Lake Wylie is a man-made lake just south of Charleston in South Carolina. Every now and then it has sightings of alligators and snake fish, and is the product of a 1904 hydroelectric dam made by the power company.  Guess what kind of dams it doesn’t want?

Beavers causing concern on Crowders Creek

LAKE WYLIE — Al Morey says there’s “one heck of a nuisance” on Lake Wylie, and he isn’t sure anyone is doing anything about it.  Lakefront resident Ed Lindsey wants to do something about it.

 “We’ve had beavers for a while, but they’ve always kind of been in the water,” Lindsey said. “They’ve never done any damage.” Until now. Lindsey had three small plum trees taken down on his property, and six larger tree. A neighbor lost a couple more trees, he said.

 “They would chew the bark all around a tree,” Lindsey said. “They’re really destructive.”

 Morey works at Clawson’s Pile Driving & Construction. He estimates he has seen 80 or 90 trees in a 10-mile area with beaver damage.

 “Lately what I’ve been seeing is they’ve been coming out in broad daylight,” Morey said.

 The most extreme damage he has seen has been in Crowders Creek, Morey said. He’s seen five or six dams from the island beneath the S.C. 274 bridge, upstream.

Oh those destructive beavers, coming out in broad daylight to eat your trees for no reason! Better call the trapper right away. Or your pretend lake could get altered by real nature! I wasn’t at all surprised by this article from SC but I was surprised by the final paragraphs.

Nonlethal options for beaver management include water flow control devices and wire barriers or fencing around trees to prevent gnawing. The state department also provides information on those routes.

According to the state, a beaver colony can be as large as 20 to 30 acres. They help produce habitat for waterfowl, fish, reptiles, amphibians and furbearers such as minks and otters.

 The wood duck, which nests in large numbers in South Carolina, often is attracted to beaver ponds. Beavers are located in every county in South Carolina.

Remember, we’re grading on a curve. So any mention of beaver benefits, wrapping trees and flow devices is a big win for South Carolina. I don’t have much hope for these beavers, but I’m pleased that the reporter included options, and have some hope for him.

As the weather picks up, more beavers are being blamed for power outages. This one in Colefax, Washington. (I guessed they plugged in too many devices?)

Beaver knocks out power at Colfax

 COLFAX, Wash. — Avista Utilities says a beaver is to blame for a power outage at Colfax.

 The utility says a beaver chewed through the tree that fell on a line about 2 a.m. Monday, cutting electricity for about 600 residents. Service was restored by 7 a.m.

I mean, it’s not like power companies are responsible for trimming and removing trees around power cables or anything. Mark my words, when Colfax moves the wires underground they’re going to blame gophers.

And here’s a story celebrating salmon and their glorious triumph over those ruinous, obstructing beavers.

Writer’s Voice – Honoring Salmon by Robin Song

For me, the bright spot in this time of year is the Coho Salmon. Theirs is the last of the salmon runs in our area, and they choose the cold autumn waters for their spawning beds. 

That’s why I consider these fish heroes. They have come through so much. Even the creek itself presents challenges. Winter snows sends trees crashing down across the creek and the fish have to negotiate tangles of logs and branches. Beaver have constructed dams along the creek, lowering the water in places to where it is just a few inches deep and the salmon have to thrash over rocks and pebbles as they make their way to pools to rest.

The creek twists and turns, some bends so narrow that the water gushes through and the fish fight their way along, always driven to go farther. At last they reach the final obstacle-a large beaver dam across the west end of the pond, laying west of the lake. In the years when the beaver have been in the valley, they have kept the dam tightly constructed, repairing any breeches immediately. a pair of male Cohos head upstream. In those years the salmon have not been able to leap over the high dam with its many sharp-ended logs and branches bristling against their assault. In those times the salmon have to spawn in the pool below the dam, and along the creek west of that.

But this year the beaver left the pond and moved up to the lake and a breech opened in the dam and was left open. I walked out onto the old dam and stood watching for salmon in the pond and was glad to see some had made it over the dam and were swimming near it. I just caught glimpses of them before they moved into the deeper water of the pond. There were still many salmon in the pool-those who just couldn’t leap up the breech in the dam. And many were spawning in the creek itself.

Of course I posted a comment to Kristin, explaining how that beaver dam would also make deep pools for eggs to grow up in, not freezing in the winter or drying in the summer, and how it would be rich with invertebrates because of the beavers digging and mudding. But my comment must not have been poetic or honor-y enough, because its not there this morning.

And if you woke up like me and looked at the wasteland ashes of the election you might be comforted by this quote from Churchill, who famously said;

“Democ­racy is the worst form of gov­ern­ment.

Except for all the oth­ers”