Quite a few folks have been sending me this lately. It’s a fun ad showing a beaver at work in a cubicle with his fellow members of the animal kingdom. Of course, employers would only hire beavers, because they work so hard. But it’s still cute.
We received an awesome comment from Kevin Coldwell of Nova Scotia yesterday, and I thought its worth sharing in its entirety. In case you weren’t certain, this is why websites like ours matter and how they can continue to educate and encourage folks while we’re sleeping or on vacation.
I purchased a property in 2012 where there was beaver activity and a dam made across a brook. Several people approached me regarding dam saying it should be taken out. Suttle hints regarding there destructive behavior and how the stream up above it was not so accessible to fish anymore. I was somewhat convinced and dismantled some of dam to allow the stream to go lower.
I then thought I’d do a little research and found that beavers do much more for the environment then I had realized and decided to leave the dam be. There were many muskrats in the lower section of the brook which in hindsight realize they are an important part of the beaver environment.
Muskrats constantly are burrowing holes and breeching dams so they need repair by the beaver, something in all my research I haven’t heard mention of. There seems to be an element of cohabitation going on between the two species. The red tailed hawks were also more common when the muskrat was there also. We were enjoying the beavers presence and thought we would allow a trapper in to cull the muskrat population. This ended with the beaver being trapped also or ,the beaver moving on with the decline of the muskrat population. With the muskrat population the beaver may not have been threatened as much by other animals .
Beaver do have a cycle within an area and tend to move on as the food supply gets further from the water. This area is in the Spa Springs area of the Annapolis Valley. Very little seems to be known about the importance of the beaver. I believe from my research that beaver dams in the high up areas mountains etc contribute to replenishing springs in the lower meadow areas and intern contributing to cooling the streams and waterways effecting stream health and fish populations. I’ve encouraged the sport fishing resource people to add information such as this to our fishing guides. They are the front line of information. Dams by slowing down the movement of water directly influence the stabilization of the water cycle. This is why Arizona and other areas have had some success with water management when they have brought in beavers as a means of holding on to water resources.
It’s been threes years and beavers are moving back in once again and now I have decided against any trapping. I Believe there are many lessons to learn from observing them rather then extinguishing them.
Kevin JW Coldwell Wilmot Nova Scotia
Kevin! We sooo appreciate you sharing your story and observations with us. How wonderful to see you research and observe your way to this place. AMEN. I don’t want to start any fights, but trust me, you are MUCH smarter than your neighbors.
