Building a BDA
In the book In Beaver World by Enos A. Mills (1913), there’s a story about an old man who was building a fish pond on a lake. Beavers watched the progress of the work, and each morning their fresh footprints showed in the newly piled earth. Shortly before the work was completed, the homesteader was called away for a few days, and on his return he was astonished to find that the beavers had completed his dam!
Last year, with the support of Tom Simpson and Jeff Boland-Prom, we realized that, in order to restore our fen we had to focus on the water first. As Erica Gies mentions in Water Always Wins, we had to become water detectives. So, we looked at historic aerials, we walked the frozen ponds noting spots where water was leaking out, and after some discussion we came up with a plan: we needed beavers!
At Wonderland, we are fortunate to cohabit with a family of beavers… The question was, how do we ask for their collaboration?
Beaver Dam Analogs (BDA) - as presented during @wildthingscommunity by @illinois.beaver.alliance - pacify the water flow, increase the deposit of nutrients and silt, widen the water way, and eventually, invite beavers to return, creating a complex water haven that benefits the entire surrounding area.
Last Sunday, with the support of amazing volunteers, we spent most of the day building our first BDA at the land! We used buckthorn, honeysuckle and cattails on a section of wetland where water is leaking out of a pond. We need this water to replenish the aquifer and the fen, and slowing the water flow is our first step.
It will take more than one dam to do the work, so we will have plenty of opportunity to put on waders and revert to childhood patterns of making dams, pushing mud here and there, and becoming beavers as we slow the water flow off the property!
And who knows - in the end, perhaps our beaver friends will lend a hand!
For our next work day - April 13th - we will continue with the BDAs project for the fen, as well as other projects, and we have a post about the fen coming out this month in our Patreon with many more details!
Two volunteers working on building the beaver dam analogue. They are outdoors surrounded by cattails and other vegetation. One volunteer has waders and is pulling muck from the pond to the dam with a rake. The other is wearing a white shirt and a hat and is pulling out cattails for the dam.
