Dam straight, beavers, humans learn to get along
New neighbours recently moved in to Discovery Ridge, at the western edge of the city, and they’re having a hard time making friends.
The new residents are territorial creatures who don’t like to share, and construction of their fancy new lodge is causing water in the area to rise, pathways to flood and infrastructure to be damaged.
The southwest community is among several in Calgary — and across the province — where beavers have moved in, built homes and irked landowners.
“There are citizens that are extremely frustrated with the situation with the beavers,” said Tanya Hope, City of Calgary parks ecologist. “Often, having a conversation with them can help them understand why it’s important that we have them here.”
Hope said there’s a healthy beaver population, pegged at around 200, that calls Calgary home, and in recent years the city has shifted the way it deals with the semi-aquatic rodents.
“We’re looking more toward coexistence with the beavers as opposed to treating them like a pest,” she said.
On Thursday afternoon, conservationists, wildlife advocates, City of Calgary workers and representatives from other municipalities gathered in the rain near the banks of the Elbow River in a wooded park to learn how citizens can successfully live alongside the nocturnal go-getters, including the crew that recently moved into the area.
“Here we have a bit of a coexistence issue where they’re building a dam by our pathway and it’s causing pathway flooding,” said Hope, standing metres away from homes in Discovery Ridge.
Workshop attendees learned how to use pond-levelling devices to control water levels in dammed areas and prevent beavers from blocking water outflows.
“Having those beavers here really isn’t a major issue. It’s not like they’re chasing our children down the street or anything like that,” said Adrian Nelson, wildlife conflict manager for The Fur-Bearers, a Vancouver-based organization that helps people coexist with animals.
“They’re just beavers and they’re just causing some flooding. So if we can manage that flooding with these flow devices then it really is a win-win situation.”
On Thursday, Nelson taught workshop attendees how to build and use both an exclusion fence (to stop beavers from plugging a culvert) and a pond leveller — a large pipe that goes through a beaver dam and prevents flooding by allowing the beaver to think the dam is complete while still allowing water to flow through it.
“It’s a good situation being able to keep the beavers here in the area without having that risk of flooding for infrastructure or people’s homes,” Nelson said.