Maxwell Lake on a Snowy October Day

The first photo was taken this afternoon just after I gave the beavers yet another load of aspen branches. I've lost count but I think that's number 16 for this year. I marvel at how they tow off all those branches and pack them into a compact food cache pile at their lodge. This evening there were 3 beavers there waiting, and even me tossing the branches into the lake didn't dissuade them.

One big beaver couldn't wait. A few seconds after the lake photo was taken, it dragged a good sized branch down to the lake (second photo) and towed it off. Free food is great, but a busy beaver doesn't wait if the load is a little late. The instinct to store food is very strong. The colony members will keep storing food until the lake freezes over and they are locked into their winter routine by a shell of impenetrable ice.

Do Beavers Eat Wood?

Trick question - it depends on what your definition of wood is. Let's take an aspen branch for example. The beavers absolutely love the leaves, small twigs, and bark. But as soon as the twigs get to the diameter of a baby pinky finger the beaver starts to peel the bark off, leaving the white twig behind, as shown in the 2nd photo. So the answer is more or less no, they don't eat wood. This makes sense when one looks at what food value wood has to a beaver. The wood is mostly indigestible cellulose bound together with lignin. Great fare if you're a termite, but not so much if you're a beaver who has trouble digesting cellulose.

Are the leaves, twigs, and bark much better? Well yes they are. They contain most of the nutrients in the aspen branch and there is much less cellulose. Probably they taste better too, at least to a beaver. A beaver's stomach has lots of bacteria that help to digest their food but even so it's a tough job to digest coarse plant material. The first time through the digestive system produces a soft pellet which the beaver eats. A second digestion pass extracts more nutrients before the final pellet is produced.

Happy Creek Trail

The Beaver Boardwalk is located where Happy Creek and Maxwell Lake come together. The Happy Creek Trail was built by West Fraser about 15 years ago. It starts on either side of Happy Creek off the gravel Town of Hinton Trail near the Pond Tower, loops upstream over 3 km along a series of beaver ponds, crosses the creek on a footbridge, and returns downstream. The Happy Creek Trail is well used by walkers, runners, and mountain bikers.

Working with West Fraser, the Hinton Mountain Bike Association helps to maintain the trail and signs. For single-track bike enthusiasts it's a challenging trail. I'm told only a few local expert bikers are able to ride the entire trail without getting off their bike. Personally I love to run it. There are lots of ups and downs, roots to trip over (which keeps me on my toes - most of the time), and a micro-wilderness experience on the outskirts of Hinton. Combine that with at least 3 active beaver colonies and the dams and ponds they maintain and you can't beat it.

Mallard reflection

Every visit to the Beaver Boardwalk is a chance to see a special moment in nature. Last week I spent an enjoyable 15 minutes watching this mallard hen preening on a log. Although I was only 10 m away she clearly thought keeping her plumage in good shape was more important than worrying about me.

I snapped a series of photographs and took a couple of short videos. Although it's not as sharp as I'd like, this photo showing her reflection in the cold pond water was most pleasing to my eye.

Grand Opening Summary

On a warm September 15, 2009 we celebrated completion of the Beaver Boardwalk after 3 years of dedicated effort by a lot of folks. The kick-off was at the Reimer Drive trailhead where the partners congratulated all who contributed funds, time, and support to make the project a reality. We also announced the winners of the children's colouring contest (more about that in another post) and Beth MacCallum and I led a walking tour of the new sections.

After the tour I gave a talk on beavers at the Hinton Library attended by about 50 people. Then the day was topped off by several dozen people watching the beavers munching on fresh aspen at Maxwell Lake. At one point I counted 42 people there, and all the while up to 6 beavers were tucking into supper. The photo shows the watchers - the beavers are over the bank in the centre right.

Beaver Feeding Time

The fourth annual beaver feeding program got underway on August 23 and will run until about the middle of October. As I write this post 8 pickup loads of aspen branches have been cut along roadsides where they aren't wanted, trucked to Maxwell Lake, and dumped into the lake at the picnic tables by the east end of the Maxwell Lake Apartments. The beavers take over from there, feasting and hauling away the branches to build their winter food cache beside their lodge west of the lake.

Why do this? Well, it's fun! The beavers are used to humans and feed on the leaves, twigs, and bark while people are standing a few meters away. But more importantly, supplementing their food supply reduces damage to deciduous trees around the lake and ensures the Maxwell beaver colony will continue to live in the area. Beavers aren't great conservationists - they often exhaust accessible winter food supplies over a period of several years and then have to move on. Either that or they have to travel further from water and increase risk of predation by a hungry wolf or bear.

I give the beavers another pickup load every 2-3 days. Come out at dusk for the best chance of viewing. Hope to see you there!

Thinning the Thistles

The Canada thistle is an attractive plant - lush green foliage and purple flowers. But it's invasive and very hard to control once it's established. Unfortunately thistle got a foothold several years ago along the beaver dam and the perennial plants were increasing. New shoots come up from the underground roots each spring.

Pulling the plants just makes the roots put up more shoots, so Rocky Morin, Beth MacCallum, and I spent several hours clipping the plants just as they started to flower. The idea is to let the plants put energy into growth and then remove the above-ground parts before they can seed or send energy back to the roots. In theory over several years that will do them in, and at the very least it gives other plants a chance. We took away two pickup loads this year. I sincerely hope it will be less next summer! Thanks Rocky and Beth for your help.