Living with Beavers
CNN reports that a beaver family living along the Kern River in California is targeted for death. It seems they are seen as a hazard to the users of the local bike path. A blog has been created by N.L. Belardes called "Save the Kern River Beavers" which has generated a tremendous amount of interest and reason to hope that many people have come to see the fact that we are the problem, not the wildlife. It is our intrusion into their habitat that is the issue and it is our attitude that "nature" is somehow inherently dangerous that fuels the arrogant solution that the only way to solve this man verses beaver conflict is to kill the beavers. I am not sure how we have reached this view that appears to be endemic in the bureaucratic mind, but it is with joy that I read so many comments defending the beavers and ridiculing the official position. Clearly we are not talking about just beavers, but the whole attitude that underlies our feelings about nature and our place in it. Such a public outcry gives me hope.
There is a large stream (or small river) that runs through our property, and several beaver ponds. The main pond is only about 100-feet from our cabin and has two lodges and a family of seven beavers. We knew little about beavers when we first moved here two years ago, so we made a point of learning about them.
The beavers are a “keystone” species and their ponds provide vital habitat for many other species. In fact we have watched bear, coyote, fox, wolf, a variety of waterfowl, and other critters come to the pond throughout the seasons. We also learned that the ponds eventually fill in with silt, the beavers move on, and the rich silted area becomes open meadow for grazing animals such as deer, moose, and elk, and for predatory birds – hawks by day, owls by night.
We have a deep respect for these successive changes, and we forbid hunting on our land. We want this place to be a sanctuary. To depict the indigenous animal as dangerous is both arrogant and terribly misinformed. We humans are clearly the most dangerous of animals and it is the beavers and other wildlife that need our protection.
... Bob
Beaver Lodge in Winter
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There is a large stream (or small river) that runs through our property, and several beaver ponds. The main pond is only about 100-feet from our cabin and has two lodges and a family of seven beavers. We knew little about beavers when we first moved here two years ago, so we made a point of learning about them.
The beavers are a “keystone” species and their ponds provide vital habitat for many other species. In fact we have watched bear, coyote, fox, wolf, a variety of waterfowl, and other critters come to the pond throughout the seasons. We also learned that the ponds eventually fill in with silt, the beavers move on, and the rich silted area becomes open meadow for grazing animals such as deer, moose, and elk, and for predatory birds – hawks by day, owls by night.
We have a deep respect for these successive changes, and we forbid hunting on our land. We want this place to be a sanctuary. To depict the indigenous animal as dangerous is both arrogant and terribly misinformed. We humans are clearly the most dangerous of animals and it is the beavers and other wildlife that need our protection.
... Bob
Beaver Lodge in Winter.
posted by Looking for Hope | 1:22 PM
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