Beaver Habitat
The Beaver Habitat - Sometimes Natural, Sometimes Engineered
The American, or common, beaver habitat is found throughout much of North America. A related species, the Eurasian beaver is found in much of northern Europe, extending into Siberia. The American beaver is likely to be found where there are streams, ponds, or lakes, in virtually every state of the Union, except in the extreme south.
Beaver usually live together as families, and a local beaver habitat can easily stretch for a half mile along a river bank. While social animals, beavers can also be territorial, and will be protective of their own little "property". Beavers tend to engineer their own environment, which is to say they will build dens, lodges, and dams to suit their own purposes, and in the course of doing so can make significant changes to a local environment. Their habitat can be quite diverse, the common denominator being water, and of course vegetation to eat. They can survive in very cold climates, and in fact are most numerous in the northern tier of states in the United States, and throughout much of Canada.
In the wintertime, the beaver habitat is mostly indoors, inside the lodge, where they can stay dry and comfortably warm. In still water, or even in rivers which are apt to freeze over, the beaver will store food underwater near the entrance of its lodge or den. If it is unable to break through the ice, the beaver can subsist on the stored food, while living above the water's surface inside their den or lodge.
You can often tell you are in the midst of favorable beaver habitat when you see fallen trees, gnawed as if they were pencils being sharpened, or hour-glass shaped indentations in still-standing trees. A lodge or dam may be nearby. A beaver's dam can significantly change the immediate environment. Beaver's build dams to create ponds of quiet water, or to raise the water level. As this happens, wetlands are often created, which can be beneficial to other forms of wildlife, and to plant life as well. Of course, dams and dens build in inappropriate places can cause problems for the local human population, by blocking drainage systems, changing flood patterns, or leaving fallen trees where they are not wanted. Beavers of course cannot distinguish between a tree you can just as well do without, and one which may be a part of your landscaping, if you live at the water's edge.
A beaver's dam is quite an enterprise and a thing to behold. If not disturbed, the dam can become quite large. If disturbed, the beaver will usually continue on with construction. A typical dam can be 6 ft in height, nearly as wide, and 2 to 3 times as long. A concise description of beaver habitat then, is fresh water, vegetation, and a place to build.