Their are urban beaver woes showing up all across the hemisphere – reminding city planners everywhere that just because they put in sewer pipes and high rises, it doesn’t mean that nature has been tamed.
Let’s start in Caledon Ontario which is just a north of Ohio.
Dam it! Busy beavers build lodge in Caledon storm pond
Louis Liu was walking near the storm water management pond in Southfields Village when he spotted three beavers hard at work.
“It seems they are building a lodge in the middle of the pond, they need all the trees around it to be utilized,” he said.
Around the pond, which is located on the northwest corner of Kennedy Road and Abbotside Way, Liu noticed damage to the trees.
Parm Chohan, from the Town of Caledon said residents can report any dams or beaver activity either through:
I admit from this vague article I cannot discern what exactly the beaver was building, a dam or a lodge – or really what the problem is – but it doesn’t really matter. That photo appeals to me. It’s just so urban. That beaver is doing his job and in a hurray and just doesn’t care what anyone thinks about it and whether people are watching, It should be an inspiration to people everywhere.
Onto Prince Edward Island where beavers have built a dam in a culvert which is NOT a surprise. The people don’t want their yard flooded and think beavers bring mosquitoes which is not a surprise either. What IS a surprise is that they brought in a watershed trust to fix the problem and they actually WANT to keep beavers on the land. They are installing a pipe to control the problem instead of trapping them.
That’s a first for P.E.I.
A homeowner in Freetown, P.E.I., says a beaver dam recently blocked the Dunk River behind his property, causing water to rise in his back yard — and staff at the local watershed organization say he isn’t alone.
“Over the past three years, we’ve noticed a major uptick in beaver activity,” said Chris Newell with the Bedeque Bay Environmental Management Association.
Barlow’s rural home backs onto a tributary of the Dunk River. The normally placid stream passes through a steel culvert under the road but late Tuesday, the inlet of the culvert was completely submerged and blocked with water continuing to rise — and pooling in Barlow’s back yard.
“We’ve targeted a lot of beaver dams for this year to remove,” said Newell, “But we’re actually looking for some land owners that don’t want the beaver completely gone.”
Newell said watershed staff planned to install a device to help stop flooding, while allowing beavers to keep their dams. It’s basically a long pipe that runs under the dam, and siphons off just enough water to the beaver pond at a reasonable level.
“They’re called ‘beaver bafflers’ or ‘beaver deceivers’,” explained Newell.
“We’re going to take it slow, make sure we’re not doing damage — but we’re eager to get out there and do some.”
Hurray Hurray! Never mind that you obviously don’t know what they’re called yet or the history – you’ll learn, The mere fact that PEI is actually installing one is pretty epic. Notoriously beaver-intolerant a senior official once got into an long argument with our own Rickipedia over whether they were even native to the island. Their many trapping stories prompted one of my favorite and earliest graphics, which I will cheerfully retire as we learn that there are folk installing flow devices on the island!
Congratulations Bedeque Bay Environmental Management Association. We wish you luck and can get you helpful advice from experts if things go wrong!
Oh and back to Maine where they brought in those huge ‘shark cages’ to discourage their pesky beavers. Apparently the fact that the article mentioned the trust might want some of the beavers trapped hasn’t gone over so well.
Cumberland Land Trust does not support using beaver traps
A May 10-16 article about beaver issues in town inaccurately reflects the Cumberland Land Trust’s experience in working with the beavers. The Land Trust, which was not contacted for the story, wants to correct two points:
1. The two “beaver deceivers” we placed one year ago are working as designed. They require routine oversight to make sure they are functioning. Due to this year’s snow melt and spring rains we have determined additional larger diameter piping is required to handle the increase in seasonal water levels.
2. The Cumberland Land Trust does not support the trapping of beavers since state law requires trapped beavers to be euthanized.
Randy Tuomisto president of the Cumberland Land Trust.
Ohhh ho ho! Take that beaver nay-sayers everywhere! I got an email yesterday from a wildlife-saving friend about the cage article so I guess that must have raised some alarms. I’m always happy when LAND TRUSTs behave in a way that benefits actual nature instead of the way they assume nature should be. Hurray for Cumberland Trust and installing a functioning beaver deceiver.
Skip Lisle was out there last year, so you’ve learned from the best.
