Time for an article you are going to love. It’s so good I didn’t want to squeeze it in yesterday. It needs it’s own hallowed space and attention. This is from Connecticut where our good friend Steve Straight has been hard at work making sure the next beavers that come along have a better end,
Beavers are blamed for fallen trees and flooding, and authorities are euthanizing them. Is there a better way to fix the problem?
Last month, South Windsor officials trapped three beavers and had them euthanized. The beavers had caused safety issues at a town park by gnawing on trees near the trail system, which blocked a spillway to a pond and caused flooding issues.
The trapping and killing of the beavers, one of nature’s most industrious mammals, sparked outrage among residents, with some calling for more humane treatment. State officials say they have managed Connecticut’s beaver population this way for decades. But critics say there’s a less drastic, more cost-effective manner to deal with beavers.
He said a solution could have cost the town about $2,000, and volunteers, such as local scout troops, could have helped to wrap the trees. Straight hired Mike Callahan to investigate the beaver situation at Nevers Park.
You gotta love the East Coast, where you can bring in the expert from out of state for less than a tank of gas. Unlike Martinez where we had to fly Skip 3000 miles. Well, how did it go? What did he think?
Mike Callahan of Beaver Solutions LLC said his company has resolved more than 1,500 human and beaver conflicts since 1998 by using flow devices, such as culvert protective fences and beaver dam pipes. These methods allow the water to flow out of the pond created by beavers, in turn reducing flooding.
“In my experience, flow devices are the best beaver management method for approximately 75 percent of human-beaver conflicts. Where feasible, they offer the lowest overall cost, longest reliability, lowest labor and maximum environmental benefits,” Callahan said.
Callahan said a 12-inch pipe at Nevers Park would maintain a normal flow through the spillway, even if new beavers recolonize the pond and try to dam the spillway again. He said lightweight metal fencing could have been wrapped around the larger trees to prevent them from falling on the trails.
Callahan noted it would cost the town “far less to protect trees” along the trail with fencing than it would for town workers to continue to remove them. He believes beavers may recolonize the area within a year or two.
Ahhh you heard it yourself. Beavers are coming back and there are better, cheaper ways to fix things than by killing
“Fortunately, both the flooding and the tree felling concerns can be managed in a cost-effective, long-term, environmentally friendly and humane manner,” Callahan added, “which would allow the beavers to remain in the park providing environment benefits, public enjoyment and education values.”
South Windsor resident Steve Straight, who lives near the park, opposed the trapping from the start. He said the town should have investigated nonlethal methods first and needs to come up with a long-term solution.
Environment benefits, public enjoyment and education values. Let the beavers do their job. Game point. Set. Match. And the money shot?
“Let the citizens of South Windsor enjoy these fascinating creatures as they go about their work creating a tremendous ecosystem that harms no one. Let’s be clear — the beavers are not going away. And by the way, neither am I.”
How much do we love Steve? A very very lot of much, that’s how much. The best thing a beaver protector can do is be a stone in the river, making it more trouble to continue on the wrong path than it is to correct course and start on a better way. It’s of course good for the beavers, and the environment, But also for the entire community that gets to be part of a humane solution.
This is something we in Martinez particularly understand. If you haven’t seen this in a while I would just point out this is National news with Brit Hume at the end of the clip. And the flow device is already installed, You can see it in the shot over Dave’s shoulder. it’s just that no one believes it will work so the mayor of director of public works don’t even mention it.
