Beaver?

I fear that humans have essentially colonized nature. It certainly seems that way. My spot in the park is no longer an accurate representation of nature, rather it is the decaying remains of what it once was. By calling it a park we condemn nature to a glass casket, where its mutilated corpse can be put on display for the general public. Exploring my spot in this park is similar to conducting an autopsy; in no way does it give a sense of the capabilities in a living body, or what the experience of living is. But it gives an overview. A technical analysis that may prove to be slightly useful, but at the same time is extraordinarily depressing.

If my experience in the park is an autopsy, the cause of death is painfully obvious. Broken glass rests on the shore like blemishes on skin. A submerged tire sits stagnant in the river; a malignant tumor, killing its host. As if human presence wasn't already made totally clear, a brightly colored beach ball bobs in and out of the water, stuck on a fallen tree. I could ignore the broken glass. If I wasn't thinking about it, I would have looked right past the tire. But with every sway and bob in the water the ball flashed its bright colors and caught my eye. Nothing in the park could have even nearly resembled it. Hell, most of the colors on it didn't even exist 500 years ago! There was no ignoring it.

By far the most noticeable aspect of life in my spot was from the impact humans had made, but nature had left its own subtle marks too. Whether I should interpret them as some sort of last desperate struggle, or sign of a real formidable resistance to human takeover is something I haven't yet decided. The first sign of a natural organism I saw was just before I reached the shore to the river. The stump of some baby tree had been chewed to the core. Examining the small trees around it, I saw more teeth/claw marks. Despite never having actually run into these marks before, my past cartoon and TV experience helped me conclude that those were signs of a beaver.

Again relying on my media heavy experience, I looked for more signs of beavers. As I’ve mentioned previously about my spot, downed trees are very common. Just downstream, a few trees had fallen into the river, perhaps creating an already semi-completed dam. Extra sticks and plants seem to have been also brought there, suggesting that the beaver may have been turning it into some sort of shelter in addition to its dam. I plan to look for more beaver signs on my next trip.