Unwanted Beavers

By Glen Wunderlich

On an early morning deer-scouting trek on my Shiawassee County property, I was prepared to cross the Osburn Drain via a makeshift bridge consisting of an aluminum ladder section and boards.  But, there was just enough water covering the boards to make me rethink my route.  “Wait a minute”, I thought.  We hadn’t had enough rain to raise the water level that much; something’s up.  The immediate proximity revealed the answer:  beavers!

Several poplar trees near the bank had been chiseled off about a foot from the ground – obviously the handy work of some of Michigan’s largest and most industrious rodents. 

Hiking downstream to the road, where large concrete culverts form a bridge, I could hear the unfamiliar roar of water passing through.  On the south side the water level was well over the banks; to the north a relatively normal to low level was noted.  It was here that the beavers chose to flood the area to their liking.

Something had to be done before the water level got much higher or the road would be flooded and folks downstream would face ponds in place of their driveways.  Checking the trapping regulations, I discovered the season begins November 10^th in our area.  Insofar as I’ve never attempted to trap beavers and had no such gear anyway, I thought even if I were to be successful, it might be too little too late.  So, I telephoned Chad Fedewa, our local wildlife biologist, in search of direction.

Chad was quite familiar with a plight such as mine and indicated that beavers are well established in our area, as evidenced by many such experiences over the past few years.  He couldn’t say that there is some type of influx of beavers recently and pointed to many documented encounters with the critters since the 1980s.

Since private property was involved, his solution was to issue a nuisance permit, which would allow the taking of up to 5 beavers before trapping season officially begins, but it was forbidden to keep the pelts per the permit; disposal required burying or a landfill.  Shooting them was not a legal option and was duly noted on the permit; only foothold, body-gripping, or conibear-type traps may be used or certain specific snaring devices.  Well, that’s just dandy! 

I then contacted a friend, who had offered to help earlier when the beavers made some half-hearted damage in the spring of this year and then vanished.  The trouble is that my friend has no experience trapping beavers and is a relative trapping rookie himself; he also had no such traps and would have to be educated in procedures, as well.  The situation seemed a bit too urgent for all of this, so I thought maybe a call to our county road commission and drain commission could get some action insofar as the road and bridge’s integrity was threatened.

Here’s what I learned:  Friday is not a good day to get anyone’s attention!  One office had no Friday hours and the other had a recording perfectly enabled to log my call.  By the end of the day, there was no return call.  My hope is that some action can be taken to break up the dam, but it’s beyond my personal capacity.  Besides that, without removing the beavers, it’s futile anyway, because in little time, the dam is reconstructed.

Meanwhile, the water rises.