Seems like some folks who lost their beavers want to keep their dam, and the city is raising a fuss about it. We read about this case back in 2012 when they were enjoying beavers and birds. Apparently back when the beavers were in residence they installed a flow device – as this is MA I’m assuming Mike Callahan did it. Now that the beavers are gone they removed the pipe and ripped out the fence, just like in Martinez.
Battle over beaver-built bog
The beavers are gone but their handiwork remains, remnants of a dam and the pond that formed behind it.
A lingering dispute remains, as well — opposition over the pond and changed state of the wetlands.
Jane Axelrod and Roy Dobbelaar, 8 Moreland, want the ponded wetlands to remain.
Over the past decade they have watched from their home and yard as nature has flourished with rising water levels, attracting waterfowl, wildlife and songbirds.
Others in the area of Great Heron Place, Orchard Street and Moreland Avenue, as well as the Conservation Commission want nature to run its course, without human hands hastening or slowing that course.
In December, the Conservation Commission director sent a letter to abutters in the neighborhood stating the pond had been dammed up recently, and not by beaver, and the Commission considers it an act of vandalism.
“A local beaver expert confirmed that the structure was not built by beavers, and is comprised of heavy boulders and gravel, not mud and sticks typical of beavers,” the letter states.
Yes, as we well know beavers NEVER build with rocks. And getting things ‘back to nature’ means hiring humans to rip out the dam, didn’t you realize? I’m not sure what will happen in this madness, but if they can drag this out a bit some new disperser might see the pond and settle in on his own. I’m sure starting with a dam is easier on the beaver!
Douglas said that typically, beaver will leave an area after their food source is depleted and, after they leave, the dam will disintegrate, water levels recede and the area reverts to its pre-beaver state until a new set of beaver move in and the cycle begins anew, he said.
Conservation Commission members were surprised that the beaver dam didn’t disintegrate naturally over number of years after the beaver departed since it typically takes six months to a year for a beaver dam to disintegrate.
It was the Commission’s opinion that the dam was artificially maintained by humans, the director said.
Meanwhile, Dobbelaar said he does not know about anyone damming up the waterway with boulders. He said the beavers built their dam along an existing stonewall on the land.
Reading this makes me realize Martinez should be grateful that no one is rebuilding the dam here. Where is my thankyou note from the mayor? I spent yesterday going over beaver footage for Middlechild Productions upcoming beaver documentary in the UK. Watching our beavers made me so jealous or my earlier self who got to see such things whenever I liked. I’m getting tired of not having any beavers lately, and dreamed the other night that there was an email in my mailbox with the header “Martinez beavers spotted in parking lot”. In the dream I doubted very much they were back OR in a parking lot, but I rushed downtown anyway to see for myself.
Sigh.
