A photojournal of wildlife, wild flowers and forest life in a small section of Northern Ontario, Canada.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Activity in a Beaver Pond of The Vermilon River
Active Beaver Hutch
Evidence of activity
This pond is along the east track beyond the wetlands I have already shown you. The pond is both wetland and beaver pond as the beavers have damed one end and thanks to their engineering, the pond did not dry up over the long dry summer. The dam is overgrown with grass indicating its age. There are now 2 active hutches in the pond which I'll show you on the next post.
I went to a lecture at the Chippewa Nature Center tonight that dealt with the fur trade in the Great Lakes region. They told us early European fur traders reported hutches three stories high! The English beaver had been hunted to extinction by 1526 and that the War of 1812 was fought essentially over rights to the Great Lakes fur business. Beaver have finally made a come back in these parts and I can report seeing them on the Pine River behind my house in the early spring the last two years.
Wow you should be able to guess what you're going to see. Here is another clue. Pretend you are a fur trader in the 17th century, either French or English, you're wary because there are Iroquois to the south, and Huron to the east. But you're fairly safe because this is Objway country. You're here for Beaver, but you need gold because you're a new trader and independent so need other furs which are valuable.
The beaver pond must have been a real boon for wildlife. We have had a similar situation here in VT - dry streams that I have never seen dry before for the 30 years I have been living here. Beavers regularly show up in the West River and the CT River, girding and bringing down huge trees that they can't possibly use for dams - I mean the CT River is pretty big! ;-)
When I hear people say we had a good summer last year I think they've forgotten how dry it was and we have no permanent snow yet. We've only had some rain and then big storms.
I went to a lecture at the Chippewa Nature Center tonight that dealt with the fur trade in the Great Lakes region. They told us early European fur traders reported hutches three stories high! The English beaver had been hunted to extinction by 1526 and that the War of 1812 was fought essentially over rights to the Great Lakes fur business. Beaver have finally made a come back in these parts and I can report seeing them on the Pine River behind my house in the early spring the last two years.
ReplyDeleteWow you should be able to guess what you're going to see. Here is another clue. Pretend you are a fur trader in the 17th century, either French or English, you're wary because there are Iroquois to the south, and Huron to the east. But you're fairly safe because this is Objway country. You're here for Beaver, but you need gold because you're a new trader and independent so need other furs which are valuable.
ReplyDeleteThe beaver pond must have been a real boon for wildlife. We have had a similar situation here in VT - dry streams that I have never seen dry before for the 30 years I have been living here. Beavers regularly show up in the West River and the CT River, girding and bringing down huge trees that they can't possibly use for dams - I mean the CT River is pretty big! ;-)
ReplyDeleteWhen I hear people say we had a good summer last year I think they've forgotten how dry it was and we have no permanent snow yet. We've only had some rain and then big storms.
ReplyDelete