56 THE BEAVER 
where near a correct estimate of the amount. This was in 
Hamilton and Herkimer counties of the Adirondacks, New 
York. He quotes from the New York Conservation Com- 
mission’s report that in 1919 forest rangers estimated that 
8,681 acres had been flooded by beavers in the Adirondacks, 
and the estimated value of merchantable timber thereon 
was $51,425. In 1920 this damage had been increased by 
$3,410, making a total of about $55,000. 
Johnson expresses the opinion that the damage to timber 
due to beavers is much less than that caused by windfalls 
and by fire, to say nothing of the waste by man in lumbering 
operations and otherwise. 
The owners of private property in the Adirondacks, 
especially those having summer homes there, are those who 
most keenly feel the depredations of the beaver. ‘This is 
naturally the case, considering that the destruction of the 
trees results in marring the beauty of their property. Where 
beavers are near houses they may do harm by cutting fruit 
or shade trees which have been planted. In a public park in 
Colorado Springs wandering beavers occasionally cut some 
of the shade trees and shrubs. These beavers apparently 
come down a stream which flows through the park, enter one 
of the ponds, of which there are several in the park, and of 
course do some tree cutting in order to obtain food. 
Dugmore considered that the damage to timber by 
beavers is hardly worth mentioning. In this connection, 
Fins, Feathers, and Fur, the Bulletin of the Minnesota 
State Game and Fish Department, says some small timber is 
killed by beavers as a result of the flooding of low lands, but 
usually this is not of great value, and the damage is not 
extensive. This Bulletin agrees with Johnson that losses by 
wasteful lumbering, forest fires, and attacks by insects are 
far greater than those caused by beavers. 
