n8 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin 



Introduction 



The following report is the result of a preliminary survey under- 

 taken for the Roosevelt Wild Life Forest Experiment Station of 

 the New York State College of Forestry at Syracuse, which has 

 been based upon field work extending from July 27 to September 9, 

 1 92 1. The area chosen for the investigation lies in northern 

 Herkimer and Hamilton counties along the southern border of the 

 Adirondack Mountains. This territory, according to information 

 furnished by Mr. W. G. Howard, Assistant Superintendent of 

 Forests, of the New York State Conservation Commission, marks 

 the center of abundance of beaver in the Adirondacks, and from this 

 area have come the most insistent reports of damage resulting from 

 activities of these animals. 



On the accompanying maps (maps 1 and 2) are shown the locali- 

 ties visited by me personally in the course of the investigation and 

 also other sections, according to definite information given me by 

 Forest Rangers and other persons, in which beaver are now to be 

 found. This does not mean that beaver may not be present in the 

 localities which are unmarked on the maps. In designating the 

 position of beaver dams and lodges the maps at my disposal were on 

 too small a scale to permit exact location, so that places marked 

 represent only an approximation. While the maps show all the dams 

 and lodges actually seen by me, and recorded on the spot for each 

 stream and pond as far as they were explored, it is to be expected 

 that a number may have escaped my notice. This is especially true 

 in the upper courses of many creeks visited, where more beaver 

 works would undoubtedly have been found had there been sufficient 

 time to search for them. It was apparent after a few days in the 

 field that it would be out of the question, in the time available, to 

 examine personally all the localities in which beaver probably 

 occurred. In regard to many places which I was unable to visit I 

 obtained information from the Forest Rangers, and the locations of 

 the dams were marked on the map as indicated. The Rangers 

 expressed their conviction that most of the streams in all of this 

 region have at least a few beaver somewhere along their courses. 



Care was taken to record all lodges observed in order to have a 

 basis for an estimate of the beaver population. In so doing it was, 

 of course, necessary to distinguish between occupied and abandoned 

 lodges. In some localities many beavers do not build lodges, but live 

 in holes in the banks, and allowance must, therefore, be made for 



