AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

They're no joke...

Our 200 year old house is surrounded by ten acres of woods, including quite a bit of swampland. More than two decades ago, the state created beaver heaven by building an elevated highway that created a natural hundred foot high dam at the edge of the wetland. They somehow decided that the more than two acres of upstream wetland could be sufficiently drained by a single, yeah really, single 3 foot diameter culvert, creating a paradise for the buck toothed little rodents to move right in.

We've had our share of high water over the years, but this time we also got well over 12 inches of rainfall in a few days, creating a flood that threatened our ability to stay in the house - nowhere to pump the water in the cellar, which rose over our furnace and hot water heater, and was within less than two feet of the main electric service.

So for the past three days, I've been trying to demolish the beaver dam faster than they can rebuild it. This involves hiking two thirds of a mile chest deep in swampwater, then spending two hours with shovel, pickaxe, and hands, tearing down about ten feet of their dam, while the rushing water behind you threatens to push you face first down the culvert. You can only get it so far until the water rises to the top of the culvert and threatens to suck you in, so then it's hike back to the house, wait two or three hours for the water level to drop, then go back and spend another couple hours digging. I've spent about twenty hours doing this over the past three days, and look like Captain Willard wading in the river in Apocalypse Now. After looking at the topo maps and doing some calculation, I think that I singlehandedly drained about 1.3 million gallons of water through that three foot hole over the last four days. We will have trappers come in the next couple days to remove the little critters from their lodge, and there's no heavy rain in the forecast for a few days.


But I'm wondering how long it will be until the lodge has new tenants, and what we can do to permanently solve the problem, or at least reduce it. I've been reading up on beaver pipes, drains, siphons, and various other methods, but I'm looking for real world experiences.


So I'm posting the question here, as well as on a number of other fora and social media. We seem to have a lot of rural members, including a lot from areas susceptible to beavers.


Any ideas, hive mind?


Andy

retiredsgt Loc: Red Lion Pa.

Back in 1988, I bought some land (49 Acres) in the bottom of the Shenandoah Valley in Va. Had 15 acres of good bottom land with a stream running through it. Also had Beavers. A storm took out the dam, and a local trapped them out. They can be a pain ! Good Luck.

olemikey Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida

Wow, tough deal Andy! Have you talked to the officials about you're dilemma? Some thoughts - I gladly pay every year for the Federal Flood insurance, its quite cheap (as insurance goes) as I'm at 15 ft. above sea level and the St. Johns basin is very near (I'm actually in it, just a foot or two higher than my friends who live on the river, and they have been treading water for several months) and has been at flood stage for months now. It has not flooded into my area in many decades, but I know that doesn't mean a thing. Get ahold of state/county/township engineering folks and ask for help. Short of that, perhaps a box of dynamite or some c-4. I feel your pain!

I have a natural seasonal pond behind me that does not drain anywhere until it gets so deep that it runs over the berms, meanwhile, over the years I've brought in fill and dug a couple small ponds and raised a large portion (half acre) of the back yard so that we have a dry back yard! My stubborn neighbors just lose their back yards for months at a time during the wet season, or after hurricanes and tropical storms.

You need engineering help, go after them...should be easy to make you and the beavers happy!! Be careful and Good luck.

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

Thanks, Mikey.

We are in a weird position here - the dam and culvert are actually on state property, so they should theoretically be required to keep them flowing. But they don't, and in our state they are so underfunded that I can't really blame them too much. So I've been either voluntarily assisting, or interfering with state property for a week now. The state is emphatically NOT going to dig a new 1,000 foot culvert under the existing highway unless many more homes are affected. By that time, our house would literally be washed away. We're the last home before the dam, except for our next door neighbors, who are on a somewhat higher spot. So we can't engineer our way out of the situation. I'm not licensed for explosives, and we can't even shoot a gun off within city limits, which we are.

The lodge, however, is on our side of the fence, and removal of the beavers may be legally done on our side, but only by a licensed trapper. According to the conservation department, the cost is on us. They can't be cruel to the little guys, so they have to wade in, set their traps, and return each day to check them. It will take at least a week, maybe more.

My wife is going through the list of locally licensed trappers, but so far, she doesn't think anyone will be able to get started before next week. There's no rain in the forecast and we're monitoring to make sure that water is still flowing - I expect we'll have more than two million gallons down that hole before all is said and done. I'll be adding flood insurance after this episode is done, but the agent says we can't until the problem is resolved, hopefully for good.

Once Bucky and his wife are gone, and the level is lower, I'm going to start looking into installing one of these siphons, drains, or pipes in the area next to the culvert. I'll be trespassing, but I don't expect to get arrested; you literally can't see the culvert from the highway - you have to hike down the embankment and know where it is. I don't think I'll be getting any thank you notes either, though....

Andy

olemikey Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida

Boy, its tuff and your right, not much help for the individual (a neighborhood, maybe). I had it easy as I had a little Bobcat 325 excavator that I bought as an investment when the economy crashed last time. I wish I had kept it, but a few thousand profit was so tempting. Have you looked at maybe raising your yard some, or adding a berm to stave off the flood waters? Lots of folks in this area do the raised yard, or berm-up and trash pump deal, and great thing about the trash pump, you can run one with a generator so even if the power is out, so is the water. If the basement is suffering from ground water incursion, well, you know that will be another fight. I hear you on the trespassing...hey ya gotta do what ya gotta do...and I can't imagine a jury or judge putting the hurt on you.....but they could. I'm not one to ever hurt wildlife (I haven't hunted in over 40 years)...but sometimes a 22 rifle with subsonic shells will do a great job, and they do make some mighty fine air rifles these days (folks even hunt big game with them).

I just had another thought...you know how they use fireworks at airports and other places to run off the birds....I wonder if you could rig some sort of sonic device to run the buggers off......maybe a driveway sensor to see them, and set off a horn or buzzer...maybe a sub-woofer and throw some heavy bass at them!!!! Fireworks!! C'mon hoggers...we need ideas. If they do bust you, we will have to set-up a go-fund-me page to bail you out and help with legals!! Now, maybe if an old Florida Alligator happened to visit the wetland for a couple months....hmmmmm ….. I know where there are tons of them!!!

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

Ha!


We can't raise the yard or house - those old New England farmers back in 1840 didn't actually engineer the sturdiest structures, and the sill level isn't going to change without a reconstruction and elevation that would cost more than the house is worth. Getting the beavers evicted is step one. I can hand demolish the lodge once the water level is down - too wet and mucky even for a bobcat. Step three is rigging something that would make the whole site less appealing for future generations, and some of these beaver pipes and beaver siphons might be useful for that. The only drawback is that you need some amount of standing water for them to be effective, but I think I can do the calculations and shoot the grades myself. And the cost is minimal, just some 6 inch PVC and an elbow joint or two.


I'm hoping that my messages on all my boards and social media reveal someone who's actually experimented with this.


You gave me an idea, though. Fireworks are legal here in the Granite State. I wonder if a couple of M-80s dropped down the upper exit might hasten Mr. and Mrs. Bucky's departure? Especially after Trapper John has set his traps. I know if someone dropped explosives down my chimney while I was sleeping, I'd head for the nearest exit!


Andy

olemikey Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida

Waterproof fireworks would certainly bother the heck out of them. Or some other sonic device underwater maybe - some sort of acoustic "thumper" or siren. I hear you on the wet and mucky, I stuck the bobcat ( mine was a "tracked" version) in the bottom of my first pond, thankfully it had more than enough power to lift and push/pull it out with the arm. I learned a lot about running excavators with that Bobcat....
I was looking at and reading about the beaver pipes and that looks like an interesting project (and your right about the low cost), you should be able to do that and get the result you are looking for. If I didn't live so far away I'd jump in the jeep and come supervise!!! lol

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

Thanks, Mike!

My wife says I need some good supervision.

Years ago, when the firm I was with owned heavy equipment, I learned how to operate dozers, and played around a little with other equipment, purely for the fun of it. One of the lessons I've never forgotten is that the smaller the equipment is, the tougher it is to operate consistently. Fortunately, you don't need much precision to take down the "Hotel du Castor"!

What I would need is a larger chainsaw to take down the big trees needed to get any kind of machinery in there....

I'll let you know how I make out after I get further down the road. Fortunately, the weather forecasts still look clear, but we're still waiting to hear back from the trappers.

Andy

olemikey Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida

Nothing like a good chainsaw, I have several smaller ones - 8", 14"/16" and 16"/18" (I have several length bars/chains for each). I have to get creative with the oak trees and the huge pines, they are way to big for my little saws. Funny thing after the last hurricane, finding chainsaw blades (even the saws) was tough for while, everybody had trees down and you had to order them to get them, nothing local! I burned Red Maple, Pine and Oak all winter, and I still have more to cut up, several more trees to take down when I feel like it.
The brand of chainsaw isn't really that important (unless you make your living with it) but the blades do matter - the only ones that seem to hold up are the Stihl brand.
My son has run the huge dragline excavators (mining excavators) and all forms of equipment, me, small dozers, back hoe, farm tractors and such...wouldn't want to do it for a living, but they are fun!
I always wonder what would happen with the St. Johns river if the sea level were to rise say 6-12" ???? I know the monsoon rains can fill the basin pretty quickly, 24" of rain in one weekend… woohoo! The ground here is still saturated, we've all been wary of this hurricane season, thankfully its looking like low probability. If the weather patterns do change and bring more moisture to the mid and northern parts of the US, you could be looking at water problems forever. Guess I'll go throw rocks in my pond - like I said, be careful, that beaver might get ya!!!!!
I hope the weather holds for you. Keep us informed, we're here for you in spirit, if nothing else!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

They say that beavers often have a beneficial effect on the landscape, but not when houses are getting flooded.

There's a true funny story about a man dealing with beaver dams and civil authorities. Very funny. I'll try to find it.

EDIT: Got it!

https://www.truthorfiction.com/beaverdam/

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

That's hysterical! I wonder if New Hampshire has the death penalty for beavers who build a damn dam without a dam permit?

We aren't out of the woods on this one yet, but I think we've got a path to getting rid of the dam and beavers, and if I figure out one of these siphons or pipes, we may not have this problem again.

Thanks for the laugh, Jerry!

Andy

olemikey Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida

Good one!

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

The "Old Trapper" is coming tomorrow. Ten bucks per trap per day, plus a beaver bounty of $40 per beaver. My wife says he sounds a bit like "The Old Ranger" from Death Valley Days! I was hoping he'd sound more like The Terminator. If we can get rid of the critters before the weekend, we're probably going to be okay. Once I install a beaver siphon, even if they come back they won't be able to build a dam high enough to put us underwater again.

Andy

newtoyou Loc: Eastport

Your state should take care of this. If not, get a hunting friend to do it on the sly. I believe the fate is the same. They are good eating and WILL NOT probably leave any time soon. Tree's will start to suffer as they store for the winter. No sense wasting the animal. Bill

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

Should and Will are two different verbs. They “might” take care of the dam, but we’ll be underwater by the time they get to it. The lodge is on our side of the line, so it’s our responsibility.

Andy

The trapper will apparently release Bucky and his family in the nearest National Forest. You can’t use a gun to do it - we are within the city limits.

Andy