Amy Mueller, Beavers – General Meeting, February 18th, 2026

Blackhawk Golden ‘K’ General Meeting
Minutes
February 18^th, 2026

President Elect Tom Neumann presided, and called the meeting to order with a ring of the bell at 9:30AM.
32 members were in attendance today.

Tom Neumann led with the singing of America, the National Anthem, and the Pledge of Allegiance.

Invocation: Bob Knudson, mentioning the energy to be here, the food and drink, and the children.

Raffle: Linda Bontly oversaw the ticket sales and drawing this week.
The weekly pot was $12 and the big (Joker) pot was $188.
Glenn Disrude drew a ticket from the bucket, ticket number 1074. Congratulations to the winner, Dave Peterson.
The deck of cards has 35/53 cards remaining. Dave Peterson drew the J♣.

Tom Neumann thanks greeters Don Kellogg and Dick Fay, invocator Bob Knudson, rafflemaster Glenn Disrude, and server Bob Knudson.

Happy Box: Dave Peterson announced he is happy because he won the raffle, and is donating the proceeds to the Truck on Ice!

Tom Neumann announced that Maury Frey brought guests today, Yvonne and Roger Fern.

Jokes: Joker Bob Wilcox had good jokes about a man who went to the dentist at tooth thirty, and a ninja’s favorite type of shoes, sneakers.

Member Health: John Janes had a status update on Ron Shuler, whose son and grandson are moving here to help Ron recover.
Tom Neumann had a status update on Bruce Jorenby, who had another problem and is at Mercy hospital.

Other Announcements: Jim Farrell spoke upon the speaker for next week, Kevin Lahner, and the prospect of inviting additional guests.
Tom Neumann spoke upon the Saint Patrick’s Day party at the Elk’s. The plans are in place.

Committee Reports: John Janes announced the truck sank! It sank between 7p and 7a the night of the seventeenth. The exact time will be determined after the truck is removed, when the weather permits, so as to not dent the body or scratch the paint on ice. There were $11,400 in members’ ticket sales, and another $17,700 in sponsorships. Nice work, Kiwanians!
John Janes announced there are upcoming blood drives! We need blood!
Bob Knudson commented that the bike race will not occur. The leadership determined it was no longer feasible.

Maury Frey introduced the day’s speaker, Amy Mueller. Amy is a Master Naturalist. She is the Department of Natural Resources’ beaver specialist. Amy has spent many years researching the animals, and is a wealth of knowledge about beavers.
Amy began by asking members what we believe beavers are known for. Answers were offered, including: the teeth always grow, dam building, and their pelts.
Amy had items for members to show and tell, including a beaver skull, a chewed log, and some castoreum – beaver scent gland excretion – to smell.

Beavers mate for life. They are nocturnal animals. Their babies are termed, “kits.”

Beavers are a keystone species, critical to nature via the habitats they create and the interaction the whole of nature have that result.

Amy showed a beaver dam visible from space, and discussed how NASA searches for them, because of the positive benefits they provide their environment.

A few decades ago, beavers were nearly extinct due to hunting and trapping.
In the 1950s, the government already understood the restorative powers beavers have. Amy had a short video with beaver airdrops, whereupon beaves were loaded into specialized containers and dropped into new environments to improve them.
Today, beaver relocations continue to occur, albeit on horseback, and keeping the beavers together as a family.

Amy then had a few questions for Kiwanis members. How do beavers get onto the internet? They log on. What did the beaver say to the tree? Nice to gnaw ‘ya. Where do beavers keep their money? The river bank.

Kiwanis member April Wright asked Amy, “What are beavers’ lifespan?” “Around ten years.”
Kiwanian John Janes asked, “Which trees do beavers prefer?” Amy responded that beavers keep close to the water, travelling scarcely further than the shoreline. Beavers favor particular types of trees.
Amy mentioned that the record beaver was 115 pounds.
Kiwanis member Greg Turco inquired, “What are beavers’ general range / area?” Amy answered, “in the realm of one mile.”
Kiwanian Tom Neumann asked, “How are beavers trapped?” Amy previously spoke of knowing some trappers. She offered, “Snares are used, or apples or etc. in traps.”

Maury Frey thanked Amy Mueller for speaking and presented her with a gift card for her efforts.

Tom Neumann adjourned the meeting with a ring of the bell at 10:55AM.

Reminders: There is an executive board meeting next week.

On this day:
1787 Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II bans children under 8 from labor
1839 Detroit Boat Club forms and still exists
1876 Direct telegraph link established between Britain and New Zealand
1885 Mark Twain publishes “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” in the US
1893 The Barnum Museum opens in Bridgeport, Connecticut, dedicated to the life of P. T. Barnum
1901 H Cecil Booth patented a dust removing suction cleaner
1908 1st US postage stamps in rolls issued
1928 USA 2 beats USA 1 by 0.5s for the 5-man bobsleigh gold medal at the St. Moritz Winter Olympics; Germany 2 takes bronze
1930 American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovers the dwarf planet Pluto
1930 Cow is flown and milked, milk is sealed in paper containers and parachuted
1968 British guitarist David Gilmour joins progressive rock group Pink Floyd
1973 54-kg octopus measuring 7m across captured in Hood Canal, Washington
1974 NASA launches Italian satellite San Marcos C-2 (235/843 km)
1977 American rock band KISS play their first concert in their hometown venue of Madison Square Garden in New York City
1977 Space Shuttle Enterprise takes its maiden flight affixed atop a Boeing 747 Shuttle Aircraft Carrier
1978 1st Iron Man Triathlon (swim, bike ride, and run marathon) held, beginning and ending at the Aloha Tower in Honolulu Harbor of Oʻahu, Hawaii
1979 NASA launches space vehicle S-202
2009 English fantasy author Terry Pratchett receives a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace
2010 The Web site WikiLeaks began posting classified U.S. government documents provided by army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning; it was believed to be the largest unauthorized release of state secrets in U.S. history.
Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, observed in many Western Christian denominations. It takes place forty-six days before Easter, and may take place anytime between February 4 and March 10. Depending on denomination, it is observed with religious services, a ritual with ashes, and fasting. In ancient times, ashes were used to express grief. The sprinkling of ashes on heads takes place in numerous places in the Bible. Christians continued the tradition as a sign of repentance. Christians in Western Europe were receiving ashes on the first day of Lent by the tenth century, although not yet in the Catholic Church. In 1091, the Catholic Church joined the ritual, after Pope Urban II ordered ashes should be given in Rome. The day soon came to be called Ash Wednesday. Some denominations stopped giving out ashes after the Reformation, sometime around 1600, but still observed Ash Wednesday as the first day of Lent.
Astronomer Clyde W. Tombaugh discovered Pluto on February 18, 1930, at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. It appears Pluto Day sprang up naturally as an informal anniversary holiday, but it has been officially observed on some occasions. In 1999, the Lowell Observatory declared Pluto Day in honor of the discovery anniversary, holding an event at the observatory on Saturday, February 20. Admission was free, and lectures about Pluto, tours of the grounds, and science demonstrations were given. Telescopes could also be looked at, including the one that was used to discover Pluto. It is possible that the event helped popularize the idea of Pluto Day. In 2020, the Lowell Observatory sponsored “Pluto Discovery Day” at Flagstaff’s Orpheum Theater on February 18.