The War Against The Beavers: Learning to Be Wild in the North Woods

by Verena Andermatt Conley

A lifelong city dweller, Verena Andermatt Conley had long harbored romantic ideals about the natural world and dreamed of a wilderness retreat for herself and her husband, Tom. When a sizable tract of land along the Vermillion River on the edge of Minnesota's Boundary Waters - complete with two primitive log cabins - became available, they jumped at the chance to own a piece of paradise.The War against the Beavers is a wry and funny account of two people's ten-year apprenticeship in backwoods living, from their arrival as literal babes in the woods to their education in the ways of nature as they face plagues of insects, fungus, storms, and droughts, and embark on a lengthy campaign to eradicate a colony of beavers that threatens the peace and beauty of their forest refuge. It is only the coming of a mechanized and much more menacing threat - bulldozers and other heavy machinery clear-cutting the woods - that restores perspective to the obsessed cabin dwellers.

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just finished reading the War Against the Beavers. It was a pleasant read for anyone who loves a cabin in the woods. Her perspective on the beavers follows an interesting course.

The short chapters make this an easy read - pick it up and put it down as needed.

[Molly · Rating 2 out of 5]

+ Loved that each chapter in the first part was dedicated to some experience in the woods.
+ Love the setting. Love the North Woods.

- I wished the editor had trimmed the "and then we laughed about our adventures in the woods" lines.
- Conversely:

pg 133-134: "It was around this time last year that we had seen the beavers playing and nuzzling on the log. I vividly remembered scenes from a previous spring, when, just after the ice had broken, two beavers, enjoying their first outing, had climbed onto a fallen log. I remembered their strange, whining noises and the way they had touched noses several times, obviously happy to see each other and to enjoy the spring air. Now, instead of being able to enjoy their first swim, Caster and Auric, sewn into a coat, were hanging in my closet, soon to be stored for the summer at the dry cleaners. I wiped away a remorseful tear. There were no tears when I looked in the opposite direction and saw shavings at the bases of chewed-up trees."

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book. It was an honest memoir about the perils of living "up north." A nice book to read with a cup of coffee or tea!