It was usually the first week in January when we’d see sudden evidence of beaver feasting overnight. All of a sudden there’d be chews on several trees at once and at least one down. i remember thinking that the creek looked like many of our homes the morning after new year’s eve, empty bottles lying around speaking to a night of revelry.
Sometimes it was at the start of the month, sometimes later, and sometimes it didn’t happen at all. The surprising part was always that it didn’t continue to happen, it was definitely a ‘one-off’ kind of thing. What ever set of circumstances made it occur just went away until the following year.
Obviously it wasn’t hunger (since beavers get hungry every day). I always assumed some kind of adolescent maturity ritual when a kit suddenly decided he could take down a tree like dad, or maybe dad got him started on one to teach him. The point was, it was a night of learning and then it was over and the beavers went back to chewing plants or a single tree or eating cattails.
Which is what I thought of this morning when I saw this.
Beavers chewing up trees at water’s edge along Riverfront Park
Gnawing nocturnal visitors to Spokane’s Riverfront Park had officials scrambling to save towering cottonwoods from a watery grave this winter.
A flourishing beaver population along the banks of the Spokane River, stretching east from the 100-acre park in the city’s downtown to the shores behind Gonzaga University at least, is being blamed for gashes in the trunks of shoreline trees. The targets are not only those in the willow and cedar families that are staples of the beaver’s diet, but also pine and hawthorn trees that don’t have the same type of bark the creatures prefer.
The activity is puzzling experts and drawing the attention of a sleuthing class of preschoolers.
Joe Cannon, a restoration ecologist with the Lands Council in Spokane, said it’s the most active he’s ever seen the semiaquatic rodent that has often crossed paths with urban dwellers in the city by the falls.
“They’re always here, they’re just having a bigger presence this year than they’ve had,” said Cannon, standing amid a row of trees near Lake Arthur on Gonzaga’s campus last week that showed the telltale signs of beaver chewing.
At least it’s Washington so they know what to do and the area has expert to call on (hi Joe!) better yet – a classroom of preschoolers to investigate! Even if the news artist has never seen an actual beaver before.
It’s that activity that caught the attention of Chelsea Inman’s preschool students at the Community Building Children’s Center. Groups of a half-dozen students, between the ages of 3 and 5, take routine tours through the park and began spotting beaver activity in late November, Inman said.
“We’ve been bringing students to the park for years and never seen beaver activity before,” Inman said.
Students found some downed saplings near the upper dam, and followed the wood scraps “Scooby Doo-like,” Inman said, to the damaged trees to the west. The trail included some trail-marking posts on the bridge leading between Havermale Island and the north bank of the river, suggesting the beavers became confused and started gnawing the wooden markers, believing them to be tree trunks, she said.
On Monday afternoon, Inman’s students gathered in a circle, as they do twice a day, to talk about their investigation and what they learned about the eager animal.
“I think it’s a good idea, to let everyone know that beavers were chewing our trees,” said Olivia, 4, who also said her favorite animal was a beaver.
Nelson, 5, said it was important for beavers to have a source of food in the park, so they didn’t venture into other, more dangerous parts of town.
I’m right there with you Olivia! There is generally nothing I like better than an episode of “beaver detective”. Especially when the heroes are in four and five! You did great work, and are paying attention in just the right way. I hope you receive Ranger Rick magazine because you’re going to see a story about children watching out for local beavers very soon.
