Before Cayahoga Valley National Park was created, the area of the Beaver Marsh had been used as a dairy farm and more recently as an automobile repair shop surrounded by junked cars and other items. In 1984, a cleanup was organized and the refuse was removed. While the park was deciding how to utilize the property, with parking for the nearby Howe Meadow special event area high on the list, beavers moved back into the area after an absence of over 100 years. In a short period of time, they built a test dam to determine if the area was suitable. Once the area flooded, the beavers continued their dam building until they created a 70 acre marsh with several areas of deep water. Today, the towpath passes through the marsh on a boardwalk. While biking through the area, we stopped at one of the side decks to watch the wildlife. There was enough variety that we returned to the area on foot in the early evening. We parked at Ira trail head and walked north along the towpath for a half mile to the marsh.
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| Water Lilies |
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| Cattails on the beaver dam |
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| Deeper water behind beaver dam |
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| Swimming beaver |
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| Towpath boardwalk |
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| A pair of fish |
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| Blue heron on beaver dam |
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| Painted turtle |
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| Blue heron in the water lilies |
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| Marsh near dusk |
We also heard several birds in the trees surrounding the marsh as well as other animals and insects common to wetlands. Original estimates were that it might take a century to restore the wetland habitat, but the beavers have done it in only about a quarter of that time and once again demonstrated the amazing resilience of natural processes.
The park website is http://www.nps.gov/cuva/index.htm.
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