Beavers are triggered to work on the dam by the sound and feel of running water, so the trick to getting them to stop building that dam that’s flooding your road or property is to remove that stimulus. The Castor Master (left) was invented by Skip Lisle and Flexible Leveller (right) was invented by Mike Callahan. They are similar designs to do just that. (Skip installed a Castor Master in Martinez)
They are both adaptions of the older, more difficult to install Clemson Pond Leveler. Step by step instructions for building a castor master are available from Sherri Tippie here, and instructions for using the flexible leveler are available from the Beaver Solutions DVD here.
Kevin Smith pf Somama’s OAEC trained with Mike and is available for California installs here.Often cities ‘say’ the’re installing a beaver deceiver that upon visual inspection won’t possibly work, sometimes this is just due to misinformation, but sometimes it’s an excuse for saying “we tried humane measures but they didn’t control the flooding. Now we have no choice but to kill them.”
Remember that any successful flow device for controlling dam height has to have
a) A pipe to drain the water b) A beaver-proof ‘filter’ to protect the pipe intake C) Some type of protection for the outflow OR outflow is far away from the dam.These three things make a flow device effective. Remember that the purpose of the flow device is to control pond height at a level that protects your property AND allows the beavers to stay. Beavers are territorial so keeping the ones you have will help keep others from moving in!
How can I tell how big a pipe I need for the job?
