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. A creek is stopped up by a beaver dam on Columbia Road in Columbia County. Trapping laws in both Georgia and South Carolina require that traps be checked daily. No bait is required for beaver trapping, although Bowers sometimes uses scents to make the rodents more comfortable when they approach the traps, which are anchored to nearby trees with aircraft cable.