An Open Letter to Bill Reid

Dear Bill,

On January 9, you wrote an article for the Norwich Bulletin, titled Exploring The Last Green Valley:Beavers are nature's engineer.  For the most part it was a positive article which gave beavers their due respect as engineers and agents of positive ecological change.  On the negative side, you also express your love-hate relationship with our common friend and the actions you had to take; namely trapping and killing them. 

Indeed, when beavers come in conflict with human interests and income, there can be frustration that results in short term relief to the two legged interests, but rather negative consequences to the beaver who are trapped and killed.  However, as you noted, the relief is short lived, because the beavers are soon replaced by others.  What most people don't realize is that there is a better solution.

I'm sure as you look down the road, you see a picture of ongoing conflict, beaver trapping, and the associated expense and time involved in protecting your interests.  We were once in your shoes.  Trapping has been a solution for hundreds of year, but now there is a better way.   Let me present you with another picture; one in which the pond is maintained at it's current state, future growth is stopped, the beaver population is maintained at about the current level, and you build a long term relationship with your furry neighbors.  You might even get to know them by name.

The reason trapping is a short term solution, is because of a fact you missed in your article.  Beavers are very territorial and they self limit their population.  When their kits become about 2 years old, they are sent packing.  They will travel up to 50 miles in search of another pond. often falling prey to predators along.  So when you trap beavers on your pond, all you have done is put a big Vacancy sign of the Reid Pond Motel.

The reason beaver populations grow is because, as ponds grow they will support more beavers.  The two year-olds just move to the far end of the pond and stay out of mom and dad's hair.  The secret to limiting beaver populations is to take advantage of the two pieces of information; namely that beaver move on in two years and if the pond doesn't grow big enough to support them, they will move elsewhere.

If that sounds like the ravings of an animal nut, I would have to plead guilty to the animal nut part, but believe me when I say I have not been partaking of any illegal substances, nor am I diluted.  You see, we here at Sherwood Glen have been peacefully co-existing with beavers that inhabit our pond since our first conflict in 2009.  We have done it through a program of culvert protection and pond leveling devices.  The beavers have done the rest, and we have done a lower expense and less aggravation than trapping.  You can find all about what we have done, what we are doing, and what we are planning for the future by exploring this blog. 

You can probably do the same sort of thing on your property and like us, save money and aggravation in the long run.  If you would like more information feel free to contact me or check out the Facebook Beaver Management forum.  They provided me with all I needed to get our program underway, not to mention the fact they also pointed me to your article.

In closing, I want to thank you for the positive recognition of the beaver's role as a keystone species and encourage you to look into the idea of maintain and managing the pond, rather than trapping the beavers.  This will allow you to build a long term relationship with the current residents and will give you plenty of material for follow up articles, beginning with one that details the installation of your own flow device.

Best Regards,
Art Wolinsky

Beaver Presentation 12/3/15

In past years, the beavers took down trees around the pond and trail without disturbing much of the shoreline along the condos. However, this fall they began taking down trees that provide privacy along the back of the condos. This concerned some of our new residents, as well as some of our long term residents who were beaver believers.

We all agreed that the trees needed to stay, but the beavers didn't need to go. In keeping with our long term efforts to co-exist with our longest standing resident rodents. The board enlisted the help of the building and grounds committee to begin protecting trees with wire, and over a period of three days, about 100 trees were protected.

That should provide enough relief for the winter, and come next spring, we can finish protecting trees around the condos. At the same time we were protecting the trees, we wanted to bring our residents up to speed on the benefits the beavers bring to Sherwood Glen and provide them with a bit of history concerning or interactions and conflicts over the past half dozen years. So on December 3, I made a presentation at the clubhouse.

I was pleased to see more than two dozen residents in attendance, as well as receiving messages indicating there were folks who wanted to attend, but were unable to do so. In order to provide information for those folks and others who might want it in the future, here is a multimedia version of that presentation. 

Protecting Trees from Beaver

The beavers have decided to work on trees that border the condos.  When they decided to gnaw, they wasted no time and we had to react quickly.  A few hundred feet of wire later, we had more than 60 wraps, many of them protecting multiple trees.  Here's a quick peek at some of the work.

Septic Leak Resolution

Well this update is a tad late.  Let's chalk it up to life getting in the way, but I'm happy to report that the leak was handled quickly and efficiently. 

Thanks to Larry Kelly and his prompt response, the leak was located and repaired within a matter of hours of their arrival.  The Sherwood residents thank him and the Sherwood beavers thank him for helping to keep their home clean and healthy.

Septic Leak and Water Testing

Last week, as I was checking the culvert area, I noticed the water was cloudy on the outflow side of the culvert.  I also got a whiff of what smelled like sewage.  That's not unusual in muddy areas, but then I noticed that water was not only flowing out of the culvert pipe, it was flowing from under the pipe.  A closer examination seemed to indicate that the source was one the septic lines that run from the pumps, under the trail, and out to the leach fields.

We called Epping Septic and Kellop Construction to come check it out.  A septic line leak in one of the two, 2 inch lines that run under the culvert was confirmed. 

Kellop did some tests to determine which pump and which line has the problem, and will be fixing the problem.  According to them, it's a 2 inch line under the culvert.  The line was enclosed in a 6 inch pipe in order to make any future repairs as easy as possible.

On a side note, two weeks ago, we had Epping septic check the holding tanks it the leach fields.  This was the first time these tanks have been tested and the board was concerned about what we might find.  What we found surprised and pleased all of us.  The state of the tanks was perfect.  From the fairly extensive research the board has done about our septic system, we are very impressed with the quality of the work that was done on the leach fields.  

Getting back to the leak, while a leak is hardly good news, I wouldn't classify it as bad news, at least not at this point.  According to Epping Septic, the amount of gray water flowing into the pond is not significant and should be no immediate problem.  According to Kellop, who agreed to fix the problem as part of the work they have to do to finish up here, the repair should be a relatively simple one.

At the conservation committee meeting this week, we discussed water testing as a long term practice and as a way to assessing the impact of the leak (if any) on the immediate area.  At the same meeting we discussed protecting about two dozen of the larger trees on the other said of the pond, from the beavers.  On Wed. morning we will walk to identify the trees and begin the water testing.

This is a message I just sent to the conservation committee:

After exchanging the emails with the state volunteer lake testing folks and the some research into pond test kits, I held our first fund raiser (my credit card) and purchased this basic test kit.  
http://www.amazon.com/API-Pondcare-Master-Liquid-Test/dp/B0002DJNN0/ref=sr_1_1?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1432396452&sr=1-1&keywords=pond+test+kit

It should be here by Tuesday and we can do some testing as we take our walk on Wed.  Attached is a spreadsheet for recording results, including a map of relatively easily accessible sites for testing sites.One indicator we will want to examine closely will be the phosphate level.  I expect the septic leak area will have a significantly higher content than other areas.  The levels of phosphate would normally be expected to be the same at sites 3 and 4, but with the leak, it will definitely be higher at 4.  Once the repair is made, it should quickly return to equilibrium. 

I think it will be a good idea to test sites 4, 8, and 9 on a daily basis until the leak is fixed. I would expect readings to vary greatly at site for, depending on how soon after a pumping cycle the tests are made.  However, the telling results will be sites 8 or 9.  Any rise in reading at those sites could be an indicator of trouble.  I don't expect any changes in either site, but better safe than sorry.  If there are any changes, the test results will be important in "encouraging" Kellop to make the repair in a timely fashion.

I would also like to run a series of hourly tests at site 4 to see how quickly that area recovers after a pumping cycle.  The key to doing that is being around when a pumping cycle is taking place.  Taking a reading right after the pump stops and hourly thereafter, will be very enlightening.

It will also be interesting to check after a rain, because fertilizer run off will also increase phosphate levels.  It's important to note that individual readings mean little, especially when taken at a time when they would be expected to be higher than normal.  The most important indicator will be long term data collection.

I'll post a follow up next week after our tree walk and water testing.

Flow Control Device Installed on Sherwood Glen Pond

With the beaver dam and pond reaching the level of road, we felt it was time to do something to maintain the pond at it's current level.  Enter Mike Callahan of BeaverSolutions.com.  Mike has installed more than 1100 flow control and culvert protection devices around the country.

Mike arrived on the scene at 10:00 AM.  After scouting out the best place to put the device, Mike began construction of the flow cage.  The cage is submerged about 40 feet from the dam and the pipe will run from the cage to the top of the dam where it will be camouflaged in such a way to hide it in plain sight.

The installation was watched by about a Sherwood residents, Marty Devine of the Raymond Conservation Commission, and Patrick Tate of NH Fish and Game.  Special thanks to Patrick for pitching in and helping Mike and I with the installation.

The event was filmed by Warren Barnes.  His work is featured in time lapse video below and will be part of the Sherwood Glen Beavers documentary, I will be creating this summer.  This was Warren's first shoot, but you would never know it from watching the footage.

The way the device works is simple. Since water seeks it's own level, anytime the pond level rises to the height of the bottom of the pipe, water will flow over the dam.  The sound should not attract the beavers and the cage will prevent them from feeling the flow into the pipe.

The installation was completed without a single hitch.  Mike said that one reasons was the fact that we were being pro-active.  In most of his installations, he is called in only after there have been serious problems with flood, which complicates the situation.  So, by about 12:30 the cage had been built, assembled and installed. 

The last thing Mike did was to make two small breaches on either side of the pipe.  That served two purposes.  First, it dropped the level of the pond to the point where no water was flowing out of the pipe, and second, it gave the beavers something to work on that night so they wouldn't notice the pipe.

I came out to check the pipe at about 7:00 PM.  The smaller of the two breaches had stopped flowing on its own with the pond level drop.  The other was still going strong.  When I checked again at 7:00 AM, I was greeted with a loud tail slap as the beavers had done their job and were finishing up for the day.

Beavers and the Bird's Nest Mystery.

Yesterday, some of the members of the Conservation Committee took a walk around the trail.  Rachel pointed out an unusual tree trunk, bird's nest.  These pictures show the amazing structure. It's in a very large, old swamp maple at the west end of the pond.

    

I've certainly seen nothing like it and that nearly perfect circle of discoloration seems to have a lot of other people stumped. I posted a pictures to the Facebook Beaver Management Forum and asked for ideas.  There's a lot of curiosity, but no one has yet come up with a good answer.

Probably the closest match anyone has found yet, is the red breasted nuthatch.  It used pine resin around it's tree trunk nest.  I don't think that it, because the gray-white ring doesn't look like resin and an Internet search for images, showed no symmetry involved in their sap spreading.  If it's a nuthatch, it has OCD and an engineering degree.

The tree appears to be one of the biggest and oldest around the pond.  Unfortunately, the beavers have taken a liking to it and have begun gnawing.  I have never seen them go after a tree this size.  I suspect they may not be looking to down it, but rather simply dining on the bark on the exposed roots and base.

In either case, it's not a tree we want to see go down.  I was Sunday afternoon when I realized they were up to their dam chewing.  I had some stakes and fencing still around from past repairs.  It was a quick patch job and I'm not confident it will keep them away if they have a mind to chew.

Here's 25 minutes of wire wrapping in a minute and a half.

 

The fencing and posts can easily be breached if they manage to get under it on the side that is in the water.  I'm hoping that it's enough of a bother to them that they just move on to something else. I'll know more tomorrow.