Beaver (Castor canadensis)Image from Illinois Dept. of Fish and Game website
The natural area that I haunt is within two miles of the city line of a major Mid-Atlantic city. So, it's embedded in the sprawling suburbs and gets a lot of use. Nevertheless, it manages to retain many of its natural amenities.
Two years ago, I was walking along the creek that flows through the preserve downstream of the designated natural area. The creek flows out of the natural area and into a privately-owned marshy area that is crisscrossed with roads and railroad tracks. Because the area is marshy, and because the roads and railroads are above the level of the creek and the marsh, it is basically an extension of the designated natural area. During that walk, I came across a beaver lodge hidden at the edge of the marsh. I was ecstatic--beavers had made their way back to the watershed all by themselves--probably by migrating from an adjacent watershed where I know they are present.
Earlier this year, I began to hear reports of beavers in the tributaries of the creek above and below the natural area. Then, in the summer, a beaver appeared in a small pond within the natural area. I would see it every July evening that I went down to the pond. Come August, just as mysteriously as it appeared, it disappeared. I guess the pond wasn't to its liking.
Yesterday afternoon (October 1), a friend who roams the natural area even more frequently than I called me to report that he found a beaver washed up against a tree trunk in the creek with an arrow through it. It appeared to have been shot with a crossbow. I think I know who did this (he's notorious), and he did it just for target practice or maliciousness, since his property is not near the creek and his trees were not being damaged by gnawing.
There's really no hope for humanity.
Two years ago, I was walking along the creek that flows through the preserve downstream of the designated natural area. The creek flows out of the natural area and into a privately-owned marshy area that is crisscrossed with roads and railroad tracks. Because the area is marshy, and because the roads and railroads are above the level of the creek and the marsh, it is basically an extension of the designated natural area. During that walk, I came across a beaver lodge hidden at the edge of the marsh. I was ecstatic--beavers had made their way back to the watershed all by themselves--probably by migrating from an adjacent watershed where I know they are present.
Earlier this year, I began to hear reports of beavers in the tributaries of the creek above and below the natural area. Then, in the summer, a beaver appeared in a small pond within the natural area. I would see it every July evening that I went down to the pond. Come August, just as mysteriously as it appeared, it disappeared. I guess the pond wasn't to its liking.
Yesterday afternoon (October 1), a friend who roams the natural area even more frequently than I called me to report that he found a beaver washed up against a tree trunk in the creek with an arrow through it. It appeared to have been shot with a crossbow. I think I know who did this (he's notorious), and he did it just for target practice or maliciousness, since his property is not near the creek and his trees were not being damaged by gnawing.
There's really no hope for humanity.
