Beavers Have Returned

Beavers have returned:

yesterday morning, just as first light softly begins to shows my local pond, and finally I catch a clear sight of my neighborhood beaver, or one of them at least, as I don’t actually know how many there might be. It was enough to see one, thrilling me to the core, as after a long wait, decades really, it seems beavers have returned.

I’ve written of this before, how beavers had made their way here by following a local stream, establishing a home, only to be removed by neighbors concerned about damage to the trees surrounding the pond, and possible issues concerning their property. Valid concerns, although studies suggest, as well as actual practice, that we’re capable of controlling many of these problems and that a small, but thriving beaver community only adds value to the ecosystem if their activity is kept in check. Yet still they removed and we haven’t seen them here since.

until now.

beavers have returned.

we saw signs for many months, gnawed trees, branches and larger limbs gathered along streams, and my hope began to rise. There are larger lakes nearby that support a thriving beaver population, and my small pond is connected by many streams that would provide a viable path for their return. And that’s just what they did, a few at least, taking their time, and eventually…