First, after much gnashing of teeth and secret Apple computer handshakes, the Beidler Forest boardwalk-specific app has finally made it through the approval uploading process. If Apple doesn't have any issues with the "tight" coding, the app should be approved by next week for free downloading at the iTunes App Store.
Second, the actual beavers have been busy. We have previously reported on the return of beavers to the swamp, the dangers they faced in the open water, the dam and lodge they built to avoid the open water, how other animals benefited from the beavers' environmental changes, and how they had begun gnawing on trees near the swamp's edge. We now know why the beavers have been so busy near #114 along the boardwalk.
While scouting sites to place cover boards for our herp-themed summer camp, we discovered additional beaver damming. Beavers have gnawed on numerous cypress knees, gnawed on a variety of other trees, and girdled a spruce pine tree. Once again, the dam is less than two feet tall, but it is pooling water behind it. Although the dam is far enough from the boardwalk to make it difficult to see even with binoculars, we'll continue to monitoring the beaver activity to see how the swamp will be affected in that area.
Images by Mark Musselman
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