The Beaver Moon

The November 2nd full moon was the “Beaver Moon” to New England's Algonquin-speaking tribes who kept track of seasons by giving distinctive names to each recurring full moon; each moon, a season unto itself. “Beaver Moon” was the time to trap beavers before swamps froze to ensure a winter supply of furs or was named because beavers are most active in November when preparing for winter.

Right now, our State's largest rodents are feverishly felling trees to build underwater caches of hardwood branches whose outer bark sustains a beaver colony until ice-out in March.

Nearly eliminated by the fur trade, New Hampshire beaver populations are at an historic high, too high for an accurate census. It's ironic that in 1920, The Forest Society sponsored an expedition to Minnesota to live-trap two breeding pairs of beavers for release at Lost River. A decade later, a pair were exhibited as a curiosity at the 1930 Rochester Fair and released afterwards in the Cocheco River.

Reintroduction of beavers is a classic success story. Beavers are a "keystone species” whose pond construction benefits a variety of wetlands wildlife. Dead and dying trees killed by flooding benefit a massive variety of bird species.

The best beaver ponds cycle on and off for decades, perhaps for centuries. When beavers rebuild old dams to re-flood areas in response to renewed food supplies, it’s rural redevelopment!

I've learned another trick from these furry, logger-rodents: beavers store fat reserves in their, um “tails” for the long winter.

With the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday nearly upon us, I may employ that same survival strategy!