Those straight cuts of those alders could have only been done by a human.  That trail is too wide and level to have been made by an animal.  The irregular waterways cutting through the marshlands surrounding Basin Pond must be a vestige of the geological history of the area.

These are the things I believed.  Now, I am no longer so sure.

After doing some reading and going back again to look at some of these areas, I am thinking that a singular creature, Castor canadensis, the American beaver, may be responsible for these phenomena.

Lots more learning to come.  The photos below are of the multi-channeled waterways that cut through the marshlands surrounding Basin Pond,