The beaver, being a versatile and adaptable animal, is able to establish
himself wherever there are small, permanent streams and sufficient aspen
to provide him with logs and twigs for dams and houses and to provide
food for his family. Consequently, any of the valleys in the Park which
supply these requirements now contain numerous beaver. They represent
more of a nuisance factor than a real game management problem.
Occasionally they will inundate and drown aspen stands and associated
vegetation. Also, their dams will cause flooding of roads or other
man-made improvements. Infrequently their dams are dynamited to release
these waters and the beaver are live-trapped and transported to "wilder"
areas in the state. Beavers were so numerous in the Park in 1941 that
106 were live-trapped and taken by state conservation officials to other
Colorado areas. The fact that beavers work chiefly at night and have no
serious predation worries has helped their normal increase.
These wildlife management problems are but samples of similar situations
occurring throughout the country, but in varying degree and with
different animals. These are types of conditions which wildlife managers
must face. It is evident in the National Park that suitable study and
research on such factors as animal-mineral requirements, parasites and
diseases, bighorn-elk competition for food, rodent and big game food
competition, condition and availability of winter foods, and predator
relationships are vital to properly reconcile the use of the same area
by man and various wildlife.
Animal populations are rarely in an "ideal condition of balance" in the
same area. Rather, the normal condition is a series of population waves
or fluctuations either increasing or decreasing the total numbers of a
kind of animal. While some exhibit a kind of regularity, they do not
always occur with definite rhythm or in exact cycles. This was probably
true in nature before the arrival of white man and will likely exist in
wilder areas with little modification by man.
Another condition which must be considered normal among animals is the
practice of predation, or killing of one kind of animal by another. The
predator should be given the same opportunity to live its normal life as
are the greatly favored species.
More often than not the predator takes the weakened or diseased animals
of an area and thus aids in preventing the diseased animals from roaming
among their fellows and spreading the ailment. Nature's sustaining law
requires only the survival of the fittest and the predator fits
admirably into this scene, unless he becomes too abundant.
The fear of wild carnivores or the "unknown" at night in the mountains
is still somewhat prevalent. A comparatively brief knowledge of animal
habits will soon force the less intrepid to concede that "wild animals"
rarely attack a human in the wilderness, unless unduly provoked.
Finally, we should contemplate the wildlife of this country from another
than the hunter or commercial aspect. The range limits of some of the
more superb animals in America today are shrinking into closely confined
areas where the few spots of virgin wilderness remain. Man should direct
his efforts toward assisting these grand animals to at least hold their
own.
The thrill of close observation of a wild animal in natural
surroundings, without the artificiality of bars or fences, is one of the
outstanding satisfactions still available to man in this country. This
inspiration and enjoyment, provided by the study and practice of
wildlife preservation in the national parks, is of great importance as
an intangible, but powerful influence on personal and national
well-being.