Ruth Maclennan

 

Beaver Dam on the Moose River

I remember filming this, with my son by my side, crouching very awkwardly trying to hold a heavy camera still, being eaten alive by mosquitoes and unable to pull focus mid shot. This beaver really looked at us, measured us up and got on with the job of home-building. Beavers will doggedly rebuild after storm or human damage — up to a point. They will move up or downstream if the mess is too great. They transform the environment radically, in ways that are not always appealing to their human neighbours, nor perhaps to some other inhabitants of the brook that like fast moving water. Homes have become more public and visible these days, though the labour of making them, day after day, and the precariousness of home for many, is less so.

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