Every now and then we come across a story that shakes my understanding of Beaver advocacy and makes me feel; we have truly arrived at a new world. Stories like THIS are what I’ve been waiting for. When this project is successfully implemented in California I will officially kiss the flag and retire. The world won’t have to read my nagging and fault finding beaver monologues any longer. The final battle will be won. The infamous Dam Quixote of Martinez will officially lay down her arms and stop stabbing at windmills.
Utah DOT Testing New Beaver Habitat Protection Effort
The Utah Department of Transportation recently began testing what it describes as “a different approach” that allows beavers to remain in their habitat while protecting nearby roads and bridges from water damage caused by their natural dam-building instincts.
This is the single finest sentence I have ever read, Read it again out loud. Not moving beavers. Not killing beavers Not building imitation beaver dams, but letting beavers stay where they are and installing tools that will protect the road.
Just like I always dreamed of.
The agency explained that beavers build dams to expand their access to food and habitat, and while such dams can benefit the surrounding environment, the water behind them can rise high enough to seep beneath roads – eroding roadways and creating safety concerns.
To manage that risk, Utah DOT recently partnered with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR), the Sageland Collaborative non-profit environmental group, and Utah State University’s Beaver Ecology and Relocation Collaborative to install three pond “levelers” in Beaver Creek in Logan Canyon.
You always imagine this day, but you never really dare to believe it can come true. This is IT! This is the one I’ve been waiting for. How do we set this in motion everywhere there are roads?
Those levelers use pipes to carry water through the beaver dams, keeping the water levels with those ponds at safer levels for nearby roadways. Because the intakes are designed so beavers do not detect the flowing water, they are less likely to block them, noted Matt Howard, Utah DOT’s natural resources manager.
“This gives us another tool to protect our transportation system while allowing the beavers to stay,” he said in a statement. “If the levelers work as intended, we can manage the water level without repeatedly relocating beavers or removing dams.”
In the past, managing “conflicts” at sites at such beaver habitats often meant trapping and relocating the creatures or removing the dams. However, when the habitat remains attractive, other beavers may move in and begin rebuilding. Thus, Utah DOT and DWR hope the pond leveler will help break that cycle by reducing the threat to infrastructure without removing the animals.
I can’t even believe this is really happening, Some pinch me. I might be asleep.
Oh My Goodness! That is the best movie I ever saw on you tube. Watch it again and share it with everyone you know. Can they okay this movie on my television every Christmas?
Beaver ponds also offer broad environmental benefits, Utah DOT said; they retain water, support native plant communities, reduce erosion and create habitat for many fish and wildlife species.
Water stored across the landscape may also create natural firebreaks and help surrounding areas withstand dry conditions, stressed Shane Hill, riverscape restoration project manager at Sageland Collaborative.
“What I see in this work is an opportunity to expand Logan Canyon’s capacity to support wildlife habitat, hold water, create wetlands, improve water quality and make the area more resistant to fire,” said Hill. “The challenge is the conflict beavers can have with our infrastructure. These pond levelers give us a way to coexist with beavers and keep their benefits on the landscape.”
Where do I press COPY to make more of you. I need a duplicator.
Utah DOT noted that it will monitor the three pond levelers to see how well they manage water levels and protect the nearby road. The results will help the department determine where pond levelers or similar approaches may be useful in the future, the agency said.
“This is about finding practical solutions that protect both Utah’s transportation system and its natural resources,” stressed Utah DOT’s Howard. “The beavers can stay in a productive habitat, and we can help keep the road safe for everyone who uses it.”
There is only one way to reply to that. And you know what it is.
