The Beaver...Center of Life

Emmet county is the land of the Odawa, the Native American Indians who once ruled this land. Their belief is the beaver is the center of all life.  His dams would create an environment that would draw wildlife, create good cover for grouse, deer  and deep holes for trout. A beaver kill ( flooded out area ) was a good place to hunt and fish.
Brook trout thrive in these back waters and being the only indigenous river trout left ( the Grayling is extinct ),  can grow to 15 inches or more in size. When you fish these areas you will have contact with the resident beaver. This 30-40 pound mammal has the distinction of supplying me with the biggest scares of my woodland career. When I hike into these remote areas in the evening, my eye sight fades with the last light of the day. The beaver will be traveling down the river mostly submerged. Undetected he will run in to me and tail slap to warn his family. It is a loud noise similar to a hard clap of the hands. It is enough to make you get your waders wet on the inside...it is a scare you will never forget.  
The beaver is active in the evening and is quiet in his work. The only noise he makes is the felling of large Aspen trees. His moats along the river are made to gather mud for the dam and to float branches to his construction site. These canals become trails to the river used by animals to access the stream to drink. The Beaver is very harmless, but creates problems with his dams for people living along the river. He regenerates the land without a forest fire and brings healthy growth to the flora. The beaver is beneficial to nature, but his life has always been in conflict with man, be it his fur or his dams.
The desire of man to be by the water has pushed the beaver deep into the wilderness. When I sit in the middle of the river on a working beaver dam, in an unequivocal silence...I am as far away from the bustle of city life as one can be...and very content.  

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