WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
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In this episode, we cover one of nature’s most important land stewards: the beaver.
Beavers can be found in a number of freshwater habitats, such as rivers, streams, lakes, and ponds. When they create dams and lodges, they impound water, which serves as shelter for other animals. Their infrastructure creates wetlands used by many other species, and because of their effect on other organisms in the ecosystem, they are considered a keystone species.
Beavers create water channels to forage through their environment. The backup water they create then spreads across the surrounding landscape, creating complex side channels that support fish habitats. This “bathtub” water also seeps into the ground, allowing underground aquifers to be refilled. Through their daily activities, beavers alter the landscape and create habitats for many other species like fish, aquatic animals and birds, making them an important piece of our natural ecosystem.
The complexes that beavers make can also act as water filters, trapping sediment and filtering out toxins to improve downstream water quality. They also help to slow spring runoff, which buffers the impact of flooding and drought in many places.
Another important thing beavers help with is climate change. As climate change leads to increased frequency and strength of wildfires, the work of beavers has significant beneficial impacts. Beaver meadows can function as firebreaks, and shield plants and animals from high intensity burning. And beaver dams have been shown to reduce the power of runoff and filter out sediment that fills rivers and streams after a wildfire.
Beavers are a crucial piece of land stewardship in many places, including right here in south central Indiana. Our very own Sycamore Land Trust has several beaver dams in Monroe County. Beavers transformed the land they inhabit, as well as bring new life into the areas they live. Sycamore Land Trust has two cameras that watch two different beaver lodges. You can see some of their wildlife footage which includes not only beavers, but bobcats and many other native Indiana animals and birds on their website. If you’re interested in checking out the natural habitats beavers helped create, you can hike Beanblossom Bottoms Nature Preserve.
