More from the Beaver Pond of the Vermilon River. A Post to Scenic Sunday.

Showing the Extent of the Pond.



Dam Channel




Close up of the Lodge




Not Quite finished




Another tree finished

This is Part 2 of the beaver pond tour. The first was posted on Wednesday and contains a lot of information on beaver. I'm not going to go through it again. If you want to re-read it, its just two posts back. But I'll tell you more about the pond and answer some of your questions. The first photo shows the magnitude of the pond and the stand of birch on the opposite side. I think I'm on the wrong shore. I'm on the abandoned RR right of way. You can see the gravel of the road bed in the top photo showing you the dam channel. Remember they dam the narrowest area. So the pond is sealed at my end. But the real stand of working material is on the other side. And its just what they like birch. As well, my side leaves them open to predators because they're away from the water.And predators are here. There are wolf and coyote tracks in the soft earth. They're probably looking for mice, voles and rabbits along the bank of the right of way, but a beaver would be nice. The two trees, both aspen, that the beaver have been at are on my side and show current pond activity. But something disturbed the beaver at work because the first tree is not finished. The second has all the branches sheared off for food and work material.

The close up of the lodge shows the use of mud and branches in the construction. You could walk on the lodge and on the beaver dam without any threat of going through.They build for permanence and I think they occupy a lodge for 10-12 years.

In answer to the frequent question did I see any beaver? No. The reason being I think I'm on the wrong side of the pond.

I could cross over the dam and come around towards the lodges that way, but the right of way is 9-10 feet high and the area beyond the dam is likely bog. See the tower at the back of the pond. These is an electrical  right of way there, and I could use it to gain access to the back of the lake. But you have to be careful there also, as the cleared land is filled with blueberry bushes that attract black bears, and the bears use it as a highway to raid the garbage of the campsites that are on the occupied lake much further over.But, I'm going to do that come summer because the ducks also stay on the other side of the pond, and I need some photos of them.

Now I've probably bored you all to to tears.

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