Beaver boom causing problems
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Javier C. Hernandez Boston Globe - Published: June 29, 2007
ANDOVER — In the midst of the Great Depression, beavers were so scarce in Massachusetts after years of unrestricted hunting that the state was forced to acquire three from New York to revive their presence. Now the number of buck-toothed, tree-chomping rodents is exploding across the state, with beavers causing flooded backyards and munching their way through local forests.
Wildlife specialists said the state's beaver population has tripled in the last decade to an estimated 70,000 to 80,000. The boom coincides with a record number of complaints about Castor canadensis.
As residential sprawl yet again pits human against animal, the large rodents have sparked territorial battles in cranberry bogs in the southeastern part of the state, near wetlands in Western Massachusetts and in neighborhoods across the Merrimack Valley and the North Shore.
While there have been scattered reports of beaver problems around the state over the past several years, Alan French, who heads the Andover-based Bay Circuit Alliance, a coalition of state and local landowners — said the dams showing up in the Andover area this year are the biggest he has ever seen.
Several months ago, flooding from beaver dams closed an 18-mile stretch of the 200-mile Bay Circuit Trail, which rings Boston. French, 75, is working with local landowners to bypass the flooded areas of the trail, but he said the beaver issue has divided residents of Andover, impeding efforts to solve the problem.
"If you had 10 neighbors, the other nine would be for nuking them," French said yesterday during a tour of Andover dams. "The polarization is just gigantic." On the tour, French walked past a bench built in memory of his late wife. Because of the handiwork of beavers, it now sits in mud, overlooking a drowning boardwalk near the Skug River.
The growth of human and beaver populations, coupled with stronger restrictions on trapping, has led to tensions, especially in Northeastern Massachusetts suburbs, according to Stephen DeStefano, a U.S. Geological Survey researcher at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst who studies beavers for the state.
"In general, what we're seeing is there are more beavers trying to occupy more places," he said.
While beavers have a reputation for troublemaking, conservationists point to the positive effect they can have on habitats.
Indeed, on Andover's Salem Street, right across from a dam on the Skug River Reservation, Susan Reichter and her family have come to love the beavers' presence. They snap photos of the rare wood ducks, great blue herons and mallards that dip in and out of the new pond in her backyard created by flooding from a nearby dam.
While French pointed to nearby pines and explained beavers' techniques, Reichter bolted out of her house to question him. She said she watches over the dam to prevent other local residents from trying to tear it down.
"The fact that the beaver has done what he's done is great," said Reichter, a bookkeeper.
In 1996, Massachusetts voters passed a referendum that restricted the use of traps. To trap a beaver outside the sanctioned season, which runs from Nov. 1 to April 15, residents must obtain a special permit by convincing their local health board that the beaver's presence poses a safety risk.
John Benedetto, 58, has served as a trapper in the Wakefield area for 40 years. He said he has noticed a dramatic increase recently in the number of residents who have called him for help.
"Everybody likes the beaver until he moves into the backyard," he said with a chuckle.
"Some of the messes people get into are unbelievable. People are suffering."
Towns and cities use several different methods to deter beavers, ranging from simple trapping to "beaver deceivers," pipes that are installed beneath dams to stealthily drain ponds, so beavers won't be spurred by the sound of trickling water to instinctively repair their dams.
Some residents take more drastic measures. In late spring, DeStefano said, when flooding is common but trapping is illegal without a special permit, more residents appear to be killing the animals outright.
"We're always concerned about the humane treatment of animals," he said. ''It feels a little out of control."
Underneath the white pines surrounding the reservation named for his wife, French paused to point out where cattails used to grow. Only water and mud occupy the spot now.
French said he hopes residents in Andover will begin to compromise to solve the beaver impasse.
"I just want people to be able to walk the trail again," he said.
"But you can see the emotions on each side," French said. "I don't think we are going to solve it in a hurry."
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