Elusive Beaver Takes Toll on Timber

A beaver that has been gnawing cherry and cedar trees around the Tidal Basin was still at large Wednesday night after felling four more trees, the National Park Service said.

The timber toll stands at nine since last Thursday, and National Park Service officials say they are looking for a humane way to trap the animal.

The beaver has toppled four cherry trees and five white cedars and has gnawed deep valleys into four more large cherry trees, most likely killing them too, Park Service spokesman Earle Kittleman said.

“I think we are at the point of calling this animal a tree predator,” he said. “He is one very evasive and wily creature.”

The beaver has been alternately hitting several trees a night or doing no noticeable damage at all.

Although beavers frequent the Potomac River basin, no one can remember one living in the Tidal Basin until last year, when the first trees were damaged, Kittleman said.

The beaver vs. tree issue has the Park Service in a difficult position. The internationally recognized cherry tree grove is at its annual peak, and the Park Service spends a great deal of money to protect the more than 3,000 flowering trees. However, it is required to protect the animals of the park as well.

The plan, under discussion since Friday, is to obtain a humane trap, catch the beaver alive and then turn it loose in a new home, a long way from the cherry trees. As of Wednesday night, a suitable trap had not been found.

Biology technician Julia Long, who is responsible for securing a trap, had a full slate of interviews Wednesday, delaying her efforts to determine which trap is the most humane.

Experts on beavers said Wednesday that this one is probably a 2-year-old male that recently left the home nest and is checking out the Tidal Basin as a place to start a new colony. Beavers usually live in burrows built below the water line and construct dams as a way to maintain the water level above the opening of the den.

Harry Hodgeon, a wildlife biologist who wrote his doctoral dissertation on beavers, said the Tidal Basin certainly is an attractive place for a beaver.

“There’s lots of nice food right there, all those new cherry trees,” he said.

At this point, the Tidal Basin beaver has not been able to begin a dam because the Park Service crews swoop in as soon as a downed tree is found and take it away. They also chop the tree stump to the ground so visitors won’t trip over it.

Kittleman said there would be no special precautions taken Wednesday night to protect the trees because the beaver has about 300 acres to roam looking for an appealing tree and there is no way to patrol such a large area.