I’m still reeling from the idea that nutria have their mammary glands on their sides, what new fact will surprise you?

It isn;t often that a beaver trapping article stands out enough to catch my attention these days, but this one is special. Read for yourself…

Troublesome beaver poses challenge for trapper clearing county ditch

Says beaver may have taken it

BROWN COUNTY — Comfrey trapper Matt Bowman said he likes trapping beaver, but a beaver may have escaped Bowman’s efforts in Mulligan Township by taking his trap earlier this month.

“It’s a challenge. I enjoy it. I grew up around it. It gets me outside with Mother Nature. I’ve trapped since I was young,” said Bowman.

Doesn’t that sound healthy? Outside killing mother nature? It’s okay, sometimes mothers settle in places they don’t belong and then you have to kill them.

Commissioners unanimously approved paying Bowman, who is the Watonwan County Public Works crew chief and highway inspector, $280 for the beaver trapping and ditch clean-out, motion by Commissioner Brian Braun, seconded by Tony Berg.

On April 17, Bowman trapped seven beavers in County Ditch (CD) 28, Section 17, Mulligan Township, near CR 20, about 1 1/2 miles west of CR 8.

After collecting the drowned beavers, Bowman said he was short one trap.

“It appeared that one beaver took off with the trap,” he said

You mean the drowning beaver staggered away for its life and took your trap with it? Wonderful. You must not have anchored it in well enough,

You should give some of that money back.

“Beavers were starting to chew down smaller trees they use to make dens and dams in the Little Cottonwood River Watershed. Ditches were filling up and draining. If they build a dam and start blocking water, it causes problems like (river) bank sloughs and ditch maintenance problems,” Lang said.

“Beaver trapping on drainage ditches isn’t anything new. We’ve trapped them on a number of Little Cottonwood Watershed spots like CD 68 in Sigel Township, on Judicial Ditch 12 inside a culvert crossing on CR4 north of Springfield and in CD 8 in Hanska,” Lang said.

Sure because we coldn’t possibly spend 50 dollars to wrap that stand of trees with wire. We’d ,much rather spend a couple hundred dollars every 6 months for all time.

Sometimes beavers are known to put up a battle.

“We removed beaver dams around Hanska for about five years. Beavers rebuilt it before we trapped them about four years ago. Our highway maintenance man trapped a big male beaver there,” said Lang.

We could tell it was a male because it was BIG. That’s how gender science works right? Big things are male and little things are female.

I know there are some crazy beaver people that say a large beaver is just an OLD beaver. but they don’t know the secrets our maintenance man does.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) encourages property owners to work with local trappers to take beaver causing damage during the open trapping season. No permit is needed for a licensed trapper during the regular beaver season.

Just go ahead and get someone to kill them whenever you want. We’re all friends here.

I’m imagining the beaver with the stolen trap is leading conferences now to show other beavers how they work.

Got that? Beavers are helping not hurting our environment. Scientists say so. Well except for the ones in Alaska. Or Patagonia. Or Wisconsin. Or Michigan. And in California up until 5 years ago.

But they’re mostly helping.

Loved everything about this especially narration of the young man’s voice at the end. I’m sure you will too.

Beavers Can Do Better: Oregon Hand Crew Builds Dams to Attract Beavers for Habitat Health

Beavers are essential nonhuman stewards in a lot of habitats. They clear out deadfall, create ecosystems for fish and waterfowl, and generally improve the health of river systems or wetlands. Without beavers, an area can fall into ecological disrepair. Attracting beavers back can be a challenge, too. But that’s where Oregon’s Hand Crews, featured in Patagonia’s video Leave It to Beavers, come in.

Leave It To Beavers profiles the project and the handful of volunteers executing it. The basic idea is to build what they call a “replica” of a beaver dam using natural materials and tactics beavers use. Hopefully, eventually, a beaver comes by who looks at that dam, and decides that they could do better. Should they stop and make a home, it’s a dam mission success.

For more information on Oregon’s Hand Crews and other similar projects around the state, visit the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Page on the Oregon Government website. For more videos like this from Patagonia, check out the brand’s YouTube page.