Story and illustration by Doug Pifer

Walking along a familiar path through the woods, I was shocked to find a pond where dry land used to be. Many of the trees had their roots underwater. Beavers had moved in.

Beavers are aquatic rodents that depend on tree bark for their winter food. They don’t want to risk their lives wandering over dry land to get it, so they build dams on waterways to make their tree cutting and branch gathering easier and safer. But people don’t want flooded roadways, backyards, or farm fields.

When beavers lay claim to a stretch of water near humans, people usually respond by trapping and removing beavers, tearing down their dams and un-clogging beaver-blocked culverts. Soon other beavers come along, the people and the beavers keep doing what they do, and the conflict continues. 

Trapping removes beavers only temporarily. They live and travel in family groups, and even skilled fur trappers don’t always catch all the animals from a given area. Live trapping and transferring beavers must be done in accordance with state game regulations. The beavers must be released in a suitable place, otherwise they become somebody 
else’s problem. 

A Northern Virginia-based organization, the Human Beaver Coexistence Fund (HBCF), encourages people to share land with active beavers while addressing beaver-caused flooding and tree-chewing in long-term, cost-effective ways. Alison Zak, founder and executive director of HBCF, conducts workshops and presentations for landowners and conservation groups about beaver behavior, natural history, and how beavers improve wildlife habitat. HBCF provides instruction and assistance to landowners wishing to minimize adverse effects of beaver activity.

If you already have a beaver pond on your land but don’t want beavers to flood the surrounding area, HBCF recommends setting up a pond leveler. An important flood management tool, it keeps the pond at a manageable level while allowing beavers to remain. Pond levelers last five to ten years and are more cost effective during this time than periodically tearing down dams and trapping beavers.

Beavers immediately try to plug any leak in their dam so a pond leveler creates a leak beavers can’t find. A corrugated plastic culvert pipe is inserted through the dam and extends upstream, anchored to the bottom by weights. The upstream end of the pipe connects to an intake cage, where beavers can’t reach it. The height where the culvert pipe goes through the dam sets the water level. During periods of heavy rain, or if the beavers build the dam higher than the pipe, the water in the pond stays level with the pipe. Propelled by gravity, overflow goes through the dam and downstream, undetected by the beavers. A pond leveler can be adjusted for the depth of the pond, as chosen by the landowner, and suited to the size of the pond. It should be set to keep the beaver pond as large as possible, otherwise the beavers move on and create another dam elsewhere. 

When beavers block a culvert, flooding results, so HBCF recommends setting up steel fencing around a culvert. Steel mesh fencing and metal poles are the best materials, and you need to inspect the fencing regularly to remove any debris blocking the water flow. Fencing needn’t extend high above the water since beavers don’t climb, but it should be buried deep enough into the substrate so beavers can’t 
dig underneath.

Over the past several months beavers have chewed trees and dammed Bullskin Run at Cool Spring Preserve, the Potomac Valley Audubon Society’s Jefferson County property. Bullskin Run was backing up, and water was overflowing the road near one of the culverts next to the preserve. In partnership with HBCF, PVAS volunteers and staff installed culvert fencing and wrapped trees with special protectors to discourage damage by beavers. So far, these efforts seem to 
be working.

HBCF has launched a Beaver Habitat Stewardship and Compensation program. Landowners in Maryland and Virginia who have beaver ponds on their property, and need to manage the beavers, may receive financial compensation, based on the impounded acreage plus a 35-foot buffer surrounding the beaver pond. Program participants who meet certain qualifications could receive up to $300 per acre over a three-year period from HBCF. For more information about this pilot program, 
see coexistwithbeavers.org

Beavers create wetland habitat for threatened or endangered wildlife. Beaver dams have been found to improve our own water quality by reducing levels of nitrogen and phosphorus. They help control and retain sediments, reduce peak flood flow, raise the water table, and enhance 
groundwater recharge. Humans and beavers can coexist, even though our activities sometimes put us at odds with each other.

Story and photo by Rebecca Maynard

After many years of standing empty, the Coiner building at 26 East Main Street in Berryville is open to shoppers once more.

On December 6, Coiner Grand Emporium had its grand opening. Described by owner Jerry Johnson as a general store, its extensive inventory includes new and vintage items such as hats, collectible figurines, antique radios, lamps, toys, comic books, greeting cards, baseball cards, jewelry, candy and much more.

“Yesterday is waiting for you at Coiner Grand Emporium,” he said.

Coiner’s Department Store was founded by Emmett G. Coiner in 1896 and later purchased by Chet Hobert, who ran it until its shutdown almost a century later. A recent Barns of Rose Hill exhibit included people’s recollections of the store’s “cash trolley” used when customers paid for merchandise. Instead of a cash register, clerks sent payments along the trolley to an office upstairs. An office worker then sent the trolley down with change and a receipt.

Times have changed and the building has been closed since the early 2000s, but now with extensive renovations complete, it is once again a beautiful and welcoming place for customers of all ages. Over the weekend before Christmas, Santa welcomed children into the store and gave out gifts, harkening back to an era when department store Santas were still commonplace, Johnson said.

“There’s something for everybody from little kids to grandmas,” said Danielle Smith, one of the store’s co-managers who assisted with its renovation. Smith grew up in Clarke County and attended Clarke County High School, so she knows firsthand what Coiner’s history means to the community.

“Every other person who comes through the door has memories of shopping here in the past,” she said. “The community is really excited and we even had someone bring in their mother with dementia because she used to come in the store as a teen.”

Smith said that the upstairs was originally the toy section of Coiner’s Department store. While it is not open to the public yet, the plan is to display and sell large format paintings and furniture. Johnson, she said, particularly enjoys the 

Civil War and paintings by Mort Künstler and John Paul Strain. 

Coiner Grand Emporium has a Facebook page as well as a website, www.coinergrandemporium.com. Hours are currently daily from 10am to 7pm.

“My arms are full,” explained a happy customer who approached the register during the interview for this article, whose purchases included a hat and Cracker Jacks. “I want to buy everything.”

A veteran organization trainer and coach to offer public workshops

by Jennifer M. Lee

Needing a little inspiration and information to help you live a more productive and balanced life? In an environment of so many tasks to accomplish, distractions and demands on your attention, and relationships to tend to, it can be challenging to build a framework that brings focus, efficiency, and positive outcomes to the many things life and work ask of you. Help is here!

Jeff Feldman is a leadership and professional development coach who has been designing and delivering workshops to help people be more productive, efficient, and intentional for nearly 30 years. He is bringing that expertise and proven tools to two upcoming workshops on October 24 at the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, W.Va., and on November 1 at the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley in Winchester, Va. Both are open to the public,

I have worked with Jeff for the last ten years on a variety of projects, most notably when he was board president of the American Conservation Film Festival and I was executive director. He is one of the most joyful, efficient, and wise people I have ever had the pleasure to know and work with. I sat down with him recently to learn more about his work and this new public offering of workshops.

JL: Tell us about the workshops you have been presenting for professionals for the last three decades. What is the need you are addressing?

JF: Since 1995, I’ve been designing and delivering a range of personal and professional development trainings for all manner of clients — federal agencies, corporate groups, nonprofits. I truly value the opportunity to support people in being more effective at what they do, at realizing their goals and visions, whether they are leaders, teams, individual contributors within organizations, or someone simply trying to find a greater measure of success and fulfillment from life. I’ve designed sessions on creativity and innovation, resilience, communication effectiveness, emotional intelligence, gratitude, and so many more. And, of course, productivity. That’s one of my current favorites because I believe it’s something we all can improve and benefit from.  

JL. What are the traits that make people happy and productive workers? How do we best learn those traits and incorporate them in our personal and professional lives?

JF: I believe people want to do their jobs and do them well. We find joy, fulfillment, satisfaction from a sense that we are performing at a high level. And this brings a sense of engagement with our work. It requires a sense of purpose — why we do what we do, what value our work brings — and vision — where we see the work leading, a desired future outcome we’re striving to create. I think these things are innate human drivers, and our quest is to find work that allows us to connect with them. Sadly, this is sometimes more difficult than it should be! 

JL: What does it mean to “maximize productive performance?” What tools do you teach to accomplish this?

JF: Productive performance is about getting things done. Not just any things, though, but the right things, the important things. So it starts with clarity around the goals we need to achieve and how we prioritize these goals. 

Then it becomes about habits, the daily choices we make that support us in being productive in pursuit of these goals, how we focus our energies, how we manage distraction, how we know ourselves well enough to understand what type of work to do when, based on our natural rhythms. 

I take a Design Thinking approach to this. How might we design our individual productivity system to support being clear on our critical tasks, maintain our focus, and leverage our energies in the most effective way? One size does not fit all in this. A productivity system needs to be customized to each individual’s needs and style, and tools like time blocking, Pomodoro Technique, and strategies for creating traction and overcoming “Dis-Traction” often work in various ways for most people. 

JL: What type of people/workers will best benefit from your workshop on “Getting Things Done?”

JF: A common answer we often hear when we ask someone how they are is “BUSY!” Perhaps the underlying message here is that people wish they were a little less busy, a little less stressed by seemingly endless “to dos”, a little less overwhelmed. The insights, tools, and strategies shared in this session can help with this. So potentially it is a fit for anyone. If you’re hoping to create a little more breathing room in your life, if you’re seeking clarity on your most important tasks, and if you’re searching for tips on how to focus in on them, this session is for you. These tools and strategies apply universally no matter your place in the world.

JL. Can you give an example of a workshop experience and the results on individuals or teams that demonstrate its effectiveness?

JF: All of my workshop sessions are interactive. We engage with one another around the content being explored. It’s a conversation, a common journey of discovery. I have some wisdom and insight to pass along on this topic and so do each of the participants. So we create a sharing environment, a learning community.

People are often jazzed when we close out these sessions, energized, and they feel a sense of commitment to enact some of what they’ve learned. But I do wonder how many actually follow through . . . does the experience truly create a lasting positive change for people? I’ve met some for whom it does, but others I can’t be sure about. 

That’s why I’m offering a discounted follow-up one-on-one coaching opportunity along with this workshop. This is a chance for people to truly individualize their learning, and make it actionable in a sustainable way. It allows me to personally support people in identifying and adopting the habits they feel will make the greatest difference for them. My hope is that this creates a higher level of commitment and success with integrating the content from the session. 

JL: What are some common obstacles to achieving productivity? How do we overcome them?

JF: The most obvious thing is that the world is one giant distraction! And though we are surrounded by countless distractions, they’re really not that hard to manage if you commit yourself to it. And some of us don’t feel truly empowered to design our lives and our systems for maximum clarity, focus, and productive performance. I’ve found that people often have more control or at least influence over how they go about their daily efforts than they give themselves credit for.

JL: What inspires you to do this work? Was there an experience or person who led you to it?

JF: I enjoy people. I enjoy feeling helpful to people. No singular experience led me to this; I guess it’s just a part of who I am. That and the fact that I’m a bit of a ham! I like being “on stage” in front of a group. I like sharing wisdom that I feel is interesting and relevant to people. I like having fun, and this work brings me joy.

JL: What are the top takeaways you want people to gain from your workshops?

JF: I often challenge people to find the one thing — the one golden nugget — that for them will make a meaningful difference as a result of having spent some time with me. It’s different for each person, but the common theme is making a positive difference in people’s lives, whether that’s related to a higher level of productivity or better teamwork or healthier relationships or more effective leadership. Just one thing, that’s all I’m asking people to find. Of course, if they find more than just one thing, that’s a bonus!

JL: Anything else you would like to add?

JF: Join me for the session! I promise to make it fun and worthwhile!

Getting Things Done: Maximizing Productive Performance is a 3-hour in-person interactive workshop that will be held on two upcoming dates and locations: October 24 at the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, W.Va., and November 1 at the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley in Winchester, Va.

For information and to register for the October 24 workshop in Shepherdstown: https://tinyurl.com/yc6sfvcs. 

For moe information and to register for the November 1 workshop in Winchester: https://tinyurl.com/yc5hmycd.