Suburban Beaver Control
When new housing allotments, shopping areas, or business parks are established one of the first thing site engineers plan for is water. Many times, retention ponds are built to help manage water flow.
Consequently, as the suburbs have developed in the Akron, Canton, Kent area over the last fifty years, many new small bodies of water have been established.
Builders also capitalize on pre-existing bodies of water, knowing that water features (lakes, ponds, creeks) are desirable to consumers.
Who would argue with moving to a new house, apartment, or office that has a local pond with a nice walking path around it?
One of the unintended consequences of all this “new water” and development in the suburbs has been to help increase the beaver population. Suburban development has actually added habitat that beavers like and use for expansion.
Suburban development is NOT the only reason beavers have made such a strong comeback, but it gives them opportunity.
Here are a couple charts from the Division of Wildlife’s site:
As you can see from the map, Summit, Portage & Stark Counties have a high distribution and abundance of beavers. Our area has shared in the 300% growth over 30 years in beaver numbers the population estimate chart depicts.
People vs Beaver: Conflict Increases
As the numbers of beavers increase and we continue to expand away from urban centers, the number of beaver/human conflicts has increased. That’s where we come in.
Here is a video Ryan recently shot on a beaver job.
A beaver found a pond with homes built around it and started to do its beaver things. Building a hut and having food are the beavers main concerns. Maintaining trees and water levels are the homeowners concerns. Take a look.
As you saw, this newly arrived beaver did some significant damage since it moved in just a few months ago.
This is a very typical scenario when we are called on to provide beaver removal services.
Young Beavers in New Places
The Fall always brings an increase in the number of calls associated with problem beavers. Why?
It is because this is the the time of year when young beavers get serious about spending their first winter away from the huts and ponds of their birth.
Throughout the spring and early summer young beavers (born two years previously) leave or are kicked out of their parents’ huts and ponds. (Unlike us humans, they can’t just build a hut next to their parents’ hut for an occasional free meal and a cheap babysitter.)
During this time, young beavers begin to roam looking for a suitable territory and a mate with whom to start a family. This causes some to travel far and wide.
Newly mature beavers need to open up new, uninhabited territories on the fringes of their parents’ range where suitable habitat exists. (This is why the term beaver “colony” is so fitting.)
By early Fall the wandering comes to an end. They’ve likely paired with a mate, have found a suitable homestead, and begin preparations for Winter in earnest. It’s the time when “busy as a beaver” kicks into high gear. And the busier they get preparing for winter, the more they are likely to be noticed or cause concern for people already living in their newly acquired territory.
Retention ponds in allotments, office parks, and shopping areas often have the necessary ingredients for the beaver to set up shop.
Managing Beaver Problems
The best way to manage a beaver problem is dissuade them from choosing your waterway as their permanent home. This is a lot easier said than done.
Something as simple as cutting brush back from the edges of ponds could pay off big dividends in terms of dissuading beavers from moving in. Or, if cutting has been noticed early, protecting larger trees with wire saves them and encourages a beaver to move along.
But, if you’re reading this post, it’s probably because the beavers have already moved into a waterway near you. In that case, we recommend trapping the beavers and removing their constructions.
Beaver Removal for Stark, Summit, and Portage Counties
If you are experiencing beaver problems such as cutting and flooding and are in our service area, please contact Frontline Animal Removal.
There are beavers in more places than most people realize.
Sure, they are in some of the more suburban and rural places in our service area. But, many would be a little surprised to know that even in the more urban parts of Akron, Canton, and Kent there are beavers present.
Wherever there is a waterway and a good source of food, beavers are likely to be testing it out for suitability.
