"I had never seen burrows like this, and they were everywhere on the Nuna. What seemed to be elaborate tunnel systems dug where there was apparently no permafrost, and sometimes the burrows led up to the bench behind."
Observation by Ken Tape:
I wanted to send around a few pics of a beaver burrow from the West branch of the Nuna River, an upstream tributary of the Kobuk, since perhaps some of you haven't seen a burrow before. Seth Kantner was taking us by boat up the river to see these locations. I had never seen burrows like this, and they were everywhere on the Nuna. What seemed to be elaborate tunnel systems dug where there was apparently no permafrost, and sometimes the burrows led up to the bench behind, other times not. 2 burrows in the first pic and 1 in the second pic. Third pic shows a burrow exit/entrance away from the water. There were countless examples.
Comment by LEO Network Editors:
Thanks Ken for sharing. The closest community to the Nuna is Ambler, an Inupiaq community of about 250 (2010 census) located in the Northwest Arctic Borough and on the Kobuk River. We have not had any posts about burrowing of beavers in the LEO Network, but there are a number of other posts about environmental change posted by residents of Ambler. Some of these are attached. M. Brubaker