Community Outreach

We might call this the backbone of Beaver Ambassadors (although all parts are important). It is important to us to define community as anyone and everyone. We encourage and celebrate everyone who participates in our events regardless of where they are from or their interests. We believe this is an essential part of building communities. We define the West Linn community as anyone and everyone having a connection to West Linn either through residency, relationships, and/or curiosity. Beaver Ambassadors welcomes anyone into our community, and we are eager to provide opportunities to engage and interact with nature right here in West Linn!

We organize, promote, and run our own events throughout West Linn as well as attend events organized by other organizations. The list below features some events we’ve held in the past, big and small. We provide links to city events we’ve attended and events throughout the greater Portland region with similar environmental engagement.

 

Beaver Ambassador Events:

  • The Beaver Believers documentary movie
    • This amazing, award-winning documentary aired at West Linn High School on April 19th, 2019, to raucous applause! Don’t be fooled by the title – this is a story about climate change solutions. Media frenzy tends to focus on the detrimental issues associated with climate change. Sarah Koenigsberg has done a fantastic job highlighting one solution that keys in on the importance of beavers!
  • The West Linn Fall Discovery Scavenger Hunt
    • Held October 20th, 2018, the scavenger hunt was designed to have participants engage with local parks, farms, businesses and organizations. A huge thanks to all our locations and sponsors! We look forward to repeating this event in a more inclusive way (i.e. less driving!).
  • Meet the beavers
    • Beavers are hard to see. They are mostly nocturnal. They blend in with the landscape. They’re pretty quiet. And they can jump under the water quickly to avoid detection. Fortunately, Beaver Ambassadors has the experience to locate these endearing animals at the right place and time.
  • Full Moon Over West Linn
    • This is an all-ages event designed to expose our community to different environmental sectors. We’ve had bird, amphibian, water management, geology, turtle, and bug presenters cover all types of cool topics at previous Full Moon events. These informal and hands on events are perfect for engaging our community!
  • Mary S. Young Beaver Ponds Planting Party
    • A huge thanks to the Friends of Mary S. Young Park for helping to complete this project! We planted over a thousand plants around the beaver ponds at MSY in the spring of 2019. Some chosen plants benefit the beavers, while others are not preferred food sources and will hopefully subsist to provide shade to Heron Creek.
  • International Beaver Day beaver habitat bio-blitz
    • Beaver Day is April 7th, and in 2019 we unveiled our new sign for the MSY Beaver Ponds. Our community participated in a “bio-blitz”. This activity uses the app “iNaturalist” to log species. More people can log more species in a shorter amount of time, hence the term “bio-blitz”.
  • Ben Goldfarb at West Linn Library
    • In the summer of 2018 we hosted the author of Eager: the Secret and Surprising Life of Beavers and Why They Matter, Ben Goldfarb, at the West Linn Library. Ben shared insights about writing his book, read a few passages, then we went out as a group to see a real, wild beaver pond!
  • Trivia
    • Once a month Beaver Ambassadors hosted trivia night at Willamette Ale & Cider House. The topic? OREGON SCIENCE NATURE HISTORY. Teams competed for prizes. Questions were written to challenge participant’s knowledge of regional natural processes, building blocks of science, and regional historical events.

 

City Events with Beaver Ambassador presence:

  • West Linn Old Time Fair
    • Third weekend in July, the Old Time Fair is the premier summer event held by Parks & Rec!
  • Music in the Park
    • Every Thursday from July to August Parks & Rec hosts Music in the Park at Tanner Park.
  • Earth Day Work Day
    • Take part in restoration projects across West Linn’s parks
  • Arbor Week
    • A week of activities dedicated to the brilliance of nature around our community
  • Community Tree Lighting
    • Make organic, easily decomposing bird feeders during this festive holiday event

 

Portland regional events:

  • Tualatin River Wildlife Refuge Bird Festival
    • Mid-May at the refuge with tons of activities and sponsors from archery, fishing, and putt putt to salmon games, seed-ball making, and, of course, birds!
  • International Beaver Day at the Oregon Zoo
    • US Fish and Wildlife Service has a very unique roll with the Oregon Zoo. As a result, you can find them at the Education Center on select weekends providing outreach about a variety of important native species. On April 7th, Leah Schrodt presents the beaver.
  • Portland EcoFilm Fest
    • Films for life on Earth! The Portland EcoFilm Festival is the premier environmental film festival in the US Pacific Northwest, showcasing the very best films about nature, the environment, outdoor pursuits and eco-conscious living. We host a four-day festival each fall, a three-day festival each spring around Earth Day, and year-round programming.

 

 

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