Cool video from Michigan.

Nice video. I wish he would hold his camera correctly, or at least rotate the video, so we're not watching it in a thin vertical slit.

You mean your visual breadth isn't naturally in portrait mode?

I don't think so.

beaves are interesting critters but they make a big mess on your property. I once owned some property with a braided stream -- two streams crossing back and forth with little islands in between. The beavers decided to dam up the larger stream, and what I got was a swamp. The rangers finally came and relocated the beavers but I was happy to see them go. They have no aesthetic sense at all.

We have beavers here, well, maybe they are nutrias, but they dam up our creek from time to time. They haven't been very disruptive to the creek's flow, though, so I tend to see them as part of the natural environment and I think they do provide some benefit in slowing the water and capturing material as it flows downstream.

Its probably a matter of perspective about whether beaver-people behaviors are compatible or not. I can see if you owned a big chunk of the stream channel you might be willing to share. But when the beaves take over all you have -- then its either me or them.

Great point! In my case the dam was about half a mile from the house so it didn't personally affect me on a daily basis.

The beavers were moved to a good place downstream where they will have lots of room with no humans to object.

I was so glad that the forest rangers (Middle Tennessee) had a program for relocating the beavers instead of trapping and killing them which is an option I would not consider.

hazelnut said:They have no aesthetic sense at all.

That made me LOL.

Beavers are known for transmitting waterborne diseases like giardia and cryptosporidium. I've heard it said that if you have beavers, you *will* have at least those two present in the water. Giardia is aka Beaver Fever...that's how common it is.

That said, if you're fortunate enough to have on your property an abandoned dam that no longer dams water, you could have a great environment for permaculture.

Milkmood: Re LOL. When I saw what they had done to my beautiful braided stream with islands in between and a little 18" water fall -- it made be cry.

I bet it was a huge disappointment.

I sold the property.