Beaver Dam (1 Viewer)

Today we found a beaver dam on our property..sigh. Looks to be some pretty large Beavers too from the height of the teeth marks on trees. This is a full blown Dam...the beavers have successfully built it and it holds water which is backing up behind it in a large pool. My husband is all excited about it but I do not share the thrill. The Beavers knock down good healthy trees and kill others only to later fall in the creek. They seem to be awful destructive to me. This is the first dam we have seen on our property but beavers have always been here from time to time. We have a few on our pond too that trim down the smaller young tender starts of trees. I don't mind that so much but the older trees I get irritated with the beavers destroying full grown trees. Here is a nature lovers paradise I suppose with deer, one cougar, bobcats, foxes, ducks, geese, birds along with two pileated, not to forget the upteen beavers we must have. I can take most all except the beavers and cougar..they really need to find a different area to live..lol.

Thought you might like to see the photos of the dam from different angles.

I still think what you need is a cabin for paying guests!

John

Farnboro John said:

I still think what you need is a cabin for paying guests!

John

Click to expand...

Or a lodge

My guess is the cougar stays because of the beavers....in an odd sort of way. In the summertime, when it gets dry there, the only water that may be around is trapped in the beaver dam. Anything that slows the flow of water in a drought is a good thing. The dead trees close to the shore are replaced by budding saplings, which attract deer...which have very little cover next to the water. Easy pickin's for mama cougar, like walking into a supermarket and ordering venison...except on Fridays when she gets chicken....it's Lent, you know.

Apodemus said:

Or a lodge

Click to expand...

:-O:-O:-O

John

I agree. Beaver ponds create habitat for lots of species on your land you probably do appreciate. Including dead trees for pileated woodpeckers.

If the land was all wooded without horses and cattle I would consider cabins..a lodge a bit big..lol.

The beavers could go down stream and back up the water from that direction instead..lol. Our creek is spring fed so at least half of it doesn't go dry during a drought. We have several springs, one that comes in on the lower part of the creek and another one that is a wet weather spring that feeds our pond. We may have other springs, just depends on time of year we are looking for them. Some are wet weather and others full 24/7. Not sure if the dam will make it once the Spring rains hit. The creek turns into a major river taking down fences and anything else in it's path. We have seen boats, refrigerators, small shed like buildings and loads of trees come with the flooding. Seems to be an every year accurance so the beavers hopefully have planned for this.

The beavers dam yes could be a good place to grab a meal since there is some brush for say a cougar to crouch down in. Last year we found a dead fox in the pasture, not sure what it died from..old age, disease, or what. Oh and I forgot to mention we have lots of coyotes too. Once in awhile I get to see them looking for food in the grazed pastures. As long as I am at a distance they don't mind me too much. At night when they are on the run on chase doing their calls is sort of scary..one wonders what poor animal is being chased by them..running for it's life. The coyotes here are healthy and fit, very pretty for a coyote. Our red tail hawks should have had their offspring by now so I'll be checking nests soon. We have two couples that mate, have nests and offspring each year.

Let me know when you get that cabin built.

John

Can't comment on your mammal problem - but you do sound to live in the most wonderful part of the world. Very envious of the wildlfe you share the place with!

Just saw this article about Beavers this morning when it came up on a news site. Thought it might be of interest.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/Beavers-The-Engineers-of-the-Forest.html

Nice article. I guess that it is beavers' "engineering" work that puts them in a kind of unique conflict with man - we're used to being the engineers, and nobody (i.e. no animal) will foil us!

Of course, it's much easier for me to look at it in the abstract since I don't have anything I want to keep dry which they are busy trying to flood. |:$|

Beavers provide habitat for a wide variety of animals including ducks, herons, red winged blackbirds, frogs and salamanders, turtles, fish, otters, muskrats, and even moose.

Their habits drastically improve the quality of the wildlife habitat.

I wish I had a beaver pond on my land.

Eventually, they convert the woodland into an open meadow which provides far more wildlife habitat than a closed canopy woods.

Checkout my latest blog entry--it's all about beavers and the extinct giant beaver.

http://markgelbart.wordpress.com/

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The big one

Well, here's a beaver dam to talk about - over 2500 feet long! (Of course located in a relatively unpopulated area, not someone's "back 40" )

OK Scis, are your beavers still "busy" or have they been persuaded to move on?

We have Beavers on our greenbelt, I have seen only one though.

They are rather worrisome to me, simply because their really are not a lot of trees in this area, and last time I walked along the greenbelt they appear to have taken out a small grove. We lose too many trees and the marginal habitat is going to be pretty much useless for migrants.