Wanna See a Beaver Dam?

We now have a large beaver dam in town that is really easy to view. Fortunately, our beaver were very considerate where they built the dam. It is right at the corner of Hart's Lane and Kimberly Road where Abraham Shalit Pond flows under Kimberly Road. All you need to do is pull up to the side of Kimberly Road and look down toward the pond. The beaver dam is right there and you can't miss it. They have built a pretty impressive structure and it has raised the water level in the pond by at least a few feet. If you look across the pond toward Hart's Lane, maybe a hundred feet or so across the water,  you can also see the dome-shaped beaver lodge. The lodge has an underwater entrance so it just looks like a big pile of sticks and logs. All around the pond there is evidence of the beaver, with many trees that are girdled and gnawed. Walk along the pond edge in either direction and look at all the trees that have been taken down by the beaver. A colleague of mine used to say "eat a beaver, save a tree, eat two and save a forest." When you see all the trees that have been felled and placed in the dam and the lodge, and those that havent been fully taken down yet, there just might be something to that saying. Beaver are master ecosystem engineers creating the habitat they need by dams that flood areas. They are great swimmers and are very at home in the water. The flooding also allows the lodge entrance to be underwater and protected from predators. The flooding also creates aquatic habitat for other species like turtles. If you are at the pond on a sunny day and scan the floating logs, there are usually plenty of basking painted turtles on them. You can see in the pond that the rising water level has also flooded and killed an awful lot of trees but these in turn become habitat for birds like woodpeckers and tree swallows. Once the dam fails or is removed, the water levels recede and the area then becomes marshy providing habitat for wetland species. Where beaver are abundant, their habitat is usually a diverse succession of habitats from ponds to marsh, all created by their dams. Beaver have made an incredible come back in New Jersey over the past 20 or 30 years after being hunted and trapped nearly to extinction during the 19th century. Beaver also have really cool tiny beetles that live on them eating the dead skin and fur (I know its kind of gross, but its evolution at its best). These beetles, appropriately called "Beaver beetles" are about the size of a pin head and are wingless and eyeless. They are also flattened like a flea so they can scurry around between the fur on the beaver. They were recently discovered for the first time in New Jersey by a beaver trapper and I was fortunate to be able to write up the report for the Coleopterist's Bulletin, a scientific journal devoted to all things beetles (yes, there is such a thing!). The paper is attached and has a photo of a beaver beetle I took through a microscope and information on the history of beaver in New Jersey. Check out the beaver dam, its really cool!