Got Beaver?

[G-Man]

They're frickin everywhere now!

Last year ... we visited many small ponds.
All of which had beavers.

Last night I slipped into a local stream at dusk .. all of 10 ft wide.
Try my luck at a trout. Zeroed.

Casting and looking down stream ..and 10ft upstream from me "KurSplash" of the beaver tail. Nearly crapped my waders. :eek:

We might want to revisit that trapping ruling. :rolleyes:

[bdowning]

Good luck with that one in this state. (#$114)

You should see the beaver activity in the CT river valley, they are practically taking over. --124-3

-bd


We might want to revisit that trapping ruling. :rolleyes:

[teflon_jones]

You know, before people started trapping them long long ago, there used to be a lot more of them. Without them, there wouldn't be nearly as many wild brook trout ponds.

[scootermsp]

They're frickin everywhere now!

Last year ... we visited many small ponds.
All of which had beavers.

Last night I slipped into a local stream at dusk .. all of 10 ft wide.
Try my luck at a trout. Zeroed.

Casting and looking down stream ..and 10ft upstream from me "KurSplash" of the beaver tail. Nearly crapped my waders. :eek:

We might want to revisit that trapping ruling. :rolleyes:

You're not kidding. I had one 15' from me yesterday while fishing and he cared not I was there. They are doing TONS of property damage. I still got me a 16" Brookiehttp://i525.photobucket.com/albums/cc336/scootermsp/rainbowtrout.jpg

[Bob Parsons]

I would not be surprised if we have more today. Long time ago there used to be predators that kept beaver populations in check. This does not exist today.

[G-Man]

Nice trout!

Bob ..you got me curious.
And with just a little research ..check this out.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Beaver

Perhaps their return is quite good.
Although they still annoy me with the tail slapping and all.
They are prob equally annoyed with me "trespassing". :cool:

The beaver was trapped out and almost extirpated in North America as its fur and castoreum were highly sought after.

With protection in the late 19th and early 20th centuries the current beaver population has rebounded to an estimated 10 to 15 million; however this is still a fraction of the originally estimated 100 to 200 million North American beaver before the days of the fur trade.

Effects on stream flows and water quality

Beaver ponds increase stream flows in seasonally dry streams by storing run-off in the rainy season, which raises groundwater tables via percolation from beaver ponds. In a recent study using 12 serial aerial photo mosaics from 1948 to 2002, the impact of the return of beaver on open water area in east-central Alberta, Canada found that the mammals were associated with a 9-fold increase in open water area. Beaver returned to the area in 1954 after a long absence since their extirpation by the fur trade in the nineteenth century. Even during drought years, where beaver were present, there was 60 per cent more open water than those same areas during previous drought periods when beaver were absent. The authors concluded that beaver have a dramatic influence on the creation and maintenance of wetlands even during extreme drought.[28][29]


Effects on trout and salmon
Beaver ponds have been shown to have a beneficial effect on trout and salmon populations, in fact many authors believe that the decline of salmonid fishes is related to the decline in beaver populations. Research in the Stillaguamish River basin in Washington state, found that extensive loss of beaver ponds resulted in an 89% reduction in coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) smolt summer production and an almost equally detrimental 86% reduction in critical winter habitat carrying capacity.[45] The presence of beaver dams has also been shown to either increase the number of fish, their size, or both, in a study of brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis), rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and brown trout (Salmo trutta) in Sagehen Creek, which flows into the Little Truckee River at an altitude of 5,800 feet in the northern Sierra Nevada.[46] These findings are consistent with a study of small streams in Sweden, that found that brown trout were larger in beaver ponds compared with those in riffle sections, and that beaver ponds provide habitat for larger trout in small streams during periods of drought.[47] Similarly, brook trout, coho salmon and sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) were significantly larger in beaver ponds than those in un-impounded stream sections in Colorado and Alaska.[48][49] Contrary to popular myth, most beaver dams do not pose barriers to trout and salmon migration, although they may be restricted seasonally during periods of low stream flows.[50