The terrain within the International Peace Park has been formed by a succession of dramatic natural events. Mountain-building forces have proceeded for more than a billion years. The glaciers that carved the surface topography of the park did their work in about two million years. After valley glaciers receded, a seemingly minor force, beavers, contributed to the finishing touches of what we see today. Beavers have had a significant impact upon the topotraphy of most of the valleys in W-GIPP. After the glaciers retreated ten to twenty thousand years ago, mountain streams caused erosion along the mountainsides and valleys. Beavers worked their way up most streams in the area. They ate the cambium layer or inner bark of trees and cut them down to build dams and lodges. Before long, they had cleared most of the trees they liked to eat such as cottonwood, birch and aspen, along the stream beds and moved on to find more.
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