'Taken down hundreds of trees': Stouffville removes beaver dam near Byers Pond

Yorkregion.com
Nov. 30, 2021

There is nobody more keenly aware of what is happening on trails in Stouffville than Roger Davidson. For the past four years, Davidson has been walking around town with his dog Bosco, picking up garbage three times a day.

So it’s no surprise that Davidson and Bosco had a first-hand look at what beavers were doing at the lost pond area behind Wendat Village Public School in Stouffville.

“The beavers built a dam six or eight months ago,” Davidson said. “The trail in the area quickly became unwalkable.”

Davidson said the town put in gravel and a culvert to help make use of the trail, but the beavers’ work continued. “The pond seemed to grow bigger and bigger,” he said.

Ward 6 Coun. Sue Sherban said the beaver dam was blocking proper drainage flow in the area.

“When they block waterways, we have lots of issues of water not being drained properly,” Sherban said. “We have to take certain steps to open the waterways up.”

Sherban said the beavers’ work disrupted the Byers Pond area. Water had to be pumped out because the dam blocked the sewer drain.

Town spokesperson Glenn Jackson said they were left with little choice but to remove the dam.

“The dam was removed because water was being backed up to the bridge and was washing out footings and the adjacent trail,” he said. “The water levels were getting seriously deep and the dam needed to be removed. It was causing serious damage and the water levels needed to be reduced.”

Jackson added that the beaver would have moved when the dam removal began and the town did not relocate them.

Davidson was on hand to witness an excavator remove the dam. He was alarmed at how many trees the beavers took down in the lost pond area. “Those beavers have taken down hundreds of trees in the area. I have watched the beavers swimming around there for months,” Davidson said.

Sherban also lamented some of the bigger trees in the area that the beavers were able to take down and said the town has to do a better job of protecting more mature trees in the future. She said beavers don’t like certain flavours of trees and that she will be requesting those trees that are offensive to beavers be planted in new developments. Sherban said three mature trees were taken down by the beavers just before the dam was removed. “All three are down in one night. That didn’t have to happen,” she said.

The removal of the dam sparked some outrage on local Facebook pages, with some residents asking the question why the town couldn’t just leave the beavers alone.

Mayor Iain Lovatt responded to one question on the Stouffville Bulletin Facebook page, saying that actions like removing the dam are only taken when absolutely necessary. “Washing out our trail systems and the destruction of trees are 2 such reasons,” he said. Lovatt, like Sherban, mentioned the three mature trees that were taken down by a beaver in the days preceding the dam removal. He said each tree will cost $1,500 to replace. “I fully understand that this is a no-win situation and that there is no argument to make to satisfy this issue but you and others are deserving of an explanation,” Lovatt posted.

This is the latest incident the town has had with beavers. Last year, a beaver dam caused flooding in the Baker Hill area before it was removed by the town. At the time, local resident Bob Cookson said beavers took control of the property, leaving a landscape of stumps, fallen trees and limbless logs. “The beavers are building the dam higher and higher,” he said.