This just in: Beaver build dams! And repair them! Who knew? Apparently not the residents of Canal Street near Lake Theresa in North Carolina.
Linden residents trace swamp issues to beaver dams
LINDEN – Residents on Canal Street have a waterfront view of Lake Teresa, but they’re not happy about water encroaching from the other side of the street. A swamp has formed in what was once a wooded area between Canal Street and a field off Lane Road near Linden.
Bob Hathcock, who lives on the street, is leading a community effort to do something about the swamp, which appears to be caused by beaver dams on a creek that drains into the nearby Cape Fear River. He has contacted county, state and federal officials about the issue.
Two of Hathcock’s neighbors, Ray Mitcham and Jackie Bunnell, used axes and machetes on Monday to create four holes in a 200-foot wide beaver dam downstream from the swamp across from their homes. By the next day, their work had made a difference in a pond the dam has formed.
“It’s gone down at least two feet,” Mitcham said.
The effort caused the swamp near Canal Street to go down slightly the next day, Hathcock said. Mitcham said he thinks there are at least two other dams. “We thought we’d work on the biggest one first,” he said.
Mitcham said the beavers may have to be killed, because they are likely to keep fixing the dam.
Oh no! You must have those rare, rebuilding beavers! That almost never always happens. It’s a good thing NC allows you to shoot them any time you want without a permit! Honestly, I could write them and tell them how to install a flow device and send them a Mike’s DVD, but what’s the point? They’re not going to listen, they’ll just keep watching the lake rise until they get off their butts and hire a trapper and I woke up annoyed this morning.
I think I need to join the Alt Park Service. Who has decided that even though our dear leader has outlawed science and discussion of Climate Change, and might disband the endangered species act next, it’s worth using their skills to resist.
