NEDERLAND - Have you ever been hiking among the peaceful quiet of a wetlands area and been startled by an abrupt splash of water nearby, followed by an eerie return to tranquility?

 It is generally safe to say that, outside of the possibility of your chosen wetlands being immediately adjacent to human habitations, that perceived affront was not another human throwing rocks at you or even into the water. 

Chances are, you just experienced the infamous tail-slap of nature’s greatest engineer, the beaver, warning its neighbors of the possibility of danger from your presence.

Beavers are the world’s second-largest rodent next to the capybara, and North America’s largest. Adults weigh between 35 and 65 pounds, with the largest recorded at a whopping 110 pounds. 

Pre-European settlement numbers of the animals are estimated to have been somewhere between 60-400 million plying the waterways of North America. By the early 1900s, their numbers were diminished to as few as 100,000 because of insatiable pelt harvesting. 

Thanks to their prolific breeding, and reintroduction programs, the population has rebounded to an estimated 10-15 million. Currently their biggest threat comes from loss of habitat because of misguided “protection” of lands from perceived property damage.

The engineering feats of these creatures are known the world over. Beaver lodges are built in waterways, and their dams are constructed to slow the flow of the water around the home as a form of structural protection. The dome-like lodge is built around a mounded platform of sticks and mud and usually has multiple entrances from the waterway for easy escape from predation. 

While the inner mound allows for a warm and dry dwelling, the water inside the lodge is also used for food storage and preservation. The cold water keeps their favorite foods of tree bark, twigs, and leaves fresh for later consumption, much like our refrigerators.

Beaver dams average as much as 100 yards in length, with a world record dam found in Alberta, Canada’s Wood Buffalo National Park measuring in at an astounding 800 yards. They are constructed with trees, branches, debris, and mud, packed in with their large, flat tails. 

While not complex in their design, these structures are incredibly complex in their functionality. Not only do they protect the lodge from rushing water, the mud and sticks act as a filter, helping to create cleaner water downstream. The slowing of water flows also helps to prevent erosion of the waterway’s banks.

This newly formed wetland area thus allows for better irrigation for surrounding plants, with the increased moisture helping to mitigate localized drought. Further, this saturated ground helps prevent wildfire dangers. All these benefits combine to culminate in the attraction of increased plant life, fish, the fish predators, and apex predators to hunt the smaller species. In total, a dramatic increase in biodiversity, the very crux of survival and growth in the natural world.

Beavers build these structures by cutting down trees using their iconic enlarged incisors (front teeth). These teeth never stop growing, so tree-cutting is necessary, along with grinding of the teeth themselves, to prevent overgrowth. If their teeth get too long, they can no longer fully close their mouths or adequately chew their food, which ultimately leads to starvation.  

Tree-cutting typically happens within 100 feet of their ponds. If more distant trees are required, they may raise the height of the dam to increase the pond size and get closer to the trees. Even more astounding, they may also dig canals from a pond to even more distant trees, creating a waterway by which they can transport the lumber to the dam or lodge with ease.

Above, I commented regarding their threatened existence due to habitat loss and misguided protection of lands. This is not to say that the species is endangered–simply that eliminating them can produce drastically worse conditions for the land over time. 

One could argue that with all this knowledge about the expansive and amazing benefits of beaver dams, that removal of the beaver is likely to result in far more property damage in the long run. 

If you happen to have any of these critical critters around your property, you might want to lose your attachment to the trees and their aesthetic value in lieu of gaining some much-needed wildfire protection. Sadly, it’s the dammed beavers that get the blame for preventing the “progress” of ultimately harmful land use. 

Information for the article came from https://www.oneearth.org/the-benefits-of-beavers/, https://www.fws.gov/story/beavers-work-improve-habitat, and https://canadiangeographic.ca/articles/animal-facts-beaver/.

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