Beaver-gnawed wood

3D Model

Poplar trees are a beaver’s top choice for building structures. Poplars have been part of Alberta’s forests for 1000’s of years. This beaver-gnawed wood was recovered from a dugout near Grande Prairie, Alberta, and is about 9,200 years old. Other plant and animal material found at this site, such as seeds and shells, indicate that it was an open water wetland, or marsh, at this time. Around 7,000 years, the marsh started gradually filling in, and by about 1,000 years ago, trees had already developed over the former peatlands, resulting in an upland forest today compared to a once thriving marshland over 9,000 years ago.