In the days immediately following a successful beaver festival I am suffused in a warm glow of fuzzy good feeling. Things are changing little by little for beavers, and we are helping in our little way. Martinez got smarter and other cities can too. Gradually the nation’s beaver IQ will go up and then we’ll all benefit.
Even with this heady insulation, a few shockingly disturbing articles manage to float to my in box (like the woman who made baby beaver dolls out of ACTUAL baby beavers) and I think, NO. I won’t write about that. I won’t pollute this good feeling I worked so hard to have with that artless sadism. The arc of environmentalism is long, but it does bend towards beavers. We are moving in the right direction.
And then something like this happens.
Beavers, dams stir concern in Danvers neighborhood
Over the years, beavers have built dams on the stream that runs between that neighborhood and Endicott Park. The stream runs down under Maple Street and eventually to College Pond.
“The wetland is behind our property,” wrote David Saunders of 12 Brentwood Circle. Saunders was unable to attend the meeting, and neighbor Mary Jalbert read his letter to the selectmen. “We have never seen flooding as bad as it has been this year in June and July. In the past we have had many temporary flooding events in the springtime — but they receded very soon after the rain fall subsided. This year they did not recede.”
Jalbert explained to the selectmen that the health inspector had visited the area twice this summer and on the second visit ordered a licensed trapper to remove the main dam. While the water level dropped some after the dam was removed, the water has now become stagnant.
Did you get that? This is a classy neighborhood just 5 miles from Salem, and the home-owners complained the beaver dams were backing up too much water. So the city removed the dams (and the beavers) and now they’re complaining that the water is too stagnant.
“Unless something is done to get this water moving, we are going to have more water back up to property,” said Ryan. “That’s going to seep into property. Mold will develop. And we will have a health issue in that regard as well. Not to mention damage to personal property.”
He added that the stagnant water is also a prime breeding ground for mosquitoes.
“When the dam was there, water was actually flowing,” said Soles. “Since they have removed the dam, I can agree the water doesn’t move.”
Let me get this straight. When the beavers were alive there was too much water. And now that the beavers are dead there’s not enough flow? And you’re in Massachusettes? Where solutions from both Mike Callahan and Skip Lisle are about 2 hours away from you?
“The wetland is behind our property,” wrote David Saunders of 12 Brentwood Circle. Saunders was unable to attend the meeting, and neighbor Mary Jalbert read his letter to the selectmen. “We have never seen flooding as bad as it has been this year in June and July. In the past we have had many temporary flooding events in the springtime — but they receded very soon after the rain fall subsided. This year they did not recede.”
Gosh, worse flooding than ever before. Those dam beavers! Moving in and ruining everything with the furry ways. Oh wait,
Rainfall was the big story in June’s weather
Rainfall was the headliner this year. June gave us copious amounts. We had 17 days with rain, much of it from tropical downpours that flooded streets and homes locally. From the 6th to the 8th, we had over 3 inches of rain here in Salem. Thunderstorms were no strangers. We had six days that produced these storms, some with an abundance of thunder, lightning and damaging winds.
So you had more rain than usual and even though the beavers built up their dams to keep the water, some flowed over while the dams were there. But you didn’t like all that water and hired a trapper and lo and behold in August the water isn’t flowing anymore! And now you’re worried about mosquitoes and mold. Oh and something worse.
He said algae was covering the wetlands now, and worse yet, a dead beaver was causing an awful stink. He said the trapper had told him dead beavers are not allowed to be removed but they can be buried, which was done.
“They buried it and supposedly turtles brought it back up,” said Soles. “And it’s rotting and we can’t open up our windows.”
I think I am more fond of this graphic than any I ever made. I suppose a healthy turtle would eat carrion. But even with my vivid imagination it is hard for me that they would unbury a beaver corpse and chow down. It was even harder for me to imagine that dead beaver bodies couldn’t be removed in MA. The entire state would be drowning in them if that were so! I asked our resident MA expert who happens to be married to a trapper. “Not true and completely ridiculous” was his answer. Apparently the reporter of this story didn’t bother with the cumbersome burden of verification.
Grave-robbing turtles, mold and mosquitoes, you would think this story couldn’t get any better. But gentle reader, you’d be wrong.
Jalbert raised another concern. A “floating” sewer was installed in that neighborhood and she wondered if the rising water levels would affect its performance
Floating sewer? A sewer that floats? Now how could that possibly go wrong? This entire town seems woefully unready for the demands of civilization. Honestly this whole story is rumor after heresay after gossip after imagination. I seem to remember this area was famous once for believing impossibly crazy things that their neighbors uttered and taking it for fact. You would think that in 321 years the region would have learned at least to look for a smidgeon of evidence before taking irreversible action.
