Hobbies And Interests
How Beavers Benefit the Environment
Beavers are considered a "keystone" species in North America, which means they create biodiversity in their environments. Numerous other species of plant and animal life depend on beavers, including endangered species. Beaver ponds are home to fish and other creatures who depend on the beaver's maintenance of stream and river flow. Beavers also produce food for fish and other animals. Protecting the beaver means protecting the immense web of life of which it is a vital part.
How Beavers Benefit Humans
Beavers are advantageous to humans in many ways. They decrease the chance of damaging floods, and decrease soil erosion. Beavers also remove pollutants from surface and ground water. In so doing, the beaver provides increased opportunities for wildlife recreation such as canoeing and fishing, bird watching, photography, or simply enjoyment and observation of a natural environment.
Invasiveness of Beavers
Like humans, beavers like to change their environment. Because of the extent to which they are able to transform a landscape by constructing dams, they are sometimes considered invasive species, or pests. For example, on Tierra del Fuego, an island in South America, the beaver has been a disadvantage to the environment by destroying many of the island's native trees. Introduced in the 1940's with the hope of establishing a fur trade, the beaver population overwhelmed the island, causing loggers to fear for their jobs.
Culvert Blockage
Another disadvantage of beavers is their proclivity to plug culverts. To the beaver, a culvert beneath a road or railway track will seem to be a hole in a dam. The rodent's natural inclination is to close the hole to create a pond, resulting in damage and even safety problems for humans. To avoid these potentially dangerous situations caused by beaver culvert blockage, culvert protectors have been created.