Toyota Beaver?

Leave it to Beaver

During construction of the plant, two retention ponds were established. The ponds are designed to capture and hold storm water runoff, allowing any suspended solids to settle. Water discharge from the pond is regulated with an 11-foot sluice gate and seven-foot concrete wall just beyond the gate. When the gate is raised, the water flows out through three slots in the wall.

Except when beavers dam it.

“They packed the flow slots with trees and mud. It was almost like concrete,” says McCarthy. “We’d be down there once or twice a week and they’d be right back the next week.”

After battling the beavers for six months, the team packed it in by the fall of 2012. And the water stayed.

“It never empties,” McCarthy says. “Even in July and August there’s one to two feet of water. But there isn’t a risk of flooding since water still discharges when it reaches the top of the wall.”

The resulting lake brought other critters. Ducks, as well as fish and other species, now call it home.

Hurray for Toyota in Mississippi! And Hurray for beavers! Heck if you let the habitat be restored by them, you won’t need to build any more wood duck boxes. Just wait.

Okay, remember all the unkind things I said about Ohio’s attitudes towards beavers? Well I take it back…most of it. Just look at this article out of the Telegraph Forum.

Overeager beaver causes big headache at Ohio park

MASON – City officials here are grappling with a gnawing problem: a bothersome beaver who’s made his home at Pine Hill Lakes Park.

Officials say the beaver has been, well, busy as a beaver gnawing away at 52 trees and felling three others lining the park’s bike path and lake.

What the beaver sees as a smorgasbord city officials see as a health and safety risk.

Other wildlife experts warn that simply killing the flat-tailed, buck-toothed pest isn’t a quick fix and that more might come in its place.

“They can kill 10 beavers and 10 more will come in their place because that’s what the habitat will support,” said Mary Carrelli, president of Second Chance Wildlife Rescue, a nonprofit organization that promotes wildlife education, conservation and rehabilitation.

Carrelli said a better – and more humane – solution may be to simply drive the beaver out naturally through the use of alternative methods, such as fencing off or wrapping trees with inexpensive plastic tubing.

For dam-related issues, a pipe can be placed within the dam to allow for water flow while allowing the beaver to build its structure around it – an approach also recommended by the Humane Society of the United States.

Merry Christmas to you too, Ohio! I never imagined I’d read about a flow device and wrapping trees from the The Buckeye State. Gosh, I guess old dogs really can learn new tricks. Now let’s see of I can.

The Beaver Believers just mailed out their kickstarter campaign gifts. Jon and I got a lovely pair of beaver beer mugs that we will toast on many an occasion. If you need a last minute gift idea for that beaver-lover on your list their shop is open for business here.