Beavers Damage & Flood

Today we share photos and video of a recent beaver job.

At this job, the landowners had had enough.  After trying to live with the beavers for a couple of years, they decided it was just too much trouble having beavers around.  As you’ll see, these were some well-established beavers.  The tree damage and constantly rising water levels just got to be too much for owners.

As you can see, this main hut is very large.  In a hut this size, there are multiple generations of beavers.  In the water in the foreground, you are able to see the hut is active.  This large pile of sticks was placed in front of the hut and is called a “feed pile”.  When the water is frozen in winter, the beavers can swim out of the hut, get food which has been stored just outside, and swim back into the lodge.  The presence of a full beaver pantry shows a high level of activity.

This is the sort of damage visible all around the pond.  Trees are cut to get to the tender branches.

Though we don’t post about beaver removal as often as we do squirrels or raccoons, there is still a considerable amount of beaver damage in our area.  If you have a creek or pond on your property, you may find this scenario familiar.

In addition to the damaged trees, the other big problem beavers cause is rising water.  For beavers, deep water equals safety.  Relatively slow on land, beavers are masters in the water and rely on it for their safety.  Thus, they are skilled and steadfast dam builders because a solid dam assures deep (safe) water.

Damming any moving water floods more areas.  The more areas that are flooded, the better it is for beavers.  

Rising water was noted at this job as well because the beavers just kept plugging the upper pond’s overflow.  The pond overflow kept the water level consistent.  As the overflow was plugged, the water rose.  The beavers were happier, but the landowner wasn’t.

Dam building is often the last straw for humans who may find the beavers novel at first but very troublesome once the dams start to cause flooding.

Here is a video of the situation:

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.

Trapping Problem Beavers

We removed the beavers from where they are not wanted by trapping them.  At this particular job, seven beavers had been trapped by the writing of this post.

Frontline Animal Removal is skilled at trapping beaver.

Beaver Removal for Stark, Summit, and Portage Counties 

If you are experiencing flooding issues caused by beavers 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.