Latest Reading – “Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter”

I have a special interest in the North American Beaver (Castor canadensis) because the Upper Peninsula of Michigan was first explored by French fur trappers in the 1600s. The fur trappers opened up the UP to European immigrant settlement. Early immigrants devastated North America’s natural ecosystems and the fur trappers greatly changed the wilderness by trapping and killing the estimated 150 million beavers present when the first Europeans arrived in North America in the 17th century. By the turn of the 20th century, around 100,000 beavers were left. Today there are an estimated 15 million beavers, still only 10% of the original population.

My main takeaway from the book is the profound positive impact the North American Beaver has on wilderness. By damming rivers, beavers create micro ecosystems by slowing down flowing rivers to form wetlands. Beaver-created wetlands greatly benefit plants, insects, fish, amphibians, bird life, mammals, especially predators, groundwater levels, etc. By wiping out the beaver, early fur traders turned life-enriching bogs into fast-flowing rivers (east) or dried river bottoms and deserts (west). I didn’t know that beavers were so widespread in the USA, from California to Georgia. The same thing happened to the closely related Eurasian Beaver (Castor fiber) which was down to 1,200 individuals at the start of the 20th century. I also didn’t know that beavers are in the rodent family and are the second largest rodent after our beloved Capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris). I’ve spent a lot of time in Bolivia observing capybaras.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a beaver in the wild. I see plenty of muskrats and as a kid, used to go out with a neighborhood friend to help him check his trap lines. This summer if I am in the UP, I am definitely going to be searching for beaver dams, especially around Ishpeming, to see if I can find the oldest “infrastructure” in Michigan. Goldfarb mentions an 1868 beaver map by explorer Lewis Henry Morgan and the recent work of South Dakota State University researcher Carol Johnston who says you can still discern most of the dams today.

The author spent most of his time in the American West in the book, but he covers a lot of historical and contemporary beaver projects. Goldfarb describes reintroduction programs and techniques to allow humans to live next to beavers. Most people consider beavers to be pests because they eat lots of trees, cause flooding, and stop the flow of rivers. As a kayaker, carrying my kayak around beaver dams would be a hassle. Beavers are amazing workers and I see why we say, “busy as a beaver”.

Other takeaways from the book are as follows:

• A big issue in the Western United States is livestock (mostly cattle) grazing in riparian areas. Beavers protect rivers, streams, and creeks by creating mini-dams that hold water in the dry season and create wetland areas in the arid West.
• Goldfarb devotes a chapter to Elko County, Nevada, and the Uintas Mountains of Utah. I am very familiar with these areas.
• Streams should not be “strings” or “ribbons” but “meal of spaghetti” instead. Taking out a keystone species like the beaver severely altered the landscape.
• Researchers in 2005 estimated between 15 million and 250 million beaver ponds puddled in North America before European arrival. Beavers once submerged 234,000 square miles of North America, an area larger than Nevada and Arizona combined.
• The term “mad as a hatter” came from manufacturers of beaver fur hats in Danbury, Connecticut. They used mercury nitrate that matted fur into malleable felt.
• perspicacious – astute, intelligent
• avuncular – like an uncle
• joie de vivre – joy of living
• The Great Basin is America’s coldest and most northernmost desert.
• Society must align the benefits of beavers (fish and wildlife habitat, carbon storage, cleaner water) with private landowners who view them as eating Cottonwood trees, plugging irrigation ditches and flooding fields.
• USA had over 90,000 dams, 15,000 of which are “high hazard”. By killing beavers, Americans depleted the Western landscape’s ability to store water, so instead we built thousands of concrete dams.
• 16 million Greater Sage Grouse once lived in the high desert sage, today is it 400,000. Sage Grouse chicks need summer streams to live and this is a win-win for both species.
• There is a chapter devoted to Yellowstone National Park. There is a popular theory that the wolves brought back Yellowstone because they prevented wild ruminants (elk, deer, bison) from riverside grazing. It is a bit more complicated than that with the beaver also playing a role.
• The UK is properly described as a land barren of wilderness, with every tree and large animal wiped out centuries ago.

“The conservation of the common,” the author JB MacKinnon has written, “represents a deeper ambition than the 20th century’s lopsided division of the world into islands of wild… It calls on us to integrate conservation into every aspect of human life.” Beavers – catholic in their habitat requirements, ark-like in their ability to support other forms of life- represent a spectacular opportunity to practice MacKinnon’s ideal.

Eager: The Surprising Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter

I copied and pasted Michigan Department of Natural Resources website under nuisance animals. Beavers: Michigan’s largest rodent, the beaver, is known for great feats of engineering, building dams and lodges out of logs, sticks, and mud. However, beavers can cause problems for landowners when their gnawing habits ruin landscape trees and when their dams create flooding.

Damage prevention and control tips:

• Eliminate food sources like desirable trees and woody vegetation where possible. Beavers especially enjoy cottonwood, willow, and aspen.For landscape trees, place metal flashing, hardware cloth or tree guards around the trees at least 3 feet high to prevent gnawing on trees.Fence around small critical areas like drains, culverts or other small areas to prevent dam building.With a permit from the local DNR wildlife biologist, continually destroy dams and materials used to build dams. If the dam has grown large enough to require the use of tools, contact the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy Environmental Assistance Center, 1-800-662-9278, or the EGLE district office for your area to obtain a dam removal permit.

Removing a beaver from private property

• Install a Clemson beaver pond leveler or beaver baffler in or near coverts and dam openings. These devices allow water to move through them while preventing dam construction.If you live in an area where trapping is allowed, beavers may be trapped in season with a valid base and fur harvester license.Contact the Michigan Trappers and Predator Callers to see if they have anyone interested in trapping the beaverIf these methods do not alleviate the beaver issues you’re experiencing, the final step is to contact a nuisance animal control company or the local wildlife biologist, depending on where you’re located.
  • If you’re located on private land in Zone 3 (southern MI) and it is between April 1st – April 29, contact a nuisance control company for their assistance. See the Hunting Digest for the zoning map.

If you are located on private land in Zone 3 and it is outside of that timeframe, or if you’re located in any other counties, contact the local DNR Customer Service Center, year-round, to obtain a Damage and Nuisance Animal permit