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Show Beavers Showing Fine Increase On Dixie National Forest Once extinct, or nearly so, beaver have become quite numerous on the Sevier division of the Dixie National Forest. These little animals, ani-mals, famous for their fur, faced extinction by early-day trappers and natural enemies, but with rigid protection for many years under, state game laws, they are slowly coming again into their own estate and numbers on the Dixie Forest, it is reported by Albert Albertson, supervisor at Cedar City. The service of these industrious animals building their thatched and mud-plastered abodes is a valuable work in conservation. With this in mind as well as continued con-tinued protection for the beaver, some 25 of them have been taken from the Sevier division and, in cooperation with the State Fish and Game department, are being transplanted into new homes on the west division of the forest and adjoining areas. They are being placed in small streams where the banks are wooded with aspen and willows which will provide the food that they need. The beaver is as famous for the dams that he builds as for his fur. Some Dams Very large Beaver dams may be built unbelievably un-believably large. Some are known to contain as much as two hundred hun-dred and fifty tons of earth, rocks and wood, and that measure as long as five hundred feet and 15 feet high. There are a number num-ber of small to medium-sized dams on the forest. The beaver works continuously, building, enlarging en-larging and maintaining their dams, dragging and cutting trees and willows, some time many inches in diameter. Their winter food consists of bark from trees and willows stored as part of the dam. The Dixie (west) division of the forest has large areas where there are gullies and deep washes. Some of these are where there are small streams that provide pro-vide suitable habitat for beaver. Dams, if constructed by the beaver on these streams will afford af-ford valuable structures for controlling con-trolling erosion and bettering conditions con-ditions for fish life. When one of them chews -out of a sack and occupies the back seat of a sedan, he can be a very entertaining passenger, providing he does not decide with his long sharp teeth to chew the upholstering uphol-stering or indulge in a nibble- at the driver's ear, the forest supervisor super-visor explained as he humorously told of the stunts of a beaver when fqur of them took a drive with him to their new home. |