Peak Foliage

Peak Foliage
October on Preston Pond

Brief History of Preston Pond

Born from glaciers about 13,500 years ago, the original pond was only what is now the wider north end. Probably about 10,000 years ago, as the modern forest started to take root, beavers colonized the pond and expanded it (old dams are under the water surface).

With the arrival of Europeans in New York and coastal New England, a vigorous fur trade grew in the 17th Century. Beavers are particularly vulnerable to trapping since they are easy to find and they were wiped out by the 18th Century. With no beavers to maintain the dams, Preston Pond drained and appears on 18th and 19th Century maps as only the smaller original glacial north end.


Reintroduction in the 1920's and 1930's led to beavers recolonizing Preston Pond. By chance, they arrived the same year my grandfather bought the property in 1946. Ever since then, beavers have lived unmolested (by humans) on Preston Pond - until February 2016. They have never caused flooding problems or over-eaten the surrounding forest stand to the point that they abandoned the pond. Their population has doubtlessly had its ups and downs, but they have managed their affairs here for the last 70 years as beavers did for millions of years: on their own, despite some of their top predators having been exterminated by humans.

[In talking to members of our family, there have been two brief intervals in the past when the beavers were absent: First, in '71/'72 (I was preoccupied with high school, track and cross-country so didn't notice or recall and the reason is unknown) and second in '83/'84 after a major dam break. At least one adult was killed in the outwash. I was living in NYC at the time and a new father and again, had forgotten that as well].





Wednesday, July 24, 2019

This young bear was between the house and the SE corner of Preston Pond on July 3, 2019. I stayed with it for several minutes to make sure it stayed away from the house. After a while it wandered back up toward the pond and then, with me shadowing it between it and the house, it headed down into the outlet stream gully. I don't know if it was still with its mom or newly on its own. We did have a large bear that could have been its mom right behind the house (30') this morning (July 24; no photos) at 6:45 am, but that doesn't mean the youngster was still with her (or that it was the mom or even female - I didn't ask). Female territories often overlap with a matriarch more or less in charge, so whether the youngster was newly independent or not, if the young bear was a female (which its small size might indicate), our 250-300 lbs. visitor this morning - it looked bigger but I know they usually do so I'm trying to be realistic - could be its mother; or not. In any event, the big bear this morning was moving parallel to the house (though very close on the wood line) and headed for the pond. Our dogs made an impressive ruckus that moved it deeper into the woods and I followed up with a 30-30 round fired well behind it into a tree stump to emphasize the need to stay away from houses.
Posted by at

2 comments:

  1. UnknownJuly 25, 2019 at 5:16 PM

    Pls. don't shoot the bear or feed it...sounds like it likes your habitat and that is quickly disappearing while the bear population continues to increase....as long as they are not a nuisance and your trash, compostand bird feeders are properly put away...I believe you can live in harmony.....

    ReplyDelete
  2. Painting 'n PaddlingJuly 25, 2019 at 5:46 PM

    No worries Mr. or Ms."unknown" whoever you are. Our compost is secure and no food garbage is ever left outside; we do not feed bears. And I have never shot one and don't ever intend to do so despite having been charged by a grizzly in Alaska. If you had read the entire post, it should have been obvious that the rifle was simply to make a LOUD point and the round was carefully and safely aimed well away from the bear and into the stump of a tree with no chance of ricochet or shrapnel.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)