Beavers and Beaver Dams

Commonly known as property damage.

The question is: Reduce the amount of property damage caused by beavers or reduce the amount of beavers?

Beaver Scientific Name: Castor canadensis

The largest rodent in America.

Motto: "Our bite is the source of our bark."

An old Indian legend: The Creator separated the land from the water then employed gigantic beavers to smooth it down and prepare it for the abode of man.

This legend is both appreciative and suggestive.

Beaver-dams are credited with shaping and creating a great deal of the richest agricultural land in America.

Beavers also brought this phrase to us, "Busy as a beaver".

Beavers modify their environment for their own purposes more than any other animal except man.

A small stream flowing through a wooded valley when dammed by beavers become a pond edged with shrubby and second-growth forest.

If beavers live there long enough, the pond will fill in with detritus and soil, becoming a fertile meadow.

This activity is a direct consequence of the ecological niche that beavers occupy.

A Keystone Species Beavers are keystone species. A keystone species is one that modifies the natural environment in such a way the overall ecosystem builds upon the change.

The ponds, wetlands, and meadows formed by beaver dams increase bio-diversity and improve overall environmental quality.

New Motto: "I am damned if I do, I'll be damned if I don't."

What is this? What does it do? Who built it? Can anybody live here? How much money and how many other resources?