Busy beaver destroying area around Yellowknife visitor centre

An industrious beaver has been wreaking havoc at Yellowknife's Northern Frontier Visitor Centre lately.

"This beaver has totally changed the appearance of our landscape, having removed an entire area of trees," says Tyler Dempsey, a staff member at the centre.

The beaver started building his (or her) lodge in Frame Lake, in downtown Yellowknife, about a week ago, using vegetation from the property of the visitor centre to do so. The underwaterlodge is about three metres from the lakefrontbuilding.

Dempsey sayswhile visitors, and even staff members, have enjoyed watching the busy beaver at work from such a close proximity,they couldn't ignore the amount of damage it was doing to the property.

"An entire area has almost entirely been cleared out resulting from the beaver's behaviour," says Dempsey."The rapid pace and productivity he's been able to do this with we would see massive changes, even overnight."

When enough was enough, visitor centre staff wrapped their remaining trees in chicken wire to prevent the beaver from using them as lumber.

Dempsey says that seemed to help, but admitted that he and other staff at the visitor centre probably wouldn't be that sad if the beaver chose another locale altogether.

"If he did go for greener pastures, I think we would probably welcome that move."