Times like these is when having beavers on your property really shines…..I tracked a deer for a landowner the other that said he had 25 different beaver ponds on his property….He said water wasn’t an issue for his critters…..Said you wouldn’t believe at the wood ducks he has.

There was a great episode of the Darkhorse podcast that had some good info on beavers and their impact on the environment: https://youtu.be/YBmKwQ9SPt0

I hate them, I can show you 3-4 dif properties that had HUGE oaks and pines in some beautiful creek bottoms that are now dead, flooded water by the beavers.

Lack of beavers on the landscape is also why we see some of these flooding issues being way worse than they should be…..Beaver swamps are a buffer against flooding…..When all of the watersheds are lined with hundreds of beaver dams it creates a situation where you have to fill up all of those reservoirs first instead of all the water just gushing straight down stream

^ So, how does this work when the ponds are already full and a hurricane rain comes??

X2. A nice white oak grove I used to hunt is now nothing but a bunch of rotten stumps. They only raised the water level about a foot too. They have killed over 20 acres of trees in under 10 years in this one area.

Don’t hurricanes typically come at the end of the summer??.....How often are ponds full at this time of year??.......If you ask me it seems like things were designed a certain way for a reason.

I hate a dry beaver. Someone had to say it.

I have had some issues with beavers over the years with my pond and drain pipe. The neighbor cleared off the creek bottom feeding my pond and clay was washing bad. If it wasn't for two beaver dams my pond would turn orange every time we get a heavy rain. I guess you take the good with the bad like everything else in life!

A beaver drought can be rough on a fella.

Skinny must be paying CNC to create click-bait post lately. Unfortunately the bait posts are no longer limited to only the sports forum.

You can always tell who doesn't actually own there own land.

If we are just talking habitat without massive human development, then yes, beavers are drivers of healthy systems. The term "environmental engineers" has often been a term used to describe them. However, we don't live in that world anymore. Humans have altered landscapes to such a degree that now beavers can cause damage to remnant "older growth" stands and can reduce quality forage in ephemeral wetlands. Plus, economically they can be a real issue for landowners (which everyone on here knows).

Sure if we had tens of thousands of acres occurring in homogeneous landscapes the beavers are vital for creating edge and wetland habitats (for that "habitat mosaic" biologists always refer to) and driving increases in biodiversity.

But, across the south (and most of US) that ship has sailed.


BTW, that reminds me that I need to go pull a bunch of limbs out of a water control structure that the beavers shoved full. Can't get the boards in or drain the water out.

Also a good time to wipe out a lot of them too.

I have a half mile of creek frontage with multiple springs feeding into Sandy creek in Henry County
In my case the beavers only flood what was already flood zone. No big deal, it creates more habitat diversity, different species of plants benefit. Of course if my land was flat it may be a bigger deal.

I love hammering on the beavers real hard. But being serious they are cool till they start flooding pastures and killing off trees.