Dear MSPelto,

Thanks for your comments. I appreciate them particularly coming from a glaciologist who uses GE in the communication of his research projects.

The landscape position of this unusual concentration of beavers provides an excellent clue for the further exploration of beaver habitat. In general one could say that the lower slopes of plateau like landscape features where surface drainage and possibly aquifers provide for a steady (relative slow) release of (surface and ground) water provide the best potential habitat for beaver (colonies- communities). I have since tried this concept and found in the meantime even more impressive beaver concentrations.

It i also interesting to see that the low resolution satellite imagery is superior (to the high resolution) for the rapid survey and characterization of landscape ecosystems. The high resolution imagery is of course needed for confirmation and measurement.

This particular post deals with past history of this beaver community . The oldest aerial photography available for this area is from 1945, flown on the 21 August at about 12'500 ft above sea level.
The interesting part is that in 1945 very few beaver dams are visible on the black and white aerial photo taken. I have provided two of the photos as overlays in the attached KMZ which allows anyone to do a comparison.

For more information:

http://www.geostrategis.com/p_beavers-pasquia2.htm

http://www.geostrategis.com/p_beavers-pasquia.htm