Sunday May 4, 2008, 11:33 pm
When the beavers showed up at my place I was thrilled. They turned a low lying hayfield into a shallow lake. It took about 5 years for a brand new ecology to establish itself. Fisheries stocked the lake for 3 years and then waited another three to see what was left. The beavers, who killed so many red ceders that there were enough to build a new house from, lived on cutthroat trout after they's taken all the trees. They harvested cat tails for winter stoage in the lodge and last year's kits would follow drainage ditches and dam them. For a few years they shoved logs and pieces of scrap lumber into every culvert on the island, so roads were washing out.

They are gone. They ran out of food and disappeared about two years ago. The dam is breaking down and I suppose it will all dry up this summer. It was an intersting 15 year experience.

If you decide to allow beavers to camp out at your place, just make sure to wrap the trunks of cherished trees with metal fencing or stucco wire.
They don't like pine and they love fruit trees and shrub roses..