An Ode to Beaver Dams

We paddlers don’t give beavers enough credit. When we come to a beaver dam that blocks our way, we know it’s going to be a haul over. Often in remote canoe locations, paddlers will have tried to break the dam to make it easier to paddle through. But, we don’t give beavers enough credit.

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Despite the slight inconvenience of maybe getting your feet wet as you pull your canoe over a beaver dam, beavers, a keystone species that important for the health of environment, create these wonders of the world and create helpful habitat for all sorts of species. They create wetlands by engineering a dam and raising the water behind it. That opens the forest canopy and allows plenty of sunlight to hit the water. That increases the life that can grow and thrive there.

They do this to create deep enough water to enter and exit their lodges while remaining underwater and to allow access to a stash of food in the winter — and, no, beavers don’t do it for the fish. They don’t eat fish. They eat bark and plants and such.

Recently, we tackled a section of a pond-like river that we like to paddle that we hadn’t turned down before. Along the way, we pulled the canoe over multiple dams. Just downstream of each dam the water ran over shallow rocks. Once over the dam, we were back into deep water and could continue paddling. Eventually we ran out of stream. We’d just have to wait for the beaver to build a new dam before exploring further.

Before you curse the next beaver dam you must cross remember that beavers create some of the most biologically productive ecosystems in the world. Those ecosystems are filled with wildlife and aquatic plant life. Beaver dams also work to help improve our water quality. Plus, they make deep water that’s good for fishing.