Beaver Dams Pose Problems To Town Water Flow

By Kendra Bobowick

What the beaver builds, the town takes away. “It’s a constant battle” between a backhoe and beavers building dams along Boggs Hill Road, said Land Use Agency Deputy Director George Benson.

Mr Benson and others aim to keep a nearby bog’s water level from flooding the road and nearby properties by pulling out beaver dams periodically, but some residents are concerned. Are the spring peepers and wildlife in and around the water being harmed? James Opdahl worries about eggs laid in the shallows that are left exposed when the water drops down, he said. Aquatic life aside, he said, “It looks awful when they drop the water.” Once drained, “It’s puddles of mud,” he said.

Despite his concerns with the town’s ongoing efforts to clear a waterway clogged with dams, Mr Opdahl agrees with Mr Benson on one point: “The town tears down the dam, and the beavers just fix it overnight. [The town] won’t win that battle,” he said.

Public Works Director Fred Hurley said crews “opened part of a [blocked] pipe to lower the water.” With beavers damming up water flow, flooding becomes a concern, he said. He has received calls from people about flooding in their yards. Aware of Mr Opdahl’s concerns, and also aware of the water potentially rising up to the road, Mr Hurley said, “You can’t win on these deals…”

Periodically crews will clear the blockages for a controlled release. “We’ll drain it down a foot or so to take the fear of flooding away,” he said.

Boggs Hill is just one of several areas in town that sees beaver activity.

The Newtown Forest Association (NFA) took steps in recent years to manage beaver dams at its 14.9-acre Cavanaugh Pond and property along Echo Valley Road. Dan Holmes of Holmes Fine Gardens had worked with the NFA to create a beaver dam exclusion area near a culvert. The beavers would be able to build their structures near, but not blocking, areas of water flow.

NFA President Bob Eckenrode wrote in an e-mail this week, “Cavanaugh Pond is a good example of co-existing with our furry flat-tailed friends. After much research and a grant from Iroquois Gas, the NFA was able to install an array of submerged pipes much like a hand with five outstretched fingers called aptly ‘The Beaver Deceiver,’” he said.

 After two seasons the exclusion area requires minimal maintenance, “but does have to be cleaned out periodically and adjusted,” and the water levels have been manageable, he said. When Mr Eckenrode visited the pond this spring, he found turtles sunning themselves on a partially submerged log. He considers it “a tribute to maintaining a balanced ecosystem.”

Can we co-exist? he asked. “Yes we can,” Mr Eckenrode said. Although he believes the beavers “are relentless” in their efforts to build dams and potentially clog up waterways.

Conservation Commission Chairman Mary Gaudet Wilson said her commission is planning to send a letter to the state seeking guidelines for removing dams. She believes “there should be guidelines and [efforts] should be coordinated with the town.”

Why? The state’s recent request that a private landowner remove dams on a Sherman Road property left commissioners, including Joe Hovious, with questions. The dam, removed on April 17, happened in a sudden rush. “The Pootatuck River flood range jumped,” Mr Hovious said. Also a Candlewood Valley Trout Unlimited (CVTU) member, Mr Hovious received a call from another CVTU member who happened to be fishing in the Pootatuck River at the time and had wondered what was happening. The water went up and was warm suddenly, Mr Hovious had learned.

A sudden release of the water held back by the beaver dam rushed from the Sherman Road property off of Route 34, and entered a waterway crossing Sugarloaf Road off of Sherman, headed for Curtis Pond, less than 100 yards from Curtis Packaging. The outflow eventually reached the Pootatuck River, which flows toward Sandy Hook Center.

“There need to be guidelines so you don’t flush everything down,” Mr Hovious said. The dam removal “also needs to be sensitive to time of year.” For example, “Are there fish breeding, bird and animal nesting? And there ought to be notification to the town to get some feedback back and forth.”

Statistics from a water gauge in the Pootatuck mark the sudden changes. See USGS.gov. US Geological Survey (USGS) is the nation’s largest water, earth, and biological science and civilian mapping agency; it collects, monitors, analyzes, and provides scientific understanding about natural resource conditions, issues, and problems.