Humans have trapped muskrats beginning with the Native Americans. They can be a source of food, and their warm, attractive fur has long been a favorite source of trapping income. In spite of this harvesting, muskrat populations are virtually stable. There is also a downside for muskrats to humans. Muskrats dig burrows in the ground, which ruin irrigation ditches and drainage walls, cause flooding, and other major problems for local farmers.
Muskrats also causle problems by eating crops.
A good thing about muskrats is that by building lodges, they free rivers and streams of logs, plants, branches, and other hazards for passing boats. All in all, muskrats play an important role for humans and the wetland ecosystem. Created for the Museums in the Classroom program sponsored by Illinois State Board of Education , the Brookfield Zoo , the Illinois State Museum. , and Kildeer Countryside CCSD 96.