During the summer, a pair of beavers set up home in a lodge they built against the bank of a small pond on our property. I would see them in late afternoon swimming in the pond or hunched amid the alders on the bank, where they gathered their construction materials. No lightweights, these beavers were formidable in size and dentition, the latter evidenced by many gnawed stumps of alder, birch, and pincherry surrounding the pond and beside adjacent Matheson Brook (see previous post on beaver-chewed trees).

Through repeated travel and the dragging of gnawed-off branches and thin trunks, the beavers created muddy trails amid the grasses and shrubs surrounding the pond and leading to the brook, which became their next construction site. These trails were imprinted with tracks of their large, webbed hind feet and small fore feet.

Soon a dam appeared in the brook downstream from our bridge, then another dam farther downstream and much wider than the first. The brook backed up behind these dams, raising the water level upstream and flooding low land beside the waterway.

A gently curved tangle of cut trees, mud, and rocks, the bigger dam stretched thirty metres, with water trickling through it. Fierce rainstorms during the past two weeks have punched a wide hole in the barrier, dropping the creek level behind it. Today, however, I saw more trees felled by Beaver Engineering Inc., so am curious to see if the dam will be repaired.