The beavers in the neighborhood of Creek Road in Bethany have been busy this spring. They built a nice new dam and it's working out well for them.
Unfortunately for Dave and Jill Porter, as well as some other residents in the area, the beaver's dam construction has left them with a little more water, with the potential for more serious problems, than they would like.
This year, seeking deeper water with a narrower span, the beavers moved their construction from one side of Creek Road to the other.
The Porters brought their concerns to the Town of Bethany board this evening, but there is little the town can do to help.
Supervisor Louis J. Gayton suggested the Porters contact Kevin Lawson of the DEC or Tim Hens of the county highway department for help.
The beavers are protected by the state, and their dam is on property owned by an attorney from Grand Island who uses the nearby swamp as a private duck hunting preserve for himself and his friends.
The swamp owner is apparently unsympathetic to the Porters concerns. He tried once before to get permission to build a small dam in the area now blocked by the beavers, but area residents complained about to the DEC out of concern it would increase flooding on their properties. The DEC listened and the dam was block, but now mother nature is giving the duck-hunting attorney exactly what he wanted in the first place, only more.
The attorney sought a foot-and-a-half dam. The beavers have built a three-foot high damn.
The Porters back yard normally has a nice little spring-time pond that attracts geese, but this year, the pond is bigger than normal -- with rain storms less than normal -- and it isn't draining as it normally would, giving the Porters a nice green pasture for a backyard.
"We just want a solution that would make us happy, make the beavers happy and make the duck hunters happy," Dave Porter told the board.
Dave Porter may e-mail me some related pictures later and I'll add those to this post when I get them.
