Call it what you will, last night I dreamed that the beavers were back in Delaware Park, and that I was torn between my love for the animal and my love of trees. My wife simply says that I am too tuned into Buffalo, because these sorts of bizarre occurrences happen quite often. Today, out of the blue, a former Olmsted co-worker sent me an image of a tree at Hoyt Lake that appears to be the handiwork of a beaver(s).
Once I got over processing the dream-to-reality bit, I thought back to three years ago when the beavers were felling trees along Scajaquada Creek. The Olmsted Parks Conservancy decided to put metal fencing around many of the nearby trees in order to combat the problem.
If you ask me, I’m befuddled about what to do with the beavers – I believe that there have been times when these beautiful creatures were killed in order to prevent tree loss such as this. I would think that a capture and release program might be in order, if we are to protect the hard work that organizations such as ReTree set out to accomplish.
To think that beavers even live in and around Hoyt Lake, in this day and age, is a miracle, and hopefully a testament to environmental measures that have been taken over the years to restore some of their natural habitats from Delaware Park to the Niagara River.