I broke out the bushwhacker to begin trimming back woody growth along the trail head and up to the culvert. Unfortunately, a missing part resulted in cutting short the effort. Undaunted, I headed back and prepped the lawnmower to deal with non-wood, dead weeds along the trail. After changing the oil and gassing up, I grabbed the throttle bar to start it, and the throttle cable snapped. The universe was telling me to go take a hike, so it I did.
On this trek, I headed to the far end of the lower pond. If you remember, last fall the beavers began reinforcing the long abandoned, original dam and then promptly began another dam only about 20-30 yards down stream.
The old dam was reinforced to raise the level of the lower pond and afford the lodge more protection. The second dam was most likely made to assist in moving branches and logs for their winter lodge, food, and dam work.
When I observed them last fall, I wondered what the spring would bring. Today's walk seems to suggest they are continuing to work on BOTH dams. If they do, the pond will continue to grow eastward toward Ham Road and possible southerly, toward Rt. 27. Neither of those growth areas pose any problem for the condos.
However, continued work on the original dam at the end of Locksley will result in a rise in the level of the lower pond. This is an area we need to watch this spring and summer season.
Here's an overview of the activity on the lower pond.
Sunday, February 28, 2016
Friday, February 26, 2016
Beaver Activity 2-25-16
I took advantage of the great weather today to check out beaver activity around the pond. I was happy to see there was minimal activity on the condo side of the pond.
The bulk of the activity so far, and hopefully into the spring, is on the far side of the pond, along the trail to the old picnic area, and in the wood off the trail around the picnic area. The video below, gives you a quick look at that.
There was not new activity anywhere around the upper pond, including the trail up to Arrow from the clubhouse.
The mild winter has been kind to the dam and there is not much repair work for them to do.
The culverts are in good shape and will take only a few minutes of maintenance.
The bulk of the activity so far, and hopefully into the spring, is on the far side of the pond, along the trail to the old picnic area, and in the wood off the trail around the picnic area. The video below, gives you a quick look at that.
There was not new activity anywhere around the upper pond, including the trail up to Arrow from the clubhouse.
The mild winter has been kind to the dam and there is not much repair work for them to do.
The culverts are in good shape and will take only a few minutes of maintenance.
Monday, January 11, 2016
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
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
Sunday, December 6, 2015
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.
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.
Friday, November 27, 2015
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.
Thursday, July 2, 2015
Septic Leak Resolution
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.
Saturday, May 23, 2015
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:
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:
I'll post a follow up next week after our tree walk and water testing.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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)