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American Beaver Featured at Wildlife Resources Commission’s Mountain State Fair Exhibit RALEIGH, N.C. (Sept. 7, 2007) – With its broad, flat tail and large, sharp incisors, the American beaver is second only to humans in its ability to modify a landscape. For this reason, the beaver has been both friend and foe to humans for centuries. Learn more about North America’ largest rodent when you visit the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s exhibit at the Mountain State Fair in Fletcher, Sept. 7-16. Taxidermy mounts of beavers are on display, and literature about the positive — and negative impacts — the beaver has on habitat is available for free. Visitors can walk through a 6-foot beaver lodge surrounded by a mock beaver pond to get a better understanding of how beavers alter habitat in order to provide themselves — and other wildlife — with living space, food and protection. Wildlife Resources Commission biologists, educators and volunteers are answering questions about wildlife, conducting demonstrations on fly-tying and wood carving, and giving away an assortment of free items, such as sample issues of Wildlife in North Carolina magazine, fish ID booklets, fish tattoos and rulers that depict 12 species of frogs and toads native to North Carolina. Also available for free is the ever-popular Wildlife in North Carolina state fair button, which this year depicts the robust redhorse, a large, thick-bodied fish with rose-colored fins and a fleshy lower lip. The agency’s Division of Engineering Services is handing out free coastal and inland boating maps and Boating Access Area guides, which provide detailed information on the 200-plus boating access areas the Commission maintains throughout the state. Wildlife enforcement officers are staffing the Sensory Safari, a 36-foot wildlife exhibit-on-wheels that encourages visitors to learn about North Carolina’s wildlife by listening to the sounds of birds, viewing deer and bear mounts and handling pelts of some common mammals. Officers are also available to answer questions related to wildlife regulations in North Carolina. Additional Information The Mountain State Fair is located at the Western North Carolina Agricultural Center in Buncombe County. The agency’s exhibit is located at exhibit site 23 on the corner of Piglet Park Way and Corporate Way. Click here to view a map of the fairgrounds. For more information about the Mountain State Fair, click here, or call (828) 687-1414.
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