Sure they fell trees, but their ponds are essential
MUSKOKA SUN – The beaver may be the national animal of Canada but the rodent isn’t always a welcome sight at properties in the region. Beavers are known to destroy vegetation and reroute waterways, and some cottagers work to capture or kill any beaver that attempts to make a home near their property. However, eliminating a beaver is not the best course of action.
“There is a way of living in some symbiosis with beavers,” said Todd Cairns, fish and wildlife technician with the Parry Sound District of the Ministry of Natural Resources. “There’s a way of being able to appreciate the basic needs of beaver being food, water and shelter and being able to live within those basic needs so they’re not being as intrusive to property owners and property owner rights
As part of a lecture titled “Living with Beavers” at the spring Muskoka Stewardship Conference, Cairns explained that there are several benefits to having a beaver on, or near, a property.
Did I read that right? Does Todd actually work for the Ministry of Natural Resources? Whoa! They are usually every bit as forward thinking and protective of beavers as USDA is here…I need to sit down…If there are a few places where the wisdom of beavers in the ecosystem is starting to permeate, I will be a very happy camper indeed!
Due to the popularity of beaver ponds with wildlife, dams also create excellent opportunities for fishing, hunting or just nature appreciation. Everything from fish to moose to reptiles thrive in the habitat created by beaver ponds.
Well, I would probably swap the word ‘popularity’ for the word ‘dependence’, and I’d offer a few more solutions other than ‘plant evergreens’ and ‘cut down your own trees first’, but still, it’s the Ministry of Natural Resources and we are grading on a curve! Great work, Todd. Write me back and we’ll have wonderful beaver conversations!
Sadly I have no new beaver footage for you today because my eyelids stubbornly insisted on remaining closed at 5:3o this morning. When Jon went down before work he saw Jr. following an adult beaver to the dam, and watched the adult mudding. For a moment he thought Jr. was about to embark on his first damming efforts, then he reached up to the willow the other beaver had placed there and snatched it away so he could munch it.
Ahh, youth!
