Most biologists agree that the North American beaver, castor Canadensis, is instinctually attracted to water running over their dam, or through a breach in the dam, and hurries to plug the leak, so to speak. But what if the water is receding for other reasons? The younger beaver at Bear Creek Lake in Bear Creek Lake State Park had to quickly develop a response to such an event recently when the lake was lowered so that park staff could do some maintenance in the beach area.

Keep in mind that this beaver does not have a dam of its own. Its dam is the Bear Creek Lake dam, built by humans in 1938. When the water level began dropping on a Monday, the under-water entrance to the lodge was exposed, a high alert security issue to a beaver. The amazing response was to extend the stick built entrance with a thirty foot long stick covered structure that allowed the beaver to enter his lodge from deeper water via this “tunnel”.

The task had been completed by Thursday by using a lot of old sticks – ones dried out on land, or ones that had been a bark lunch over the preceding winter. Very little new vegetation was used, which could lead observers to think that this beaver knew the job was of utmost urgency, and that there was little time to collect fresh building material. But how did this beaver know how to solve this tricky situation so quickly?

Now that the water level is back to the Lake’s normal depth, this “tunnel” is covered with water and scarcely noticeable. It’s unknown whether this beaver still maintains it, or if the beaver has gone back to using the original lodge entrance since this recent threat has passed. We can figure though that in the meantime, the Lake also has a great natural fish habitat, courtesy of this “better” beaver.