In fall 2023, I was biking over the wooden bridge in the middle of St. Michael’s Preserve when I noticed that there was less water than usual in Beden’s Brook. When I looked upstream, I found a beaver dam that had been broached and a mudflat where a pond might have existed.
When I went by a few weeks later, the dam had been rebuilt and the pond refilled. Beavers in the borough!
By this fall, the dam has been well established, so much so that grass is growing on top of it. I haven’t seen any beavers, but tracks are everywhere as are the stumps of trees with the characteristic points showing the beavers’ toothy work.
This fall, Beden’s Brook below the dam had no water, just some slimy mud, but after the December rains offset the three-month drought, the waters are flowing briskly again.
When I contacted Tina Notas, director of land stewardship for D&R Greenway, she wrote: “I’ve noticed beaver activity at the preserve for a few years now. We welcome these natural engineers. I do monitor to make sure the flooding isn’t reaching the paved road. Beavers can create wetland habitats that lead to an increase in floodwater holding capacity which in turn mitigates the effects of climate change.”
Mike Van Clef, stewardship director of Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space, said: “Generally, beavers are exceptionally important, and their relative absence on the landscape compared to pre-Columbian times has profound negative impacts. At the same time, they can really screw things up in particular places (for humans that is).”
Beavers were practically extinct in New Jersey, and in much of the country, by the early 1900’s due to people’s fondness for beaver pelt hats. New Jersey protected beavers from trapping in 1903.
By 1947, their numbers had increased sufficiently that limited trapping was once again permitted. These days, if you want to trap beavers, you have to enter a lottery. In the 2023-24 season, up to 200 beaver permits were available from NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife for a trapping season that lasted from Dec. 26 to Feb. 29. The fee for this permit was $15. Fish and Wildlife may issue permits to landowners to control beavers that are destroying their property.
As of 2016, the beaver population of New Jersey was estimated to be about 7,500. According to Adam at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, there is usually no response to beavers damming areas unless there is damage to property or valuable crops. Beavers provide benefits for both animals and people (who need a pond).
He said that trappers tend to be from families with a long-standing tradition of “harvesting” beavers, but there’s not much of a market for beaver pelts these days. Pelts go for $20 to $30 each.
While currently there is little interest in hats and coats, people do like beaver blankets. When was the last time you saw someone wearing a beaver hat?
Extract from the beaver’s castor glands is also used in both perfumes and medicine.
Locally, you can observe beaver activity in the Mountain Lakes Preserve in Princeton, near the DMV on Bakers Basin Road, in the Delaware and Raritan Canal and in the Delaware River. With their increased presence in New Jersey, beavers do get into trouble. I remember biking past at least one flattened creature on Route 29 in Titusville.
According to the director of the Mercer County Wildlife Center, which last year treated 2,472 injured animals of nearly 130 different species, beavers’ curiosity puts them at risk. At times, canoeists on the Delaware will smack beavers with their paddles when they approach, alarmed by these rodents that can weigh up to 70 pounds and have big teeth. The center rescues and rehabilitates the beavers when possible.
Not to be ignored is “Beaver Fever,” aka giardia, a loathsome intestinal parasite that can be contracted from contaminated water. However, despite the name, giardiasis infection occurs in a wide variety of domestic and wild mammals including dogs, cats, cattle, sheep, goats, horses, pigs, coyotes, rodents, and raccoons as well as beavers and people. The rule of thumb (or lips): When water is splashed, keep your mouth shut.
In November, a most unusual incident occurred when a man fishing in the South Branch of the Raritan River was bitten by a beaver. According to Adam at the USDA, beavers tend to be unaggressive. The belligerent animal had to be suffering from some disease, perhaps rabies or distemper.
To date, the beaver perp has not been apprehended.
But Happy Beaver Year anyway. In the coming year, I’ll need something to be happy about — desperately.
Beaver dam in St. Michael's Preserve, December 2024.,
