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Sunday, May 06, 2007
The Sacred Center of the Land
So, after a LONG, COLD winter with frozen shoulders and all of their accompanying discomforts, restrictions and frustrations, we went away for a little weekend trip. But did we go where it was warm and my shoulders could thaw??? NOOOOO!!! We went to Frisco, CO, elevation 9,000+ feet. And, being the spring-time that it is, we got cold, snowy, wet weather. And it was beautiful. Doing some exploring, we found a beaver dam on a stream.
One of my best memories is of a time when I went camping with a friend, and after we had set up our tent and had dinner, we hiked to a pond created by beavers and watched a little guy out for his evening swim. Just us, the mountains, and the little beaver guy in the silence of the moment. It doesn't get any better than that.
The beavers had to chop the trees into manageable sizes and carry them from one side of the road to the other, then down a hill in order to get to the stream and their dam.
From All About Beavers:
"Beavers are more than intriguing animals with flat tails and lustrous fur. American Indians called the beaver the "sacred center" of the land because this species creates rich habitats for other mammals, fish, turtles, frogs, birds and ducks. Since beavers prefer to dam streams in shallow valleys, much of the flooded area becomes wetlands. Such wetlands are cradles of life with biodiversity that can rival tropical rain forests. Almost half of endangered and threatened species in North America rely upon wetlands.
"Besides being a keystone species, beavers reliably and economically maintain wetlands that can sponge up floodwaters (the several dams built by each colony also slows the flow of floodwaters), prevent erosion, raise the water table and act as the "earth's kidneys" to purify water. The latter occurs because several feet of silt collect upstream of older beaver dams, and toxics, such as pesticides, are broken down in the wetlands that beavers create. Thus, water downstream of dams is cleaner and requires less treatment."
One of my best memories is of a time when I went camping with a friend, and after we had set up our tent and had dinner, we hiked to a pond created by beavers and watched a little guy out for his evening swim. Just us, the mountains, and the little beaver guy in the silence of the moment. It doesn't get any better than that.
The beavers had to chop the trees into manageable sizes and carry them from one side of the road to the other, then down a hill in order to get to the stream and their dam.From All About Beavers:
"Beavers are more than intriguing animals with flat tails and lustrous fur. American Indians called the beaver the "sacred center" of the land because this species creates rich habitats for other mammals, fish, turtles, frogs, birds and ducks. Since beavers prefer to dam streams in shallow valleys, much of the flooded area becomes wetlands. Such wetlands are cradles of life with biodiversity that can rival tropical rain forests. Almost half of endangered and threatened species in North America rely upon wetlands.
"Besides being a keystone species, beavers reliably and economically maintain wetlands that can sponge up floodwaters (the several dams built by each colony also slows the flow of floodwaters), prevent erosion, raise the water table and act as the "earth's kidneys" to purify water. The latter occurs because several feet of silt collect upstream of older beaver dams, and toxics, such as pesticides, are broken down in the wetlands that beavers create. Thus, water downstream of dams is cleaner and requires less treatment."
Labels: beavers, Frisco Colorado
posted by Carol at 2:47 PM
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