Haddonfield Sun

By ROBERT LINNEHAN | The Haddonfield Sun
Several new residents have started to build an elaborate home at Crows Woods and didn’t even bother to get permission from the planning board for a zoning variance.
One or several adult beavers have constructed two large dams in the park, said Parks Conservancy member Butch Brees, and are already changing the water levels of a stream that runs through Crows Woods. The water has already risen about a foot-and-a-half since the beavers started work only a couple of weeks ago, Brees said.
In fact, the animals have already made walking across one of the bridges in the borough park almost impossible without getting your feet wet or jumping across a swampy portion of ground, Brees said.
“They can be beneficial to the ecosystem in Crows Woods. It gives us sort of a unique educational opportunity for those who want to visit Crows Woods,” Brees said. “He’s raised the water table by a foot and a half to two feet already. It’s up to the bottom of the wood on the bridge. He’s built one dam upstream and another downstream. I’d estimate he’s been there for at least a week or two weeks by now.”
Originally, it was believed there was only one beaver, Brees said, but he found a dead beaver near the dam site about two weeks ago. However, Brees said he took down part of the dam, which was repaired overnight, most likely by another beaver.
What can be done of a beaver that is encroaching onto land where humans typically tread? Brees quickly contacted his good friend Sarah Summerville, director of the Unexpected Wildlife Refuge Inc., who had several suggestions.
Summerville agreed with Brees, saying that the beaver – or beavers – should be allowed to stay in the environment and not be relocated.
“It would appear from the air photo that the waterway in question is an unnamed stream flowing from a large pond at Tavistock Country Club’s property into Cooper River. Cooper River appears to be the northeast boundary of Crow’s Woods,” Summerville wrote to Brees. “I am happy that we share the opinion that the beaver should, if at all possible, stay in the environment. I concur, based on my knowledge of beavers and the benefits they can bring. Beavers are considered a ‘Keystone Species’ because their engineering activities create habitat that is beneficial to many other areas in the affected ecosystem.”
The dams beavers create can also act as “nature’s kidney,” Summerville said, slowing water flow which allows for sediments and toxic material to filter out through the pond bed. Having a beaver in the park would also provide for an interesting educational opportunity for students and residents alike in the borough, she said.
Unfortunately, beavers can sometimes flood out areas humans don’t want damaged, Summerville said, such as this one. She suggests inserting a flow device – an 18-inch flex pipe – that can be inserted into the breached dam. The beaver will bury the flow device when it repairs its dam, she said, and the device will keep the water level at a manageable rate.
The creatures and humans could live side by side without disturbing one another, Brees said. Beavers are primarily nocturnal and complete all of their dam work at night, so they likely won’t be seen during the day by people visiting the dam site.
“If they like it, they’ll stay at the site and continue to work in there,” he said. “They will take down some small trees and continue to work on their dams. It’s an interesting situation.”

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