Looking for public comment this afternoon on Montana’s proposal to reintroduce beavers around the state where they can do the most good. No word on whether there is any similarly proposed changes to the fur trapping/bag limit law as well.
Read More: Gnaw on This: Why Should Beavers be Relocated in Montana? |
This might be the best beaver article I ever read. Especially since Rhode Island has always been a VERY hard place to be a beaver. I’m especially fond of the fact that she worked as a social worker, because, as we have all learned the hard way. changing minds is all about the humans.
Before you accuse me of making this up just know this, I had nothing to do with this in any way,
EXETER – When Molly Hastings wades into the pond behind her home, she says the water ripples with life.
Fish dart past her ankles, a snapping turtle leaves a winding trail in the mud, and a great blue heron lifts off from the cattails. At twilight, a family of beavers glides into view, rolling lily pads as one would a cigar and nibbling them as if they’re hot dogs.
“It’s teeming with life,” Hastings told The Breeze. “The beavers come out at dusk, the otters play in the blueberries, and there’s always a heron. The day we decided to buy this house, there was even a bald eagle in the swamp cedar.”
The reason for it all, she eventually found out, was the presence of a thriving beaver colony. And it set her on a path to eventually create RI Beaver Management, a private business focused on installing and maintaining flow installation devices to mitigate some potential problems created by beaver activity.
Hastings moonlights as a social worker in Woonsocket, but humane beaver management has quickly become a passion project this year.
Can’t you just tell this is going to be a great story? Are you comfy? Get some more coffee and tuck back in because this is a great read about a wonderful woman.
When she and her partner purchased the property in Exeter, the pond continued to rise higher each week, held back by an 8-foot beaver dam. Nervous about flooding, Hastings called the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, and she was told the only option was to have the animals killed.
“I thought that was crazy,” she said. “Part of the appeal of the house was the pond and all the wildlife. It didn’t feel right to just shoot them.”
Searching for alternatives, Hastings discovered a small national network of scientists and builders pioneering coexistence between people and beavers.
“Beaver believers,” she joked.
What a great story. I think it’s a hallmark movie and they should play it every christmas.
She reached out to Skip Lisle, founder of Beaver Deceivers International in Vermont, who designed (and trademarked) the first “Beaver Deceiver” flow device: a pipe-and-fence system that drains water through a dam without the beavers noticing.
“Skip was so kind,” Hastings recalled. “He said, ‘Molly, you’re going to love the beavers.’ And he was right.”
Soon she learned that the only regional company doing similar work, Beaver Solutions in Southampton, Mass., was run by Mike Callahan. Hastings enrolled in Callahan’s training program over the summer, earning certification as a Beaver wetland specialist, and founded RI Beaver Management, the state’s first business dedicated to less-lethal beaver control.
She now designs and installs flow devices, site-specific constructions that regulate pond levels using culverts, fencing, and a bit of “gentle trickery.” The systems prevent flooding while allowing beavers to keep building and maintaining the wetlands that benefit the ecosystem.
“When installed by a professional, they have a very high rate of success,” Hastings said. “A Massachusetts study found that towns using flow devices saved thousands of dollars annually while retaining hundreds of acres of wetlands that would otherwise be lost to trapping.”
That 2019 analysis from Billerica, Massachusetts, found that less-lethal management saved taxpayers about $7,700 a year while preserving more than 380 acres of wetlands, providing an estimated $2 million in ecological benefits annually.
Those ecological benefits are significant. According to the Beaver Institute, beaver-created wetlands filter pollutants, stabilize the water table, replenish groundwater aquifers, reduce downstream flooding, and even buffer wildfires. Their habitats are as biologically productive as coral reefs and rainforests, supporting fish, amphibians, waterfowl, and countless insects.
“Beavers were North America’s original engineers,” Hastings said. “They improve water quality, increase biodiversity, and make our landscapes more resilient to drought and flood. They’re not pests. They’re partners.”
Still, Rhode Island has been slow to adopt such approaches. As The Breeze previously reported, communities like Cumberland and North Smithfield have wrestled with beaver-related flooding for more than a decade and continue to do so.
“There’s a lot of skepticism,” Hastings said. “But people and towns wind up spending money on trapping every year anyway. Flow devices are cheaper, more effective, and humane.”
Her story is so the same and so DIFFERENT from Martinez. Skip Lisle. Mike Callahan. Reaching around for answers. But the library looks SO different today than it used to. When I was looking 20 years ago there were three sites on the entire internet that discussed coexisting with beavers,
How many thousands are there now? And books. And films. And articles like this.
She’s now preparing to present her work to the Rhode Island Woodland Partnership later this month. That organization brings together conservation groups and land trusts across the state. Her goal is to help landowners, municipalities, and nonprofits manage their waterways sustainably.
“Right now, Rhode Island’s cultural carrying capacity for beavers is low,” Hastings said. “People think of them as nuisances.”
The installation process, she explained, begins with a phone consultation, followed by a site visit and Wetlands permit application with DEM. Once approved, she installs the device, often in chest-deep water.
The Beaver Institute now offers cost-share grants to help landowners and municipalities fund these installations, making the approach more accessible. Similar coexistence programs have gained traction nationwide, including in Maryland, where beavers are being reintroduced to help restore the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
“When you see what beavers create, and how much life surrounds a beaver pond, it changes everything,” Hastings said. “There’s a better way to do this.”
For more information, visit ribeavermanagement.org.
Molly, the beavers and wildlife of Rhode Island thank you. And as for me, I’d like to buy you a beer.
Thanks for making a great story happen.
Don’t say I never gave you anything.
Read more about the rare appearance and the special visit by Michael Runtz here.
On a river near Perth, Ont., a boatload of wildlife photographers silently stalked their quarry on a recent fall evening.
With an electric trolling motor providing propulsion, the water remained millpond-flat as they glided upstream. But then a splash rang out like a shot as their target’s tail slapped the water and the creature dove beneath the surface.
The mythical white beaver had smelled them.
Ottawa photographer Dennis Jackson had never expected to see such a rare creature, despite a lifetime spent capturing images of wildlife.
After spotting the white beaver on a boat trip with his neighbour a few weeks back, Jackson was eager to return to the river with pre-eminent Canadian naturalist Michael Runtz, his wife Britta Runtz, who is also a professional photographer, and a CBC reporter.
Beyond hoping for another sighting, Jackson wanted to answer a question: Was this beaver an albino — which would be an unlikely survival story given that most albino animals are nearly blind — or leucistic, a genetic condition that causes a partial loss of pigmentation?
The white beaver had appeared again at dusk, but after smelling the humans it was not clear if it would stick around to answer the question.
Regular readers of this website (if there are still any) will remember that the Piebald beaver from Winters California was way cooler. But he didn’t have a photo shoot with Michael Runtz.
Guess which one the beavers made and which one the HOA made? No hints. Go ahead, guess.
A North Texas neighborhood is upset after a homeowners’ association drained a pond that had become a haven for local wildlife — killing fish, displacing beavers, and leaving federally protected Canada geese without a home.
What began as an accidental wetland had transformed into a thriving ecosystem, with neighbors calling it a “wonderful little nature preserve.” However, when the HOA drained the pond — and reportedly used drones to spray vegetation — residents claim the results were devastating.
I’ve been reading these kind of stories for 20 years now. They are absolutely familiar. And in a gallows humor kind of way it made me laugh aloud. Everyone knows better. Even the HOAs know better.
Resident Nathalie Leifeste said the decision “and the consequences for the local ecosystem are heartbreaking,” urging officials to consider “humane, ecologically responsible actions.” According to neighbors, the HOA and the city have been pointing fingers at each other over who ordered the drainage.
The pond, located in Denton, was technically a detention basin designed to temporarily hold stormwater and prevent flooding, according to a report from KERA News. But years of neglect allowed it to evolve into a functioning retention pond that supported birds, fish, and beavers. Now, with the habitat destroyed, residents say they’ve been left watching “fish flopping around in the sun.” They’ve also had something they felt added value to their community taken away.
I can imagine everyone blaming everyone else. What I’m not sure is how it happened. Was this a retention pond or a beaver pond or a little of both?
Environmental advocates argue that neighborhood-level interventions, often undertaken without ecological expertise, can disrupt an ecosystem’s natural balance and displace wildlife. Even worse, this isn’t an isolated issue. Across the country, HOAs have faced backlash for blocking or mismanaging eco-friendly measures, from banning native plant lawns to restricting rooftop solar panels. These outdated rules slow progress, harm ecosystems, and increase costs for homeowners trying to live sustainably.
Let me just say that HOAs are NOTORIOUS for getting read of beaver ponds. Apparently they aren’t regulation or something. I hope this amount of outrage around the mud puddle leaves an impression on the management.
You don’t see before and after shots like this every day.
Residents who want to make their neighborhoods more environmentally friendly can work with their HOAs to update bylaws, ensuring local rules align with modern sustainability standards.
