Beaver feed on trees, aquatic plants, cattails, grasses, sedges, and other plants. Tree-cutting may damage or destroy ornamental plantings, fruit orchards, natural woodlands, and trees managed for paper, lumber and biofuel production.
Beaver build dams to create ponds in which to live. Backed-up water may flood roadways and other property, creating safety hazards.
Beaver dam-building can cause flooding of old growth forests, other woodlands, and cropland, such as occurred to this soybean field.
Natural resources can be altered or destroyed by the changes caused by beaver dam-building and tree-cutting. Restrictions in water flow and increased water temperatures can reduce or eliminate habitat for native trout populations and can damage native wild rice ecosystems.