January 2016 Newsletter

Visitors/Education Center Update 

Check Back Here for Updates on our Next Project

We announced to our members and volunteers during the Annual Membership and Volunteer Appreciation dinner that the next big project for the friends will be a visitors/education center for the Refuge. We had guests put their ideas together to create an "Imagine" board of ideas, which were featured in the recap above. Below are some other ideas that were collected in the past:

● Nature Play space
● Children’s Library (x2)
● Citizen Science Headquarters
● Partner Offices
● Organic Food Cooperative w/ volunteers trading time for food
● Coffee Shop/Wine Bar, community meeting place
● Sustainable garden demonstration space w/ native plants
● Story Walks: Follow a story on a hike
● Art Carving
● Meditation Path, Labyrinth
● Basket Weaving Classes
● Quiet Area
● Interactive Classroom
● Storytelling about ancestors
● Rental Yurt Village and Learning Center
● Field Trip Headquarters
● Outdoor Education Center, collocated/
funded with school district (x2)
● Restaurant serving invasive species
● Nature School, instead of going to Cispus bring it to Ridgefield
● Tool lending library, workshop/class space, local artisan/goods
marketplace
● Join the earthquake preparedness effort, providing education by
linking to past quake effects at the site
● Local food market
● Cafe that values and exercises sustainability
● Daycare
● Native pollinator garden
● Better signage to events!
● Archaeological museum w/ full curation and repository of artifacts
● Native American museum
● Cultural recreation
events; ex: mask ceremonies

If you have any ideas that you'd like to share, you can join us for Board meetings the second Monday of almost every month, or keep an eye out for events here in our newsletter where you can come and help us make this project a reality. For more information on when and where our monthly board meetings are, contact us at contact@ridgefieldfriends.org.

Port of Ridgefield named Port of the Year by Washington Public Ports!

Read the port's nomination application package to learn why they received the award! 
Ridgefield Port of the Year Nomination Package, and here is the press release from WPPA.

Species Spotlight 

American Beaver

Castor canadensis

Water is a major factor in shaping our local landscapes, as December’s rainfall and summer’s drought have so forcefully reminded us this past year. Contributing to that influence is nature’s team of civil engineers—the American Beaver. Nearly decimated in the late 1800’s by trappers and farmers, they have since been reestablished and are once again relatively common in many areas.

These large, semi-aquatic rodents choose habitats with access to water and deciduous trees, their preferred food. They eat the twigs, inner bark and leaves of trees such as alder, willow and cottonwood. Beavers are able to digest up to 30% of the cellulose in their diet thanks to special fermenting intestinal microorganisms. Adults can grow up to three feet from nose to tail and average 40 pounds. They typically live between five to ten years in the wild.

Their lodges are made up of both deciduous and evergreen logs, mud, grasses, rocks, and other materials they gather within about 165 feet of the water’s edge. These provide warm, dry and safe havens for raising young, resting and feeding. Kits, which are usually born early in the year, stay with their parents about two years before heading off to find their own mates. Pairs usually stay together for years, with some mating for life.

The ponds and open areas that beavers and their dams create help provide habitat for deer, herons, ducks, geese, frogs, raccoons, weasels, and a wide variety of other wildlife. Snags and other deadwood around beaver dens provide homes for woodpeckers and insects.

And those teeth! Able to gnaw through hardwoods, beaver teeth maintain sharp edges because the front surface is harder than the faster-wearing rear. They continue to grow over the beaver’s lifetime, since they are constantly being ground down. Habitat volunteers on our refuge put metal cages around new plantings near beaver areas to protect them from these hungry critters while they get established.

Other than the wood chips and tree girdling that give evidence of beaver activities, it is difficult to view beavers in the wild because they are primarily nocturnal. You may be able to catch a glimpse of one swimming in early morning or evening with just the ears, eyes and nose visible at the point of a V-shaped wake in the water. Their broad tails may also be visible just below the surface.

Did you know: A beaver’s leathery tail has many uses, from helping them steer through the water, regulating body heat, storing fat, and slapping the water to warn others of danger. Beavers also use their tails for balance when walking or carrying building materials. But one thing they don’t use it for is plastering mud on their dams!

Photo by Denis Mudderman