10 BULLETIN 1078, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



near the. water, and complaints are at times registered of real dam- 

 age and losses ; but in many cases the trees could be protected with 

 strips of woven wire at a cost of a few cents each and the beavers 

 left unmolested. 



The most serious damage which the beavers occasion by their dams 

 results from the raising of water levels in streams, ponds, or lakes, 

 which flood the low ground and kill great areas of valuable forest 

 trees. In places in the Adirondacks hundreds of acres of valuable 

 white pine, cedar, spruce, balsam, hemlock, and tamarack have been 

 killed by one beaver dam, inflicting losses of many thousands of 

 dollars on the landowners. 



In places beavers have increased to such numbers 

 that their activities menace timber and other valu- 

 able property and make it necessary locally to con- 

 trol or destroy them. In most cases their control is 

 not difficult. 



Beavers sometimes dam the outlet of a lake and by raising the 

 water level a foot or two kill all the trees around the shores, leaving 

 a wide border of dead and dying timber that transforms beautiful 

 and valuable camp or cottage sites or summer resorts into desolate, 

 worthless wastes. (PL V, Fig. 1.) In a region which is popular and 

 where camp and cottage sites are valued at several hundred or several 

 thousand dollars each, the borders of a lake are often almost as valua- 

 ble as city property, and such losses to landowners may reach a 

 startling figure. 



Other property losses are rarely so great, but are often very an- 

 noying. The flooding of roads and trails sometimes interferes with 

 or suspends travel, delays lumbering or other business operations, or 

 makes necessary tiresome detours and expensive repairs. 



The flooding of railroad grades which cross low ground is some- 

 times serious, and has been known to interfere with the running of 

 trains. Railroad culverts are frequently filled up by beavers in 

 order that they may take advantage of the grades for, their dams, 

 and section crews are kept busy clearing out sticks and mud to keep 

 the stream channels open. (PL V. Fig. 2.) There is sometimes ac- 

 tual danger to human life where the road bed is softened by high 

 water and the track rendered unstable. Fxercising those rare traits 

 of animal intelligence, thrift, and industry which make beavers 

 unique among our native mammals and of fascinating interest to 



