Hiked to Damalot, Beavertown today. Last year most of the beavers moved away. This is part of the natural cycle of beaver pond ecology, nothing to be worried about. As time passes, the beavers deplete the food supply, and when that happens, they move along to another site and start over. The massive dams at Damalot have been there for YEARS! There are at least five, stepping down towards to the river. There was still a beaver working there this spring, but today, there was no sign of anyone being at home. The dams had holes in them, where the autumn rainfalls were flowing along quite nicely to the river. The very sound of running water will trigger a beaver to build a dam, so this is farther evidence that the beav has moved to creeks anew.
What remains is fascinating. You can see in the top photo the bones of long drowned trees that have been underwater for years. On the right is the slope of the existing dam, thick with tag alders and grasses that help to hold and stabilize it. Slicing through the fledgling meadow are several streams, many following the canals the beavers have built over the years to help them move larger logs. As these beaver meadows dry up they will provide habitat to deer, or moose, rabbits and squirrels, mice and hawks, frogs and herons and a entire cast of creatures that rely on the cycle of the beaver's dams.
This photo catches the water in motion, flowing toward the hole in the dam, reflecting the trees on the far bank. Not the kind of trees a beaver can eat...
We hiked on down, beyond the dams, to the Oxtongue River. Here the currents are running strong and fast, and this chunk of foam (natural, not created by detergents) had floated all the way down from the Falls. The flecks of foam helped show up the swirl of the currents.
This lichen is known as "old man's beard", for fairly obvious reasons. You need to get up close and personal to truly appreciate it. And this is a good time of year to do just that.
These red pines were planted by my parents, Paul and Rosemary. They have been thinned over the years to allow them to grow tall and straight. It's like walking through a cathedral, with the soft needles forming a silent cushion underfoot and the pines soaring higher and higher.
Gorgeous shots!
ReplyDeleteI recall a place in Algonquin where you could see the beaver dam had been abandoned, and when you came back the next year, the pond had been drained off and things looked much like this.