A pair of beavers started engineering this area this spring. This is the view from one end of their clearing
and this is their clearing from the other end.
Without exception, all of the cottonwoods have been cut to fall at right angles to the river. I think at least 30 big trees–between one and two feet in diameter–have been cut here. There are hundreds of little trees gone, but you don’t notice them because they are taken away.
When they cut big trees, it’s a multi-step process.
First, they sit up on their hind legs and chisel their way around the base of the tree until it topples.
Then they go up to the top of the trees and trim off the branches from the top down.
Sometimes the tree doesn’t fall just the way they intended,
but mostly it goes exactly as planned.
This clear-cut is as deliberate as if someone cut this wood for a lumber mill (although since it’s cottonwood, no one would’ve bought it, and the beaver do a cleaner clear-cut than humans: they don’t leave slash piles that need to be burned).
When you consider that this is a project that likely a new pair started this spring, you can see that ”busy as a beaver” might be nothing but the truth.
I have a particular fondness for beavers. I am probably the only person you know who keeps a stuffed beaver in her bedroom
which is why you’ll hear more about beavers tomorrow.
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