Longmont Colorado is just north of Denver and certainly influenced by its decades long proximity to legendary Sherri Tippie. You can see evidence of her handiwork across the state, but this is especially wonderful,

Johnnie St. Vrain: Longmont will leave it to beaver deceiver

A reader writes: About two months ago, I noticed the pond developing and called our water department, thinking it might be a problem with the irrigation system, a rep said they would look into it.

The pond continued to grow in area and in the last week or so, I noticed some interesting pond developments — a couple tree stumps on the west area of the pond that appeared to have chew marks resembling those of a beaver. A tree trunk the size of one stump was nearby, but the rest of the tree was gone. At the east end of the pond, I noticed what appears to be a dam intended to hold back the water and increase the pond’s depth, also possible evidence of a beaver’s work. Might you tap your resources and let us know if we have a furry visitor in that area?

Again, we appreciate your insightful contributions to the local culture and thanks to the Times-Call for continuing your budget. — Dave Z.

Gee that’s mysterious! A pond, a dam and some missing trees. Now what could be to blame? I’m wracking my head. Honest I am.

Hello Dave Z.: I took a look for myself early last week and saw what you saw, clear evidence of a busy beaver living behind Harvest Junction. I saw several downed trees, including one about a foot in diameter that looked like a sharpened pencil; and a dam that was holding back a pond that by my estimation was about 500 feet long.

I figured that even if you hadn’t called the city, there’s no way city officials wouldn’t have noticed this.

I am aware that city policy is to discourage beavers from taking down certain trees but otherwise to leave them alone. But what if the beaver’s work presents a flood risk? I turned to the city with that question, among others, and heard back from Land Program Administrator Dan Wolford

“In fact we do have beaver in the drainage, and they have constructed a second dam backing water behind Michael’s,” Wolford said in an email. “We are currently working with Smith Environmental to install a beaver deceiver in the middle of the dam to allow water to continue to flow downstream and still keep the beaver present.”

Wolford noted that the city recently received a Great Outdoors Colorado grant to work with Wildland Restoration Volunteers, with one of the funded projects being continued tree protection from damage from beavers.

Oh … a beaver deceiver?

That’s a culvert in the middle of the beaver dam — 12 inches in diameter, 20 feet long, and made of corrugated plastic. It is the city’s second deceiver in this reach of Left Hand Creek, Wolford said.

There is a trademarked product called Beaver Deceivers, which I discovered while writing this column. I’m not sure if what the city is using is this particular product.

Thanks for reading, Dave. It’s my pleasure to help readers know their community better. I will have to get to your second question at another time.

Not only is the city putting in a beaver deceiver, it’s putting in their SECOND BEAVER DECEIVER. Which either means they were very impressed with how it worked or the first one wasn’t installed correctly. Still, either way, that’s pretty dam good news. Somebody’s doing some fine advocacy in the area.

And if you’re still looking for proof that a beaver deceiver can actually work, here’s what you need to know from Martinez where we tried our best to tell our part of the story.

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