Beavers are winning the water war (MA laws protect beavers, not people)

Worcester Telegram ^ | 8/10/07 | Hill

[pabianice]

“It’s nature. I’m sorry it’s negatively affecting you,”

STERLING, MA - A sump pump rumbled in the cellar of her Sterling home and a hose gurgled in the front yard as Mary B. Honan waited for a state Department of Conservation and Recreation official to arrive at her house earlier this week.

The feisty Irish lilt in her voice falling flat, Ms. Honan declared herself the loser of a four-year war. “The beavers have won,” she said before the deputy director arrived.

A native of Ireland, Ms. Honan fell in love with the energy of the United States in the 1970s while here on a visit, and decided to make it her home. “The coolest place in the world to be was here. So I stayed,” Ms. Honan said the other day.

Some of her life went well, and some not so much. But in April 1992, the single mother of two graduated from Fitchburg State College and bought a house.

“It was my pride and joy,” she said. “You know, doing it all on your own.”

“There was no water — bone dry,” she said as water flowed from her cellar at 6 Twine Road in Sterling through a wide hose and onto the lawn in front of the yellow, cape-style house, whooshing past a “Leprechaun Crossing” sign.

Way in back of the woodland, where a seasonally mushy wetland had been, were the unmistakable signs of beavers. They had gathered branches and started building homes. On nearby Campground Road, where water flows through a box-shaped culvert under the railroad and toward the new wetland across from Ms. Honan’s house, beavers have built a virtual village of small huts and a huge beaver house.

[Calvin Locke]

I think to my claim of innocence of not knowing that beaver was also a slang term.

Slang term? I thought a beaver was the mascot of MIT?

[ßuddaßudd]

I once had a Beaver bite onto my nipple and spilt my beer..

[Hegemony Cricket]

Just dam

[VOA]

Some of her life went well, and some not so much. But in April 1992,
the single mother of two graduated from Fitchburg State College and bought a house.

This one of those situation where liberals/Democrats start to shudder.
Needing to choose the favored party : a cuddly wilderness
animal OR a single mother.

[rlmorel]

LOL...that is why I had to move out of Oregon...

My Appetite for fricassed Spotted Owl was going to land me in the penitentiary...:)

[garyhope]

She needs a good bow and arrow and some night vision goggles.

Or else dynamite.

[HenpeckedCon]

Save a tree...

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

In Canada, where the beaver (i.e. the rodent) is a national symbol, we use “beaver bafflers” (essentially a drain pipe stuck through the beaver dam) to limit the flooding.

Also, it’s silly to say it’s just “nature” when the natural predators have been removed from the equation.

[Abathar]

I own a 12 acre lake here in Indiana, I have had trouble with beavers blocking up my spillway forever. I asked the local DNR officer if I could live trap them to take them somewhere else and he told me "They are considered rodents here, if they are creating a problem just shoot them."

I've had more fun snapping about 200 yard shots at them with iron sights on my 8MM Mauser, I will regret the day I actually kill the last one.

[CDHart]

"She should go out and shoot the little bastards."

Then she'd really be in trouble. Probably charged with murder.

Carolyn

[YOUGOTIT]

Make some Beaver hats quick!!!!!! But then it is MA and has a killer and a traitor as their senators so its about normal, that animals will have more rights than humans. We are in the process of becoming a bunch of idiots and anyone who supports this animal crap is a total whore or an idiot.

[sarge83]

I have a similar problem where I live. Every 3 or so years a band of the little toothy bastards move in and start damning up the creek below my house, which in turn causes flooding of the bridge leading to my house.

Thankfully I live in a state where they can be terminated for destroying your property. As of the end of July the critter body count stands at 28 terminated in the last 6 yrs. A Ruger 10/22 with a cheap scope does wonders for shortening their longevity on this earth.

[Lady Jag]

Beavers are more creative
than Dimocrats.

[Aquinasfan]

She needs a good bow and arrow and some night vision goggles. Or else dynamite.

Make it look like an accident.

[Arrowhead1952]

Good thing we don’t have any frikking spotted owls up here.

That is the biggest problem in central Texas. Not owls so much, but the Barton Creek salamander, Golden Cheeked warbler, Blind cave beetles, etc. Every time there is any development planned, they EV whackos show up and try to find something "protected".

[Zerodown]

Make it look like an accident

Wrong-o. Make it look like a suicide.

Beaver Tail

Roast beaver tail over campfire,
cut it open and pull the skin off.
(This makes a very rich meat.)

Yukon Cookbook
by Leona Kanan

[Bommer]

So only beavers are allowed to detroy forests now? Loggers go in they are bad! beavers go in and destroy the infastructure, they are good. Lesson to be learned: Never move or live in the Northeast....or West Coast for that matter!

[AFreeBird]

I remember reading a story here, don't know if it was true or not, about a guy that had a beaver problem, and the town was sending him notices that he could not build a dam on his property, and he went to great lengths to try and get the PTB to realize he was not the one building the damn dam.

Wish I could find, it was funny.

[AFreeBird]

What and they can’t plug up the pipe? What makes this baffle so special? They’re pretty crafty little devils.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

Indeed they are crafty. I have seen some absolutly astounding civil engineering works created by beaver.

Here’s a link to a brochure on the subject:

http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/wildlife/TRAP/beaverwebversion1.pdf

They use “beaver baffle” to refer to a barrier to prevent beaver from blocking culverts. The “beaver pipes” are what I meant by the term.