A Busy Winter

The beavers have not been idol over the winter.  I don't know if it is a reaction to the snow or anticipation of the spring melt and pond level rises, but they have increased the height of their lodge about the water level by about 30%.

I dug back into my archive of pictures and found a few shots that give a perspective of change over the years.  These three shots speak for themselves. (Click on the pictures to enlarge.) You can see some of the winter food cache to the left of the lodge in the October 2014 picture.  It's obvious that as they ate the bark and small branches, they used the large remains to built the lodge skyward.

Unfortunately, while the roofs of our condos survived the snow and ice, the same can't be said for the culvert fence.  The weight of the snow and the rise and fall of the ice, took its toll and the far end of the culvert cage has collapsed.  The good news is that a temporary repair should only take a few minutes and reinforcement can be made later in the spring when Mike Callahan installs the pond leveler.

While the repair should only take a few minutes, I have to make sure I get to the repair before the beavers discover they have access to the culvert.  That mean daily treks to watch for sufficient melting to allow for a rather cold few minutes of repair.  Hopefully my waders are sufficiently insulated.

I know there is a double entendre here about squirrels watching and nuts, but I'll refrain from committing it to writing.  Let your imagination and your conscience be your guide.

Beaver Dams are Tough

Ever since realizing we would be going into winter with the water level in the pond at the highest level it has ever been, I've been monitoring it closely and chatting with the experts on FaceBook's Beaver Management Forum. Consensus is that thanks to millions of years of evolution, the beavers know how to make tough dams. Instances of dam failure are few and in the vast majority of cases, failures are due to human intervention or extremely unusual situations such as a tree falling on the dam.

After three days of rain, water is running over the dam in a few places, but the feeling is that the dam is tough and the flow will ebb as the water level drops.

It's a good think I don't believe in omens because as I was composing my last post to the beaver forum,  I was flipping through the channels and just happened to stop on this...

Another Dam Problem

By now you are familiar with our ongoing chess game with the beavers, who want to dam our culverts. While we've reached somewhat of a balance, the game goes on.

During the summer and spring, heavy rains and fast run off spur the beavers into action, and minor work is needed to keep the culverts clear.  It's like shuffling pawns.  By the end of this summer, I had them in check and was feeling pretty good about things.  However, when I took my walk this morning, I found that while I had the beavers in check, Mother Nature stepped in to make their next move for them.


As each winter approaches I look forward to break from the chess game, because the pond freezes, snows covers it, and the beavers are less active.  We both need the rest, because we know that it's always the calm before the storm.  When the spring rains, the melting, and the run-off find their way to the pond, the water level rises, the dam leaks, the beavers react, and the chess game begins once again.

This morning as I walked along the pond, I noticed that most of last week's six inches of snow had melted and found it's way into the pond, BEFORE it froze. This means we may be starting the winter with a pond level that is considerably higher than it has ever been. 

That gave me cause for concern, in terms of spring thaw.  The pond level should go down some in the next week or so as it always does after a rain. Still, I wanted to do something in case it didn't or in case Mother Nature decided to get nasty.

During the summer, debris collected in the culvert pipes.  This kept the flow from upper pond to lower pond slow enough so that the beavers don't get all worked up about it.  I just let it stay there, figuring I would clear it in the spring as is my normal routine, but after seeing the level of the pond, I though that removing the debris could be serve as a mini-safety valve. It would drop the level of the water in the culvert basin by about six inches and in a small way,  help the movement of water from upper to lower pond.  It won't really do a lot, but whatever it does is better than doing nothing.

Now, if Mother Nature removes herself from our chess game, perhaps we can achieve a stalemate next year.  Time will tell.

Prepping for Winter

Just past the first bench on the pond trail, I came across evidence that the beavers are in full prep mode. I saw three trees blocking the path. As I came closer to inspect their handy work, I noticed they had actually felled FIVE trees on the north side of the trail. However, they had already dismantled two and a half of them.





 

Their escape route was clearly marked. Further investigation revealed that they had made quick work of at least a half dozen more trees on the southern side of the trail.

Walking back home, it became obvious that some of it was put to use on their lodge, and the rest was probably stored for winter feasting.

It will be interesting to see how much activity there will be tonight. I didn't have time to set up my trail camera.  Maybe the opportunity will arise again soon.  I wonder if beaver activity in any way forecasts the severity of the coming winter?

Playing Chess with the Beavers

Blocking the culvert pipes from the outflow side was their last move.  I countered by, blocking off the outflow side with 6" square wire mesh.  This video shows their move and my next counter-move.

Fences Make Good Neighbors

Yesterday, after the latest attempts by the beavers to stem the flow of water through the culverts, I did some clearing of the pipes, as seen in yesterday's post.

As with the original problem, I contacted Mike Callahan and the folks at the Beaver Management Forum, and after speaking with Mike, we agreed that fencing around the outflow would do the trick. Here's the end result.

I have no doubt that they will do their best to stem the flow at the active pipe. However, the damming should be on the outside and easy to manage. The winter meld and spring rains, always present problems, but as summer progresses and the pond levels out, things usually quiet down.

Let's keep our fingers crossed. 

They're Baaaaaaaak!

The heavy winter and wet spring of 2010 caused significant leakage in the dam and heavy flow through the culvert.   (For those of you who are new here, it is the sound and feel of running water that simulates the instinct to dam.)

Three years ago, we stymied their efforts to dam the culvert pipes by clearing them and installing a culvert protection cage.  This allowed the ponds to level and controlled the flow through the culvert.

For three years they weren't bothered by the relatively slow and distant outflow, but this winter's snow has caused another dramatic rise in the pond height with a similar impact on beaver activity.  Only now, they are damming the INSIDE of the culvert pipes.

So the struggle for peaceful co-existence is on once again. This is something we have to stay on top of until we come up with a solution.  More rain means more damming.  Dropping pond level will stop the damming.

Right now, the last two of the four culvert pipes are clean. Here I am doing my reverse beaver imitation on the first pipe along with some closing commentary from one of the beavers.