Ecosystem Engineers

It’s been a rainy fall and winter. The days are grey and still (though we did have one wind storm), the rain at times heavy or sometimes just a misting drizzle. We don’t get a lot done outside these days, with such unpleasant weather. It feels like the time of year to cocoon.

But there are creatures out there who are enjoying this weather: beavers. They’ve built a dam in the culvert that drains the marsh out back, and the water levels in the marsh have been rising precipitously. Half of our back-40 is now covered in water, and the beavers show no sign of stopping.

So far we haven’t seen any beavers themselves, only evidence of their activities in harvesting trees from our property. Maybe it’s time to get a trailcam.

Here is a work in progress. Perhaps the beaver was interrupted while gnawing down this tree, and didn’t get a chance to drag it away immediately. The next day it was gone.

More chewed-off stumps in the water, where the beaver can just fall them and float them to their home–very little dragging effort required.

Working hard to keep their front teeth from growing too much? Or just feeding on the nutritious bark of an alder stem? It’s as though they were eating a cob of corn.

These three stumps were handily nipped off, nothing left of any of them.

Gnawed-off stumps like sentinels in the parts of the water still close to the marsh, before the water rose up to the left of the photo.

Invasive broom seeds silhouetted against the high water in the marsh.

Earlier this week we saw two alders lying across the path down by the marsh. The next day they were gone–taken away by the industrious beavers as part of their remodelling efforts. Part of me thinks I should head out in my kayak and explore, see where the beavers have built their lodge relative to the dam across the culvert. Maybe this week when we have a dry day (hopefully).

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