I round a particularly large, leafy gooseberry bush and am suddenly confronted by a stand of aspen stumps, felled virtually overnight by beavers. A path of crushed vegetation points the direction in which the trees were dragged. I kneel down to study the aspen remnants. The beaver's carpentry work looks smooth from a distance but, touching the wood, I can feel uneven ridges where their teeth scalloped a stump. Continuing to walk until the beaver pond is in view, I see fresh logs woven into the structure of the beaver dam.
Beavers tend to select trees within a hundred yard radius of their building grounds.
Although most of their cutting is directed toward the construction and upkeep of a dam or lodge, beavers also fell aspens for food. Unlike the light browsing of elk and voles, an entire tree must be sacrificed to feed a beaver. Beavers may seem ruthless in their cutting of trees, surpassed only by man in altering their environment to fit their own needs. However, their demolition of the aspen grove serves a purpose similar to that of fire aiding in the prevention of over-mature trees and the promotion of new growth. Beyond the beaver dam in the valley, two tremendous ancient aspens spread their gnarled limbs in a high protective canopy over me and the other smaller members of the grove.