An average pair of beaver will cut down 400 trees every 12 months, some of which are 18 inches in diameter. When the winter forest is a leafless maze of gray and brown, Keith Bowers looks for the snow-white shavings of damaged trees. This was done last night,'' the Aiken County man said, kneeling to examine a small pile of wood and bark hewn from a sweetgum tree. Beavers are North America's largest rodents - and also rank among nature's most effective catalysts for environmental change.
Beaver colonies can dam creeks, destroy timber and create lakes in a matter of days or weeks.
Parcels earmarked for harvest were rejected by timber companies because of tree damage and inundation. Bowers and other beaver trappers always are in demand from landowners eager to stop the loss of trees, unwanted flooding and other damage. Beavers also cause problems in subdivisions and along public roads and bridges. He recalled one client - a family in Vaucluse who had beavers burrowing into their pond banks. One day the homeowner's pickup truck literally sank up to its windows after the ground, weakened by beaver tunnels, simply collapsed.