Good point on the potential for "beaver damage" to quickly spiral out of control.
The soils on our property grade from "good farmland" to "marginal farmland" to very sandy soil as you move toward the creek. The sandy soil does not even support the adjacent, well-established tallgrass prairie. Instead, it has some scattered bunch grasses, some prickly pear cactus, and some forbs that are adapted to the very sandy soil.
The creek itself is then lined with trees. Most of those are Siberian Elms - which are usually considered an undesirable invasive in this area. One of their nicknames is "piss elm". If you have ever cut one while the sap is running, you will understand the derivation of the name!
The beaver is mostly sampling those elms, and has cut one big one. I would think they would taste awful, but what do I know?
Question for the forum: What would be my best riparian buffer management for that type of situation?
I have looked at aerial views for several miles upstream and downstream. Some landowners have completely cleared their stretch of creek banks. Others have their property grown up more densely than our property.
Eventually, I would like to establish some good native understory trees (like pawpaws) beneath some of the areas of large elms. I would also like to plant a few trophy trees (swamp white oaks, black walnuts, etc.) that can handle episodic flooding.
All of my planted trees would certainly be preferred beaver snacks, and I will have to ruthlessly suppress them at that point. However, prior to that phase, anybody have any good advice on just good stream health practices as it relates to the adjacent land?
