Nancy Clough has resided at the end of Marmont Street since 2003.

The parks and recreation board member lives in the city, but enjoys a panoramic view of the St. Joseph River set to wilderness sounds despite the proximity of a busy public boat launch and wastewater treatment plant.

This summer, however, she’s under siege.

More precisely, her trees, particularly cottonweeds, are being damaged by beavers.

“They also get into ash trees,” she said of a problem she’s not had before.

Andrew Bauer, a conservation officer for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources from the Plainwell office, happened to be checking fishing licenses at the boat launch, so she consulted him. Bauer suggested chew-proof chicken wire.

“We saw this damage across the river and all the way down last year.”

Clough said she has watched until midnight to try and catch the nocturnal prowlers in the act, but so far has not caught sight of any beaver.

Bark has been gnawed off half a dozen large trunks. Across the water is undeveloped bluff, which appears to be an ideal beaver habitat.

“This, in our opinion, is the prettiest place in Niles,” Clough said. “They’re very difficult to live trap with bait. The web said you have to get a dead beaver and take out the scent glands. (Bauer) told me that, if this doesn’t work, (Drain Commissioner Roger) Zilke’s office has a trapper on contract. This took three or four days. He did like one tree a night.”

Chuck Nelson, executive director of Sarett Nature Center near Benton Harbor, said beavers are experiencing a “revival” comparable to coyotes, wild turkeys and otters.

Beavers were almost trapped out of existence and were only found on the Galien River for many years.

“Now, they’re everywhere,” he said.

According to DNR’s Crane Pond State Game Area in Jones, there were many beaver complaints earlier in the year in Cass County, but it’s been an average year overall.

Beavers are one of the few animals capable of adapting an environment to their needs. North America’s largest rodent, these vegetarians’ large front incisors enable them to girdle trees. Their teeth continue to grow throughout their lives and are continuously sharpened through gnawing.

Territorial by nature, beavers prefer to build dams where water flow is constricted.

Although beaver colonies can live in dome-shaped lodges, some dig dens in banks with underwater entrances.