Beaver-Nature’s Engineer
OUTDOORS Dave Sartwell
There is no doubt that the beaver (castor canadensis, for you Latin fans) is the master mechanical engineer of the animal kingdom. He is a nonstop builder that can create some of the most elaborate and strong dams that are able to hold back vast quantities of water. I have seen in Canada dams that are a quarter of a mile wide that have created back-ups a mile long.
Oh! Settling down to read this article was like sitting down with a nice letter from a friend and a cup of tea on a rainy Sunday afternoon. I was deliciously excited. He describes the importance of the fur trade, the softness of the pelt, the dispersal of youngsters, the building of habitat, the care of families, the defending of territories. It was all so exciting to read from beaver-war-torn Massachusetts of all places that I couldn’t wait to turn to page two and read about all the benefits that their engineering does for the entire ecosystem.
Page two….
Page two?
There is no Page Two.
No discussion of birds or fish or water tables or climate change. No reference to otter or mink or Atlantic salmon. No mention of sediment or meadows or coppicing or riparian extension. Sigh. This is clearly HALF a beaver article. Maybe the other half was cut by a space-seeking editor. But maybe it was never written.
I wrote Mr Sartwell to encourage him to work on the more important part next. You know I would provide all the ideas and references he could possibly need. Let’s hope the paper is at least curious about what all these benefits do? Does Massachusetts care about genuine trickle down benefits?
Don’t worry. A better article is on the way. I just got a phone call from a “fact checker” for the Atlantic Monthly. (Are there still such things?) Remember when the reporter came for a tour of the beaver habitat and a talk about the importance of beaver in our Urban Creek? (Um, maybe I was being discrete and didn’t post about that. I sometimes manage it. Well, it happened in early December and as it happens there were unbelievable amounts of beaver activity that night.) So the fact checker is going through the article and says dubiously, “It says he came to a town that’s a suburb of San Francisco is that right? And beavers moved right into the middle of your creek in town is that right? And he saw two yearlings from a street bridge is that right? Reallllllllllly???”
Ahh that was a fun conversation!
Well its getting ready to go to press. Including the prominent name of OUR CITY where this remarkable sighting was made possible. I asked for copies to give the city council.
Fingers crossed.
