Somebody has to give a dam
If you’re having beaver problems, Kenneth Canadian is the man to call. He isn’t just a technician for the Kahnawake Environment Protection Office (KEPO) – he’s also their lead on beaver management.
“The last couple of years we’ve been getting calls from community members about properties and roads being flooded, and they’ve been looking for somebody to do something, so I just took it upon myself,” he said.
Under his watch, the office has taken on a new approach to handling dams known to cause flooding at times. The solution? Something called a pond leveler, which allows workers to manage the depth of the ponds created by the critters.
“It's basically just a 12-inch diameter pipe that goes through the dam,” he explained. “You set the level of the pond to where you want it.
“Once you set it, you just kind of cover it with sticks, and it creates a permanent leak where the water is able to flow through.”
It’s a “win-win” solution, he said, preventing flooding while also promoting peaceful coexistence between beavers and their human neighbours.
“I prefer these devices over dam busting and hunting personally, just because whenever you remove beavers from an ecosystem, even temporarily, it has a lot of negative consequences for the wetlands, and that affects everybody. It affects all the animals that live there, the birds, the insects, the fish, and the people.”
Busting the dams isn’t a very effective long-term strategy either, he said. The rodents have been known to return and will simply build another one.
Two separate pond levellers were placed in dams last summer, including one in the Zachary Road area and one by Indian Way School, Canadian said, and there are plans to install more once the warm weather returns.
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A culvert on Big Fence Road that had been targeted for damming has also since been fenced up to prevent beavers from being able to access it.
“We cleared up the blockage, and we put a cage around to protect it, and it's been working fine ever since,” Canadian said.
A map noting the locations of beaver dams in the territory is also in the works, he said, under what’s now officially being referred to as KEPO’s beaver management program.
