UF wildlife club wins seven awards at Clemson University
Hunter Slade, a 21-year-old UF wildlife ecology and conservation senior, and Tiffany Oliver, a 20-year-old UF wildlife ecology and conservation senior, coordinated the event for the UF team.
Slade’s pottery sculpture of a turtle received first place in free-form art. “It was a pretty simple design, but it was painted well,” he said, attributing his success to his attention to lighting and detail in the glazing process.
If Clemson University sounds vaguely familiar to you, it should. It was the origin of the Clemson Pond Leveler, the most widely recognized flow device and the first to really make people think beavers could be managed without trapping. The Clemson was a rigid pipe with perforations that went under the dam – it was notorious for getting plugged, costing $$ and being a bear to install. But it was the FIRST and the easiest tool to find out about on the internet. In fact, a couple from Lafayette promised to donate one to Martinez when the beavers’ fate was in question.
Which makes it all the more stunning to read this next passage:
The highlight of Oliver’s experience, she said, was a field trip that displayed nuisance-animal trapping methods and solutions.
“We got to watch a beaver dam blow up,” she said.
Just so we’re clear, the Clemson inspired the more successful designs by Skip Lisle and Mike Callahan – and their pipes designs are much easier to install and more reliable, which is why we have successfully controlled dam height for 6 years.
Although, maybe not as reliable as dynamite.
