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Old 12-09-2018, 06:14 PM
 
Location: Canada
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It sounds like beavers are slowly starting to regain their foothold in parts of Europe again. This is a good thing. Beavers are very important for the environment and the conservation of water so I hope people there now don't start eating them and wipe them out again like they did before.

Article from CBC: Beavers return to Italy after more than 500 years

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Old 12-10-2018, 05:08 AM
 
Location: The Driftless Area, WI
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Amazing. I'm guessing they're in the low lying, wet territory north of Venice, probably at the foot of the Italian Alps. The problem is that beavers dam streams and flood land. Land owners tend not to like that. Italy doesn't have vast uninhabited areas like we're used to in the US, so they have a harder time compromising with Nature than we do....Here's hopin'.
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Old 12-11-2018, 09:44 PM
 
Location: Swiftwater, PA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by guidoLaMoto View Post
Amazing. I'm guessing they're in the low lying, wet territory north of Venice, probably at the foot of the Italian Alps. The problem is that beavers dam streams and flood land. Land owners tend not to like that. Italy doesn't have vast uninhabited areas like we're used to in the US, so they have a harder time compromising with Nature than we do....Here's hopin'.
Beavers also dam up man made dams (especially the concrete spillways). By doing so our manmade dams can overflow the earthen part of our dams that could lead to a breach. We get along fine with them if they stay in swampy areas; but they tend to build anyplace where there are ample trees for food, dam building and lodging. Trapping is just about the only effective way to remove them from where they are not wanted.
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Old 12-12-2018, 06:41 AM
 
Location: Glasgow Scotland
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We got them back in Scotland a few years ago but a canadian friend said that their pests..https://scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk...-beavers-back/
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Old 12-12-2018, 07:32 AM
 
Location: Maine
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We had them in our woodlot. They came to a four foot wide seasonal stream that runs through our property. The four foot wide stream became a five acre bog. They cut down a lot of trees we intended to harvest ten years from now to use as firewood and killed maples we tapped for syrup. Beavers are brilliant engineers that can do a lot of damage before they're noticed. They weren't around this year. I think the bobcats and/or bears were able to catch up to them. We destroyed their dam and let the land drain. Grass and sedges are growing again. They'll be back. We're watching for them.
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Old 12-12-2018, 09:37 AM
 
Location: NW Nevada
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Farmers and ranchers here hate beavers. They shoot them on sight. Right wrong or indifferent that's just how it is. They dam up irrigation waters and destroy trees. Myself I find the practice of killing them to be and ...unpleasant... practice. But it's not in my hands.
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Old 12-12-2018, 09:40 AM
 
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Interesting. I ever knew they had been there.

I remember visiting Florence and doing the obligatory stroll across the Ponte Vecchio. I was surprised to see numerouis Neutria swimming in the Arno.
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Old 12-12-2018, 09:55 AM
 
Location: Swiftwater, PA
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Originally Posted by Moth View Post
Interesting. I ever knew they had been there.

I remember visiting Florence and doing the obligatory stroll across the Ponte Vecchio. I was surprised to see numerouis Neutria swimming in the Arno.
Isn't that the problem in Venice; too many beavers backing up the water?

Actually 20 of us own 650 acres with a beautiful 35 acre lake. Many years ago we had problems with the beavers damming up our spillway. So we asked a trapper to come back during the trapping season and catch them out of our lake. Unfortunately we also own another stream that the beavers dammed into a lake about the same size as our lake - we wanted the beavers in that stream and not in our lake. But the trapper removed the beavers from the place we wanted the beavers and some were left in our lake! It did not work out the way we planned and the trapper was never invited again!

By the way; we simply remove the beaver dams by hand. But removing one of these dams is labor intensive. The beavers are great at intertwining the branches and filling in with mud. It is very hard work. My feeling is that after the beavers fall all the trees close to the water that they simply move on to another area until the trees come back.

Last edited by fisheye; 12-12-2018 at 10:06 AM..
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Old 12-12-2018, 12:08 PM
 
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Originally Posted by fisheye View Post
Isn't that the problem in Venice; too many beavers backing up the water?

Actually 20 of us own 650 acres with a beautiful 35 acre lake. Many years ago we had problems with the beavers damming up our spillway. So we asked a trapper to come back during the trapping season and catch them out of our lake. Unfortunately we also own another stream that the beavers dammed into a lake about the same size as our lake - we wanted the beavers in that stream and not in our lake. But the trapper removed the beavers from the place we wanted the beavers and some were left in our lake! It did not work out the way we planned and the trapper was never invited again!

By the way; we simply remove the beaver dams by hand. But removing one of these dams is labor intensive. The beavers are great at intertwining the branches and filling in with mud. It is very hard work. My feeling is that after the beavers fall all the trees close to the water that they simply move on to another area until the trees come back.
I have examined a few dams down by the Potomac and you are correct. Engineering marvels.
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Old 12-12-2018, 12:27 PM
 
Location: Canada
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Originally Posted by dizzybint View Post
We got them back in Scotland a few years ago but a canadian friend said that their pests..https://scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk...-beavers-back/

That's good news too. I hadn't realized that the beavers had been gone from Scotland for 400 years so it's great that they're making a come back. I hope they will do well.

In Canada they are considered a pest only if they take up residence in regions that are occupied and being developed/farmed by humans. Fortunately Canada has a relatively small human population and those human occupied regions are small in comparison to the total geographic size of the nation. Otherwise for the rest of the unoccupied parts of Canada beavers are considered an extremely important resource and major contributor to the creation of healthy wildlife habitat environments. Canada has more clean, healthy, filtered freshwater lakes, streams and wetlands habitats than the rest of all the world’s other nations combined (literally millions upon millions of lakes). These habitats are teeming with all manner of wildlife and vegetation that would not otherwise be there if the beavers had not created the abundant wetlands for them to thrive in.

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