Animals: Government Beavers

The value of the North American beaver (Castor canadensis) lies as much in his teeth and his temperament as in his fur. In April, his working season starts. He fells trees with his sharp incisors, dams up a stream with logs, mud, leaves, boughs, increases its depth and area, builds along the water's edge a lodge for his family. He works mostly at night. In November, when the frost sets in, he stops work, seals his home with mud (which soon freezes solid), takes a long rest.

Beaver dams are useful to man. They catch fine silt that otherwise would wash down stream. Beaver ponds may provide water for livestock, and conserve moisture in dry areas.

Three years ago, the Interior Department began to trap beavers, turn them loose in eroded Idaho areas. By the end of last season, some 500 beavers were busily damming streams under Government supervision, by the end of this year more than 1,000 may be at work.

With hundreds of arid Idaho acres already reclaimed by silt-catching beaver dams, Department of Interior experts look forward to using more beavers in Oregon and California. Cost of trapping and transplanting a beaver: $8. Estimated value of one beaver's work: $300.