7.9. SR 12-16-1996 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Other Methods Because of the frustration and damage beavers have caused land- owners, almost every kind of method imaginable -- legal and il- legal -- has been tried. These range from dynamiting lodges dur- ing mid-day to using snag-type fish hooks in front of dams, road cul- verts and drain pipes. Such methods rarely solve a damage problem, although they may kill a few beavers and non-target species and cause severe head'aches for those that are not killed. One method used occasionally along streams prone to flooding is shoot- lng beavers that have been flooded out of lodges and bank dens. This method is often dangerous and rarely solves a damage problem. ^ final section on control methods: Beaver damage can be severe and cause extensive economic losses and frustration in many situations. However, the efforts necessary to effect control of beavers causing the damage is most often over- estimated. Beaver colonies have a tendency, like other wildlife spe- cies, to build up the population to a certain level, then part of the population moves into other suit- able habitat of nearby water sources. The beavers then develop or modify the habitat to their lik- ing. Beavers are territorial and even in old ponds that have held beavers for years, it is rare to find more han 8 to 13 beavers in any par- ticular pond. Most often the num- ber is from 4 to 8. The older and larger the pond, as long as food is plentiful, the more likely it is to have the higher number of beavers. ^ good trapper with a dozen traps can generally trap all the beavers in a given pond (behind one dam) in a week of trap nights. Obviously in a large watershed with several colonies, more trapping effort will be required. Figure 13, ConiC)ear® in culvert set, When beavers are stopping up a drainage culvert, (1) clean out the pipe to get water flowing through freely; (2) set the trap at the level of the drain pipe entrance, but far enough away to clear the culvert when the beaver enters; (3) put stakes on either side to make the beaver enter the trap correctly, Landowners with beaver problems frequently overestimate the number of beavers in a pond and · the difficulty of control. Many are reluctant to personally attempt trapping them out. Most would prefer having someone else do the job for them. Beaver trapping is hard, dirty work, but anyone with reasonable strength, and some out- door experience can learn to be an effective beaver trapper. Where legal to trap in lodges and bank dens, a good trapper can remove every beaver from a pond if dams are kept broken and the water is kept moving out on a nightly basis. In most cases, a week of trap nights is sufficient to remove all the beavers from a single pond. Periodic checks will make sure there are no survivors or that beavers from adjacent areas have not moved in. Economic~ o.t~., Damage ...... .~, and Control The economics of beaver damage is somewhat dependent on the ex- tent of damage that has occurred before the landowner or manager realizes that a problem exists and begins to attempt control. Some ' · beaver damage problems are inten- sive, such as one or two beavers in a new pond caused by their dam- ming or stopping up a culvert or drain pipe, flooding roads or crops: Others are extensive, such as = . several beaver colonies in a flat- land area,.responsible for ~he flooding of several hundred acres of merchantable timber that will die unless the water is removed quickly. Cenerally speaking, if the culvert or drain pipe can be unstopped, a knowledgeable trap- per can trap one or two beavers in a night or two and'eliminate fur- ther damage in the intenslve damage situation (Figure 13).' However, in the extensive situation, it may require a concentrated ef- fort with several trappers, dynamiting or pulling dams, and a month or more of extensive trap- ping to get the water off the timber and reduce further timber losses. The economics of 'each situation are obvious. Economically, one must weigh the tradeoffs, hundred of thousands of board feet of timber, and years of regeneration losses versus the cost of trahs, time and effort or contractural ar- rangements with a damage con- tractor, for the worse case. For the least case, consider a couple of nights trapping effort and a half- day of labor to clear the culvert versus the cost of rebuilding a Washed-out,road or loss of some flooded crops or timber. B-lO ~