# Beavers really do chEw down trees **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 18, 2010, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beavers-really-do-chew-down-trees/557520 "2010-10-18T03:21:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2010, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beavers-really-do-chew-down-trees/557520/1 "2010-10-18T03:21:47Z")
I live in suburbia but there is a pond with some beavers living near it all natural like. There are young trees planted along the sidewalk around this pond. They have trunks about 7-8" across right now. There were 8 of them. Beavers have chewed 5 of them down in the last week and a half. 5 chew stumps sticking out of the ground now. Nature. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2010, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beavers-really-do-chew-down-trees/557520/2 "2010-10-18T04:46:14Z")
Not only do they chew down trees, but they build their confounded dams in the creek which causes flooding and kills trees. They also make beaver runs in the banks or across levees and cause erosion. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2010, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beavers-really-do-chew-down-trees/557520/3 "2010-10-18T05:07:07Z")
And fill up culverts washing out roads. On the plus side they are quite tasty when cooked in a crock pot with BBQ sauce and their fur is worth money. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2010, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beavers-really-do-chew-down-trees/557520/4 "2010-10-18T14:28:01Z")
The largest beaver dam ever found was/is almost 800 yards long. They and us homo sapiens are the only species to alter the environment with civil engineering projects like that on such a scale. Just saying. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2010, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beavers-really-do-chew-down-trees/557520/5 "2010-10-18T14:42:49Z")
On the good side, beaver dams raise the local water table and make areas more resistant to drought. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2010, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beavers-really-do-chew-down-trees/557520/6 "2010-10-18T15:14:42Z")
There is a famous case in Michigan in which the state ordered a property owner to remove a couple of “debris dams” they claimed he had built without a permit. [Turns out beavers made them.](http://www.snopes.com/humor/letters/dammed.asp) ---
**Author:** ![Randy\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee7513/32.png) [@Randy\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randy_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2010, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beavers-really-do-chew-down-trees/557520/7 "2010-10-18T15:25:08Z")
> [@The\_Scrivener](#): > > They and us homo sapiens are the only species to alter the environment with civil engineering projects like that on such a scale. I dunno man, I think they’ve got some [competition](http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/enlarge/cape-york-termite-mounds_pod_image.html)… ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2010, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beavers-really-do-chew-down-trees/557520/8 "2010-10-18T15:31:16Z")
Years ago, when we lived in Georgia, they were opening a new building at Callaway gardens, to much fanfare and excitement. There was a lovely pond out front, and some beautiful trees. Either the morning before or the morning of the grand opening, they came in to discover the beavers had chewed down the focal point tree. They had to shrug and make the best of it, because they are all about nature. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2010, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beavers-really-do-chew-down-trees/557520/9 "2010-10-18T15:59:50Z")
I once left a cake out on the lawn. Ants came. Nature. ([The real tragedy is that this lost me several hours of productivity](http://towerdefencegames.com/ant-buster.html)!) ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2010, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beavers-really-do-chew-down-trees/557520/10 "2010-10-18T16:09:10Z")
I live in Stockholm and have seen the results of chew-happy beavers in two locations not far from the city centre. [Map](http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=59.332664,18.071136&spn=0.087381,0.220757&z=12&msid=100701006987617530552.000492e658a6abee7a64b). ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2010, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beavers-really-do-chew-down-trees/557520/11 "2010-10-18T16:31:56Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > I once left a cake out on the lawn. Ants came. > > Nature. > … Did it rain, too? ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2010, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beavers-really-do-chew-down-trees/557520/12 "2010-10-18T16:49:29Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > Did it rain, too? Why yes! It was the Great Lawn in that famous park. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2010, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beavers-really-do-chew-down-trees/557520/13 "2010-10-18T20:06:36Z")
I rented a movie once called “The Big Stump And The Lively Beaver.” Nature. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2010, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beavers-really-do-chew-down-trees/557520/14 "2010-10-18T23:16:43Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > On the good side, beaver dams raise the local water table and make areas more resistant to drought. 🙂 Plus a fortunately placed Beaver dam can save you the option of about 20 miles of walking, or a serious threat of hypothermia when winter drops in suddenly.