Beavers May Breathe A Dam Site Easier

Humane Society Says Device Limits Flooding But Allows Animals To Stay

•A beaver swims at the pond at Pequot Woods in Mystic Thursday.

Mystic — Beaver lovers can breathe easier. The town of Groton may have found an affordable solution to the flooding caused by the beaver dam at Pequot Woods park that won’t require trapping and killing the animals, or a complex boardwalk and bridge project.

This morning, Parks and Recreation Director John Silsby will meet with Skip Hilliker at the spot where the dam is flooding the main hiking trail through the park to discuss the possibility of installing a water flow control device. As a wildlife technician for the Humane Society of the United States’ Connecticut office in Woodbridge, Hilliker’s job is to build the devices, also called beaver impeders, to solve human-beaver conflicts without sacrificing the beaver.

“We’re hoping this will be a good solution that we can afford,” said Silsby, who fielded about a half-dozen calls this week from people concerned about the beavers. “I never wanted to get rid of the beavers. We wanted to get rid of the problem.”

After an article about the beaver dam and flooding at the park was published in The Day on Monday and followed by two television news reports on the same topic, about 14 people called the Humane Society’s wildlife hotline and asked it to help, said Laura Simon, field director for the society’s urban wildlife program.

People were concerned because the state Department of Environmental Protection only allows kill-trapping of beavers, not relocation, because the growing beaver population is already occupying all available habitat in the state. Alternatively, the DEP also suggests that water control devices and other measures be considered instead of kill-trapping, allowing beavers to stay where they are but easing the flooding problems their dams can cause. Carrie Pomfrey, DEP wildlife technician, said she also contacted the Human Society about installing a water control device in Pequot Woods.

The society, in turn, contacted the town to let it know that it can install the devices.

The beaver dam sits immediately adjacent to the trail, atop an old stone dam at one end of a small pond in the park. A beaver lodge, where a beaver and its mate live with their kits, is located on the opposite shore. Beavers build dams to raise the water level to an area to protect their lodges from predators and give themselves easier access to the plants they eat.

Simon said the society installs about 25 of the devices each year, and charges between $400 and $900, just enough to cover the cost of the equipment, supplies and some of the labor. The device consists of a flexible pipe threaded through the dam, so that the water flow is no longer blocked, and a cage on the other end of the pipe to prevent the opening from becoming clogged. Usually, the pipe needs to be cleaned of debris once a month.

“It takes about 15 minutes to clear them,” Simon said.

Hilliker said he’s been installing the devices for the last 25 years, and that, in most cases, they have been effective. The key to successful installation, he said, is setting them so that the water level is high enough for the beavers and low enough to stop the flooding as much as possible.

“I try to set a happy medium between the property owner and the beaver,” he said. “Most people want a humane solution.”

Silsby and Town Manager Mark Oefinger said that after today’s site visit, the Humane Society will submit a formal proposal to the town with a cost estimate. Then the town will decide whether to approve the project.

The Human Society’s wildlife hotline can be reached at: (203) 389-4411.

http://wildlifehotline.org/beavers.html

by: Judy Benson - The Day.com