8
in other words
may7
2020
A Word From the Watershed: Happy Beaver, Happy Watershed
By Corrie Aiuto
The beaver is a biodiversity en-
gineer. Hoping to harness the power of
this rodent to restore stream complex-
ity and bolster habitat for Coho salmon,
we at the Upper Nehalem Watershed
Council (UNWC) are busy building and
observing beaver playgrounds, other-
wise known as Beaver Dam Analogues
(BDAs), and a new report released in
April shows promising results.
Beaver Basics
The North American beaver,
Castor canadensis, is a nocturnal,
semiaquatic rodent with a dense fur
coat, webbed hind feet, enormous or-
ange incisors, and a flat paddle of a tail.
They are the second largest rodent in the
world, growing continually throughout
their life, averaging 50 to 60 pounds and
three to four feet in length. They are
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American Beaver, Wikimedia Commons
graceful swimmers, sporting goggle eye-
lids and a fur lining behind their teeth to
seal out water. They can stay submerged
for up to 15 minutes by slowing their
heart rate, thereby avoiding predators
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and navigating to submerged dens and
lodges. When they are not cutting
down trees for construction they are
chopping vegetation for food; despite
stories of beaver eating fish, they are
entirely herbivores.
Males and females typically in-
habit a space as a mated pair, often for
life, and colonies include newest kits,
which average four to a litter, and the
one year old kits. Two year olds often
leave the colony to build their own
den. Together a colony will gather
food, raise young, and studiously re-
pair dams. So vigilant are they that
removing a beaver dam is considered
pointless, often being rebuilt over-
night.
Many of us are familiar with the
image of the beaver: a plump body rest-
ing on a river bank, front paws clutch-
ing a leafy twig, a large, flat tail propped
behind, and out of a small round head,
beady eyes scrutinizing you through
the thick, luscious brown fur that thou-
sands of trappers so desired. Their fur is
incredibly dense; a postage stamp size
beaver fur has as many individual hairs
as an entire human head. And surprising-
ly soft to the touch; underneath a layer
of long, coarse guard hairs you feel a
downy under coat, simultaneously silky
and fluffy. European hat makers felted
the pelts, formed them into fashion, and
made beaver fur a coveted and valuable
commodity.
The first fur trading in North
America happened almost as soon as
white people arrived, trading for furs
with Native Americans in the 1500s, but
major trapping and trade began in the
1600s. Throughout that century and the
next, hundreds of millions of beaver were
trapped and relieved of their coats. By the
1840s the species was nearly extinct.
continued on page 9
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