COUNTY News:

Beavers modify their environment to create habitats for food, shelter, and protection. Using rocks, mud, logs, and sticks, they dam shallow streams and form ponds in which they construct lodges.

Dams may reach heights of six feet or more and extend over large areas to form complex networks. Beaver dams increase total water surface area, stabilize stream flows, prevent erosion, and raise the level of water tables. As ponds behind beaver dams fill, new nesting, feeding, and winter habitats for trout, cavity-nesting birds, migratory birds, and other mammals are created. Water retention improves soil and helps plant diversity, such as increasing Alder, willow, and cottonwood trees, which are staples of the beaver diet.

Visit the Valles Caldera National Preserve and keep an eye out at the streams

To learn more about living with wildlife, visit the NM Game & Fish website at www.lacnm.com/NMGF. For information on how to contact NM Game and Fish, visit the Contact Us page on their website.