Well, lodge cam to be exact about it. This one is in Tamarac National Refuge in Minnesota. For most of the land beavers are given free range and have even been allowed to build an 8 foot dam.

One big beaver dam in Tamarac –8 feet tall and growing

10-16-beaver-dam-3-cmyk — This beaver dam at Tamarac Refuge is 8 feet tall and some 30 feet long. Read the article: One big beaver dam in Tamarac -- 8 feet tall and growing

There are roughly 200 beaver families and lodge structures inhabiting the Tamarac National Wildlfe Refuge, according to a spring 2011 survey by refuge researchers.

Those beavers have constructed hundreds, maybe even thousands of dams on the refuge’s 42,700-plus acres — but there is one such structure that towers, quite literally, above the rest.

The Aschbacher Beaver Dam, so named for the refuge volunteer who discovered it, Pete Aschbacher, stands more than eight feet high at its apex and spans approximately 30 yards in length.

Nice. Tamarac recently got a grant to install a lodge camera which the beavers promptly removed. They’re hoping to have it replaced soon, but in the mean time they think they’re the first ones to try this and are busily re-inventing the wheel instead of asking for help. I made sure to write them that there is at least ONE other successful lodge cam operated on forestry lands and pointed them towards the one in Tongass national forest– which is apparently now an underwater cam aimed at the plunge hole.

Here’s some lodge footage they took last year when it was working:

Well its nice that Tamarac recognizes these beavers as a benefit to their refuge, but don’t plan to retire their yet, apparently their welcome sometimes include the other kind of ‘open arms’.

Such structures are rarely tampered with; there are other dams, however, that lessen or completely block critical water flow through culverts and natural drainage areas. This can cause flooding or even road washouts in various parts of the refuge and surrounding areas.

High water can also threaten wild rice habitat; “Then, we have to remove them,” Deede said. He typically employs three methods of dam removal, depending on the severity of the problem: By hand, with a backhoe, or using explosives.

Deede took the necessary training to be certified for explosives use, though he does not take on such projects outside refuge property. He must take a refresher course once every three years.

Sometimes, beavers prove so resistant to removing the dams in these critical areas that they must be removed as well. In these instances, paid trappers or shooters are brought in to remove the animals; such cases are rare, however.

What, ripping out the dams doesn’t work? Wow you must have the very rare REBUILDING beaver species. That almost always never happens. If you are looking for real solutions to controlling waterheight and protecting culverts to manage behavior of the focal species introduced in Washington DC this year as one of three key players to watch in federal lands across the nation, then try here or here or here and tell Deede to stop playing with matches.

We’ll be happy to see the lodge cam when its up! In the mean time, readers might enjoy visiting the new feature on the website in the task bar at the top called “Solutions” which goes through primary beaver dilemmas and how to solve them. Cheryl checked out the amazing beaver habitat in Benicia we talked about this weekend and found three lodges! Also last night we visited a UCB grad student at the beaver dam who is looking for a dissertation on the ecology of beaver ponds in California. We had LOTS to talk about! I’m hoping we can get her to repeat Glynnis Hood’s beaver pond floor differentiations as a cause of biodiversity with some temperate beavers. Stay tuned!

This could be highly addictive. I just heard from one of the US Forestry workers who was involved in our beaver research paper and she pointed to this website in the Tongass National Forest in Juneau. It has a web cam inside a beaver lodge. The first couple times I looked at it I just saw grainy emptyness and sticks. But this morning there was a lense-full of breathing beaver fur – one of the residents was sitting on the camera!

After he or she moved aside a bit, a youngish beaver could be seen dragging a reed around to make its bed, and then butt-beaver nudged aside a bit more dragging a lovely flat tail past the camera. It’s actually still visible on the lower right hand side of the camera as I type this. I guess its not much of an invasion of privacy, although maybe one beaver is assigned to sit on the camera while the others do the really fascinating things. “Okay Bob, its your turn again”. The temperature in Juneau is 26 degrees today with nighttime lows of 16. The water must be frozen if not freezing. Maybe its still the temperature where a strong beaver can break up the ice and get to the surface, but they’re definitely headed for their long winter underground.

After the tail dragged across the rest of the screen, its owner turned and did a little grooming. See the head on the lower right hand side, paws curled around a bit of reed? Oh this is bad. Not only will I be tempted to watch this in the mornings I will sit there with my finger poised on the ‘print screen’ key just in case they do something cute! Good luck Tongass beavers. Its apparently already colder than usual. I hope you have lots of food stored.