Beaver activity continues to be scattered along our route. Usually beavers stay in their lodges and under the ice all winter long. However, we have come across several spots where it looks like beavers have recently been using their teeth to cut down trees. Our guess is that the beavers did not store up enough food, so they are being forced to venture out over the snow to look for more food. Maybe they just prefer the fresh bark over the bark they have stored under the ice, and for a special treat they decided to come out and cut down a few trees!

Beavers live in shelters called lodges. Beavers start working on their lodges in the fall. Some beavers build in existing lakes while others build in the newly formed ponds that they made with the dams. The lodges must be ready by winter to shelter the beavers away from hungry predators such as wolf, foxes, and otters. Lodges are usually cone shaped with underwater entrances and are built along the shore. The beavers build from the inside out using mud, grass, and branches. Most predators find it too difficult to break through the complex network of branches and mud so the beavers stay protected. Beavers that live in rivers do not usually build lodges. Instead, they create burrows out of the mud along riverbanks.

When the lakes and ponds freeze over, beavers swim in the water underneath the ice. They have thick underfur that keeps them well insulted and a thick layer of fat under their skin. Beavers also keep their fur waterproof by rubbing an oily substance on their fur that is secreted from scent glands.

Did you know that beavers are responsible for the exploration and settlement of Canada and large parts of the northern US?
In the 1500s, European fishermen brought beaver robes purchased from the Indians back to Spain. The Europeans prized the beaver fur because of its warmth and its ability to be made into felt hats. Soon there was a quest in Europe to collect beaver skins from Canada and the US to sell back home. In the 1600s British merchants traded with the local Cree Indians for beaver skins. The Native people did all of the trapping, and the Europeans traded them blankets, weapons, and beads for the skins. The Europeans hired French Canadian farm boys known as voyageurs to paddle huge birch bark canoe s from Montreal to the Indian villages to collect the beavers.

Beaver populations all over North America decreased rapidly until the 1900s when regulations were set that limited the number trapped.