Remember Sammamish in Washington? They were in a dither about rascally beavers collapsing roads and then brought out the big guns to say they had to kill them because their dams would block salmon? I wrote them that this was untrue and suggested they look out their front door and contact the folks at Kings County who had been successfully and humanely solving beaver issues for years? Well guess what?
“The idea is to try to live with them rather than try to fight them,” said Brian Sleight, a supervising engineer with King County’s water and land resources division.It’s a never-ending fight that the city’s Public Works Department has been battling for years – particularly in the wetlands near Ebright Creek Park and the outlet of Beaver Lake. The beavers, attracted to the prime dam real estate, put up a home that they use for breeding and protection from predators.
The abode backs up the water behind it, creating headaches for land owners. The city then pays to have the beavers trapped and released in another location and dismantles the dam.
Invariably though, the beavers tend to find their way back to the original location and start rebuilding and the cycle continues.“You might buy yourself 18 months, maybe 24 if you time it perfect,” Sleight said. “But as long as you have good beaver habitat, you can remove them but they will repopulate an area.”
Yeah Brian! We like Brian!!!! Well good for you for taking the beaver bull by the horns and investing in long term solutions. Once the struggle gets local though things get a little insane. They are budgeting 100,000 for the next two years. Really?
Senior Stormwater Engineer Eric LaFrance said the city has been through this several times with the beavers. A dam on the outlet from Beaver Lake combined with heavy summer rains led to high water levels on the lake this June, submerging some residents’ docks. LaFrance also blames a dam for backing up water in the wetlands that feed Ebright Creek, which has caused flooding on 212th Avenue.LaFrance got the Beaver Deceiver idea from the county, who had used a similar device on Peterson Pond, north of Sammamish.
The deceiver is a pipe that tunnels under an existing beaver dam and up to the normal water level on both sides – essentially creating an extra drainage point for a stream or wetland that will kick in when the water level rises above the top of the pipe. The end of the pipe is fenced off to prevent clogging.
A beaver deceiver of solid gold?
Never mind that what your describing sounds more like a
Clemson Pond Leveler than a ‘Beaver Deceiver”. I’m sure Brian knows what he’s doing. Good luck on your real solutions, and congratulations!
Now if you’re looking for a local hero read about Mitch Avalon (of beaver subcommittee fame) and his
willingness to take ACE on over the tree/levee issue!
Implementing the clear-cutting policy will cost local jurisdictions millions, they insist. At a news conference Monday in North Richmond, officials pointed to a thick stand of trees and bushes along Wildcat Creek. It would cost $2 million to bring the area in compliance with federal rules, said Mitch Avalon, deputy director of the Contra Costa Public Works Department and spokesman for a group of Bay Area flood protection agencies.
“I stand before you today at the risk of going to jail,” said Avalon.
