Beaver Pond Traditional Cache
ChucKremer: As we get older, it becomes more difficult to maintain a large property. We have sold this idyllic spot in order to move to smaller digs in the city. Must archive the cache as the new owners aren't cachers.
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(regular)
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Ammo box in plain sight. This cache is all about the cache site, a beaver pond behind my house. Park by the road and walk down to rest on the bench and enjoy.
The beaver is the largest rodent in the United States, ranging from 30 to 80 pounds in weight and usually about 3' long. Their habit of damming up running water creates a micro eco-system in which many other species find a home. The technical name for the American beaver is Castor Canadensis. There are several sub species. The one in the southeastern U. S. is Castor Canadensis carolinensis. Each sub species has its own modified behavior patterns and physique.
Beavers are generally a shade of brown varying from almost black to a light tan. With its flat tail and webbed hind feet, it is well suited to its aquatic habitat. The nostrils and ears close, and the eyes are protected by a membrane when the animal is under water. The long coarse outer hair and short fine undercoat combined with a layer of fat keep the beaver warm. Glands near the genitals provide the waterproofing oil castorium for the fur.
Since they aren't nearly so agile on land as in the water, they create a habitat that keeps them comfortable and safe. This means damming streams to make a pond and being nocturnal so that there are fewwer predators when they are active. This also means making a safe haven for when they are eating, sleeping and procreating (the lodge). They usually mate for life.
A beaver lodge is created by dropping trees, pulling sticks and logs and branches into a pile, then tunneling under it from below the surface to hollow out a space above the waterline. Inside, they create at least two platforms, one for drying themselves and one for living space. In colder climates, the lodge is plastered with mud that protects them from predatory animals when it freezes in winter. (American indians ate them and say they taste like lean beef.)
The depth of the pond is determined by the climate. In this area dams are seldom over 2' high whereas in Canada, I've seen them 6' high. The reason seems to be so that if the water freezes, the ice won't go to the bottom of the pond, trapping the beaver inside the lodge. Even while the Canadians are playing hockey on 2' of ice, the beavers are swimming underwater to their stock piles of aspen branches and bringing them back to the lodge for lunch.
The pond allows the animals to get to their food sources without exposing themselves to predators by flooding land nearby so that they can swim to their food sources, rather than waddling across stretches of dry land.
Breathing in the lodge is taken care of by an air hole in the top. Swimming under the ice for long distances is accomplished by exhaling a large bubble of air against the bottom of the ice, then inhaling it again until an opening is found that will allow a breath of fresh air.
They eat leaves, bark and inner bark of growing trees as well as cattails, water lillies and other vegetation.
The water before you is only about 2' deep. In winter, it is a wide open expanse of water looking like a lake. You'll see geese and ducks, herons and hawks. In summer, the area is a mass of water lillies and grass tufts with little open water visible.
As you look at the lodge (a giant pile of brush at the base of a leaning dead tree) you will notice that it has no coating of mud. It is made of much heavier timber than those up north and just as impregnable to predators. This particular lodge is right on the dam which goes from the far side of the creek (yes, way over there) to the wooded shore about 300' to your right rear.
This large impoundment of water allows many other species to thrive. Look to the left of the lodge and you'll see an Ospreys nest in the low tree. Look farther left and up high to see an eagles nest in the tallest tree in the area. Both birds require a lot of fish found in the pond. There are also frogs and other aquatic life here.
Before the beavers did their work, this was a small creek, Moccasin creek, and is still noted as such on the maps of the area. If the beasvers leave, it will return to the way it was and grow up in forest land again.
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Treasures
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