Beavers live in colonies. A colony is a group occupying a pond or a stretch of stream, feeding from a common food supply, and maintaining a common dam or series of dams. Usually only one family lives in a lodge or bank burrow. Beavers are believed to maintain a certain territory, and colonies do not overlap. This disperses the population and establishes colonies in new areas.
Beavers can and do become troublesome for some people.
Water backed up by their dams floods pastures, crop fields and roads, disrupts public water supplies and kills trees. They also cut down valuable shade trees and excavate unwanted channels. Trapping has proven to be an acceptable and economical method of controlling their numbers. Habitat Beavers prefer streams and rivers narrow enough to be dammed. They also live along rivers, on timbered marshland and around forest-edged lakes.