What: 7Days just published an article about the beaver situation. Thanks to all the people that have gotten in touch with me about ways in which they can help. I was called a “renegade” by one staff at UVM Grounds, which was unfortunate to be labeled a renegade for making public what’s happening on public land. Though, I suppose I’d be in alright company. In Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience he writes, “But, to speak practically and as a citizen, unlike those who call themselves no-government men, I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government. Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it.” So for all the people that have gotten in touch with me (from around the country too!!) asking how they might get involved, I encourage you to speak up, to let folks at UVM know what you want to see happen, whether you agree with me, them, both, or none of us. Simply let your voice be heard.

I’d start by reaching out to me, Enrique Corredera, who is the director for UVM communications, and Sal Chiarelli, Director of Physical Plant. You can also write letters to the editor to comment on the 7Days article. As Alicia said in the article, this isn’t a case about good vs bad. There are cases to be made for many different solutions, so it’s important to be strong, but open minded in this; as were Afrika Bambaataa‘s renegades of funk.

As mentioned in the article the three initial conibear traps were removed by someone walking into an unmarked, retention pond with a gate wide open. In response UVM started locking the gate and put up no trespassing signs to secure the new traps the hired trapper set on the berm between the upper pond and lower pond (I’ve seen deer on several occasions in the retention pond, though even with gates locked the deer could walk in through one of the other large holes in the fence). So accessing the pond would now be a legal violation (I think this statute covers the possible repercussions, though there may be others as I don’t know the legal system).

Last year NPR’s Fresh Air had a special celebrating 100 years of Woody Guthrie. They talked about a verse often edited out of “This Land is Your Land“:

As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said “No Trespassing.”
But on the other side it didn’t say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.

Other notes: I’d also like to expand on Katie Flagg’s use of the word tame in her article. To me that word is less like the domesticated use of it (like kitty-pets in Erin Hunter’s Warriors series), and more like the meaning Antoine de Saint-Exupery describes so poetically in his book The Little Prince:

“No,” said the little prince. “I am looking for friends. What does that mean– ‘tame’?”
“It is an act too often neglected,” said the fox. “It means to establish ties.”
“‘To establish ties’?”
“Just that,” said the fox. “To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world…”
“I am beginning to understand,” said the little prince. “There is a flower… I think that she has tamed me…”