. Released in August of 2021, the band’s second album captures their live sound better than ever, with acoustic jams, mandolin-led romps, country and soul-inspired ditties and more. Prolific promoter KC Turner presents the band live in concert with support from the Coffis Brothers on Saturday, Nov. 20, at HopMonk Tavern, 224 Vintage Way, Novato. 8pm. $18. kcturnerpresents.com

—Charlie Swanson

Sonoma Valley Advocates Push for Reintroduction of Beavers

Cole Hersey and Will Carruthers

Nov 16, 2021

Sonoma Valley Advocates Push for Reintroduction of Beavers

On the southwest side of the City of Sonoma, a small stream named Fryer Creek cuts through a quiet neighborhood.

In late October, the creek was, like most waterways in the Bay Area, inundated with water during the “bomb cyclone” storm. However, as the rains pounded Sonoma with seven and a half inches of rain, Fryer Creek stayed fairly tame for the beginning of the storm, according to nearby residents Barabara and Larry Audiss.

“The water was really low [during the storm], even with the heavy rain, and then all at once the water was extremely high,” Larry Audiss said. “We went up and you could see where the dam had been breached.”

Larry Audiss is referring to a beaver dam close to MacArthur Street. The waters proved too strong for part of the recently built dam along this tributary of Sonoma Creek, likely pushing more water downstream.

This was not the only beaver dam in Sonoma Valley that was affected by the storm. In upper Sonoma Creek, most beaver dams were leveled by rushing waters.

However, the three beaver dams along Fryer Creek remained largely intact after the storm, perhaps due to the smaller size of the waterway. Even the dam that was breached could be rebuilt come next spring.

“[Beaver] dams in less flash flooding systems can act as a speed bump in a big torrential downpour,” Kate Lundquist, co-director of the Water Institute at the Occidental Arts & Ecology Center, said. This is what the Audisses noticed in reverse as the water rapidly rose on Fryer Creek—the sudden disappearance of a speed bump.

Advocates like those at OAEC argue that beavers play a key role in creating healthy waterways and ecosystems. The role of beavers in the recent storm is just one example of why advocates want to reintroduce—and protect—beavers throughout the state.

However, under state law, beavers are considered a “detrimental species” due in part to their dam-building, which can damage agricultural land and flood human developments. They are feared, and often killed, by landowners for this reason.

Beavers, which are native to California, are considered a keystone species due to their ability to drastically change any ecosystem they are a part of, leading to greater biodiversity. Due to their outsized impact on a landscape, their return to Sonoma Valley means many aspects of the land will change with their presence.

Often, when a beaver colony moves into an area, they begin to slow the movement of water by building their dam. This, over long periods of time, has many positive impacts on native wildlife.

“Even if all they can do is show up and build one little pipsqueak dam and create a bank burrow, they’re already jacking up the habitat diversity and providing all kinds of refuge for a bunch of different species,” Lundquist said.

Beavers use their dams to create deeper waters, making it easier for them to use their strength as swimmers to evade predators. They often build their burrows, or lodges, in the ponds to ensure a safe underwater entrance to their home. These Beaver ponds in turn create a better environment for willow trees, one of the rodent’s favored foods. It is here, just upstream from the dam, that species of fish, birds, and plants thrive.

Beaver ponds also raise the height of the groundwater, bringing cooler water up into a stream. Endangered coho salmon, which are particularly sensitive to changes in water conditions, benefit greatly from beaver dams, both as a haven for juveniles, and by keeping the water at a cooler temperature than it would be otherwise.

Not only do beavers aid in providing more habitat, their dams also filter the water, making it cleaner downstream.

In Sonoma, this could mean that if beavers were to return in significant numbers, residents would see a greater increase in biodiversity, along with a rise of the water table, which could help increase the amount of water in Sonoma Valley by keeping the water in the streams for longer. It should be noted that the town of Sonoma receives its water from the Russian River Watershed, because Sonoma Valley’s groundwater supply was drained decades ago due to farming.

“Sonoma Valley long ago outstripped its water supply, which is why there’s a big fat pipe that comes across the watershed from the Russian [River Watershed],” said Brock Dolman, co-founder and program director of OAEC.

Dolman believes we should not bank on beavers to solve our water issues in Sonoma or in California.

“I don’t think we should burden beavers with trying to save [us] in that regard,” he said.

However, they could be a great help in preventing or reducing the damage done in large storms, he pointed out.

Displaying a map of the Sonoma Valley watershed, Dolman noted that the parts of the land where beavers could thrive are also where the most porous soils are. If beavers were more present in those areas, floods might have less of a damaging impact on those areas, and, in the fire season, could create larger refuges for wildlife.

Landowners, who sometimes kill beavers, often believe they are a nuisance to the land. However, sentiments are changing. Idaho rancher Jay Wilde is advocating for the rodents after witnessing beavers create a perennial creek out of a seasonal stream on his water-parched land. In a 2019 case study in Elko, Nev., the Forest Service found that ranchers there mostly believed that “the benefits of beavers outweigh the drawbacks.”

As Dolman sees it, “The beaver glass is more than half full with benefits than half empty with problems.”

When asked if they were concerned about beavers damaging property or flooding the area surrounding Fryer Creek, Barbara Audiss said, “It doesn’t worry me, look what we’ve done.”

“We built houses, we built these,” Audiss added, pointing to the concrete path running along the creek. “We changed everything. But that’s okay. We’re learning.”

Even if one is concerned about the impacts of beavers, there are many cheap options to mitigate these issues, according to Dolman. In Fryer Creek, for instance, when beavers were first spotted in 2019, some were concerned it would create more flooding in the area, potentially drowning out the walking trails and emergency roads for vehicles.

In response, OAEC, along with beaver management consultants at Swift Water Design, helped the city of Sonoma install a pond leveling system on one of the dams in order to insure the water did not completely inundate the area.

With their presence growing in Sonoma Valley, many are happy to see the markings of beavers on these streams. And while this past storm may have breached many dams, the beavers will likely rebuild next spring, creating necessary habitat for endangered species and perhaps making local waterways flow more safely in future climate change–driven storms.