I was happy to see this article emerge from the Parks Record in Utah. There was just one part I would have changed, of course…
Sunday Drive: Busy as a beaver
High up on the north side of the river was the Duchesne Ridge, one of my favorite fall color drives with sweeping meadows on its flanks. On the south, towering pines clung precariously to the steep slopes leading down to the river.
The West Fork has its humble beginnings in headwaters along the eastward-facing slopes of Heber Mountain just a mile away. It runs a squiggly line for 20 miles before sweeping down along S.R. 35 to Hanna, where it joins the main Duchesne River, eventually becoming one with the Green River in Ouray on its journey to the Colorado.
Just a few miles in, we spotted a strange-looking grove of fallen aspens. Coming up onto the scene, we could see more than 50 stumps with pointed tops — carved away by the orange front teeth of beavers. The scene was almost eerie. Some of these trees were huge, a few so large that they weren’t cut all the way through. With remnants extending three feet above the ground, you get a sense of the size of beavers, which can be three to four feet long and weigh 75 pounds or more.
Yup. You know what else is big about beavers? They;re a big deal. A place as dry as Utah knows dam well it needs all its beavers.
All along the river, beaver dams created pond after pond as the West Fork wiggled its way down the valley. Flowage after flowage poured water from the steep north and south canyon walls into the river, from Vat Creek to Telephone Hollow.
Walking through the brush down to the river, you can quickly see the remarkable engineering that goes into a beaver dam. With the spear-like tree trunks forming a bulkhead, sticks and mud are used to create the main dam. It serves to create a pond environment while establishing a lodging structure underneath for their family.
Uh-oh. Did you just say what I think you said? Did you just write on paper for all the world to see that beavers build a dam which creates an underneath structure for their family to live in? Are you thinking beavers live INSIDE the dam? With scuba equipmen0 and hard hats?
I know that’s what the New York Times said a couple of times, but those city slickers were wrong. You don’t want to be as wrong as them do you?
Beavers don’t live IN the dam. They live in a lodge or bank hole. The dam is where they “work”. You don’t want to sleep where you work do you? Neither do beavers. The dam is solid like a wall to hold back the water.
Think of it like the AQUAFENCE they used to keep out hurricane Helene.
A beaver dam is the original aquafence.
