Now I know where the saying came from. The photo attached to this entry is a few days worth of work by some very industrious beavers at the Conservancy’s Silva tract near Water Control Structure “R.” When I first came to work for the Conservancy, I had a meeting with some senior U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials, who asked me what my plan was to deal with the destruction that beavers inflicted on the preserves. I laughed because I thought they were kidding. They weren’t. But I didn’t really know just how serious they were until I got into the job for awhile. One of the Conservancy’s biggest expenses, and one where we have some of the most serious worker safety issues, is from beaver damage. And it is never ending. These little guys seem to work 24/7, and never, ever give up. Yep, busier than a beaver.
One Against Many?
The Conservancy uses a variety of tools to manage vegetation on its preserves, guided by a strategy known as “the soft path first.” One of those tools is grazing. Over the years, the Conservancy has used large grazing animals to manage marsh and adjacent upland vegetation, including Hereford, Black Angus, …