Beavers in Ohio
2000 29,380
2001 27,190
2002 34,696
2003 32,575
2004 27,915
2005 26,000
2006 27,470
2007 36,000
2008 42,600
2009 45,050
2010 36,515
2011 35,179
Source: Ohio Division of Wildlife
Beavers are thriving again in Ohio, exciting nature buffs but creating conundrums for parks officials who are seeing trees felled by the toothy rodents.
Yellow Springs in Greene County and Mason in Warren County are divided the communities over whether the return of the rodents is good or bad.
“Taking no action is going to lead to increased conflict,” Duard Headley of Yellow Springs said earlier this month.
He is with the Yellow Springs Environmental Commission and spoke before the village council voted to not seek a grant to fund plans to designate as a wetlands a pond on village property already inhabited by a beaver.
In Mason, city officials want to trap a beaver living and felling trees in a local park but they have been stalled by beaver boosters from the area.
“It has to do with human interest and it has to do with animal rights,” said Carl Hilker, a board member for the Africa-based Cheetah Conservation Fund and a resident of Turtlecreek Twp., outside Mason.
Both communities consulted with Beavers: Wetlands & Wildlife, a New York-based non-profit, which has been involved in solving issues related to the appearance of beavers in water ways around the country. They have consulted with the Columbus Metroparks and Mt. Healthy, a northern Cincinnati suburb.
The non-profit has held international conferences on beaver conservation and offered its expertise in the installation of a drainage pipe system designed to prevent flooding problems caused when beavers dam waterways.
Beavers return to Ohio
Beavers have rebounded in Ohio after being nearly hunted out of existence in the 1800’s. There are an estimated 35,000 in the state, according to the Ohio Division of Wildlife.
State law classifies beavers as nuisance animals and limits what people can do with them. People can put out traps on their property and catch beavers, but they must either kill or release the animals on-site. They can’t be moved and dumped in a local park, for example.
“There are no other options legally available,” Kathy Garza-Behr of the Ohio Division of Wildlife said in an email. “They will have to release on site, humanely euthanize or leave it as is.”
“If moved, this animal will most likely cause the same issues in another location. The cycle will then repeat for someone else,” she added.
The state’s beaver population is most abundant in eastern Ohio, according to the Ohio Division of Wildlife. The rodents grow to as much as 60 pounds, live in this area along the Little Miami River as well as within the Spring Valley Nature Preserve and most of the large parks in the Five Rivers Metroparks system.
“On one hand, the return of beaver is a fantastic success story,” said Mike Enright, conservation manager for Five Rivers.
More than 30 beaver families are inhabiting lakes and ponds throughout the park system. The largest concentrations are in fishing ponds and Argonne Lake at Posssum Creek Metropark, he said.
They tend to create ponds and dams wherever they set up house. “They are the best drainage engineers you ever want to meet,” Enright said.
Beaver young will move to adjoining water ways as they mature in search of their own homes.
“A decade ago, beavers really stated to colonize the Metroparks very enthusiastically,” Enright said. They plug up ponds and gnaw down trees for building materials and food.
The Metroparks fenced off trees it wanted to protect and “beaverproofed” overflows, using bypass piping systems to prevent the placement of branches over the drains and to disguise the sound of running water, which attract beavers.
While park managers are annoyed by the felled trees, Enright said this is a beaver’s version of forest management.
“It opens up the sunlight and allows smaller trees to regenerate,” he said. “We’ve kind of reached an understanding with the beavers. They build great wetlands.”
Mason and Yellow Springs
Mason and Yellow Springs are working on solutions to their local infestations. Drainage pipe systems, designed to prevent flooding problems otherwise associated with beavers and their dams, can be a partial solution.
Mason Assistant City Manager Jennifer Heft has talked with Marianne MacQueen, the Yellow Springs council member who joined those advocating for the village to apply for a state Clean Ohio grant to help pay for the wetlands proposed around the local beaver pond.
Until residents rallied in December, Mason planned to hire a trapper to remove the beaver, which had felled more than 50 trees in Pine Hill Park.
The Mason appeal attracted a reaction beyond Mason city limits.
In addition to Hilker, the appeal drew support from a board member of Safari Club International living in the area and Karen Arnett of Mt. Healthy, a Cincinnati suburb.
“I would just encourage you to find ways to coexist,” said Arnett of the Mt. Healthy Urban Tree Commission. At the meeting, Arnett spoke of how beavers taking up residence in local water ways had added to her community and become the centerpiece of an annual festival in Martinez, Calif.
“It can be a real asset to the human community as well,” she said.
Mason officials were “evaluating options,” Heft said via email.
In Yellow Springs, a special drainage pipe has been installed on the village’s Glass Farm, where a beaver is living.
However the village council recently balked at MacQueen’s proposal to apply for a $30,000 state grant, half of what was estimated to be needed to fund the establishment of a wetlands park there.
Village staff were to manage the park and $10,000 in village funds had to be budgeted for the project.
On Feb. 2, after a long discussion, the council voted 3-2 not to seek the grant, while encouraging advocates to continue working on the project.
“I wasn’t committing to this being a wetland forever,” Councilmember Karen Wintrow said during the meeting. “This is way more than I committed to.”
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