Wrap some 36" chicken wire around the tree trunk loosely. To make it a little less obtrusive, paint the wire black or brown ~ use spray paint and do it while it's still rolled up, turning the roll as you go to coat all sides of the wires. Check the wire every year, loosening it a little as the tree grows so it doesn't girdle and kill the tree. If you ever sell the place, remove the wire or be sure to let the new owners know to loosen the wire. (Sorry about that last comment, but I'm a tree hugger literally. ROTF!) Good luck! :)

I know someone who put up a new fence with locust posts. The next day the fence and posts were on the ground. The beavers had chewed off all the posts, overnight. I think they will eat whatever smells like wood. It sounds funny, but the farmer was not amused. I guess you should plan on metal fence posts, if you need a fence. Lotta

Try putting moth balls around the base of the trees you don't want eaten. It only takes about 3, and they will probably stay out of the area. I had a problem with rabbits munching on my newly planted peach trees and I tried that. They haven't been back. It also works for snakes in the chicken house, squirrels in the attic, cats in the flower bed, etc. Most animals can't stomach the smell. I know I can't. LOL!
A friend of mine used to go on "rattlesnake roundups" in West Texas and told me about moth balls and snakes. He used their hides to make billfolds, belts, etc. If he needed snakes he would find a house that was build on a foundation (as opposed to a concrete slab) and that had two access doors for the crawl space under the house. With the owner's permission,of course, he'd open both doors, throw in a handful of moth balls, set up an electric box fan just outside the door, blowing the fumes back into the crawl space. Then he'd go around the house to the other door and in about 15 to 30 minutes, every snake under that house would be crawling out.
I've experimented with moth balls on other things and came up with the rodent solution myself. I don't know about the chemical makeup of them, or whether or not they are harmful to anything, but they sure are handy.

I don't know too much about it, but I can share our experience.

We have an acreage in north Missouri, about 120 acres of mostly trees and a couple of ponds. The largest pond is about 4 acres. A couple of months ago we noticed beaver damage around the pond--small saplings gnawed off and dragged into the lake, and then bigger and bigger trees gnawed on. When we saw one of the HUGE oaks gnawed on--this oak is probably 100 years old, big enough so that I can barely reach around the trunk with both arms--we enlisted the aid of a local trapper. The beavers had gnawed the bark off, nearly all the way around the tree. We are sure it will die.

He said there is no way to control beavers, that once they're in your pond, they're there to stay. They will burrow into the pond sides and dam, eat saplings, and gnaw everything they can get their teeth on.

He set traps at their entry holes (there were 5 around the pond). He showed me how they worked--there is a trip wire that when the beaver swims through, will trip the spring and the trap will close around the beaver's neck. It can't escape and will drown.

The first day he caught one, probably the female. It weighed about 55 pounds. In three more days he caught a male, about a 65 pounder. He skins them and sells their hides. He said last year he trapped 47 beavers and sold their hides. He's lost count how many he's caught so far this year.

Though he did not say how much he sold the hides for, he said that the REAL money was in trapping otters. I guess beavers pay worthwhile, or he wouldn't waste his time, I guess.

We always had beavers and have native pecan trees along the river (TX) that we did not want to be beaver chopped, so like the first man who answered we always put 36" to 48" chicken wire semi-loose around them. (Too loose and the beaver will just pull it downward) You do need to check it a time or two a year and adjust the wire.

A few years ago we decided to go on and put galvanized welded wire garden fence around the bigger trees and as it is self-standing it is much longer lived and easier to manage. Those big guys grow diameter slowly after a point. Hope this helps. Our ranch is one of the few places that still has beaver on it, it is nice that way. We have a couple of miles of river and though it takes a few days a year to tend the protecting wires we have found it to be well worth it through the years.

ENJOY!! DD

We don't have beavers (yet) but we do have porcupines, which also cut down saplings to chew the bark off. Fortunately, I havn't seen them take out anything larger. Does make me worry when I plant young trees and bushes though. So far, I havn't put any kind of protection around anything. I will if they get anything precious!

I noticed a beaver took down a tree on my property and the tree landed on my neighbors garage...not sure the damage if any...the tree is just laying branches on the roof there and Iam dumb founded...seems to have happen overnight. Definitely the signs of beaver are there. The tree is/was about 40 feet tall.

Insurance and liability is racing in my head now. I noticed it too late in this evening to do anything tonight.

We have a beaver lodge on our lake front. When we first bought the property they were very active and I could not believe the amount of trees they removed in one fall, mostly poplars, but they will chew on anything! I saw a suggestion on the internet to mix latex paint and sand together, they don't like to chew on the grit. Make a muddy mix (a little more paint than sand) and spread on the bottom 3'-4' of your trees - try using a paint color that will blend in as well as possible. I found that putting on plastic gloves and doing it by hand works best. I did a stand of poplars (about 25 trees) I didn't want to lose. None of the trees have been bothered and the paint doesn't seem to bother the trees either.

We've been told once beaver are in a body of water it's almost impossible to get them out. However my husband jammed a pointed stick (easy to find around a beaver lodge!) downward into their lodge allowing the water runoff to enter their home and between that and relieving himself on the lodge occasionally they have moved to new quarters on the other side of the lake. Problem solved for us - and the people on the other side of the lake still think they're cute (wait until this fall!)