Beaver are unique among mammals in that they alter their habitat to meet their needs by damming streams to form ponds. This behavior actually benefits other species (including people), as well. By building dams and flooding woodland swamps, beaver play an important part in the restoration of lost wetlands, providing habitat and food for a wide variety of plants and animals. Over 50 percent of our wetlands have disappeared since European settlement in North America. Beaver build their dams in order to create deep ponds that won’t freeze at the bottom in winter. Because of the flooding beaver create, trees often die off, providing nesting sites for great blue herons, wood ducks, tree swallows, and other birds. These new ponds become homes to amphibians, turtles, fish, otters, muskrats, and other animals.
Beaver-created wetlands also enhance human habitat by storing and slowly releasing floodwater, which controls downstream flooding. They improve water quality by removing or transforming excess nutrients, trapping silt, binding and removing toxic chemicals, and removing sediment. And finally, flooded areas can also recharge and maintain groundwater levels, and provide flow to streams even during droughts.
Join conservationist Cindy Dunn at Wachusett Meadow Wildlife Sanctuary in Princeton, Massachusetts, on Thursday, June 25, from 10 – noon, for this unique walking tour of the 85 acre beaver pond to learn about the important ecological role that beaver play. Wachusett Meadow is one of the spectacular wildlife sanctuaries within Mass Audubon. This property consists of 1,200 acres accessed by 12 miles of trails. The sanctuary protects a diverse landscape of shrubland fields and meadows, forests, Wachusett Meadow’s Wildlife Pond, and beaver wetlands. Rain or shine event. $22 for ELA members, $32 for non-members. Register at http://www.ecolandscaping.org/event/beaver-building-habitat-improving-eco-systems/#sthash.a7IC3Fga.dpuf
