On a brisk day last February, Rod and Rosanne Stewart drove down to St. Joseph Island, Ont., for a winter check-in on their cottage. At the snow-covered shoreline, the couple spotted a large ash tree, dead and free of leaves, balanced on its whittled-down stump. Rod, a biologist, immediately knew this was the handiwork of a local legend, Bucky the beaver. Bucky, neighbours told the couple, had been roaming around Rod and Rosanne’s property throughout the winter.
The couple and their neighbours agreed to keep an eye on the tree whenever they visited their cottages. “Checking on the tree’s status was a team effort,” says Rod. When he returned home to Sault Ste. Marie, he decided to have some fun with the situation. He set up a contest on the cottage community’s Facebook page—a group of about 70—for neighbours to bet on when they thought the tree would fall. Whoever’s guess was closest to the actual day would win a stained glass maple leaf ornament, handmade by Rod, a hobby stained glass maker.
5 signs that your trees are unhealthy
“Some people said it would fall tomorrow, others said July,” says Rod, adding that the contest brought the community close during a time of year where many folks weren’t at their cottages. Finally, after nearly a month of teetering, Rod’s next-door neighbour, Ron Perlini, decided the tree needed to come down. “Ron was worried that this thing was going to fall on one of our docks,” says Rod. In mid-March, Ron took a chainsaw to the chewed stump, the ground shaking as the tree came down on the shoreline (he then turned it into firewood).
Afterwards, “Ron said, ‘Okay, what prize do I get?’ ” says Rod. “I said, ‘You cheated, you can’t get the prize!’ ” Another cottager ended up with the closest bid and received the grand prize, but Ron didn’t walk away empty handed. “I made him a little beaver to thank him,” says Rod.
This article was originally published in the Winter 2024 issue of Cottage Life.
Related Story 5 mind-boggling facts about beavers
Related Story 7 evergreen trees to appreciate this winter
Related Story Team in B.C. is restoring watersheds with artificial beaver dams