Popular nocturnal rodent expanding in area

Beaver are using many of northwest Ohio's streams and the Lake Erie shoreline to re-colonize into Ohio's last remaining counties after being absent for nearly two centuries.They were completely wiped out of Ohio by 1830, because of the demand for their pelts and the clearing of forests.They returned from neighboring states into some southeastern Ohio counties in the 1930s and have slowly expanded into the rest of the state, with over 40,000 now inhabiting Ohio.They are in the marshes of the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, Sandusky Bay and other slow, flatland streams of heavily farmed northwest Ohio counties — not normally thought of as classic beaver habitat.In March 2011, a young beaver made local headlines by entering the Port Clinton Kroger store and parking in the bakery section until being removed by local wildlife biologists.Commonly weighing over 40 pounds in Ohio, these aquatic mammals have webbed feet, with the rear ones exceptionally large. They are used, along with their tail, to help them balance on their hind legs while cutting trees or placing branches onto the dams or lodge.Their unique, large flattened tail is used to steer with while swimming, as a fat storage site and to slap the water as a warning signal to other beavers of danger.In addition to their unmistakable size and features, they leave unique evidence of their presence. They fell many trees, leaving pointed stumps. They use the tree leaves and bark as food and the logs and branches for their dams and lodges.When dams are constructed, streams are impounded to maintain a pool deep enough to keep the entrance of their dome-shaped lodges underwater and living quarters above the water line. These lodges, made of logs, sticks and mud are placed in the open pools.In large rivers or where the water depth is sufficient to keep their entrance under water, they may skip the lodge and simply burrow into the bank underwater and excavate living quarters above the water line just like an overgrown muskrat.Additional tree branches are stored underwater in a pile near the lodge entrance as a food cache that they utilize all winter long, with the size of the pile proportionate to the number of residents inside.Commonly, two generations of offspring reside with the parents, giving the average lodge a population of 6-to-8, as kit size can range from 1-to-4 per year.While subsisting mainly on bark during the winter, their summer diet becomes more herbaceous, using succulent wetland plants such as sedges, water lilies, cattails, duck weeds and others.Their return is being given mixed reviews as a few beavers can quickly become a few too many when beavers cut down prized timber, shade, fruit or ornamental trees.Farmers can have their corn fields decimated when beavers flood them and use the stalks as building material for their dams, lodge and food caches.Along the western Lake Erie marsh region, beavers excavating into the dikes can cause them to leak or even collapse and drain wetland cells. They have also been known to develop a fondness for chewing wood dock posts in marinas.In Ohio, the primary enemies of adult beavers are otters and humans, but owls, eagles and coyotes can prey upon kits when they are caught out in the open.Road kills are common, as they move slowly and awkwardly on land. There were at least two killed on Ohio Route 2 near Magee Marsh and Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge this summer.As has been the case for hundreds of years, trapping takes the majority of them. I spent a long weekend beaver trapping in Vinton County one winter. It was very hard work, carrying the heavy traps down into the valleys and the heavy catches back up the hill.I admire the hardships that these mountain men endured before the days of Gore-Tex clothing, rubber waders and gloves, body-grip traps and modern transportation — while on the alert for hostile Indians, fur thieves and severe winter weather.Beaver fur is still in moderate demand, fetching $15-20 for an adult winter prime pelt. The meat of beaver is flavorful, typically served at wild game dinners as shredded barbeque sandwiches.Fashion whims aside, they have been an important North American commodity for over 500 years. The Ohio trapping season for beaver this winter is from Dec. 26-Feb. 28, 2015. See the Ohio hunting digest for licenses and certification required before trapping.