The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1940-08-08
Studies Show Beaver
Help Other Wildlife

44S4H IA4S4 4AS&444S
Beavers, famed animal engin-
GERS on woodland and forest
streams, are active soil and
Wildlife conservationists, accord
ing to a recent report received
by the Fish and Wildlife ser
vice, United States Department
Of the Interior, from the Utah
Fish and Game commission.
The state commission report
ed the results of a Federal Aid
in Wildlife Restoration project
in which $50 active beaver COL
onies on 975 square miles in the
Uinta division of the Wasatch
National forest were observed
for % months. The study in
cluded 1,505 beaver dams aver
aging 90 feet long and 2 feet
high.
Beaver ponds resulted in
many benefits, the commission
reported. Dams built by beavers
on the study area regulated and
maintained the stream flow, re-
duced floods, prevented erosion,
and caught the silt carried by
streams, thus preventing the silt
from entering reservoirs, lakes,
and lower valleys. In addition,
the formation of ponds gener-
ally benefited other wildlife, in
Guiding muskrats, minks, deer,
ducks and upland game birds.
! There were few areas on the
Wasatch forest where the bea-
vers' activities were not bene-
fetal.
The beaver Investigation was
one of IL Utah projects being
carried on with the aid of fed
eral funds in accordance with
the Pittman Robertson Act of
1887. This act provides for fed
eral payment of rs per cent of
the costs of wildlife restoration
projects approved by the Fish
and Wildlife service and carried
on by participating states in
accordance with federal stand
ards.
Beavers Sometimes
| detrimental
! However, whether beavers are
beneficial to an area depends in
part upon the type of stream
in which the colonies are To-
| Gated, officials of the Fish and
Wildlife service pointed out. AS
shown in the Utah study these
fur animals are usually bene-
tlclal in rapid mountain
streams. In lowlands, however,
where streams are sluggish, the
presence of beavers can be Diet
rimental, as shown in a study
conducted in Michigan by J.
Clark Sayler, Chief of the Ser
vices Division of Wildlife Ref
uges, when he was employed by
the Institute for Fisheries Re-
search.
In the Utah investigation
which was made on rapid
mountain streams, Phillip Haas
federal aid project leader fol-
the state commission found
that dams had little effect or
fish migrations. I'm spring
Haas reported, water was a:
a rule sufficiently high TO per.
NIT the fish free passage III
and down streams"
Salyer, who conducted hi!
Michigan investigation in 1884
concluded that trout can anc
frequently do go downstream
over a dam to spawn but that
In most streams the better
spawning areas are upstream
near the headwaters. Trout dc
not pass upstream over the or
binary beaver dam in Michigan
waters" Salyer declared in a
report published in 1885.
In Salyer's Michigan investi-
cation it was found that beaver
ponds eventually upset the che
mical balance of the water, but
in Utah observations at Isl
chemical stations 1O6 operated
in streams and 81 in beaver
ponds) indicated that "beave,
ponds are decidedly beneficial
to trout"
1t was also pointed out ir
the Michigan study that fish
parasites increase as beavers be-
come prevalent on a trout
stream. In Utah, however, al
fish examined were in a healthy
condition.
/ Management Practices
Needed
Why the findings of the
Michigan and Utah investiga.
tions are divergent is explained
not only by the fact that the
types of streams were differen'
but also by the fact that the
beaver ponds in Utah were