PROTECTION OF BEAVER IN WISCONSIN 



223 



operative industry and perseverance, backed by foresight 

 and good sense; and I believe our children of the present 

 day may well be acquainted with their work and habits. 

 My own boy, going on ten, has been very much interested 



Photograph by courtesy of 



'All Outdoors." 



A BEAVER AT WORK 



By his industryand perseverance, the beaver has won the enduring interest and admiration of man. 

 His wonderful, patient labor of cutting his logs, getting them down stream and placing them, of 

 swimming again and again with his little load of mud or stone to chink the dam sets a good 

 example for all of us. 



in what he has seen of their activities, and the things I 

 have told him of their habits ; and I figure he has gained 

 some good, sound ideas that will help him. 



"Then, again, the beaver help a lot by clearing the land 

 along streams, not only by the actual falling of worth- 

 less brush and small trees, which means that most of the 

 undergrowth decays, root, stock 

 and branch, before the settler 

 ever gets to clearing the land, so 

 that there is that much less work- 

 to do, but also by the flooding 

 of the land, which in itself kills 

 the small growth on the land 

 flooded, with the same result. 

 And in a country like this, this 

 is a much more important con- 

 sideration than many might 

 think. No doubt you have ob- 

 served for yourself in your trips 

 up here the many acres of good 

 hay meadow that were originally 

 cleared by the beavers, and which 

 need only to be burned over occa- 

 sionally to keep them clean. 



"And, of course, as the beaver 

 increase, the State has a larger 

 and larger potential investment 

 in valuable fur. 



"Of course, it must be ad- 

 mitted that the beaver is not a 

 'game' animal, not being consid- 

 ered good to eat, and not being 

 the subject of pursuit by sports- 

 men, although many an outer of 



the best class has enjoyed looking over their work. 



"But for the present and for many years to come I am 



in favor of their absolute protection, so far as may be 



possible, excepting only in particular localities where they 



are doing real damage. Where 



they flood lands which the owner 



really desires and intends to use, 



or where they persist in flooding 



highways and bridge approaches, 



they must, of course, go. 



"It must be borne in mind, 

 however, that many complain- 

 ants have no real use for the 

 land, over the flooding of which 

 they express such deep solici- 

 tude, and simply want to start 

 a howl that will lead to their 

 being permitted to trap the ani- 

 mals ; and, in fact, in my opinion, 

 most of the 'holler' comes from 

 that class or from men who are 

 easily convinced by and repeat 

 the noise." 



The Land Commissioner 

 writes as follows: 



"The beaver actually causes 

 but very little damage to the farmer on account of flood- 

 ing agricultural land. The lands flooded by beaver dams 

 are always swamp lands, and in all cases have been 

 flooded by beavers before there were any farmers in this 

 country. The writer does not know of a single instance 

 where actual damage is being done to agricultural land. 



AN EXAMPLE OF CLEAN CUTTING 



1'his shows how the beaver cuts his timber. This cutting has not been removed. He leaves no high 

 stumps, lops off the top and branches, and uses the slash as well as the logs. He also, by creating 

 lakes and canals, establishes fire barriers which have been found of great service in fighting forest 

 fires. 



