<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div> <div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">The last couple days have been cold at Great Glen. 20 degree Fahrenheit in the middle of the day cold. No complaints from me of course, it signals the arrival of winter and my favorite season: SKI SEASON. But all the same, I’m sure glad that we did our culvert clearing three days ago, before the temps really sank. Getting wet when the temperature is around 32 degrees is one thing. Wet at twenty would be a whole ‘nother level of misery.</div> <div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div> <div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">We have really tenacious and ambitious beavers at Great Glen. They live in the swampy area bordered by Great Grumpy, Libby Trace, Hairball Passage and Fuzzbottom Brake trails. There are three culverts that direct water from the Big Dipper Swamp underneath the Hairball Trail. Two are bigger—big enough for me to squat down and crawl into. The third is smaller, too small for me to crawl into when squatting. Now why is this squatting important you may ask? </div> <div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div> <div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">The beavers dam up the culverts. They drag twigs, branches, grasses and small trees into the culverts to dam them up. All summer long, Tony, our trail maintainer fought an endless battle of trying to remove the material to free up the culverts, only to have the beavers return and rebuild. Tony is a very nice man and good sport who likes animals, but they got to even him. He took to hauling the woody material he cleaned out of the culverts away, driving it to a burn pile far from the water.</div> <div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div> <div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">On Tuesday, it was Susan’s and my turn. The beavers had been back and once again successfully clogged the culverts. So Howie asked us to go clear them out before winter weather set in, and put the screens back on their openings.</div> <div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div> <div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">I dressed for the job with my rubba boots, rubba gloves with liners, and rain pants over my lined jeans. We brought a couple potato rakes to help drag stuff out of the tunnel.</div> <div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div> <div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">The bigger culverts took a bit of effort to free up but, I didn’t have to get too wet. Of course, rubba boots are only waterproof up until their rim. Go a little deeper and . . . yep my sock is now damp. Same with reaching into the water beyond wrist depth. Yup, glove liners (synthetic) now wet. Ah well . . .</div> <div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div> <div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">We saved the little culvert for last. Mind you, there is water running through these culverts. And as we freed them up, more and more water. The one potato rake would only reach so far into the tunnel. Not far enough—a big mass of branches and trees was lodged just out of my reach. Susan very creatively figured out how to extend the rake by tying two rakes end to end together. That helped a lot, although the whole apparatus was a little bit floppy. I reached forward with the extended rake and sunk it into the woody mass. Pull, pull, pull! I could just picture either the mass giving way or my grip slipping, and I’d fall back into the water which, by the way, has a film of ICE on it. Somehow I avoid doing this. The mass isn’t budging however, despite all my moans, heaves and groans.</div> <div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div> <div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Then, I get the rake caught. It looks like I’ve only got about three curled up trees to remove, but the rake is stuck somewhere out of my reach. This is a fine mess. #%&?@#!! %&##?@&amp;#!! AAAAArrrrrgh! Still stuck!</div> <div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div> <div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">That’s it. I’m going in! The hell with staying dry. There is just one thing to do. Down on my hands and knees into the water. Crawl into the culvert. Water seeping through rain pants and soaking jeans. I’m going to get those sticks and free my rakes. I hope the beavers don’t follow me in and attack me the intruder, the dam destroyer. This is war!</div> <div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div> <div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">The rake comes free. Hallelujah! And then . . . the branches! They’re moving! I’m able to pull out two and the increasing water flow carries the third one away and out the far culvert end! Free! I watch the water flow through the culvert unencumbered. Then I crawl out and ask Susan to drive us back to the lodge before all my wet clothing freezes solid upon me.</div> <div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div> <div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">I wonder how long it will take for the beavers to rebuild their dams? </div>

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Re: Beaver Challenge
by Richard on Dec 2nd 2008, 5:13 pm

I thought that I was the only one who got a kick out of breaking up beaver dams that needed breaking. Great description. By the way, I was bushwacking deep into the wilderness of my "back yard" in the Ossipees last month and came across the mother of all Beaver Colonies ... it looked like something from a science fiction novel. Imagine unfettered beavers at work for years in isolation. Dams, huge castles of trees stacked a story high, etc. They're unstoppable.