Beavers are remarkable animals who are both admired for their industrious engineering skills and disliked when their activities flood roads and fields. But our often-contentious relationship with them is long overdue for change. Recently, several studies have demonstrated the remarkable financial benefits of managing beavers humanely with beaver deceivers, pond levelers, and fences rather than traditional methods of trapping, shooting or blowing up dams. Now that Federal disaster relief is not guaranteed, and emergency funds may not be available to towns for infrastructure protection and flood remediation, towns could save thousands of dollars by employing non-lethal beaver controls.

As a keystone species, beavers create, enhance and maintain habitat that countless other species rely on for survival. And as ecosystem engineers, beavers change the landscape by converting small streams into vast dynamic wetlands, swamps and meadows. Beaver wetlands slow the rate of snowmelt and runoff; they store and cool vast amounts of water underground that reduces the erosive impact of floods and can be released during droughts. Wetlands also act as firebreaks and critical places of refuge for wildlife during wildfires. Moreover, the sediment at the bottom of ponds filters out pollutants and improves water quality downstream.

While beavers could be among our best allies in the ongoing battle with the changing climate, I admit that they can be frustrating and can cause serious problems in areas prone to flooding. Flooded roads, farm fields, building sites, and blocked culverts are often extremely expensive and recurring problems for towns and landowners.

Beaver conflicts are generally handled by killing the beavers and destroying their dams. But this is rarely a permanent solution as any good territory will be claimed by new beavers resulting in a continual cycle of flooding, road or culvert damage, infrastructure repairs, and repeated annual killing of numerous animals.

Alternatively, non-lethal means of controlling beaver activity is achieved by simply regulating the flow of water out of ponds or wetlands through devices that allow water to flow through a dam or culvert without the beavers’ desire or ability to block it. This permits the many benefits beavers provide to ecosystems and biodiversity to remain in place while also protecting infrastructure.

In Alberta, Canada, researchers assessed the efficacy of pond leveling devices and fencing to manage beaver activity in areas with chronic flooding. A cost benefit analysis compared the cost of traditional management approaches (i.e.: trapping, etc.) with non-lethal alternatives. The differential was remarkable. Over a period of seven years, traditional management cost the province over 3 million dollars, where the installation of non-lethal devices cost $179,440!

Another study analyzed the efficacy and comparative costs of using flow devices to resolve beaver conflicts along roads in seven counties in the Coastal Plain of Virginia. Flow devices were installed in fourteen sites damaged by beavers. The average maintenance cost at each site was less than $20 after flow devices were installed compared to $21,490 per site per year for maintenance, road repairs, and population control prior to this installation.

In Billerica Mass., 55 beaver conflict sites were studied from 2000-2019. Again, results showed that the sites managed with non-lethal controls cost much less than those managed by lethal removal. While it cost $409 to trap beavers at each site per year, installations of flow devices at each site cost on average $229 per year. Thus, the town saves $7,740 annually with non-lethal management.

In all these cases, and every place a pond leveler is used to protect both habitat and infrastructure, the many ecological benefits of beaver-managed wetlands are immeasurable and greatly enhance the obvious financial savings. But, sadly, traditional methods for controlling beaver activity are still commonplace and seem to be the first choice of towns, landowners, and wildlife managers. The resulting loss of wetlands has dire ecological detriments. Floods, droughts, biodiversity losses, and wildfire are all symptomatic of our rapidly changing environment. Clearly, harnessing the beaver’s ability to mitigate impacts from climate change makes enormous sense and is far preferable than removing them again and again from the landscape in a way that harms ecosystems and needlessly drains municipal funds.

Jennifer Lovett

Starksboro