A few acres of the property are flooded from beaver activity a few decades ago. The area, now a pond, tapers into wetland. The water is approximately 2–6 feet deep across the whole area, forest surrounds it, and a long-established land bridge carries the road into the main property.
The pond is one of the calmest, quietest, and most beautiful parts of the property. Its still and swampy water gives life to a wide variety of wildlife, including ducks, geese, beavers, fish, and frogs. The murky water also supports everything around it because wetlands support a disproportionate number of species while helping to absorb floodwater and filter water ↗. To me, this is one of the most beautiful parts about the wetlands; the vast variety of life that exist only because of the still, murky water.
Keeping the wetland stable and healthy.
Proper land stewardship includes the wetlands and the swamps. In practical terms, for our wetland, that means keeping access points and working stretches of shoreline from being constantly blocked by fallen trees, while preserving the habitat used by beavers, geese, and ducks.
To that extent, we plan to add duck nesting boxes along sheltered edges so the ducks have places to nest away from foxes, coyotes, and other wildlife.
Managing beaver activity.
Beavers are part of what makes the wetland productive. Parks Canada describes them as “ecosystem engineers” whose dams create habitat for fish, mammals, waterfowl, amphibians, and insects ↗.
Despite the incredible benefits, beavers can also create problems that need active management. In our pond, a beaver dam is forming on one side. The dam has started to back up water, which is beginning to spread into the surrounding forest. We may need to control the water level or remove part of the dam. It’s not our first choice, but if the water continues to threaten the surrounding forest or prevents the pond from retaining its own water, we may need to consider it.
In other areas, the beavers have also started taking down older and larger trees, including trunks 16–24 inches in diameter. While the beavers can use bark and smaller branches, those trees weigh many tons and would simply be otherwise unusable by the beavers. They’re simply damaging healthy trees. Our goal is to let the beavers be, for the most part, while protecting mature trees, the road, and the rest of the wetland.
A proper crossing for the road.
The land bridge has been in place for many decades as part of an old logging road. We can actually see the area where the dirt was taken to form it. Every spring, its base floods after heavy rain because water flows from one side to the other. We plan to install a culvert across the road, guided by Ontario’s environmental guidance for access roads and water crossings ↗.
This will help connect the wetlands which is part of protecting the road from being damaged by erosion and flooding, while also allowing a healthier wetland to continue to thrive.
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