Beaver to Blame for Easthampton Flood
Easthampton, Mass. (WGGB)- There is a flood in one Easthampton yard, and the city says wildlife is to blame. It’s the result of a clogged culvert that flows under South Street.
“I haven’t dared go over there,” sams homeowner Dan Laflamme as he points to his backyard.
Laflamme has lived in his Crescent Street home for almost 30 years. The city says that beavers are the cause of problem because they keep blocking the culvert with debris. Now special permission is needed to clean it up;approval from the Conservation Commission that the City Engineer, Jim Gracia says they received this morning.The city says that beavers are the cause of problem because they keep blocking the culvert with debris. Now special permission is needed to clean it up;approval from the Conservation Commission that the City Engineer, Jim Gracia says they received this morning.After returning from Florida a few days ago, he came home to more than half of his property under water.
“There’s about 3 acres,” Says Laflamme. “And how much do you think is underwater now?” asks ABC40′s Brittany Decker. “About 2 acres,” he responds.
The city says that beavers are the cause of problem because they keep blocking the culvert with debris. Now special permission is needed to clean it up; approval from the Conservation Commission that the City Engineer, Jim Gracia says they received this morning.
Today I finally realized that when cities, highway authorities or cable companies say “Beavers are to Blame”, they aren’t looking for an excuse to kill the animals because they hate them. The beavers are entirely incidental and don’t actually matter at all.
What they are really saying is “It’s not our fault!”
It finally dawned on me when I realized that the incident involving Mr. Laflamme’s floating property is about three miles from Beaver Solutions. That’s right, Martinez could bring in an expert 3000 miles to solve a problem and Easthampton couldn’t manage three.
The misguided mayor of Easthampton is Karen Cadieux and Mike Callahan says she has his business card. She needs the proper motivation to solve this particular problem. You just know the special permission they just got from the Conservation Commission was not in fact to conserve anything, but was to trap – Either shelling out $$$ for some live trapping (which under MA law will still result in dead beavers) or going to the health department for an exemption to use some conibears to kill them faster and cheaper.
I’m thinking Ms. Cadieux needs a few emails to point her in the right direction. Won’t you help me set her straight by politely reminding her that her neighbor could solve this problem for the long term and save Easthampton money?
Remember it’s June which means dead adult beavers will leave young kits behind.
