I'v seen beaver chewing gum LOL

When I was in the navy and station in Norfolk , I use to go fishing with a friend at the time . Where we went the beaver had ate cedar and the stump heal over and some night while we where out fishing we would hear sometime the beavers chew on a tree. The next morning we found the teeth marks on the tree.

Yea but did you see them blowing bubbles,Newt ?

Here's the way I see it around here. Prime beaver habitat near areas suitable for a beaver to make a workable beaver pond don't always coincide.
They MUST have a suitable place where they can have success creating a pond. The soil can't be too porous, the stream can't be prone to frequent extreme flowage.
They have to settle for whatever trees species are in places where they can build their pond. I see a lot of paper thin tails where they have to eat pines.
The Boss mentioned sweet gum. I see a lot of large sweet gums girdled, but not felled nor peeled. I wonder sometimes if they are managing their forest by killing the gum trees to promote what they would rather eat. I don't think that they are "smart" enough to know this, but maybe the ones who have evolved to perform this behavior have survived the ones who did not.

No, here they eat them and leave the peeled sticks behind, as they do with the pine. I've seen where they've eaten everything but sycamore. I've seen where they've gnawed on cypress knees, but not eat the cypress limbs.

I have definitely noticed the variety of what beavers will chew on and eat. At this spot I'm looking at right now I see where they've been chewing and eating the grape vines.