Sara Arkle, superintendent of parks resources for Boise Parks and Recreation, noted in an email that “beaver activity is an ongoing management consideration.” And Roger Phillips, spokesman for Idaho Fish and Game, said in a phone interview that management is about balance: “There is no good beaver or bad beaver.” “You don’t really know what they’re going to do.”įor some, “grassavery” is a perennial nuisance, a sign of an unwanted squatter eating away at their trees and garden possessions, and causing irreparable property damage. “Beavers are a bit chaotic,” Kolarik said.
student at Boise State University monitoring ecosystem dynamics in wetland habitats, discussed with the statesman the concept of “cultural carrying capacity” – that is, the number maximum number of species that could be tolerated – and suggested that this was the crux of the problem for beavers. Why the urge to store sticks? They do this to create deeper ponds, so they can dodge predators like coyotes, mountain lions, wolves, bobcats, and bears.Īre there too many of these ponds along the Boise River system and across Idaho this year? Is the beaver population out of control or stable? These questions can be difficult to answer. “It’s like they’re wired in their brains to block moving water,” Mosby joked. Like most rodents, they need to nibble to keep their teeth sharp, so the telltale signs of these hungry herbivores are bite marks and bark stripped from branches, or tree cuttings piled high enough to block. As the largest rodents in North America, beavers “eat a few pounds of vegetation a day.” “If you have a beaver in your system, it’s pretty obvious,” Idaho Fish and Game furbearer biologist Cory Mosby told the Idaho Statesman in a phone interview. Animals serve vital purposes, but they can also be so destructive that they need to be moved. The North American beaver, Castor canadensis, is not a subtle species. On the contrary, the mesh is protective, intended to ward off the city’s resident beavers.
These aren’t Christmas trees, and this ornamentation, strung by the City of Boise in conjunction with volunteer groups, isn’t just for show. Some of the trees along the Boise Greenbelt at the southeast end of town are wrapped at their bases with chicken wire. North American beaver (Castor canadensis) Credit: Wikipedia.
0 kommentar(er)
