Call it a hunch, but something tells me this Nebraska town won’t be jumping on the beaver bandwagon any time soon. I wish I could embed the video because it’s truly must see teevee when it comes to beaver complaints but you’ll just have to go watch it for yourself.
Johnson Lake residents work to find solution to beaver issue
JOHNSON LAKE, Neb. — Beavers at Johnson Lake are causing some residents to worry about their property. They’re coming out at night, munching away on trees and the concern is how to protect the area.
Terri Rank has been a resident of Johnson Lake for many years. She said she has never seen damage like what she is seeing now and she has never seen as many beavers as she has seen since the new year.
” And it concerns me because if the beaver population is growing, it could affect our quality of life. It could affect our children, grandchildren, our pets swimming in the lake, it could damage boats. It’s obviously damaging our trees,” said Rank.
That’s right. The beaver population could affect their children and grandchildren and pets. I love nature as much as the next really unreasonable woman but come on? What else can I do?
Rank and her neighbors have seen trees bitten down to pencil–like stubs and while she said she just wants to live in harmony with them, that might be the last option.
“If you want to live trap a beaver, you can only move it 100–200 yards from where you trapped it. All that does for us is push it down a few lots and make it more of a neighbor’s problem but they’re going to swim right back to wherever their den is if it’s in our area,” said Rank.
Ahhh of course we all know where this is going, right? It’s the classic “what else can I do but protect my land by killing them” argument. We’ve heard it a million times before.
There is a part I didn’t expect though.
I spoke with Pat Molini with the Nebraska Game and Parks who said trapping a beaver is actually the second-best plan when dealing with tree damage.
“Well the best thing to do if they’re damaging trees, is to protect the trees, that’s the absolute best thing to do. Either put a protective wrap around them or use fencing to protect them,
That’s right. An ACTUAL park and game officer telling her on recorded television that the BEST way to protect trees is to fricken protect the trees. I didn’t think I’d live long enough to see that in person.
I’m tearing up – hold on.
and then yes, the next best thing to do would be, if it’s possible, if you can legally do it, is to get a local trapper that has a fur harvester permit,” said Molini.
Well that’s more like it. We know the drill. First try an actual solution and then hire a trapper and get a temporary fix. This ain’t our first rodeo. We’ve heard it all before.
However, tree damage is not all these beavers could do.
“They can sometimes cause flooding and they can also cause crop damage, you know, agricultural crop damage. They’ll sometimes go in and take corn down and you know, either feed on it or use it you know for building dams or huts,” said Molini.
Yes. Yes. Yes. But remember. Just remember. For one brief shining moment a wildlife officer literally said on national teevee that the VERY BEST THING you could do to protect trees was PROTECT TREES by wrapping them.
Let’s just hold onto that silver thread. It was a glorious, unspoiled moment that we never expected from Nebraska. A brief shining moment – I like to think of it like the ending of camelot.
Each evening from December to December
Before you find a man who kills them dead
Think back on all the tales that you remember
and WRAP INSTEAD!
Ask every person if she’s heard the story
And tell it loud and clear as oft you please
That once there was a fleeting wisp of glory
Called wrapping trees!
