Beaver management in Pittsfield, MA.

While I was out in Massachusetts working with Mike, we installed a device in Pittsfield, with a grant from the SPCA. Here’s the article.

The backstory is: the beaver dam was blocking the outflow of a pond and wetlands that a ski area just downstream uses for snow making. Neighboring farmers were getting their fields drowned, and the airport downstream can’t afford a flood.

So we installed a pipe, cage, and culvert fence that would keep everybody happy-ish, and it turned into kind of a circus, in a very cool sort of way. There were a couple of reporters and cameras, some very friendly political folks, the SPCA rep and a number of really helpful public works guys.

Here are the rest of the gorgeous photos, with thanks to the Berkshire Eagle. Unfortunately, there was so much ruckus that the story came out a little garbled. There are a few inaccuracies, but only one really matters: The dam was not removed. This is important. Removing the dam would have caused serious flooding and siltation downstream, and forced the beavers to rebuild or move—both stressful and unnecessary. The dam was temporarily breached so we could put the pipe below the top of the dam, then replaced. Total time with water flowing past the dam was less than 15 minutes.