St. Charles is known for many things, not the least of which is Sculpture in the Park. Hosted by the St. Charles Park District, the annual event showcases sculptural arts in innovative fashion. Each summer, sculptors display their works among the scenery at Mt. St. Mary—the riverfront, the arboretum, the gazebo and water feature. It’s all really quite stunning.
It’s also over, at least for this year. The park district’s construction crew, which carefully installed each piece last spring, of late has been hard at work taking down the artwork in preparation for the cold months ahead.
Luckily, our area is rich—not only in sculptors, but also in other artisans. Specifically, beavers.
Last Saturday morning I was at home, minding my own business, as they say, when I got a text from Kathy Andrini. On a walk at Delnor Woods Park, she’d come across a tree that had been cut down by some very industrious rodents—Castor canadensis, the American beaver. The tree wasn’t huge, but it wasn’t small either. And it was also quite heavy. Kathy wondered if someone from the district could come and get it off the path.
With the sun shining and nothing on my to-do list until afternoon, I jumped at the chance to head over to one of my favorite parks and tidy up what our buck-toothed neighbors had left behind.
Sure enough, not far from the front pond at Delnor Woods, a 20-ft. tall elm tree lay by the asphalt path. A helpful visitor had come along and lugged it out of the main thoroughfare, but it still needed a little cutting to be completely out of the way.
As I dragged my trusty bow saw back and forth across the 5-in. diameter trunk, I once again, as I always do, marveled at how beavers can cut down trees using nothing more than their really strong jaw muscles and four sharp incisors.
I was bent over, at a somewhat awkward angle, the tree and saw and thoughts of beavers occupying much of my attention. But I happened to look up, for just a second. And that’s when I saw it. Delnor Woods’ answer to Sculpture in the Park.
Perhaps it was the way the sunlight was hitting it. Or maybe it was the fact that I was somewhat sleep deprived. At any rate, I was positively awestruck by the beauty of the creation before me.
As if sculpted with a chisel, a blue beech—also known as a musclewood tree—bore eye-catching, ecru-hued indentations at intervals along its steel-gray bark. Devoid of branches, the trunk rose up at an odd tilt and reached toward the sky. Courtesy of the morning sun, a long shadow reached beyond the mini-monument and toward the adjacent red oak.
The most amazing part? The sculptor, I mean beaver, actually appears to have climbed the tree!
The topmost part of the trunk, right where it had formerly sprouted into branches, was snipped clean. The height at that spot, I estimated, was a good 5 ½ ft. above the ground.
Now, beavers aren’t small creatures, by any means. An average adult weighs around 50 lbs. and individuals as big as 90lbs. have been recorded. But a beaver that stands over 5 ft. tall? I think not.
I walked around the tree or, rather, what was left of it, and saw what I was hoping to find: claw marks. Weird as it seems, I really think the beaver climbed that tree.
Back at home, I found that if you search the Google for the term “beavers climb trees,” you’ll be overwhelmed with web sites explaining how this feat simply is not possible: They’re adapted to an aquatic lifestyle. They have a hard enough time walking on land, let alone climbing a tree. They’re bottom heavy. Their forelimbs aren’t long enough. The list goes on. But until someone can give me another reasonable explanation, I’m sticking with my bizarre theory that at least one local beaver has developed a new, arboreal skill set.
I went back to Delnor Woods on Wednesday to check and see what the beavers have been up to. Not only had they felled their original 5-ft. creation, but they also had gone after two other musclewoods, reducing them to stubby, but interesting, stumps.
As intriguing as the handiwork was, I did feel a little bad for the trees. This unusual species is characterized by smooth bark and, as naturalist Dick Young described, “undulating, muscle-like ripples in the trunk and branches.” I can think of only a few places in Kane County where musclewoods grow. And now, thanks to the beavers, there’s one less spot to go see them.
The silver lining, though, is that there’s one more spot to go see art in nature. It’s on Route 25, 1/3 mile north of Route 64. Sculpture in the Park: The Delnor Woods Edition.
Pam Otto is the manager of nature programs and interpretive services at the Hickory Knolls Discovery Center, a facility of the St. Charles Park District. She can be reached at 630-513-4346 or potto@stcparks.org.
November 13, 2015
Sculpture in the Park: The Delnor Woods Edition
Equipped with incisors that actually sharpen with use, beavers can make quick work of trees – especially those with thin bark. This “sculpture” is all that remains of a blue beech, or musclewood, tree at Delnor Woods Park in St. Charles.