The Never-Ending Saga Of Beavers On The Carrell Wildlife Preserve

 

From a distance, our pond looks like a quiet, tranquil place to relax and let the worries of the world melt away. But what you can’t see is the fierce battle we’re fighting with a pair of beavers. How do we know it’s beavers? There are a few clear signs.

Sign #1 - the dam they feel it necessary to build across the drain. If we can’t hear the water rushing through it, we know the beavers have been busy that day.

Sign #2 - the mysterious disappearance of bushes and trees. It’s super important that we protect as much of our timber as we can, and the beavers go through it so quickly! See their little teeth marks on the stumps of what’s left of a bush? They’re getting down as far as they can so they have big branches to works with. Work on what, you ask?

Sign #3 - their ever-enlarging den. They have two or three places under the banks of the pond where they like to hide, but this is their central location. Every time we go down, there are new expansion projects around this area. They’re like a home renovation show gone wild. Literally.

And this is a picture of our wild blue phlox. It has nothing to do with beavers - I just wanted to show you something pretty after all that negativity. We found blooms on the muscadine grape vines and the blackberry bushes while we were out scouting beavers, so that made a lovely end to our expedition.