- Wildlife biologists from the new wildlife response innovations and service division of the United States Humane Society work to create the notch in the beaver dam where the pipe will be placed. (Submitted photo)
Sutherlin camp balances harmony with man, beaver
Written by Danielle Vaughn
In an attempt to co-exist with the beavers living on their campgrounds, board members of Camp Selah Ministries in Sutherlin sought help from wildlife biologists of wildlife response innovations and services division of the United States Humane Society. These biologists spent all day Saturday implementing an innovative device designed to prevent the beaver dams from flooding camp roads.
Hey! I recognize those waders! Wow that notch in the dam looks so familiar! Some one’s getting a flow device! In Virginia?
The board initially considered removing the beavers but decided instead to consult with the Humane Society which conducted a site evaluation and recommended a flow device to prevent flooding and alleviate road damage. “We are really grateful that there are people who are compassionate and care about animals and their habitat,” Hardy said.
Hurray for the Humane Society! And hurray for flow devices! We’re always happy to see another conversion in the beaver wars! So you get to keep your beavers and keep that lovely pond and keep all the wildlife that rely on it!
Its main focus [of the Christian Camp] is the nurture and care of children, and they thought it would be good for the children to learn how to embrace the beavers as God’s creation and co-exist with them at the camp instead of removing them or killing them.“We hope it will be good for the beavers, good for the land, good for the water and good for the children,” Hardy said.
Can I get an Amen? Wow! ‘Suffer the little beavers to come unto me’! I can’t disagree with any part of that sentence, and since beavers are a charismatic species as well as a keystone species, children will love to learn about your furry resident believers. Check out the ‘teachers’ tab on the website for lots of inspired children’s activities about beavers. Let’s see what it says about the flow device.
The water flow devices consist of flexible corrugated plastic pipes, sized to the particular job but usually somewhere between eight and 15 inches in diameter. The device is installed by notching the existing dam and then running and securing the pipe in the gap. The sound and feel of water running through the pipe stimulates the beaver to attempt repairing the dam at the site of the notch, but not at the pipe ends, and thus, the upstream water level is maintained at a depth that meets the camp’s needs.
To ensure beavers or debris don’t block the upstream end of the system, a filtering device also will be installed.
Well, now! That is very very close to describing what a flow device actually does – although it has no mention of beavers feeling suction, which they clearly do. I started to realize this when I read the passage of ‘Three Against the Wilderness” that described the beavers sensitive guard hairs feeling leaks in the dam. But got an even better idea this year when our filter washed away and Dad quickly plugged the pipe (which is very far from the dam). Then Mike’s photo cinched it….
The point being that the ‘filter’ protecting the pipe has to be shaped so that beavers can’t feel the water being pulled into the opening. It makes since that the pond is their home turf and they know the territory over and UNDER water very well, so any new drain is going to get noticed. And if they do feel it, they will FIX it.
“This is a win-win for Camp Selah and the beavers,” Stephanie Boyles Griffin, senior director of Wildlife Response, Innovations and Services said. “Not only will installing a pipe system solve the camp’s flooding problems, the camp’s efforts to find and implement a humane, non-lethal solution to their beaver management dilemma is now and will continue to be a living testimony of the camp’s primary tool of ministry: embracing of God’s creation at Camp Selah,” Griffin said.
A fine end to a lovely article! I am thrilled that there are new beaver believers in the world and a new flow device in Virginia! This is as good an opportunity as any I’m likely to get to say that oh, by the way, given beavers extreme sensitivity to flow and suction, this 
wherever possible should look like this → 
instead!
