July 20 th from β at Ethan Allen Homestead. August feels early to be laying in wood for the winter, but we have a wild companion in Burlington who is already building up a cache of winter woodβthough the wood is to eat, not to burn. All summer long, beavers cut copious amount of hardwood trees and saplings. They use the limbs to shore up dams and lodges and they cache the inner bark and twigs for food under water near their lodge.
Beavers are more elaborate in their winter preparations than any other wild Vermont animal. Unlike migrants, who fly south or resident birds and animals who hibernate or forage on sparse winter fare, a beaver over winters with her clanβcozy in the lodge she has built, living on a pond she helped create, and eating food she has stored.
Not only are beavers abundant and widespread throughout the state, they are also a primary reason that trees do fall. And not just any trees. Beavers use their chisel teeth to selectively cut hardwoods that grow in close proximity to water. And in the process, they alter landscapes at a scale second only to humans. The Homestead is home to a pair of beavers that make their presence unmistakably known. Trees new and old bear scars from beaver chewing, clearly defined beaver paths bridge bodies of water, and the Homestead hosts multiple dams and two beaver lodges.
The beavers are active dusk to dawn during the warmer months of the year preparing for the cold winter to come. Beavers accomplish their amazing winter survival by creating the conditions that they need to survive.
Beavers use water for cover, for transportation, and for refrigeration. They will emerge above the ice to feed near an escape hole , to repair a dam, and to seek food in case of emergency, but they are not fast runners on land to begin with and are further hampered by snow. Unfortunately, a beaver on foot in the winter is very vulnerable to predators like coyotes. Beavers need a body of water deep enough that it will not freeze to the bottom. Using sticks, mud, and even stones, beavers will build dams across flowing rivers and creeks and culverts to create a pond or series of ponds.
