New beaver ponds?

[BradFromPotter]

Has anyone notice more new beavers ponds in NC PA? I have which gives me hope for trout survival here in NC PA!

 

[troutbert]

I'm glad you are seeing that because I think that benefits the brook trout populations.

I thought I was seeing a long term (last 30 years) decrease in beaver ponds and was wondering why.

 

[gulfgreyhound]

Trapping? GG

 

[BradFromPotter]

gulfgreyhound wrote:
Trapping? GG

Me? No. Just seeing them on my drives around the area. With no leaves on the trees I can see the streams better from the roads.

 

[RLeep2]

I know very little about the current state of beaver populations, as to whether they are up, down or sideways at present.

Two things though that seem to be true over the long haul in regards to the relationship between beavers and the abundance or lack of active or current dams are that: 1) chronic low flows, like most of us had this past year, seems to motivate beavers to make more dams. This makes sense as they are simply trying to create/find more of the habitat they prefer. And 2) beavers and their dams come and go based on how much raw material is available nearby for them to use in building. There are a lot of places in NW PA that cycle in and out of active use by beavers. Around here, they like poplars, especially younger ones. So, they'll strip and cut down all the poplars within a couple hundred feet of the creek and build dams. Then, once they run out of poplars, they'll often move. Then, 5-7-10 years down the line when a new grove of poplar is getting going, they'll come back. I've seen it play out many times..

 

[tomgamber]

That's good to hear as I know of one that we discovered was all but dry when we visited this summer. It was there on memorial day and nothing but a trickle in September. Amazing how fast the surrounding area reclaims them.

 

[barrybarry]

Don't expect to see a lot of trappers this year, nine to eleven dollars for most of them this year. Fur markets have been down for a long time. They are large animals that are hard to skin and are often found some distance from the road. Lots of work for little return. Typical trapper humor: If I ever win the lottery, I'll trap until the money runs out.

 

[maxima12]

Beavers, true wonders of nature! Beavers create habitat for all living nature things. General, if a beaver comes, it goes. Forget the trapping, Russia put the beaver demand, out of business, Russia beavers are farmed with all blankets the same size. American trappers can't size up. I always looked for the Rogue, the old, big Master! Thrown out of community for a life "on your own".

Beaver is better than Beef! Sweeter! Good eating! The castors, "glands" outstanding, not for eating but precious for scent, perfume and trade!

Now i will end this with, "Beaver", I love it!

Maxima12

 

[Tups]

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/etalweb.joewheaton.org/Workshops/CheapCheerful/2018/NRCS/Nevada/NV_NRCS_workbook.pdf

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

I have always caught some nice brook trout out of NCPA beaver ponds.

While good, do you think if enough crop up on a watershed it could limit temperatures of downstream reaches?
Water got real low this year.

 

[jrj]

I stumbled on one last week that I was not expecting. Way up on a Branch of the First Fork in Potter County. Somehow there were two large Rainbows and a big brown in there.....

 

[Dave_W]

Here in my neck of the woods beavers seem to be a lot more prevalent on the valley streams rather than up in the mountains on forested brookie streams.

Up in NCPA you have a lot more wild trout in relatively lower streams with deciduous, thicket type riparian zones. While beavers are pretty numerous down here in SCPA, I don't see them having much affect on wild trout pops - they are more common on the stocked streams that only hold fish in springtime.

Incidentally, I saw fresh beaver handiwork on Spring Creek recently but no beavers and no stick piles or dam efforts. My guess would be that there are just too many fisherman splashing around and the beavers went elsewhere(?).

 

[JeffK]

I've seen a cycle for the beaver dams near me, especially in little trickles of limestoners that usually hold tiny wild brooks or browns. Many of these were pastures in my youth, but diary farms are disappearing near me so they get overgrown. Then a beaver comes and builds a pond. At first the pond allows for some bigger trout to grow and all is good. More smaller ponds crop up and more decent size trout as well. But over time more ponds appear, the vegetation is cut back 100 yds or so from the creek (with little canals all over for the beavers to travel in) exposing the original pasture and the older dams start to silt up. Slowly the ponds warm and one starts seeing pickerel and green sunfish and the trout fishing goes downhill.

Then one day the beavers vanish and the whole cycle begins again.

 

[salmonoid]

Dave_W wrote:
Here in my neck of the woods beavers seem to be a lot more prevalent on the valley streams rather than up in the mountains on forested brookie streams.

Up in NCPA you have a lot more wild trout in relatively lower streams with deciduous, thicket type riparian zones. While beavers are pretty numerous down here in SCPA, I don't see them having much affect on wild trout pops - they are more common on the stocked streams that only hold fish in springtime.

Incidentally, I saw fresh beaver handiwork on Spring Creek recently but no beavers and no stick piles or dam efforts. My guess would be that there are just too many fisherman splashing around and the beavers went elsewhere(?).

Not all beavers build dams. There are a number of streams that I fish that have what I call "bank beavers" in them. The beavers do not build dams but instead live in the bank. The homes are a little less evident than the traditional beaver home in a dammed pond; they'll often look like a small pile of sticks piled on the side of the stream. If the water is deep enough as is, I assume the beavers just utilize what is available and save the energy on gathering materials and building a dam. If you see evidence of beaver activity on the short, such as trees that are cut, or branches that are freshly stripped of their bark, but no dam or house, look for piles of brush on the sides of deeper pools.

I was doing poorly on a stream at night this past summer. Even though the days were hot and the stream was borderline temperature wise during the day, the fish were active about an hour before dark until much later at night. Except for that particular night. The hole was dead. I cycled through half a dozen flies with nary a hit. As I sometimes do when things get slow, I spotted the hole with my light from the bank, to see if I could spot any fish. What I found was that a beaver was my nemesis; he was cruising up and down the pool, putting the fish down. He'd tolerate me for a bit, then would eventually disappear but never fully disappeared. Last year, I fished the same area after about two inches of rain had the stream up and really high. Just upstream from where the beaver was this summer, I was casting the morning after the rain. There was a brownish/blackish blob I could make out at the edge of the current on the far side of the stream and I eventually came to realize it was a beaver, sitting in the water, just hanging out.

 

[larkmark]

Bank beavers. I see plenty of beavers on our streams and rivers. Overall they are probably doing more harm than good for trout. They cut down trees and vegetation and create situations that cause erosion. Especially in valley streams and rivers. Up higher in the hills I really do not know.