Things must be tough up there, Jeff. Maybe the DNR should consider putting out feeders for the beavers. Give'em something decent to eat so they don't have to gnaw trees. Sheesh! What will they do when they run out of trees? Oh yeah, I think we covered that already. :-/
About 5 miles from here there are well over 1,000 trees felled by beavers (at least 10 acres). On my own property, which is only about 30 minutes WNW of Harrison (Jeff's area) - I have at least two trees that were a good bit larger than the one in the photo above that were felled by beavers about a decade ago. They are still out there, but not so fresh looking anymore. We no longer have beavers in our pond (more like a wetland on our side which is co-owned with our neighbor) since they were trapped about at the same time and never made it back.
In the Evart block, which is approximately a 12k acre contiguous chunk of land NNW of Evart, I have seen lots and lots of bigtooth Aspen in excess of 20" DBH and 10 sticks high merchantable height, some of which have been felled by beavers. I prepared a timber sale for the state of Michigan DNR that was entitled "The Beaver Knows" in 1998 (I think that's the right year). The story behind the name is that those beavers appeared to be attempting to regenerate their own aspen stand via clearcutting it. It was approximately 90 years old and certainly ready. I don't know who bought it, but I might have the records somewhere in storage.
Beavers are part of the forest community and like snakes and porcupines, it's best if they're left a little habitat and aren't looked at like a bullseye for death. It is healthy to maintain diversity for any forest, even if you may not like the affects of the critters. Oh, and by the way when they lose habitat in one place, they will (I know two other foresters who have witnessed this) move through areas that are not suitable habitat for them to get to new places.
If you roam around a bit in the woods you can find all kinds of natural treasures. I once found a shelf conk (mushroom) that someone carved a deer on in the woods (on state land). They left it and I was glad to find it. It's hanging up in my house now.
