recognising the good of beavers

As an outsider of North America I am fascinated by these animals and wonder why some people are sick of them, but that is for them to explain. This video suggested they were and are very useful animals to have around if humans can only work with them. It seems the video will not come up here, but if you follow the 'watch on youtube' link it comes up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTFmrgF1OX4

Hi John,

I am one of the people who gets along with beavers. However, I can understand those who may be less than thrilled.  Many years ago I rode a bookmobile that went deep into the sparsely settled north woods of MInnesota. ….literally into dog sled country.  One day our road went missing. To be exact 30 miles of road went missing. It had been replaced by a rather significant lake that would equal, in surface area, the largest man made lake in Illinois. It appeared overnight.  Yes, the road was flooded over.  In fact several roads were flooded over. So were homes, barns, …etc.  I can guess that farm animals died .. . though I have no idea how many.   Fortunately, though the surface area was huge, it was not very deep. Any yes, the dam that created the lake was created by beavers.

I do some beaver trapping. They're neat critters, so I mostly leave them alone if they're not bothering anyone. People get mad when they're chewing down $1000 ornamental trees or building (and rebuilding on a nightly basis) dams that flood their only road to their field that needs to be harvested.

I'm well aware that there many effective ways to deal with beavers other than trapping them and killing them, but by the time they're causing problems, people want them gone like right now, and I can get them out in a night or two.

Most of the time, people don't know they're there until they start causing problems. They move in during the spring dispersal, but don't starting doing a bunch of chewing until the fall, and by the time they start chewing, it's time for immediate action.

roads can be elevated, $1000 trees may be an extravagance too far.
It sounds as bad as shooting Koalas in Australia just because they are there!

James Bridger wrote:I do some beaver trapping. They're neat critters, so I mostly leave them alone if they're not bothering anyone. People get mad when they're chewing down $1000 ornamental trees or building (and rebuilding on a nightly basis) dams that flood their only road to their field that needs to be harvested.

I'm well aware that there many effective ways to deal with beavers other than trapping them and killing them, but by the time they're causing problems, people want them gone like right now, and I can get them out in a night or two.

Most of the time, people don't know they're there until they start causing problems. They move in during the spring dispersal, but don't starting doing a bunch of chewing until the fall, and by the time they start chewing, it's time for immediate action.

I'm sure you get some people to change their minds after you sent them John's video.

James Bridger wrote:I do some beaver trapping. They're neat critters, so I mostly leave them alone if they're not bothering anyone. People get mad when they're chewing down $1000 ornamental trees or building (and rebuilding on a nightly basis) dams that flood their only road to their field that needs to be harvested.

I'm well aware that there many effective ways to deal with beavers other than trapping them and killing them, but by the time they're causing problems, people want them gone like right now, and I can get them out in a night or two.

Most of the time, people don't know they're there until they start causing problems. They move in during the spring dispersal, but don't starting doing a bunch of chewing until the fall, and by the time they start chewing, it's time for immediate action.

And here's a video showing how to manage when beaver activity threatens homes -  

Madeleine Innocent wrote:

James Bridger wrote:I do some beaver trapping. They're neat critters, so I mostly leave them alone if they're not bothering anyone. People get mad when they're chewing down $1000 ornamental trees or building (and rebuilding on a nightly basis) dams that flood their only road to their field that needs to be harvested.

I'm well aware that there many effective ways to deal with beavers other than trapping them and killing them, but by the time they're causing problems, people want them gone like right now, and I can get them out in a night or two.

Most of the time, people don't know they're there until they start causing problems. They move in during the spring dispersal, but don't starting doing a bunch of chewing until the fall, and by the time they start chewing, it's time for immediate action.

I'm sure you get some people to change their minds after you sent them John's video.

Here is a great youtube link with how the British resolve issues with the newly imported beavers webpage