Post by tbw on Mar 2, 2011 11:42:56 GMT -5
The Native Americans had a huge respect for nature, and perhaps were this nations first conservators of nature's resources. They took no more than they needed for food, clothing and other necessities, and wasted nothing, preferring to give away to others what they could not use. They were not mere savages, unmindful of their place upon this earth, or for that matter in the universe. And their lifestyles reflected this in a symbiotic relationship to and with all things in nature.
I lived on a farm-ranch operation for years. We had a stream running through a part of that property. AND, upon that property the Beavers would build their dams. I know how tough and sturdy they were, they had to be in order to hold back the amount of water they held. And no, one just didn't go there and try tearing those things apart with your bare hands or even trying to get horses to pull the thing apart. It doesn't work because the beavers tie-in and lock those pieces of wood together, and in order to move any part of it you have to blast it apart or let the stream do its natural bidding after the beavers leave and stop maintaining it. And as I said before, the indians wouldn't tear them apart because they couldn't, not only that, they would have left them for water resources during extremely dry periods.
I've lived near the Rockies all my life. And been there every year since 80's for our anniversary. Those streams coming out of the mountains, due to lack of snow higher in the mountains, in many years don't flow a drop, they're completely dry. The Indians knew this could and did happen, and indeed had happened where they lived, so no, they just wouldn't go up and down the stream, trying in vain to savage the land in and about it. The would not have needlessly killed the animals that could/would help them survive during seasons of drought. An ever uncertainty as to where or when it could occur.
They had a deep respect for the animals that provided them the resources to sustain their lives. Take for instance, the beaver, they knew that beyond the mere existence of taking from the hard labor's of the Beaver and robbing from them their downed timber, that they were robbing themselves of sustenance, then and in the future. They knew that the dams created by the beaver were more important than the immediate need because they provided a rich habitat for mammals, fish, frogs, turtles, birds, and ducks. All which were important to their dietary needs, then and in the future. The Native Americans referred to the beaver as the Sacred Center of the Land because they created so rich a habitat for so many species that they would never-ever think to rob from nature, that which provided them so great a resource.
As a side note:
I've personally witnessed beavers in an environment I came personally to admire. And one of the most amazing things is to see and hear them do is slap the water with their tails when danger is imminent, and the sound is very distinctive of any other sound, and is of short duration.
I would strongly urge anyone interested in these fascinating creatures to see the IMAX movie BEAVERS, its well worth the time and is, guaranteed, entertaining and enlightening as well.
The link below is very interesting, because I also observed on the small creek that ran through our property, this very same phenomenon.
please note: "sequence of beaver dams...." photo
www.ualberta.ca/~ersc/water/industrial/beavers.htm
I lived on a farm-ranch operation for years. We had a stream running through a part of that property. AND, upon that property the Beavers would build their dams. I know how tough and sturdy they were, they had to be in order to hold back the amount of water they held. And no, one just didn't go there and try tearing those things apart with your bare hands or even trying to get horses to pull the thing apart. It doesn't work because the beavers tie-in and lock those pieces of wood together, and in order to move any part of it you have to blast it apart or let the stream do its natural bidding after the beavers leave and stop maintaining it. And as I said before, the indians wouldn't tear them apart because they couldn't, not only that, they would have left them for water resources during extremely dry periods.
I've lived near the Rockies all my life. And been there every year since 80's for our anniversary. Those streams coming out of the mountains, due to lack of snow higher in the mountains, in many years don't flow a drop, they're completely dry. The Indians knew this could and did happen, and indeed had happened where they lived, so no, they just wouldn't go up and down the stream, trying in vain to savage the land in and about it. The would not have needlessly killed the animals that could/would help them survive during seasons of drought. An ever uncertainty as to where or when it could occur.
They had a deep respect for the animals that provided them the resources to sustain their lives. Take for instance, the beaver, they knew that beyond the mere existence of taking from the hard labor's of the Beaver and robbing from them their downed timber, that they were robbing themselves of sustenance, then and in the future. They knew that the dams created by the beaver were more important than the immediate need because they provided a rich habitat for mammals, fish, frogs, turtles, birds, and ducks. All which were important to their dietary needs, then and in the future. The Native Americans referred to the beaver as the Sacred Center of the Land because they created so rich a habitat for so many species that they would never-ever think to rob from nature, that which provided them so great a resource.
As a side note:
I've personally witnessed beavers in an environment I came personally to admire. And one of the most amazing things is to see and hear them do is slap the water with their tails when danger is imminent, and the sound is very distinctive of any other sound, and is of short duration.
I would strongly urge anyone interested in these fascinating creatures to see the IMAX movie BEAVERS, its well worth the time and is, guaranteed, entertaining and enlightening as well.
The link below is very interesting, because I also observed on the small creek that ran through our property, this very same phenomenon.
please note: "sequence of beaver dams...." photo
www.ualberta.ca/~ersc/water/industrial/beavers.htm
