NEDERLAND — In the spring of last year I wrote an article about beavers. Much of it consisted of facts about the animals, but it also touched on their feats of engineering and the vast ecological benefits that are born of their labor. This week I want to follow up, having witnessed it first-hand.

Since I wrote the original article, one of my favorite local places to wander, ponder, and occasionally take photographs has been greatly transformed by the work of these industrious creatures.

I had not visited the area much over the last few years, but around mid-winter I headed out for a stroll and was dumbfounded by the change.

Having spent a lot of time in this valley over the years looking for moose, being harassed by kingfishers who refuse to be photographed, and often just sitting and thinking, I know many of its “nooks and crannies” intimately.

While beavers have long called this place home, their work has been in an area challenging to access and observe. The results of the recent work and the changes to the land I came across this past winter blew my mind.

Sometime last spring or early summer, the local family apparently decided to move upstream and begin a new project. They constructed a large dam across the creek running through the property in one of the widest parts of the valley. With backed-up waters beginning to fill in the low-lying surrounding willows, they then built a new lodge closer to the project.                            

The new dam has caused the backed-up water to create a pond where previously there were simply dense willows. I’m not a great judge of spaces, but I would guess the pond is close to an acre or more and growing. While shallow, it is ample enough to lessen their work hauling downed trees from the hillsides far from the banks of the creek.

Aside from the well-known practice of damming, beavers also dig canals that are used to drag distant trees to their projects. Floating the downed trees is far easier transport than dragging them across the ground. This crew has long used these channels through the dense willows in the area.

Those canals are now largely filled in, and simply part of the expanding wetlands. Quite an amazing example of efficiency and problem-solving!

Without discernable banks, the new pond is also causing the backed-up water to flow further down-valley before finding its way back into the main creek.  This spread of the downstream flow is saturating land that long stood high and dry.

The landowners have happily surrendered this area and are letting the beavers take over to do what they do best: work and manage the land.  The new wetlands are already encouraging all manner of new life to take hold and call the valley home. 

More fish and plant life will attract more wildlife all the way up the food chain.  Also, the increase in water makes for incredible natural wildfire protection, greatly desired in our current drought conditions. 
All of this has happened in less than a year.

One other personal bonus for me is finally getting to spend a little more intimate time with a creature that tends to be quite elusive for all their relative sociability.

Not long ago I enjoyed a beautiful evening with part of the family as three of them took a swim in their new pond and dined among the willows. It was a wonderful thing to see them enjoying the fruits of their hard labor in a land that is now transformed and all the healthier for it.

While this particular area is private, if you have an interest in seeing the work of these amazing engineers firsthand, there are two locations close to home. One family has taken up residence in Boulder Canyon, and another, larger project is in Left Hand Canyon. Both provide an amazing insight into the labors of these amazing creatures.  If you’re lucky, you might even catch a glimpse of them doing what they do best: keeping busy and working away as spectacular stewards of the land.

For additional information about James DeWalt Photography, check out jamesdewaltphotography.com.