this post was submitted on 21 Nov 2023
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I think the term "destruction" has been used too loosely here. Sure, beavers can change the landscape, but they don't make it uninhabitable for all life. As someone else mentioned they create wetlands.
Being second place in the destructiveness competition with humans is like they don't come anywhere close.
Don't they need to modify how many trees there are in the process though (which would be reckless to anything that depends on each one)?
Yes, they cut down trees. Approximately 200 per year. But these fallen trees stay nearby, and they are the beaver's home as well as some of their food. Plus they create a bigger wetland ecosystem than what they took away with those trees. Compare that to what humans do with trees we cut down... transport, process, burn, all sorts of things that are worse for the environment.
"When a beaver builds a dam, it floods outlying areas creating wetlands. Frogs, salamanders, fish, birds and lots of mammals depend on wetlands to live. One estimate shows nearly half of all endangered & threatened species need wetlands to survive."