Date: Fri 20-Oct-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

beavers-Hanover-Seaman-

Full Text:

with cut: A Busy Time Of Year For The Town's Beaver Patrol

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

The town's beaver patrol was on a roll Wednesday, unplugging several drainage

pipes blocked with the muck, sticks and twigs, which beavers had placed there

to create the ponds where beavers build their lodges.

Town Highway Department equipment operator Milton Adams carefully maneuvered a

yellow backhoe along a treacherous section of Hanover Road near a stream which

leads to Cavanaugh Pond. After positioning the backhoe at the edge of a pond

near 97 Hanover Road, Mr Adams thrust the backhoe's shovel underwater, pulling

masses of muck out and away from the leading edge of the three-foot-diameter

concrete culvert, allowing water to flow from the pond on the west side of the

road, underneath the road and into a stream on the opposite side.

The water rapidly sluiced through the culvert and poured into the stream. A

large vortex was created in the pond where the water was draining away. Debris

which had been lodged in pipe shot through it. Large sections of tree trunk

could be seen bobbing downstream in the stream which had grown enormously in

width.

In a "whoooosh," the muddy, putrid smelling water rapidly disappeared

downstream toward Cavanaugh Pond.

Highway department workers Pete Daccolti and Paul Tani positioned themselves

on either side of the backhoe to warn passing motorists that work was in

progress in the area.

Although the culvert under Hanover Road had been unplugged, the beavers would

be back that night to start replugging it, according to Mr Adams.

"They (beavers) keep us busy. We've got good job security with them," Mr Adams

quipped.

The Hanover Road stop was one of several the beaver patrol made on Wednesday.

Boggs Hill Road, Brennan Road and Homestead Lane also were on the itinerary.

Other local beaver problem spots include Currituck Road, Echo Valley Road and

Lands End Road.

The town plans to install a grate over the culvert under Hanover Road so that

beavers can't get inside the drainage pipe to thoroughly plug it up.

One culvert was so plugged with beaver-borne debris that the road crew had to

use battering rams to unblock it.

Although an effectively used backhoe in several munutes undid what it took

beavers many hours and days to do, the beavers will do their best to match the

industry of the town workers in the coming days, according to Mr Adams who has

been unplugging beaver-plugged culverts for the past five years.

The town's dispatch of the beaver patrol followed a Hanover Road woman's

complaints that a dirt road in her yard had flooded after recent heavy rains.

Bridget Seaman of 97 Hanover Road has called for the town to increase amount

of maintenance it does to keep water flowing freely through the culvert there.

The culvert is just north of the area where the Iroquois and Algonquin natural

gas pipelines cross beneath the road.

After the heavy rains, a pond that lies on her property expanded due to the

blockage in the culvert, Ms Seaman said Tuesday.

Ms Seaman said the dirt road on her property is used for access to firewood

for winter heating in her home. Ms Seaman noted her domestic water well is on

the edge of the area which flooded. Surface water in which beavers are active

can contaminate water wells.

Ms Seaman said the active beavers repeatedly fill up the culvert with

branches, trees, weeds and mud. By building dams across streams, beavers

create the habitat necessary for the construction of their aquatic homes which

are known as lodges.

Besides the culvert which has repeatedly become plugged by the beavers, the

beavers have built numerous dams downstream of the pond on Newtown Forest

Association land, causing water backups which affect her property, Ms Seaman

said.

Ms Seaman said she experiences water backup problems on her property several

times a year. Besides, beaver, the watery area is the home of turtles, aquatic

birds and frogs, she said.

Ms Seaman said she finds beavers to be fascinating albeit troublesome animals.

Cleaning out the culvert should be a regular town maintenance item, Ms Seaman

said.

Ms Seaman said the town should reposition a capstone atop the culvert which

had been removed. Also, a grating should be placed across the upstream face of

the culvert to make cleaning it easier, she said. The town also should

routinely open up dams created by beavers downstream on Newtown Forest

Association land, according to Ms Seaman.

Relocating beavers to other areas is ineffective in the long run because the

beavers return, she said.

In an October 16 letter to The Bee, Ms Seaman and her husband, James Walker,

write, in part, "I've lived in this area for most of my life and the only

thing that I have seen do anything with the beaver problem is a permanent

defense. They may have to kill them, or trap and relocate them, but it doesn't

matter; they always come back. During their active seasons, you have to keep

after them. Being the homeowners behind this particular culvert, we are

willing to help, but we can't take care of all these dams alone. We need the

help of the town that owns the culvert and the road, and the (Newtown) Forest

Association that owns the land that the rest of the dams are on."

Town Public Works Director Fred Hurley said Wednesday that because the town

backhoe is being repaired, the town had to rent out a backhoe to clear out the

plugged culverts. The town will replace the capstone over the culvert there in

the future, he said.

The town responds to complaints about plugged culverts when it is called, but

it doesn't make routine maintenance checks at such spots, he said.

It's currently an active time of the year for beavers as they prepare for

winter, he said.

Mr Hurley said the town had told Ms Seaman the town would correct the blockage

problem when it was possible to do so.