![\"Beaver](\"https:\/\/dolly.jorgensenweb.net\/nordicnature\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Beaver_safari_VB.jpg\")
<\/a>Beaver were first brought back to the county of V\u00e4sterbotten very early in the reintroduction process. In 1924, the second beaver reintroduction in Sweden took place in V\u00e4sterbotten on the T\u00e4rna\u00e5n further inland. But no more reintroductions happened in the area until after World War II. In the 1950s and 60s beavers were set out intentionally and more animals\u00a0migrated in from the neighbouring J\u00e4mtland reintroductions.<\/p>\n
According to an article from 1984 in the journal Fr\u00e5n hav till fj\u00e4ll<\/em>, an inventory in 1961-62 counted 39 animals in V\u00e4sterbotten county. By 1969, the number had grown in 63, and by 1976 it had jumped to an estimated 500. By 1983, the estimate was 5600 to 7000 animals and it’s gone up significantly since then. The beavers have been beavering away in V\u00e4sterbotten.<\/p>\n Like my previous research object safari experiences, this was also a sensory tour<\/a>. We started out around a fire to have a cup of newly open-fire cooked coffee while sitting on wooden benches draped with beaver skins. The skins were soft and warm. And our guide, Stefan Lindgren of By the River<\/a>, explained that it is the\u00a0soft underfur which has thousands of follicles per square cm that keeps the beavers fur waterproof (and soft). Stefan said that he had acquired them from a retired beaver trapper, who had originally kept them in order to make a beaver coat for his wife, but she refused to have it! So he bought the skins and now uses them on tours to allow the guests to get closer to beavers.<\/p>\n It was also a physical tour — we were in a rubber boat and each guest had to do some paddling along the ride. Luckily the wind was blowing upstream, so we had it pretty easy with the wind’s help. There was a stillness out on the Vindel river. You have to be quiet to not scare off the beavers, so it was just the sound of the paddles, the wind in the trees, a fish splash here and there, and the slap of a beaver tail when one\u00a0dove out of sight.<\/p>\n We got to see the entrance to the beaver’s den with branches piled up as protection and the beaver trails from the water into the woodlands. At one point, we saw a beaver dragging some freshly cut willow branches through the water. Unfortunately, when the animal saw us, he\/she dropped the newly acquired prize and swam away. Stefan then guided the boat over to the branches and picked them up for us to see the beaver’s handiwork. We each got a piece of beaver gnawed branch to take home.<\/p>\n Although beavers make significant changes to their landscape, they are in many ways invisible. Few people have ever seen a beaver, even if they live in an area well-inhabited by the critters. Like most wildlife, they do a good job of hiding themselves. This of course makes wildlife tourism like beaver safaris challenging. In this case, there are typically one or two beaver families in this particular area which is a protected little island near one side of the river downstream from a rapids. It is perfect beaver spot, so Stefan knows that most of the time, beavers will be there, but nothing is guaranteed. So I feel privileged to have been able to see beavers at work in V\u00e4sterbotten.<\/p>\n\t<\/a><\/a>