It's amazing how quickly national symbols can become no-good varmints simply by doing what they do best, chopping down trees and building dams.
In the wake of the extermination of a local beaver colony it appears that our resident guardians of the land and protectors of all the fur bearing and feathered denizens who dwell there need a more consistent game plan.
After The Chief broke the story, Global TV ran a news broadcast informing a viewing audience spanning the length and breadth of this province that Squamish had resorted to hiring a trapper to kill beavers because the saw-toothed rodents were designated as pests whose dams block up culverts and cause floods.
Aside from a few letters The Chief, this issue has been met with a deafening silence from our ever-expanding throng of conservationists and sustainability advocates. In fact, these days there appears to be far more hand-wringing over trees being chopped down along Highway 99 than deep-sixing a dozen beavers.
And fresh in our memories are dire warnings about the planned Garibaldi at Squamish resort laying siege to every variety of flora and fauna on Brohm Ridge.
There have been none of the standard volleys of indignation from the dyed-in-the-wool environmentalists on council. There have been no angry protests or staged media events from the likes of the coalition who blockaded the Sea to Sky Highway upgrade because, among other things, the habitat of the rare red-legged frog was threatened.
Squamish environmentalist John Buchanan rose to the occasion when he gave Global TV reporter Linda Aylesworth a guided tour of the cull site and offered his take on the trapping operation.
But when she contacted the mayor's office for the official version, Aylesworth was told he was too busy for an interview.
We know Greg Gardner has a lot on his plate these days. If by some stretch of the imagination he failed to appear because he was otherwise engaged, the obvious default option was to send a delegate. That didn't happen.
Viewers were left wondering if Muni Hall just wanted to give Global the bum's rush because the whole matter had blown up in the district's face, like a premature burst of Halloween fireworks.
What happened to all that campaign talk about improved communication and more transparency? Engaging in what amounted to a cloak and dagger operation, and then pulling a disappearing act are hardly far-sighted strategies in the electronic age.
At a time when all the stops are being pulled out to advertise our assets, this episode of mayoral indiscretion did little to elevate the community's stature.
Central command needs to brush up on Media Damage Control 101.
All those recent photo- ops with MPs, MLAs and Olympic luminaries are great PR, but when a national TV network rings your doorbell, answer it promptly.
Tell viewers that mistakes were made and quickly reassure the public that more humane alternatives are being explored.
Speak up for the town, especially when the wood chips are down.
