You’re going to love this story.

Beavers to blame for big dam boondoggle

If you ask the neighbors on Southwest Merestone Court in Tigard, there’s nothing more important than the large wetland and pond that stretches for acres behind their homes. For more than 20 years, it has been the ideal habitat for fish, turtles, foxes, deer, otters and osprey. Neighbors quickly point out a pair of nesting bald eagles in a nearby evergreen.

But the most famous residents of Merestone Pond are the family of beavers whose dams helped transform the section of Summer Creek years ago. The beavers have a longstanding feud with city workers, who say the places the beavers build their dams are threatening two culverts under Southwest 121st Avenue.

Crews have removed the dams twice in the past 15 years, and removed a portion of a third dam last Wednesday, re-sparking a contentious fight between neighbors and city officials. The neighbors are fiercely protective of the beavers. When work crews removed a dam from the pond in 2011 — which city workers said was clogging the culverts — neighbors called the police.

You know, a million years ago I wrote a certain famous beaver expert that works for the federal government about our upcoming beaver battle and he said, gosh, of course I’ll help. “I love a good beaver row!”

Years later we know exactly how he felt.

This story warms the very cockles of my heart. From the protective neighbors calling the police, to the valiant beavers rebuilding their pond anyway and the lurking city workers getting admonished by ODFW.

Beavers may be trouble

Crews installed two vertical logs upstream of the culvert in 2011 in the hopes of attracting the rodents to rebuild a safe distance away, but the beavers have shown little interest in building where the city would prefer.

“These beavers in particular are being really tricky,” Ruther said.

Urban beavers can be troublesome for cities, but they are also an important part of the ecosystem, Liz Ruther, ODFW said. “Those beavers are doing fabulous habitat work out there,” Ruther said. “The area looks beautiful. Hopefully, they will continue moving around. We really want them to use the attractants.”

Goodrich said that as long as the beavers don’t threaten the city’s infrastructure, the city has no plans on removing the dam any further. “We look at Tigard as a partner for urban beavers,” Ruther said. “They are a big deal for water quality and fish.”

Wait a minute. You’re just outside Portland, and you’ve paid for crews to come rip out the dam multiple times and never installed a flow device? Honestly? That’s like a novice at the Vatican not realizing there was wine in the sacristy. Surely you know there are better ways to protect the culvert, maintain the pond, and still keep the neighbors happy, right?

Plans are in the works to install a pipe under the dam, which would allow some water to continue to flow and not disrupt the beavers, Goodrich said.

I can only hope you mean OVER and not UNDER the dam. The Clemson design is 30+ years old now. A flexible lever will cost a fraction as much for parts and labor and work better. Tigard can do this. Well, I wrote John and Liz and offered what help I could.