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Reader George B. Emmons of Fairhaven contributes occasional essays about the wildlife of Wareham.
As a Wareham Week reader and coastal resident, you may not see many beavers in your travels unless you go back inland to where their dams are welcomed to be beneficial to both people and wildlife. Out in the country, dams are considered desirable for the environment by slowing down and widening out waterways.
Slow moving flooded habitats make homes for aquatic species such as waterfowl, mammals, turtles, insects, herons and kingfishers like the one perched on a beaver lodge in my drawing. One benefit of slower moving waters is that they filter out unwanted nitrogen and heavy metal impurities to stop them from spreading downstream.