Outdoor Radio: Winter World of Beavers

Kent, Sara, and Steve Faccio checking a beaver lodge during Outdoor Radio.

Even during the coldest days of winter a beaver family remains warm and protected in the lodge. They’ve prepared a cache of food under the ice just outside the lodge to snack on all winter. And they’ve feasted all summer and fall to build a store of fat in their tails as a reserve too. It’s a long, dark winter for the beavers, but they’re prepared.

In this month’s episode of Outdoor Radio, conservation biologist Steve Faccio joins Kent McFarland and Sara Zahendra on a frozen beaver pond in Pomfret, Vermont. Together they explore what winter is like in an active beaver lodge and dam. They venture on the ice looking for the beavers’ winter stash of food hidden under the ice. Join us to discover how North America’s largest rodent make it through the harsh winter.

Listen to the show

Learn more

• View a map of beaver observations in Vermont and report your own to the Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist.
• Learn more about North American Beavers with the Vermont Fish and Wildlife fact sheet.
• Read the Best Management Practices for Nuisance Beavers from the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Dept.
• Watch a video about how Vermont Fish and Wildlife Dept uses Beaver baffles to control water levels for ponds near roads and homes.

Images

Steve Faccio examines a bank hole. What was likely once a beaver lodge is now occupied by a porcupine!

Beaver lodge in late fall with a winter cache of food sticking just out of the water in front of it. Ready for winter! / © K.P. McFarland

Outdoor Radio is produced in collaboration with Vermont Public Radio.