BLOGVIDEOSCAREERSCONNECTBEAVERCON HOMEWHO WE ARE WHAT WE DO NATIVE NURSERYWHY?REFERENCE LIBRARYCEO’S CORNER CEO’s Corner – INTERESTING READS – CEO'S CORNER New Ideas Rarely Hit a Home Run November 2, 2021 I have come to relish the cackles and laughter when first introducing the beaver message. To me, it means we can make significant progress and add more folks to the “Beaver Believer” camp as we move into the next phase of Bay restoration with climate change drawing into question so much about our current restoration practices. I am happy to see the North American beaver as a restoration partner moving from “new idea” to “good idea.” Read more… CEO'S CORNER Big Win for the Beavers as We Continue Work on Beaver Creek September 22, 2021 Look out Chesapeake Bay. Ecotone is coming for you hard and fast in partnership with our buck toothed, flat tailed, ecosystem engineers. In 2016 we threw out the suggestion that the North American beaver can be the champion of water quality improvement for our cherished Chesapeake Bay. They were here by the millions in the 1600’s. The history of the fur trade in the Chesapeake landscape confirms this. They may be the answer to restoring our cherished Bay to it’s former glory. It’s been a tough and challenging journey. We have been mocked and ridiculed by some for our provocative approach here in the Eastern US. We took this as a sign we are headed in right direction. We are executing on the first large scale nature and process based project on Beaver Creek in Washington County, Maryland, installing 65 beaver dam analogues which are man made beaver dams which promote colonizing by Castor (beaver). Last week, in the middle of construction, we got a thumbs up from nature. The Bda’s performed well after a heavy discharge event, lifting water and hydrology onto the floodplain, spreading water out and promoting floodplain function, at a fraction of the cost of traditional “natural channel design”. Embracing chaos of nature is we are headed. Stay tuned. We hope beaver will like our work and colonize this project, build and improve our dams, providing long term water quality benefits. We embrace the journey to change the way we think about ecological restoration. Please join us in this important effort. Many thanks to Maryland DNR and the Washington County Soil Conservation District for partnering with us and taking the risk to be different and innovative, and embracing nature based restoration. CEO'S CORNER Using Nature to Restore Nature August 17, 2021 At Foster Branch in Joppatowne, beavers built a small dam or two causing a nearby walking bridge to flood. As a result, Harford County’s Department of Parks and Recreation asked Ecotone to bring down the water level in the pond so folks in the community could continue to use the walking paths. Our response to the issue was to install a flow management device. The device allows the beaver and the pond/wetland habitat they created and maintain to remain in Copenhaver Park, thereby preventing many tons of sediment per year from entering tidal waters, as those sediment are now being deposited in the beaver pond. Once again, Team Ecotone and Beaver are a wicked effective combination! CEO'S CORNER A River Cuts Through A Rock Not Because Of Its Power, But Its Persistence June 30, 2021 Construction began this week on the stream restoration of Graveyard Creek with nearly 4,000 feet of Ecotone designed restoration. This project has been in the works for several years. It definitely takes a village to get these projects designed, permitted, funded, and ready for construction. Kudos to all!! CEO'S CORNER Work Smarter June 11, 2021 “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” ― Abraham Lincoln CEO'S CORNER Spreading the Beaver Gospel April 20, 2021 “We’re wading into Narnia on a bright fall day. It’s darker in here. And tangled. The water nearly reaches the tops of my muck boots. Unlike the fantasyland of children’s literature, this “Narnia of nature,” as my guide calls it, is quite real: a swampy, surreally diverse little ecosystem hidden in a mundane patch of northern Baltimore County, Maryland countryside. The realm we’re exploring represents a promising retro approach to ecological restoration and, very possibly, a dirt-cheap way to help clean up the Chesapeake Bay.” Excerpt from Chesapeake Bay Magazine. Beaver Believers, By Marty LeGrand Worth the read: https://chesapeakebaymagazine.com/beaver-believers/ CEO'S CORNER Persistence February 11, 2021 I’ve come back to this quote many times when things aren’t going as fast or the way I’d like them to: “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” -Calvin Coolidge. Ecotone just received its first credit releases for our wetland mitigation bank which took over 7 seven years to bring to fruition. The perseverance award of the year has to go to Marie Brady, who shepherded this project through the morass of regulatory hurdles, of which there were many. Well done Marie! CEO'S CORNER The Obstacle is the Way January 22, 2021 As we look ahead to 2021, I am grateful for your perseverance and dedication in navigating 2020 and finding inspiration in the roadblocks we faced. The year that was 2020 reminded me of a book I read every night on my phone while attempting a crazy 550 mile mountain track through the Highlands of Scotland in 2015, The Obstacle is the Way, by Ryan Holiday. I DNF’ed after day 6 but the book gave me great inspiration to keep going. Times of crisis forces us to be creative to reach our goals – many of you managed to do just that. 2021 will provide us with new and difficult challenges for sure. I look forward to facing them head on with you. CEO'S CORNER Simple & Powerful December 17, 2020 I was moved by this super intense TedTalk from Jocko on extreme ownership. Enjoy. Jocko always shows up with guns blazing. His messages are simple and powerful. CEO'S CORNER Vulnerability December 10, 2020 During this period of relative solitude, I’ve started writing poetry for the first time in my life. Most of it is shit. Some of it is getting to marginally ok, maybe. So I’ll make myself super uncomfortable and share one with everyone. The point is this. Sometimes when you make yourself vulnerable, put yourself out there, and take a risk, it can make a difference. Maybe it’s your turn. The Black Cloth The wolf’s howl bounces, Waking the spirits from their slumber. The cold winter breeze rolls the velvet earth dressing. Deer perk to the replay clamoring off icy cliffs. The invisible rules. Quiet. Listen and feel are in charge. The brook gossips, Grasses dance. Reflecting globes peer into the night, A falling star, ushers another soul to its next move. Yip yip yip. Coyote rejoice. The dance is ever flowing. Unripe becomes ripe, without judgement. Gaia sighs in, sighs out. The Grandfathers rejoice. CEO'S CORNER Ecotone Beaver Food November 21, 2020 This fall we’ve been getting reports of beaver colonizing many of our projects. This is good. Getting a good grade from the beaver means we’ve done our job. Think about it – we reconnect the floodplain, slow the water down in many instances and plant lots of beaver food. Here is a link to beaver at Bear Cabin Branch, a project we constructed in 2018, complete with video and soothing, meditative music. More recently, beaver have colonized the North Creek project and Yellow Branch. CEO'S CORNER Superman poses in bathroom stalls November 3, 2020 During a recent Ecotone employee evaluation with a colleague, the subject of self-confidence came up. It reminded me of a ted talk by Amy Cuddy I watched four years ago. I then used the simple techniques in this Ted Talk to turn my fear of public speaking (yes, I had a fear of public speaking) into something I look forward to, relish, and enjoy. Use your body to change your mental state- it’s free and it’s powerful. I taught this technique to my daughter who used it just prior to her interview with Teach for America. She got the job. Fake it till you make it, Wonder Woman poses in your cubicle, Superman poses in the bathroom stall – it’s all here in this amazing ted talk that will make you want to stand up and clap at the end. 129 Industry Lane Forest Hill, MD 21050 410.420.2600 VIEW BROCHURE QUICK LINKS SERVICES PROJECTS WHY? LIBRARY CEO’S CORNER CONNECT BLOG BEAVERCON © 2021 Ecotone, Inc