Guyles Lake

"Wilderness is a resource which can shrink but not grow. Invasions can be arrested or modified in a manner to keep an area usable for recreation, or for science, or for wildlife, but the creation of new wilderness in the full sense of the word is impossible. " Aldo Leopold

Far Guy took me out the other day, I was pinging off the walls and it was a warm day( above zero!! ). We went for a short drive. We found this "lake home" ..beavers are opportunist's. They build where there is water and wood, they don't think about lake shore taxes when they build..they just know that winter is coming and they need a home. In this case he has his own private lake, Guyles Lake. No one lives on it because it is surrounded by a swampy reedy area. Swampy edges must be natures way of saving some lakes for wildlife.

I wouldn't exactly call this small little swamp locked lake a wilderness, but in it's own way it is. No humans live on it, there are no docks and no boats. It is desirable only to the wildlife. There are no houses with gardens and lawns to fertilize and run off into the lake. No one can possibly throw trash that far to make it a garbage dump, although its swampy edges do suffer from that fate. Over the years this lake has shrunk, and it's swampy areas have increased. When I was a child this lake had a swampy buffer but only a small one. In years that we had lots of rain, the water did reach the edge of the road. Am I the sole witness to this change over fifty years? Am I the only one who still appreciates a swamp locked lake, perfect for wildlife? :)