Show f Dv By Ted Resting Kesting To 10 look at a n plump friendly friend friend- ly toothed bUICk beaver you'd never suspect that he Is the fellow tel fel low tow who led the the white man manfrom manfrom from tram the Atlantic to the tho PacU Pacific ic le for tor It was In search arch of his soft fur lur that scouts couts kept pushIng pushIng pushing push push- ing beyond the rim of tion Iris Ills influence In settling the west was tremendous But even more remarkable are atc his feats teats of engineering which are arc In evidence from Alaska Alaska Alaska Al Al- aska to Labrador and south to the Rio Grande The Tire land Is filled with monuments commemorating commemorating com come the services of 01 this busy shift night worker lie He Is surveyor logger water engineer engl engi Ineer veer neer builder and and landscape architect ar are chits t all In one writes Frank Dufresne of the U. U S. S Fish and Wildlife Service The big Job of the beaver Is its Us vast lands landscaping Its quietIng quieting quieting quiet quiet- ing and clearing of floodwaters floodwater its creation of at lakes attractive to fish and game the slow filling fill ing lag of 01 these lakes by settling seWing silt sUt and finally the building of grazing meadows That sort of thing has been going on for centuries In pre- pre glacial times there e existed a 11 species of huge beaver as heavy as a bear it built enormous dams across Americas America's rivers of the past Down through thousands of or years the tho beavers have been creating fertile lands They're still doin doing It wherever they find a stream that needs sk slowing wing down and today there are many of these Its It's hard for us to believe that natural erosion the erosion the continual washing of good earth into our rivers rivers rivers-Is is more damaging than all industrial pollution And that's that where the eager beaver steps into the picture Not only does he do a good job in regulating regulating regulating regu regu- lating the water runoff In many parts o of the country but the methods he ho employs for doing it the it-the the building of brush dams across the gullies one above another an- an other Is good practice for the landowner too If you have eroding stream banks on your land consider the ways of the beaver You might also consider consid consid- er bringing in a few faw to work for you |